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Agreed. Here, they are as fast as Archontophoenix cunninghamiana if the starting line is from the beginning of trunking. My tallest was planting either at the end of 2010 or beginning of 2011 from a 7 gallon pot. I didn't find planting photos, but I did find a photo from about 3 years after planting it as we began demolition for a remodel and addition to the house. The updated photos are best taken from the street outside our yard, since I can't get good photos of it now without other palms in the foreground blocking a significant portion of it. The only thing faster to get tall in my yard has been the Chrysalidocarpus leptocheilos and pembanus. I found one more photo of the Chambeyronia (Kentiopsis) oliviformis from the outside of the garden in late 2014, with the tips of the leaves just barely visible from the street from a similar perspective to one of my current photos of it.

With winter practically over the garden faired well. A very mild winter to say the least.

About $1/lb for the thieves. They can do up to 1000 lbs/day per person.

6 acres of land and about 2.5 acres is taken by the garden. The garden is about 30 years old. Iam currently expanding the garden and renovating it along with doing the understory.

My Brahea decumbens is more than 10 years old. Originally from Phil/JM. Red pruning shears added for scale. I suspect it would be more blue if it got more sun. ☀️

6 years between the before and after shots of my larger C oliviformis.

Heterospathe barfordi, young new leaf showing a bit of colour.

Chucking a few more seeds in, this lot a gift from a palmtalk member, carpoxylon macrospermum. All were floaters so I decided to crack them open. With only one dead seed and the rest all good to go!

Little licuala triphylla with a few seeds, iguanura wallachiana var major seedling. And a nice Sabal mauritiformis.

Pinanga declinata east of Kon Tum

Pinanga Kontumensis east of Kon Tum

Lanonia gialaiensis east of Kon Tum

Cool. I don’t know what those spines are. The fruit in these pindo seeds was impressive. They are everywhere in every apartment complex here in Charleston. Also my friend just gave me way too many Washingtonia seeds.

Hi! I visited Orlando this weekend and oh my lord! I found lots of palms it was cool the place I stayed at had lots of palms and natives like Saw palmetto and Sabal Palmetto. There was also some pretty Naturalized Queens that weren’t planted here’s a few of the place I took today! Ima post more including Leu Gardens which is crazy! It has Palms that shouldn’t be in that 10a/9b place in Winter Park. I think the heavy tree cover helps some of those things survive. They also might take other measures.

My Brahea edulis - this is growing really well here: The Brahea armata at Lake Wire:

We have thousands planted in municipal parks, near highways in medians and shoulders, and throughout nature preserves. Within weeks of maturing, the plants will be stripped bare of every berry by poachers. A few of us that have mature specimens on our property have had to chase poachers off private property.

That’s the one dont give your day job, that’s one reason I still have my job, and one that is working with plants is even better. I just wish there was more hobby growers around, it’s fun going on trip to get plants you don’t have and the joy of not knowing what you will get in a knew plant for the garden. Iam happy having my hobby collection and working just for the man so to speak, I don’t see my hobby stressing me out like the boss at work does over his business. Not only that my hobby doesn’t make me work all day and it’s at my own pace that’s enjoyable. My job pays the bills and as you say puts food on the table, my hobby gives me joy and happiness and I know which one I would prefer, give me pslms any day, a good day plant shopping is better than a good day’s work anytime! Richard

Here’s my Brahea super silver and my son with a less than thrilled look on his face. Still no inflorescence or even an attempt.

Brahea armata

six years later my smallest one, planted as a 3 gallon in 2010(?) It was defoliated to the spear in 28F plsu frost in dec 2010 so yeah a setback. It has seen 3 hurricanes the last 8 years but it is small palm in my yard of ~30 footers so not much damage. The tall ringed poles are two other C. Oliviformis I can get in the two closest taller ones with a 17mm wide angle(cropped frame) lens, the pic is a bit squished but you get the idea. The next pic you can see the little one from the first pic center back. Then if I back off 80 feet I can see the crowns over the house. Sorry about the raindrop on the lens there, we may be getting lucky with rain soon, fingers crossed.

