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I have visited Fairchild Tropical Garden in Miami FL many times but always enjoy seeing new additions and checking on “old friends”. This Sabinaria caught my attention especially since it looks untouched planted outside despite the recent cold spell here. I eagerly await mine growing big enough to show off the gorgeous leaf shape and color! Below are two different Kerriodoxa elegans. Rhino beetles in Puerto Rico love these so not sure if I will get any to trunking size. I am really looking forward to seeing them in habitat in Phuket Island.Thailand on the soon to start IPS post tour. Calyptrocalyx albertisianus is a fairly new addition to my own farm after I saw a beauty at Dean Ouer’s place in HI a few years ago. Here is one at FTG reminding me that they are likely to be much taller than my other more shrub size Calyptrocalyx. I am including a striking cycad that I wish I grew. Microcycas calocoma.

I took a pass through the butterfly collection and this papilio lowii posed for me. Pigafetta elata (I only saw one) seemed fine outside. I am down to 2 of these from 5 I grew from seed and planted out in PR. Another rhino beetle delicacy. I now have some seedling Pigafetta filaris (the white one) gifted to me by PR00360 from RPS seeds. Hoping I can get some to trunking size when my beetles seem to ignore them. Mine are at the very dangerous to touch stage but eventually the smooth trunk becomes huggable. This Calyptrocalyx hollrungii is much bigger than mine. Such a nice palm. Sommieria is another species I “met” at FTG many years ago and am so happy to now have in PR. Next some classic FTG views. Entrance to the conservatory:

I was able to force this color with 23 degrees but i don't think I’ll be able to maintain this look.

I gave this palm a fresh haircut and trim - i have to say that it looks amazing that way

Getting into a few seeds this week, you gotta keep sowing them if you want to grow them! And a nice haul of some dypsis baronii from the garden that shall be distributed around to a few IPS members, sharing the palm seed love around!

White triangle

Nice double roebelenii! I almost bought one too - $70 at the orange store, right? I settled instead for a $35 foxtail and a $10 Dypsis lutescens. I managed to get both in my Nissan (somehow).

Ok I shall settle the score and start a on the potting bench thread to appease the palm gods. So it is as follows, on the potting bench you shall see what’s been growing and what reds to be potted up, freshly germinated to anything else that needs to be potted, it shall be gor reference as seedling identification. If anyone wants to identify a seedling, and also as documentation of what and how the plants are growing for the palm talk audience and for my own documentation!

Hey y’all! Took a trip to the coast this weekend. Here’s a few palms I was tracking. A bottle palm in Port A and a few foxtails in Rockport/Fulton. Port A got down to 26F and Rockport got down to 24F along the waterfront which is where the Foxtail was. Nice Bismarkia in Port A as well. No damage whatsoever.

Amazing to get such great germination with a rare and exciting palm like this.

Chrysalidocarpus Basilongus

Wow some beautiful palms there, when I first got into gardening the Fairchild garden was one of my first OMG gardens that inspired me to get that tropical plant garden, looking up to that garden set me on my way to Palm addiction!

A few chamaedorea seeds on there way!chamaedorea plumosa chamaedorea adscendens chamaedorea metallica

I've cut a few and didn't find any embryos. Figured I'd sow a good handful of them to see if any of them sprout but so far none have.

@FlaPalmLover if it's easy to keep water out then it's a good idea. Conventional wisdom also says to avoid overhead sprinklers. Yet every single palm nursery on the planet uses big overhead sprinklers, at least until 10g or bigger sizes. They switch to drip lines with emitters or bubblers on 10 to 100g pots. If overhead sprinkling was a serious risk then they wouldn't do it...they'd be risking their livelihood on it. For sure I wouldn't intentionally spray water in the crown, but I doubt a bit of rain is a serious risk. Other people here suggested Daconil in the crown, partially because it stays tacky when it dries. So the mixture *might* stick around in the crown even with some rain. Honestly, as long as torrential rain doesn't wash into the crown, many (or most?) would stay in place. And a systemic (like Banrot or Aliette or others) is great when absorbed. Systemics may be slower though, I read a study somewhere that it could take 1 to 2 weeks to get from the soil to the crown. So I like the idea of the 2 step treatment. I did a soil drench of Banrot + Aliette on a few key palms like my mutant Elaeis, a couple big Arenga Pinnata, and several Attalea Brejinhoensis. Those were all seriously burnt and the frond stems were at least partially burnt towards the crown. So I figure both is a good choice. @junglejim welcome to PalmTalk! I had a couple of 1-2 year old Pandanus Utilis (I think), but both died after 27-30F frosts. They defoliated and started to regrow, but then caught a crown rot and died. So a good crown treatment (Daconil, hydrogen peroxide, Mancozeb, any copper-based, etc) and a systemic (Banrot, Aliette, others) is a good choice.

Members are beginning to arrive in Vietnam for the biennial. I received this photograph from longtime member and director Norman Bezona. Livistona halongesis in habitat from (where else) the limestone cliffs of Ha Long Bay

@PalmBossTampa Looks like you got a little too excited with the flamethrower!

Aside from being taller, from everything i've read, lowland form(s) are supposed to have numerous, smaller flowers per inflo compared to the higher elevation form(s) as well. Nice to get a full frame view of how the flowers look in comparison to the foliage regardless since maxima is on the " to acquire " list..

