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It’s pretty easy to see what makes a saintlucei so popular. You can’t go past that beautiful look of an accent palm, with a trunk that’s straight as an arrow and the arched leaves to the white crownshaft. Easy to grow with a little dry, cool tolerance. They love black sandy loam soil that’s free draining. Single plants will set seeds. Just another one of those Chrysalidocarpus that are an absolute winner!

Ravenea glauca

The rain and storms right now are insane in western pasco county. Areas that have been dry are getting nailed tonight. My weather station picked up a 6 inch an hour rainfall rate.

Very interesting what Dowe says. How this form escaped from widespread cultivation I don’t know. Yeah, I used to think Eungella was the furthest northern Bangalow population but recently I found that Mt Elliott had them and that is the northern most limit. I wanted to check that area out but we just ran out of time in Townsville. It’s not an easy climb either. About 12hrs one way and the track now goes through private land meaning it’s more than just a “let’s have a quick look” type of place. It’s also the place where the stepped trunk version of alexandrae comes from. I think it’s been called Archontophoenix alexandrae var beatricea. I think for Archontophoenix the real jewels are up in the clouds at altitude. We went to the town of Paluma for a quick look and it’s at 1000m asl. It was 27C on the coastal plain and 18C when we got up there. Lots of Calamus australis and moti, and the first place we’ve found Laccospadix australasica and in large amounts. Beautiful place up there. We didn’t find any Livistonas up there but we were likely on the wrong track for them. Paluma roughly marks the start of the Wet Tropics. After that you’re in Licuala territory.

The stem on that one is certainly dark in color. As far as I know , mine will be as @tim_brissy_13 says . It probably won’t show signs of C. Blacki until many years . It will look pretty much the same as C. Lanceolatus . This variety is more robust , from what I have read. It gets its name from Larry Black who first noticed it in cultivation here in Southern California. The seeds came to me from @DoomsDave and germinated easily but I only ended up with 5 plants. I am hoping all 5 will go on to be plants now that they have passed the early stage . Harry

All I know about this palm is black stem, so iam really trying to find what it really is. And if Harry’s palm has any resemblance and from what you say it sounds like it won’t have any resemblance. Back to the drawing board for this palm as to what it really is.

Just plants as many as you can I say! Your Chrysalidocarpus blacki, it will be intresting to see if it turns out like this one I have.

🤣just seeing if your awake gyuseppe! Bit of a typo that one, bit much when I don’t know my chamaedoreas!

I want to sell about 30 of these Arenga westerhoutii seedlings. Impressive palm when it matures and I'm just selling my excess. $4 each or 10 for $35. Shipping extra and should fit in a Medium Priority Mail Box.

Yes , saving room for the Chrysalidiocarpus Blacki that are in the green house . Another year or so and at least one will go in the ground with a C . Decipiens. Harry

A great palm the basilonga, with a lot of Chrysalidocarpus you can see the similarities. Baronii you can see so many that all very similar but a slight difference between them. Arenarium is a good example so similar looking to others in the genus. They do have a weak petiole as juvenile palms. Saintlucei is the same as a young palm they don’t like wind. Now you have to find a saintlucei for the garden I see you have a bit room left on that steep embankment in your garden one would grow well there with protection as juvenile. Richard

I have two Baselonga planted together that look very similar to the small potted one. They are very slow at that age. Harry Dypsis Basilonga , tied together to keep the petioles from breaking in the wind. The leaves are very long for the size of the petiole. The petiole are very dark when first emerging. Harry

Here is a pic of my 5 plants . It will be at least a year before they can be planted , maybe longer . They are just starting to send their second leaf . Harry If you look , they have that gloss to the leaf , much like my C. Lanceolatus.

They certainly like cooler climates . I’m afraid I’m a little too far inland , like my friend Dave. It would probably grow but struggle . Harry These are growing very well , about 5 miles from the coast in Ventura California. Towering over the second story of apartment building where they were planted by the Sullivans. They are on the north side of the building so they got plenty of shade when they were young. When I was first introduced to these palms , they were still well below the building .

So, Richard, let's hope and pray that the good Lord grants us a long life. I had this species and I really liked it. (many of your seeds have germinated,again thanks) Even if we are far away, I always thank you

The lightning and thunder last night was the most intense ive seen since i moved here. 1.75 inches isnt the most in a storm, but a significant amount still- especially this summer. Hopefully rainy season comes back for a little while until october and doesnt leave the first day of the month.