If you look really close at the palms with the sign you can see they actually have some sabal minor and palmetto rare types! I have never seen a variegated Palmetto In person I thought that was so cool! They also had sabal Brazoria and for example things like blountstown dwarf minor. Again what I loved about Leu gardens is how they take advantage of the live oaks to use as a microclimate to grow palms I thought couldn’t grow in this zone! When you get out of the city areas where they only plant date palms palmettos and queens rarely in the town, seeing how many palms can actually grow in Orlando is crazy. (I thought only sugar palms and other things besides the regular would do well there. Also chamaedora or whatever. Could also tell some things did get damaged in winter I know this winter in Orlando was hard. But everything seemed to pull through!

Here’s my youngster.

Of my three, this one’s the first to recently show a trunk ring.

Kentiopsis Oliviformis opened a new leaf today. Compared to some others on here, it looks to be more stretched out. It has no rings of trunk yet but it’s 10ft+ to the top of the frond. -dale

My (4) Kentiopsis are fruiting for 3-6 years now and some spots under them are wet and shady enough for volunteers. Overall height I estimate at 22-32' tall. They still are a few leaves short(~3-4) of a full crown(10-12 leaves) after Milton stripped them 18 months ago. Some have currently green fruits that will turn red in a couple months if restrictions are lifted and we can get them watered. They are water lovers, maybe its better they have less leaves in a drought. Trouble free palms that add the dark green crownshafts and leaves for a complementary look to the other crownshafts. These do like their Mg, K to stay that darker green color. I dust them along with my cuban copernicias with langbeinite every year and fertilize with florikan palm osmotic release fertilizer. They are so tall, I have to crank my neck to look at the crowns these days. They do provide some good filtered shade for the C. macrocarpas I have under them.

Looking good Richard. They’re pretty fast down here. Maybe there’s not enough warmth for them up there 🤣 Here’s 8 years of growth from a very nearly dead seedling I managed to transplant from a garden before it died. Glad I did.

Here is one of mine with fruits. Just took the pictures. Sorry, it's a bit dark.

Florida's next big crop? Sales pitch writes itself: " Protecting your Prostate, ...in the Sunshine state " 🙃🤣 ....In all seriousness though.. After ..years.. of seeing it marketed, on store shelves, etc, intrigued that there is still a demand for it since many legit studies into Saw Palmetto's effectiveness are highly questionable / uncertain. ..At least with other herbal things, like Ginsing, and / or Senna ( Usually Senna alata ..or Cassia fistula extracts ) there is ..pretty certain.. ( ...I'll leave some room for reasonable questioning of either plant's " benefits" ) evidence of each supplement's positive effectiveness.

The super rare draceana goldieana! Absolutely gorgeous plants to have in the garden. Slow growing though.

this is the downside of C. oliviformis, slow recovery from cold events. They are also slow when small. After trunking they pick up some speed.

Heat is on thing iam used to, although it may be subtropical my climate, it can be unbearable in summer with temperatures reaching 42 degrees celcius and the humidity we get can be like the tropical climate. As discussed before you can never really water enough with a hose, it just seems to keep everything alive in those conditions that you describe. Spend all day watering in the heat and then do it again the next day. I enjoy seeing the other gardens on palm talk, some real beautiful gardens out there in the world and some great gardeners as well. I learn a lot from seeing other gardens and talking with gardeners you learn even more about plants and gardening. Won’t be long you will be in winter and cursing the cold weather damaging your new palms , the palm growers enemy hot and cold too much of it either way and the plants suffer. Richard

Nice photos , I really enjoy your virtual garden tours . My reprieve from our current weather condition. I am hoping our weeks long heat wave softens a bit so I can do a bit more time in our garden . It seems , by the time I get the watering done , it is just too hot and muggy to work. Some of our palms are starting to show signs of heat stress . The humidity , which we are not used to , is exhausting. The lack of “cool down” at night is very unusual for us. Thank you for the visual break. Harry

I checked my photo archive and only have one photo of one! Here's a Chamaedorea hooperiana growing not too far from you at SFBG.

The taitungensis putting out an end of winter flush.

The good old lepidozamia peroffskyana about to drop seeds.

They look great!!! I have some Copernicia Baileyana, Livistona Alfredii, Cuban Hat Palm, Hyphaene Thebaica, Hyphaene Coriacea, Phoenix Reclinata and some Brahea Armada popping up!! I will post some pics shortly!! Your yard looks fantastic!!

