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A Kliene update. 17C 12/31/2025 @ 2:31pm I pray everyone is well. Here's my update. May God bless you all. God willing next year, I won't be a stranger. (It took me a lot longer to rotate the video than it was to record it) Happy New Year! new year 2026.mp4

Never noticed until today that this palm makes butterfly shapes in the leaves…in first pic

Seeing as we're at the end of 2025, I am posting the current condition of my coco-test here in the Palm Springs area. I see I never posted one at the end of last year, mea culpa. So I'll bring it up to date. Of my newer specimens, only one was a new type...the large "football cocos" from Kanoa Hawai'i received in April 2024 that I noted above. It grew from a nut with eophyll to a six-foot plant in one season, absolutely beautiful and amazing, but during last winter the central spear started to dry out..followed out by the whole plant. So...strike-out on that one... In spring of 2024 I added another Jamaican Tall (sold as a Panama from the same source as the others, Let's Grow Florida), planted in a protected jungle glade under canopy, facing southeast but under quite dark but slightly dappled shade most of the time. I've labeled this one as aff. Jamaican No. 3. This I planted next to the spot I had placed the now-dead "giant football" Cocos, but this one has thrived and has excellent appearance. The older aff. Jamaicans No. 1 and 2 have done well. Very similar to the other two I have in an adjacent area under slightly more sunlight. All of these have good appearance now, a couple did throw a stunted leaf after their first winter but I think this has lessened now. All of these coconuts put on about 3-1/2 leaves this past season. The supposed red spicata I purchased from Eureka Farms in Miami has much better appearance this year, and also put on 3-1/2 leaves or so this year. This one really does not want the strong horizontal sun during heat waves in fall. The two leaves facing that direction did yellow from this exposure, however, the other large leaf, which faces north, looks perfectly healthy. I added another red spicata this last summer and it is not yet planted, though I have it in more sun, southeast exposure, in the general area I plan to plant it this coming spring. It looks a little ragged after being grasshopper food for a while, exposure to sun from its probable greenhouse origins, etc. So I will photograph that one in 2026 once I have it in place. All in all, I can say that these two varieties have persisted and seem to be improving in appearance and show no real upset with winter cold or lots of shade. In fact, they really look much better in a good amount of shade. Perhaps (and this I will test with the newer spicata) conditioning in more sun during summer will prevent the sun-scorch that the spicata has shown in fall. Current photos taken within the last month: Presumed Jamaican talls: aff. Jamaican No. 1: aff. Jamaican No. 2: aff. Jamaican No. 3 (planted spring 2024): Red Spicata No. 1:

Coccothrinax ‘Azul’ - Almost looks chrome in the afternoon sun

2 pics from yesterday and 2 from today. I love this dypsis Mt. something or other

The guys above explained it very well. If or when you go to both places you can feel the difference in the air. A winter day of 80f in south Florida isn't the same as 80f in San Diego. Here in San Diego we are way drier and our night drastically swing. When we do get cold in winter (upper 50s and lower 60s during g the day and 30s to 40s at night) it's common for it to stick around for weeks if not well over a month. In Florida when they dip into those temps it might only be for a day or two and there quickly warms back up. My biggest heart breaker is Areca vestiaria, they never die from one cold event but rather the long cool winter slowly kills them right before it starts to warm back up.

I transplanted this slow growing Sabal uresana back in March. It didn't like sitting in water so I reluctantly dug it out. After replanting it sat doing nothing for 6 months before it finally started growing again. Here it is today - finally pushing a new spear.

Happy New Year's Everyone. Let's hope for a great growing season and a great year! Cheers

Interesting what your take is on those Pacific Talls from Let's Grow Florida. I bought and imported two of those coconuts and I am growing them here in Southern Greece. Green Malayans Dwarfs are grown to about 1.5 - 2m in a massive greenhouse up in the Netherlands and sold as temporary landscaping / temporary houseplants all over Europe in large quantities. Ikea sells (we finally get an Ikea here on my island this spring) what appears to be a Yellow Malayan Dwarf and, somehow, examples of these are managing to make it through multiple Mediterranean winters - even colder ones than mine. We were supposed to go to Jamaica October 30th and I had plans to bring back a Jamaican Tall and a couple of Maypans but the vacation got cancelled when Melissa struck 2 days before, so we ended up in Thailand instead. It would be nice to have had a Jamaican Tall and been able to compare to what I have from Let's Grow Florida - I've been to Jamaica several times but never really paid that much attention to coconut shapes until recently. That said, I am extremely pleased with whatever these two cocos are as they happliy take full sun during our hot and arid summers (>45C / 113F) and came out remarkably green and intact compared to the sun-battered and yellowed Green Malayans Dwarfs I've been playing with over the years. I've only recently been able to get the dwarfs through winter by keeping them in pots and giving them shade in the summer and full sun in the winter, with the intention of putting them into the ground when they can take the sun. Though, I'm not sure the dwarfs ever will. They really are wimps. Our winter has been warmer than usual. We have had daily highs of >20C (68F) up until about 3 days ago. I marked the spears for the first time on all three cocos last Monday and was surprised they all put on some growth since then. My Malayan Green pushed its' spear about 1 cm (.4 inches) but the Talls only pushed about 2 or 3mm. In summer time, the Talls clearly grew at a faster rate than my dwarf. Coconut diversity is definitely the key to finding a coconut that works with a particular climate. Only this spring I learned I can bring coconuts into the European Union without any need for pytosanitary certificates, so I want to get my hands on as many different varietie as possible. When spring comes and I am sure there is no chance of coconuts freezing to death waiting to change planes up in Frankfurt, I will be bringing a bit more variety of cocos from India. An exporter there sells sprouted coconuts for 0.15 eur each. Looks like he gathers all extras from farmers in his area and, as you can see, there seeems to be no lack of diversity:

