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E tegulaneus

Oleracea!

Some blueberries on the dreadlocks. Also my breakfast raspberry substitute fresh off the guava tree. Yellow.

Tried my male C woodsoniana on my female C oblongata for a couple of years with zero success. Then gave the C woodsoniana pollen a go on C costaricana and yielded 5 seeds. 3 wimpy seedlings resulted, of which only 1 has survived. Think it must be pushing the limit of compatibility. I also gave the pollen a go on C tepejilote and also had no luck.

Yes , that was the assumption, the opening leaf confirmed! Harry

It may only be one seed on this dypsis species, but a great sign for better things to come, it will set seeds!

There like a chamaedorea on steroids, nice palms! Richard

I think we went with Arenga to start off with?

Yes , it looks like Roystonia , they do well out there if they get enough water. Harry

Nice experiment regardless Tracy.. It just adds to the collective knowledge. I tried crossing a male Chamaedorea woodsoniana with a female tepilijote last year, thinking it would be a slam dunk. Nature had other ideas, not one seed. Later on, I got him together with a woodsoniana girl next door and.. hundreds of seeds. I can live with that..

Was checking on the progress of some Iriartea seed and noticed they were beginning to germinate. The embryonic leaf, cotyledon, is cute as a ‘button.’ The one seed in the group already has a ‘radicle’, the embryonic root. Just some FYI. This palm is a beast. Tim

I recently moved to Cyprus and found this one in Paphos today. not sure it has been posted before but it seems like it is growing well.

VThe garden is holding up to the usual winter weather not a problem 2 degrees celcius this morning, and iam sure the low lying areas in the valley most certainly would have seen a very white ice blanket on the ground possibly even a minus degree reading somewhere.

Spring is only another 5weeks away, now is the danger time for any of the new plantings, so far so good with only one palm taking a bit of burn.

I haven’t been watering the garden, trying not too wet the foliage. In the morning would be the best time for waterings, but with plenty of rainfall the garden doesn’t need it.

Iam quite surprised at this glorious beauty of a palm taking quite cool temperatures down to 2 degrees celcius. The 4 young palms are doing great and the recently pacsoa purchased flowering one is not fased at all by the cool conditions. What they don’t like is hot dry conditions, the more humidity the better. I do know they are water loving palms and the more the better, I sit them in shallow trays of water pretty well much all year long. One gorgeous palm, will I ever plant one in garden not too sure they are that rare, and my climate does suffer drought conditions, i could irrigate but the day I forget to water would not be a good outcome!

Caryota mitis, catching the afternoon far red spectrum.

And a trifecta of chamaedoreas!

A nice trio of kerriodoxas!

Roystonia Oleracae are not as robust as Regia . They are a smaller palm with a more slender trunk. They can get big , mine is , but the fronds won’t cause near as much damage when they fall. A bit more cold sensitive than Regia. Harry

The soil originally came from an area near dog kennels (a puppy farmer) I was suspect at the start of receiving the soil by the smell of it. So gosh knows what kinda sour soil I got and what pathogens were in it. Having already had trouble in that part of the garden led me to think sour soil. Time will tell, I don’t think it’s Phytophera but whatever it is it’s not good!

This monkey’s going to heaven 🤣

Dave, I have 60 3 year old Sabal miamiensis seedlings in bands on the side yard like the trashy elitist east coast trash that they are, waiting to get sold on ebay. I just have to list them first. Major catch-22. I have about 80 dypsis onilahensis seedlings in a community pot that probably should have been out of a community pot like a year ago....

Thanks Richard and Harry. I've placed it in my warm shadehouse so will see and hope she recovers. 🤞

Cycas debaoensis was pollinated with C tropophylla x C mitcholitzi to create this hybrid. I grew out several plants and chose a unique pair for breeding. Father has a nice plumose leaf and mother has a unique metallic green / blue leaf. Leaves can be undulated (ruffled) tripinnate (or sometimes bi-pinnate). These are 2026 1 leaf seedlings with a soild root system. Plants are ready to push a new leaf. Shipped in pot UPS 3 day select. $30 ea shipping $18 paypal accepted Pictures of parent plants and seedlings available.

50/50 on that one @Jonathan you could grow kiwi fruit, but as for coconuts. I think you should try at least just to show us your refrigerator grow skills!

Here’s the duo of both varieties, slow in my climate, water lovers and Iam surprised they have taken temperatures as low as 2 degrees celcius. Both varieties planted in the ground and rostrata seems to be wining the race in growing the best.