Best of last night's very hot n' monsoon season moody, end of Summer Lunar Eclipse, the last total / near - total Lunar Eclipse we'll see in the U.S. until ..June 25 - 26th, 2029 ( Will progressing thru totality as the moon rises here in AZ )

Thanks for the info. I never knew there was value in these seeds beyond palmtalk members. Lol

Yep. In Florida, it is illegal to harvest saw palmetto seeds without a permit and the signed landowners permission in your possession. aztropic Mesa, Arizona

The hobby growers here can move palms and sales are up and down . I don’t have the space or time for it but I would be happy doing occasional sales on “home grown” palms . I am in a great area for it , plenty of potential , but only as a side line. I love going down to my favorite jungle for a palm quest . Quite the drive but well worth it , from what I hear , others feel the same way ! Dave has the perfect personality and very good knowledge with a great selection . I never know what I will end up coming home with. I don’t want to discourage folks from pursuing their dream , that is not my intent. I certainly would’ve been better off staying in a job with benefits but I built my wee shop and stuck it out. My wife supported me and we have done ok . A house on the hill , food on the table , and I love what I do. It don’t get no better than that. Harry……..OH!! And a nice palm collection.🌴😄 Sunrise over beautiful Santa Paula , California!

I always read with interest your posts on what you are growing in your shade house and the lengths you go as a hobbyist to obtain different varieties. I sometimes wish I lived on the East coast so I could have access to the many palms that are more freely available. Here in Perth the selection of varieties is very limited, but when I first started collecting in the 1980's there were many collectors like you Richard, and the quarantine rules were not as strict as they are now in Western Australia. In the last few years I have tried to obtain seed as this seems to be the only way to get new species here in the West as Jayce from Perth has indicated. As a long standing member of the Western Australian Palm and Cycad Society I have tried to grow palms from seed and make available some different varieties that I sell at the societies annual events. Because of the lack of varieties available through retail providers, I have the same issues regarding what is a fair price considering the effort and time required to grow different specimens because buyers are unaware of the rarity of the palms I have and what is a reasonable price. While my offerings are very small in comparison to your operation Richard, I have a limited, but wide selection of about 40 palm species for sale that are not found in Perth nurseries. The attached photos show my shade house where I raise many of my seedlings and my heating beds for germinating seeds using mainly the "baggy" method. I sell my seedlings from between $5 and $20 and more mature plants for various prices. Many of these are cheap by most standards but palms are not as popular in Perth as they were and the price needs to be realistic for newbies to take a chance on growing them. I have some satisfaction in growing these other species, especially "zone pushing" more tropical species and making them available to our members and the general public, as well as providing extra funds for the palm society through a selling commission. It will never cover my costs but the reason for doing it comes down to a hobby I enjoy and wanting to share with others. Russell

Thanks for sharing, friend Richard. Those palm trees look very exotic.

Here is my 5 gallon Attlelea cohune from FB that went in the ground in 2015. Still no trunk despite heavy fertilizer over the years. I almost never cut off an old frond. Not sure how that works. The specimen that Tim showed above will get another visit by the Hawaii Island Palm Society in two months. We will tour Davis Dalbok's beautiful Mahonu Garden in Opihikao assuming they didn't suffer any serious hurricane damage. I'm guessing 13 years growth will have produced an even more impressive specimen.

Pretty much warm afternoon sun . The courtyard is sort of boxed in a bit so it gets warm but sees morning and late afternoon shade . Full sun from about 1-3 in the afternoon. Harry

@Jim in Los Altos @Darold Petty Thank you, gentlemen! I’m looking forward to seeing how many seeds I get from it.

I actually occasionally remove inflorescence on my Rhopies because I have so many volunteers coming up when I allow the fruit to develop and drop. I’m allowing some of the volunteers to grow where they’ve sprouted in different parts of the garden and I’ve potted up some too but I otherwise don’t need them fruiting all the time. I wish I could tell you what caused yours to break away. I’ve not seen that happen before but you will most assuredly have many more spathes opening in the future. Good to see you already have a new one! One year old volunteer

I know that feeling that happened to my Hedyscepe this week very disappointing