That’s a different palm Richard - C baronii ‘Black Petiole / Vokona Lodge / Black stem etc etc’. Harry’s C blackii are very similar to C lanceolatus and recently described from cultivation.

Not yet unfortunately, male and female plants needed. It is a female, and I do have a male plant, but I as m still trying to work them out. Plus still trying to work out when the male pollen is ready. I will work it out and when I do, seeds will be available to you!

Mister Richard: does it produce seeds?

A nice Areca and linospadix go into the garden. The mandacanii is a rather intriguing looking palm. Not a lot of pictures out there of this one. And the good old Australian palm the linospadix minor is a sure winner for any garden. Two more great collecter palms worthy of any garden.

Don’t those Tasmaniacs grow Hedyscepe? @Jonathan and @Tassie_Troy1971

A reasonable growth rate, not a rocket ship but definitely a good paced growing palm, considering how slow some palms can be. Ten years time you will have a nice solid palm to look at with a bit of trunk if growing under good conditions.

That’s a beautiful palm! I hear they grow fast to very fast. My friend has an 8 or 9 year old Ravenea gluaca and it’s about 15 ft tall. I have a 29 year old Ravenea madagascariensis ‘Monticola’ which looks very similar to R. glauca.

Wow! 90 mph winds are extremely strong! That would shread, dissicate and probably kill many of my plants. Yikes! luckily, where I live the winds are very rarely over 40 mph. I know in eastern San Diego County they have Santa Ana winds that are that strong and sometimes stronger.

Confused is that the word, I would have went with completely stuffed up! Glad you got a few metalica to germinate. The gift of giving is wonderful thing in life. Enjoy them! Just for the record chamaedorea adscendens chamaedorea metallica

A beautiful little Australian rainforest tree. Perfect for the understory. I was gifted some seeds and next thing you know I have 20 nice seedlings for the garden.. Quite easy to germinate just clean the flesh off them and put them out in community pot or styrofoam box. Definitely looking forward to these one in the garden!

A nice purchase that arrived today in the mail the Brazilian worsleya procera. The blue hippeasteum. I don’t know a lot about it, but being a hippeastrum it should be fairly standard growing. Time will tell but it’s an interesting plant. I first seen them in Sydney royal botanical gardens. And from that day on the hunt was on for one.

no problem, getting confused is natural , and thanks to a certain Mr. Richard M. now I also have 3 chamaedorea metallica 👍

Hey Mark, are you growing these guys in California?

Thank you very much!!! It was a pleasure doing business with you. You're also A+ buyer very communicative, and fast payment !

I have my pets getting in on the action. Our younger dog chases them when they fly low. Our cats are indoors only except when walking in the yard in their harnesses with leashes. The leashes don't stop them from jumping at them. While the cats have never caught an SAPW, one just nabbed a similar size June bug 2 nights ago. Klaus, our purebred Tijuana rescue street dog, has actually caught a weevil but he didn't like it and dropped it. I got to finish his work for him. Good dog Klaus!

Compare the leaflets on the Encephalartos horridus x longifolius (or the opposite order as I can't recall right now which was the female). It reminds me more of your plant but even it has a different lower leaflet (more like true longifolius). This is why I think it could be a hybrid. The lower leaflets of your plant resembles Encephalartos altensteinii or natalensis, while the more terminal leaflets resemble horridus. The fact that you found it in a dump indicates there was a reason someone didn't want it. While it would be a valuable plant here, my understanding is that hybrids are much more frowned upon in South Africa. Perhaps that is for a good reason. We don't have pollinators here which you have in habitat. Hybrids could potentially unintentially "pollute" the gene pool of wild habitat specimens there. Here, we have to hand pollinate, so unless someone misrepresents what they are selling as pure species, the only harm is someone having something they think is species but isn't. It won't go wild and dilute the genetics of habitat plants. A long way of saying that someone may have dumped the plant because they didn't want a hybrid, which I suspect your plant is based on what I have seen. There are plenty of folks with more knowledge and experienced eye than me, so don't take it as the last word. Here is the horridus x longifolius or longifolius x horridus, depending on which was mother and father. I have heard that this is actually a hybrid that can occur naturally when the two species are in habitat. Mine was produced through hand pollination here so was an intentional hybrid... sort of. It is a rooted pup from close to a dozen years ago, off a plant that was hand pollinated here. It is one of my slowest Encephalartos which was neglected in a pot for a while then planted in a spot it didn't like, dug back up and put in a pot and finally planted out where it is now a few years ago. It is finally found a spot where it will establish.