I didn't have any stormy weather at my house yesterday but it did start to rain around 4:30 and continued for at least 2 hours. It was light steady rain, the kind that really soaks in. The closest county rain gauge read 0.5". This is my 3rd summer here and the first that I'm getting rain, its really awesome.

Hydriastele splendida living up to its name. Tim

Calyptrocalyx albertisianus popped a new leaf. Blue sky……a rarity lately. Tim

My experiment in using the Ravenea julietiae pollen on my Ravenea glauca female flowers failed to produce any seed. I will have to wait for one of my other Ravenea julietiae to hopefully turn out to be a female or for a friend nearby to have a female. Here is the Ravenea glauca female inflorescence I tried pollinating.

The Gaussia I recently adopted from @DoomsDave is happy , I guess. It just opened a new frond. Enjoying the tropical weather we are getting here. It sure got my attention this morning as we are having our coffee . Harry This little corner on our patio seems to be a great holding area for new acquisitions!

Kentiopsis are very slow growing at that stage so it’s gonna take a while to see any results . Here , in my garden , only about one good frond a year in the juvenile stage . Shade and a lot of faith for that one. Good luck. Harry

It’s suffered a bit already, I suggest leave it alone in a well protected area, that is on the dry side. It looks like it’s suffered overwatering. Let it recover then repot it. Or if you’re willing to risk it wash the soil away with a soft hosing. Then repot in a much smaller container and by the looks of it a 70mm tube. A good drainage mix for the medium and don’t overwater it, and only attempt this in the warm months. Dont fertilise it, just let it rest.

Syagrus nuts are almost as big as my own. No pores on these.

The cones continue to develop on this Encephalartos munchii. It is the first time it has coned, so I was curious about which sex it would be.

More lost time stuff. Crape myrtles are blooming and I'm honestly a little disappointed that my Colocasia Redemption doesn't match. Every woman I've ever dated is like a croton. When all is right, they're happy. One thing goes wrong and they go psycho. Decapitated Golden Crocodile.. I thought i took pics of my alocasia Dark Star and Yellow Dragon. I guess not. Here's a regal shield.

This Cycas is now hardening the flush I posted a few weeks back. The leaflets don't start until about 5 feet up the rachis.

Added note to the above - the other negative side of hybridisation is perhaps the case of Chrysalidocarpus. We have a genus with many palms endangered in habitat or even extinct in the wild unable to be found again. Then we have many mystery species and/or hybrids in cultivation. It kind of blurs the lines with some of the hybrids out there and makes everything that bit more confusing. On the flip side, most of the hybrids in that genus are pretty interesting and some, if not most, end up sterile so often the genetic line ends with them (unless cross pollinated with another…and the confusion continues 🤣).

I’ve had the same decision to make. In general my thinking has been that if I only have a male of one species and a female of another, then why not try. Essentially it will be hybrids palms produced or nothing. There’s not really any cost to doing it if it doesn’t replace pure species. For example, I have a lonely Chamaedorea woodsoniana male. I have a Chamaedorea costaricana, oblongata and hooperiana females but no males of those species. I’ve been hand pollinating just to learn what works with what. I have 3 male Chamaedorea klotzschiana and a female so I don’t include these in any experiments and instead focus on isolating to produce pure seed. Perhaps if any of the species in consideration were critically endangered then maybe there’s a deeper debate, especially if the endangered palm is female and it’s worth trying to source male pollen somehow even internationally to continue the pure genetics. But in this case R glauca Isalo are spread around the globe fairly well and in no immediate danger so I don’t see what harm its doing by trying. Ravenea have been known to hybridise so you might end up with something interesting that inspires new collectors who ultimately contribute to palm conservation. I’m thinking of Tribears, Mules etc being introductory palms for people who then go on to become serious collectors and conservationists. That’s just my 2 cents on the topic but I’m happy to hear everyone else thought as it is a controversial topic for which I’ve heard arguments on both sides.

Returning to the original topic lol. Here are some "Yellow Raquis" specimens from around our old Palm Grove. I went out looking today and saw quite a few very distinct specimens with these features, I found a male and female pair, but didn't look like the female has ever produced fruit, all flowers seem aborted. I have tried pollinating the female to try and get seed. The male: The female: A frond from the female: My pollination attempt lol:

Tim, that is one cool looking, unusual palm. Never seen that one before, thanks for posting!