I’ve just joined here this year and found it to be a great source of knowledge plus experience to fuel my own drive. I’ve been collecting for 20 years but kinda put my hobby on hold while my kids grew. They are teens now and accompany me to palm society meetings. Great folks and we stick to plants as conversation (which i really appreciate). I don't often scroll the topics but rather i see Palmtalk posts when I’m google searching to learn about new species. I have great optimism that at least 100 species can survive long term where i live and perhaps more than you think will survive in Oviedo.. I agree not all post are for me and i contribute when i think it can add value. If i see pessimism about a species i wish to share success stories that I’ve had. Not to brag but to model determination and patience needed sometimes. I sometimes see folks say ‘Don’t waste your time’ as a reply to questions about zone, etc. and this reminds me of typical social media where i don't care to spend time. I think to myself , don't waste YOUR time discouraging someone who’s a curious learner😊 Feel free to check in with me if you have species that you are questioning. I dont mind sharing what i know. In my service i visit from Orlando to Sarasota to Spring Hill so i see what going on with palms over a pretty wide area and visit as many gardens as i can. Check out CFPACS (Central Florida Palm and Cycad Society) for nice day with plant folks and we have an auction with donated (by attendees)plants at the end of the event. I really appreciate the group and wish i made the time to start involvement earlier. I’ve looked at these last couple years as self directed education for my field. Good Luck in 2026 to yourself and the rest of you PalmTalkers /PalmListeners

I think obtusa/gigas have better geometry to stand up to high winds. I’ve not heard of them falling over (thank heaven and all the dieties).

I hope not! I plan to remove both of my backyard ones when they are showing signs of flowering, although I plan to replace the one near the fence (away from the houses) with another one at that point. Great palms other than the monocarpic thing. 💀 Here's a recent shot of mine. That row got a ton of wind in the recent Santa Anas, with the Kentia whipping around... but the Gigas looked fine. 👀 Only other anecdotal info I have is the fact that two at "Jungle Jacks" have been dead a LONG time and are still standing... A neighbor near me also had a post-flowering one in their yard for a couple years without incident. I wouldn't trust a Urens though!

Blc. Ahchung Ruby Opening just in time for the new year. Reliable winter bloomer. Highly scented, frilly, raspberry colored flowers. 👍 aztropic Mesa, Arizona

Not to say that we (Californians) don’t try.

@Looking Glass We'll give the Silver Buttonwood a roll of the dice. It might be a bit too chilly for them here, but only one way to know for sure.

Spotted these in a beach side community in north Palm Coast, FL borderline getting into St Augustine-ish area in my opinion. One even had some small fruit. I’ve posted a few of these posts about northern coconuts and always like to share when I spot them out of their normal zone

No, too strong wind locally. I know my limits.

Very hard to make a positive ID from the photo, but I’d say it’s not A cunninghamiana. In general A cunninghamiana doesn’t retain green on the trunk and the crownshaft colour is more olive green and speckled. Leaflets are generally not quite as wide as other species or held as flat. The 90 degree twist I’ve found isn’t a reliable trait as other species sometimes have it, but that being said I’ve not really seen many A cunninghamiana without it. This looks typical of A alexandrae to me. I couldn’t rule out tuckeri, maxima or myolensis from the photo either but they’re just much more unlikely.

I can bring Bizzy , sabal uresana, or silver saw with me too. Let me know

NICE ! I’d like to fit in a tour sometime this spring. 😎✅

Post your fastest grower(s) this year. My winner this year is Syagrus sancona. 7 fronds and growing like 4-5 times its original size in a single year is crazy.

Looks good. I got some decent sized Yucca that way once.

