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Hey y’all, I had a question. I’ve had this palm for probably 12 years. A great grower, looks good all the time, almost no burned leaves ever. A few years ago, it began flowering. A little sporadically at first, but now it’s to the point where every leaf base has a flower spathe underneath. The upshot is that it flowers like crazy, millions of little flowers falling, all throughout the year. But absolutely no fruit has ever developed. Any thoughts is what might be causing this? It just looks and grows so dang good in every other way, it’s hard to believe that it’s missing nutrients. Thanks in advance!

🙂

Encephalartos Trispinosis 2-Leaf flush. Super cool how it starts yellowish / pink, then turns purple and finally blue when it gets its farina or sunscreen. -dale

Put it out, still in the pot, where you’re considering planting it. Then keep an eye on it and see if it starts to burn. If it does you’ll still be able to harden it off.

'Tis the season in the Northern Hemisphere. Progress on a little Encephalartos arenarius and the two single lesf pups on a seedling Encephalartos horridus × woodii backcrossed with another identical hybrid.

sometimes it helps to climb up there and sniff the flowers. If they smell like Cheetos and Pepsi then that might be the problem. Please let us know what you discover.

Any idea what this Dioon is? Any enthusiasts opinion would be greatly appreciated.

That’s the one sandy soil is the trick for winter with palms, if you have sandy soil your winter advantage is up it warms up faster!

Iam sure I have a bit colour in the garden somewhere!

As a quick follow up... after i crudely hacked it down with a machete and threw it in the burn pile and quit watering it, i was surprised to find mine growing back from the ground. I admit I'm not keeping it there because for some strange reason I planted a lot of seeds last spring. But an interesting twist.

Kerriodoxa elegans

Ptychosperma schefferi

An often-pruned Japanese Fern Tree, Filicium decipiens. They are usually left to grow wider to create a very thick hemispherical crown, but that one is pruned regularly to create a ball... almost like a standard. Ryan

A full monty photo and details of the leaflets at different points along the rachis will be helpful to get an answer. I can't think of any Dioons with a caudex that fat. The caudex looks more like an Encephalartos. That is why leaflet details are important.

Just snapped these pics just now. Seeding for the first time. Definitely faster in sun than shade. She gets sun all day now.

Steve, That's why I come to this forum; for out-of-the-box thinking like that. I'll be renting some climbing spikes on the way home, so stay tuned.. 😑 Bret

Has the the community finally reached a consensus about readiness to and frequency of hybridization between the spp? In the past several biologists and horticulturists (e.g. D Jones) shared the opinion that there are around too many hybrids within the genus. Others however support rather the notion of polymorphism within the various spp. Which option does modern trend incline to? Can you share here any personal experience?

Are the B. edulis still available?

That is crazy. one of mine flowered for the first time only after having about 6-7 feet for clear trunk. My other one I got at the exact same time and exact same size was planted in full shade and grew a lot slower. and is now in full sun but about half the size and hasn't tried to flower year at all.

Latania loddigesii at Four Arts:

yeah rain is the biggest factor here for growth rate. Dry soil means the palm cannot feed normally. Nutrient uptake requires moisture, osmotic effects come to a standstill in dry soil. SO when your soil dries out after watering, feeding drops off. I measure growth by spear height changes, I dont mark spears. RIght now its been dry here so the spears are not moving much. My teddy's have been the easiest to see the difference over the past 2 years, they have added about 6' of height before the water restrictions hit. Everything in my yard has come to a crawl with very little rain and once a week watering. If you have clay soil, you're lucky to have it these days. I will put down another ton of turface MVP after this drought is over. It seems to make plants and palms more drought resistant.

I tried the Masafati dates. They have a very rich flavor, more like a caramel or a toffee. They are a variety from Iran.

If you want that tropical exotic look than look no further than platycerium!

Bit of a Cold War hey! 🤣

@Than go for it my ones endure temperatures up to 40 degrees Celsius that are absolute scorching hot days and the hot north winds are brutal. Provided you have shade and as you say humidity from watering it should be ok. For a little extra effort in your climate the rewards are worth it!

And a few Cerotazamia seeds from @palmtreesforpleasure have made an appearance. Even a couple of eBay varieties the Stangeria and cycas tuckeri. It pays to shop around!

What’s been popping up on the heat mats. Some interesting varieties coming up and a few late arrivals. Mostly imported seeds, but a few local varieties a big thank you to @tim_brissy_13 for the trackycarpus varietys.

Five top palms for any collection. Left to right, licuala ramsayi, Chambeyronia macrocarpa,Ravenna glauca, dictyosperma album and ptychosperma elegans!