Matty, how is that cutting doing? Were you successful in getting it to root and establish?

All-time record high for Miami and Fort Lauderdale is 100F. I always find that odd as every state I’ve lived in prior to South Florida hits temps higher than this… Even up north. The difference is the duration, and the months of night time tropical heat down here without a break. Miami hit 100F yesterday and Fort Lauderdale hit 98F, night time lows in the 80s. Dry as a bone. Local AC units seem to be dropping like flies after months of this. Mine went down the other day. Indoor temps of 92+ at night for 3 days, til it could be fixed. Supposed rainy pattern on the way as Saharan dust moves out now.

Yep, its a Permian mudstone derived duplex. Old, acidic, and leached, like so many Aus soils, but the topsoil has high natural organic matter levels, and seems to respond pretty quickly to added nutrients. Although the hardpan requires a bit of management, it's soooo much better to work with than the hydrophobic nightmare of the South Arm sand. Back on topic...I was reading Dowe's description of A cunninghamiana last night in Australian Palms, and the purple colouration seems to fall within the species parameters, so I guess this population has been studied at some stage in the past, or there are other populations with similar characteristics maybe? Dowe also mentions that cunninghamiana extends right up to Mt Elliott at Townsville, so another 250km north of Eungella...another population to explore! Interesting that Livistona australis also tops out at Paluma in the mountains just north of Townsville.

Three beautiful chamaedorea adscendens in the garden loving winter!

Another winter winner straight out of the pacsoa showroom floor straight into the garden in mid august! Licuala sallehana a cracker of a great licuala to have.

What caught my eye was my freshly planted Geonomas pycnostachys that went into the ground today!

And today’s little special winner is a nice healthy Geonoma pycnostachys, straight out of the end of winter and into the ground. The full royal treatment for this beauty, quality soil amendments along with being right next to the tap, pole position in the garden went into this one, the old chicken pidgeon coop, that had 20 years off bird poo. If I can’t grow this one in that soil iam going home!

By popular demand: Asta 11 months old, world class clown, spoilt little princess!

Just a suburban Ravenea rivularis.

I sure hope that Hedyscape makes it Dave. A nice shady spot , which you have , some of Richard’s recommended fertilizer , and some of your palmy experience will be beneficial. Harry

@Psycad welcome to Palmtalk! I'm not great at ID'ing the South African Encephalartos. So I have a hard time telling Arenarious from Horridus and Trispinosus. That's mostly because they hate my climate's dily torrential thunderstorms and tend to get root or crown rots. It could also be a hybrid like the naturally occuring Trispinosus x Altensteinii. If you can get a healthy next flush it should be easier to ID. Regardless of what it is, that's a great find!

It is fig season, Socatran Island style. Actually it is in my backyard.

Not only was it cold we had extremely high winds which I think made the damage so much more than prior freezes. Fortunately, I have a large collection of palms and most made it through. Even some that looked bad at first. My Chamaedorea cataractarum clump has come back very well and it looked terrible after the cold and my two Beccariophoenix alfredii had severe frond burn on the outside fronds but stayed green in the center. First time ever they have had any damage as well.

That big freeze made the news in Australia, and a clump 35 years old succumbing to a freeze like that it must have been cold that’s for sure. I could image how you feel after 35 years, that’s a fair bit of gardening over 35 years!

I just found one in my neighborhood and knocked on the door to ask permission to take a picture. I ended up leaving with a huge cutting.

My potted one is technically in a 7 gallon pot but the roots say something different.

I had no idea they could match Ficus roxburghii in size. Here's one that may be larger: http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xFrEe4F73DE/T9_AoDQ43vI/AAAAAAAABfA/IKdG5ima_Z8/s1600/IMG_1145.JPG Was there a price tag? Hi 103˚, Lo 68˚