This was a freebie coconut someone grew in his old fogey apartment for 20 years before he gave it me and moved to Colorado back in 2020. jjjhttps://www.palmtalk.org/forum/topic/62288-free-coconut-7-feet-tall/

Nice. I hope it takes. These are common down this way, and meant for neglect in full blazing sun. Pretty speedy. Can be trimmed into a nice bush, but is always wanting to become a tree, when you back is turned. The trunks get very rustic looking and have a lot of character. Silver Buttonwoods look amazing as small trees in the right spot.

Good to hear from you Alex, prayers and best wishes for a happy new year.

I'm getting around 2 feet per year for the past three or four years. In the right conditions they are FAST!

IMO, it’s very heavy filifera, but a hybrid. I’ve seen it in person, and seen quite a few seedlings. It shows traits of both, but with some serious hardiness. It survived 2017 that took out some local palmettos. Seeds are extremely fertile btw. The base of the petioles have a small triangle shape, similar to filiferas. But the barbs are way more aggressive. id love to see it trimmed and get an idea of the trunk shape.

Two other creepers trying to finish flushes in late Autumn and Winter. Encephalartos (arenarius × woodii) × (horridus × woodii) seedling and Ceratozamia pacifica.

Me: "I hate community pots and these delicate roots stick to paper towels too much and I don't have the space to give every seed a container." The Internet: "Use coffee filters instead of paper towels." Coffee filters: "Hahahahaha I'm gonna hold onto water forever unless you crack the baggie open and then I'm going to completely dry out! Hahahaha!" Me: ok eff if. Grocery store community pot. These sprouted almost immediately after taking them out of the coffee filter baggie. And this time there's ventilation and support so the baggie won't collapse under the weight of condensation, which I'm pretty sure killed a few last time. And, yeah. These are just the Sunrise. There's a few doubles, I didn't count but there's 25 cups in there so 28? 30? And I've got another batch to do for the Rainbows. Thank you again to @WaianaeCrider for the seeds and I'm legit hoping I've learned something from my prior eff ups. The umm... 4... Survivors from the first attempt look great though. And the 2 Red Lady trees I bought look amazing.

Brian, you can pm me with questions any time. I am older so I dont hang on line all the time but I do answer. I understand about the searching its more complicated these days it seems, I also have struggles there. Your soil may well be alkaline due to limestone rock. This you should know so you can make the best decisions. If it is limestone base in your area, all the cuban copernicias will do even better for you than mine as I have to add dolomite to make the pH slightly alkaline. Satakentia liukinesis( a must in our area) and chambeyronia oliviformis also prefer slightly alkaline pH and do better in those kind of soils. Many who I have learned from seem to not be on here much theses days. What I have learned from from them I share readily, that is what this site is about, IMO. Teddy bears "chrysalidocarpus leptocheilos" are gorgeous palms and do well in our climate. I still struggle with the name changes and spelling on the species that have name changes. It used to irritate me that they changed the names, but as a scientist I feel compelled to follow. I am not a botanist by any means but I do understand soil chemistry as a PhD chemist(dual undergrad degree with chemical engineering) with friends who did study transport of nutrients in soils(its complicated). If you are ever in my area you are welcome to see my garden. Its a small yard(about 12000sf(about 1300m2) with sandy soil so I am somewhat limited. some of my species are serenoa repens silver(really light blue) bismarckia copernicia: hospita, fallaense, magroglossa, baileyana and alba (blue) BxJ, (BxJ)xJ Roystonea Regia archontophoenix species(4) these are not fans of alkalainity to my knowledge and are pretty leaf tender @ 30F chambeyronia macrocarpa watermelon, hookeri, chambeyronia olvivformis , chambeyronia houilou livistona saribus, decora and chinensis dypsis madagascariensis, pembana, lutecens (not sure if they are now renamed to chrysalidocarpus) sabal causiarum, uresana phoenix rupicola dyctosperma album furfurcea, rubrum I can offer you what I know about growing these if you are interested I would suggest you visit palmpedia.com for descriptions, just paste the names in and you will get good information If you want to purchase palms, a trip down to miami area would be good to get some better deals at "Redlands nursery" and some you can order at small sizes online from them. Like I said, we can communicate through palmtalk personal messaging(best way) as my email is inundated these days with unwanted junk. THe engineering side of me hates spelling these latin names( I never took latin), and memorization of unconnected facts. Only my love of palms has motivated me to learn them as much as I have. best Tom

Winter flushes push so slowly. My seedling Encephalartos (horridus × woodii) × (horridus × woodii) started pushing a single leaf flush a few weeks ago which is still emerging. The leaflets on this newest leaf look more like it's mother than earlier leaves. Clearly, the cooler nights and days, less sunlight of this time of year are the driving forces. It is still at the stage where it pushes single leaf flushes multiple times through the year instead of storing up energy for a multiple leaf flush only once or twice during the year like it's mother.