Next time you’re having a BBQ, or grill as you call them. Wrap up bananas with a piece of bacon 🥓. No iam not. Canadian but when i showed them this one in Canada they loved it. Just try it @DoomsDave you will love it a very Australian thing!

Chamaedorea klotzshciana loving the shade.

I would most likely say schefferi!

You might not want to remove it so quickly, unless of course you just don't like its position and wanted to get rid of it anyway. In my experience when this thing is happy and in heat and sun, it grows like a rocketship. You can take advantage of the fact that it has a large established root-system, far larger than your seedlings will have of course, and that's what will give it the power to overtake any seedling you might want to use in its stead. They can grow six feet a year under good conditions (mine did the year after I planted it here in the low desert). Just pick a leader out of those "feelers" once they get a little bigger, and go with it. Nobody will ever know anything ever happened...

Been trying to determine if mine is P schefferi or P lauterbachii but these seeds confirm P schefferi do they not?

Greetings they are a fantastic palm to grow. I have a native grove of archontophoenix Cunninghamiana growing on my property in the creek line. With terracotta pots you can paint the inside with wood glue or a paving sealant it reduces the water loss. By all means place your palm in a tray you will soon notice roots coming out drinking water. Fear not they love water

@Maddox Gardening-youtube Has your area gotten any rain?

True, but it could have chosen a nice new red or purple leaf for that flaw. 🤣 Richard

Ridiculously over pruned Acoelorraphe wrightii at Four Arts:

I think the Ernie will stay in the pot for now , I don’t know how long , as it is faster growing than I thought. This was the first one I got from @DoomsDave and it is a fast grower but needs full shade. The Syagrus S. looks like it is shade grown and I was thinking about a nice full sun position in the courtyard but it may burn badly and they are so slow growing here that it will look bad for a few years or longer , hmmm. Harry🤔

The Schizophylla is a tough palm anywhere for that one, the Ernie a nice little corner in the shade. Richard

This plant was acquired as an Encephalartos arenarius blue form hybrid. The male cones look like horridus cones in color. Right now it is pushing flushes on the main caudex plus two pups, one of which is a new pup. It's largest pup was my last Encephalartos flush of the 2025 autumn season, so it is probably building energy still.

@DoomsDave great choice 😊🥂 To be clear ćevapčići are Bosnian dish in origin but they are prime dish in any grill party in this part of Europe. Honestly my favourite combo is with some cooked leafy greens with cooked potatoes and fried egg aside but most people just stuff them in pita bread add some diced red onions and some Ajvar. Balkan fast food style. In Bosnia they serve it with yogurt but here the beer is first option This video is how we prepare most veggies for side dish

The darker the light the better they get that deep metal green. They definitely dislike sun. Richard

It’s been a very busy spring at work. My time in the garden is limited, but I’ve made a lot of progress. Replaced some species that died this winter. Giving another go at some. Adding in a lot of non-palm variety. It now 2 full years since the install of the palmetto and windmills. They have grown a ton and the windmills are finishing their flowers. The protected robustas are growing out well. My butia spear pulled its first winter and is now pushing out new green. Jabutia is pushing out new growth, and continues to be a crowd-pleaser. It still gets a little more shade than I’d like, but is adjacent to a main walkway. And gets commented on all the time.

The Cordia sebestena which I am aware here in Port Isabel/South Padre Island look like that as well now after one short night at 30-31f with 30mph winds. The Cordia dodecandra (a similar Central American species) which I planted last summer look much better. There was some damage to 60/70% of foliage, but most still have some green. Those that were fried have already dropped and new leaves are sprouting. I am hopeful this will be a more than adequate substitue for C. sebestena here as they are only marginally hardy at best in my area. Anyone else trying C. dodecandra? My apologies if I am hijacking the thread.

Another great thing about these palms is the quiet cool tolerant this one is seeing temperatures around 3 degrees Celsius and the others in the greenhouse 2 degrees Celsius. At first I was growing them in the hothouse over winter and that was a mistake with the lack of humidity it gave me nothing but trouble now they are fine out of that environment, they just need a shaded place with humidity and a standard greenhouse is fine for that.

That’s the one they love humidity and water. I used to panic about m6 ones keeping them in a hothouse for winter protection big mistake to much dry air in ther3 and really hard to control the exac5 environment they require so out in the greenhouse in cool place for my ones. Not sure if I will ever plant them in the ground time will tell. But apparently they take the cold but not dry air. You have a nice looking one was in a six inch container before planting?

Here is a small Atrovirens I just planted this past weekend here in Oakland, CA. I have it underneath a king palm and a Kentia palm for full shade all day. Here's hoping it settles in and does well!

Thanks Tim now i have to remember another palm!