My experience I don’t have a green thumb like Scott royals grow great here you don’t need to worry about cold so much what you need to remember is we live in hell the heat and intense sun are much more of a problem than cold I have 2 Chambyronia they are on deep shade they don’t like heat I rarely get a red frond and they are Sloooooow so if they get any damage they are probably toast I haven’t had any luck with Beccariophoenix in full sun I have 4 in the ground in shade I have lost 3 that I had in sun a palm that I have been amazed at is the teddy bear it is in more sun than any of my tropical palms and grows quite fast!! I know you didn’t ask about it but mangoes grow great here just make sure you don’t get one that is grafted because if they do freeze grafted ones are usually toast ones that aren’t grafted come back from the roots!!

I like it. You're staying on topic rather than graphs, charts, statistical analysis and week long forecasts. Spring isn't far off. "What is your current yard temperature?"

I prefer it when the article arrives with the posting. If you think of it, perhaps you could do that? Thanks.

Maybe they could have sold them and had them removed intact. This seems like a stupid loss of a species that is slow growing... not 'invasive' material at all.

Upland or lowland form? One ..the upland form.. is supposedly easier to bloom / more adaptable than the form that grows at lower elevations ( Lowland form = Likes the same constantly warm / humid conditions that many other Catts from that elevation range in S.A. prefer ). Upland form is grown w/out too much trouble in the milder parts of CA, even in moderate amounts of sun, and can take temps down to about 38, if completely dry.

Sounds perfectly fine to me. This stuff happens in nature all of the time and nature has it's own way of sorting this stuff out.

Dypsis louvelli showing up the rest of the garden.

They are water hogs and love almost swampy conditions. The ones in metropolitan garden in Athens are huge, because they are benefited by the replaced water of the nearby duck pond.

A stroll around the slope today… mild winter and warm days between drizzle never hurt anyone…

@mrjc I just found this post

Cibolo TX Post Winter storm report: Temps in my neck of the woods hit 19F or 20F, with some freezing rain. As usual, I think the freezing precipitation was the bigger problem. C. radicalis with East Northeast exposure and partial overhead protection from the eave of the house. P. dactylifera was almost immediately dead. It was about 3 ft in overall height and very healthy going into this event. I covered it, but not until it was already wet. So it's spear pulled almost immediately after the freeze. It's leaves were brown within a few days. I cut the trunk down and there was no living tissue left, despite treating it with hydrogen peroxide within a couple of days of the ice. Butia took a little longer to show damage. It was covered with a large patio umbrella, but it blew off during the storm. It was a couple of weeks before the newest leaves started losing color. Spear pulled, and I have been treating it with H2O2 as well. No signs of a new spear yet. Even my S. mexicanas (No protection) have a leaf or two that have lost their color. This surprised me: My Washingtonia that grows like a weed looks pretty much perfect with no protection: Not all Washingtonians are created equal though. This is what another one just a couple of houses down from mine looks like: Small trachycarpus F x Ws took no damage with a bucket to cover them:

Dypsis basilonga seedlings looking good, somewhat a few years behind @Hilo Jason but they will get there.

I was able to stop by my old garden today and got these pictures of the parent plant. Much taller than it was about 18 months ago.

Calyptrocalyx hollrungii!

My verschaffeltia splendida gaining size and opening a new leaf. and my Areca macrocalyx starting to show some nice colour.

Interesting flowers on the Chambeyronia Macrocarpa . This is the first inflorescence so I’m not sure fruit will happen . Previous spathes would not open at all. Harry By the look of the crown shaft swelling , maybe more on the way.

The Aliens 👾 did it when they landed!

Took Sancho for a hike through the woods today and we saw some interesting tree growth --- I have no idea what would cause them to grow like this. Maybe they were wrapped around something years and years ago? Anyway, cool stuff.

Sharing the lowest temps my home station recorded. Just SE of Raleigh. 12.9F maximum low A few nights right at 15F (probably 3 in 2026)? And the December 15th low of 14.8 - I would argue to say this did more damage than anything. that low started burning Washingtonias, and they just have gone downhill since. My windmills, butias, chamaerops, and most all sabals are fine. I had a few small ones get burned up (I think) S. palmetto pictured on Feb 4th - 48 hours after 13F. The matches the lowest temp seen last year as well.

A lot of gardeners want colour in the their plants. And a lot of colourful plants are of tropical origin, and for this reason a lot won’t live in the cold climates, cool weather yes but cold you’re very limited to the super tropical stuff. But if you search around there out there.

Hey, just curious how the chapter start-ups are going? Feels like a sports league adding expansion teams Im rooting for you (pun intended)

Here's a hybrid Phoenix reclinata x roebelenii that I just germinated. Going into a 12" liner for the winter - after that we'll see...

Patiently waiting for the seed to mature

Will I have better luck with germination this time?

I am not in Cali but have a similar climate. My teddy bear has taken 2 heat waves and a few below 0c nights and nothing seems to bother it. Mine came in a 13cm wide pot and was only 30cm high when I planted it 2 years ago. The one in my old garden took 6 years to reach a metre in height. I think my furry baby is looking pretty good, apart from the lowest leaf which is about to fall off anyhow. Peachy

Just went out and took some pics. It appears I have two females and one male. I may have to help them along and see if I can get some fertile seeds. But I’m not really sure of the species even though I bought them as falcifera. They appear identical to a picture listed on the Pacsoa website as falcifera.

A couple more….. Tim

Not a great pic unfortunately, only one I got =/

This will be my new setting. White pine, red spruce, and Frasier fir are pretty common there.

I got a Chamaedorea falcifera from a San Jose Nursery. It looks like a multi-trunked Ch. Oblongata with darker leaves.

Last one. V. joannis. Another beautiful species, pendant leaves are the feature. The crownshaft not near as nice as V. arecina in my opinion. Growth pretty much the same as V. arecina. (this spell check is driving me nuts, gonna have to check into that) Hard to get a good photo of this one, but it's finally starting to have a presence. Tim