Hi all! I appreciate those who posted the address of this palm in the forum. I visited the palm today and was amazed how tall it was. It’s definitely a Washingtonia but do we know if it’s robusta, filifera, or the hybrid, filabusta? I collected seeds but didn’t know if they would come true if they were a hybrid species. Any thoughts?

December 2025.

First one is what was D. Ampasindave and the flower of L. Rupicola

I think when your zone limits choices, the names can seem superfluous. I started palms in zone 9a where perhaps less than 2-3% of all palms can grow. trade names seemed to be sufficient, but now in a solid 10a the numbers of palms I can grow have increased dramatically and things like trade names for sabals, livistonas, dypsis, kings, chambeyronias, copernicias/yareys, etc all have a frustrating lack of specificity in trade names and make researching care for them more difficult and error prone. How many have planted a palm in the wrong site and wasted money and more importantly time due to lack of information? You want to push a zone make sure you have the right sabal, and some like being very wet while others hate it. There are two that will kick it or be severely burned at 25-26F degrees in an advective event. When I want palm specific growing conditions for planning my garden I want the scientific names so I can determine water and fertilizer or cold protection needs. I dont buy palms from nurseries that dont even have the scientific names on the label because they often don't know what that palm is and I cant identify many palms at a young seedling stage that I buy. How many of us have bought a misidentified palm and were frustrated when we didn't get what we paid for? I have planted half a dozen misidentified palms that didn't grow or thrive as expected. Im not wasting my time with sellers that don't even know what they have, the expense of caring for a palm eventually exceeds the purchase price so I want to know how to care for them. My favorite palms have almost invariably come from sellers that know the palms so I can research them and care for them properly. I used to get frustrated by the names too, I don't like being forced to memorize anything I cant use, so I understand if you are in a cold zone or are not that interested in palms as a hobby. I lived away from my garden for 7 years and rarely posted as I was not taking care of them week to week. I also saw old friends disappear from this forum, sometimes by choice and sometimes not by their choice(RIP). I got tired of the redundancy and all the coconut palm posts but you can zoom right past the really basic or redundant posts if you are not interested, or don't have the time to help someone new. Personally, this forum has been a goldmine of information for my #1 hobby, and I want to give something back, as there were experienced people who did that for me. I was one of the ones that insisted on the cold hardy palms forum, if you are zone 8 or 9a that might be the best forum here for you as you will be able to find what you want faster with less effort. When you live in zone 10 or 11, its different and you cannot get a lot of information without reading about and asking about palms, and if you are serious the scientific names really matter. I have looked at several other sites, and found them lacking in at least one of several areas I wanted to explore. I am not looking to sell anything or for the off topics that often contain just gabbing or trolling. Palmtalk is a well moderated site that I can get away from all the $%^ out there in the world that is often represented by a small number of the population that is angry or frustrated with their lives. I am too old to let someone I don't know drag my day down and kill my qi. I can come here for information, or to help someone, who like myself at one time, needed it. Palmtalk may not be for everyone and that is ok, there are other sites that cater to various degrees of involvement and content people may desire. This one is more about the rich information and help available almost nowhere else in help for selecting and growing your palms. You can be starting at square one and get help, or more experienced and looking to branch out in your garden. I sometimes ask myself what would my garden look like if I had not joined palmtalk? It would probably be a pretty boring garden I might have never been bitten by the palm bug. I may have chosen the low maintenance approach everyone else around me has. Bkue you can grow this one very well in your zone. I never would have known it but for palmtalk when I had it planted it in 2011. peace

Yeah, it has been cyclical depending on the players in the game. @aztropic mentioned the Orlando thread since it is geographically consistent with what @Bkue can expect. When @palmsOrl and his alias accounts stopped posting and @RedRabbit took off for Texas, there was less posting from Central Florida since they were the original posters of the Orlando and Tampa area threads: https://www.palmtalk.org/forum/topic/59360-zone-10-palms-in-the-orlando-area-mega-thread/ https://www.palmtalk.org/forum/topic/61172-remarkable-palms-of-tampa-bay/ This friendly back-and-forth went on for a while and was one of the big drivers of interest for communities near the two cities, like Lakeland-Winter Haven, Deland, Daytona, etc. A bunch of the people who were interested in these threads have joined a WhatsApp chat that @Bkue or others are welcome to join (PM @EPaul) and typically come to CFPACS meetings and/or comment on the CFPACS Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/p/Central-Florida-Palm-Cycad-Society-100064719099155/ @Bill H2DB + @sonoranfans mentioned CFPACS and me, specifically, so it is important to understand the impact of threads like the above. There had not previously been a CFPACS meeting in Lakeland to my knowledge, but after the Remarkable Palms thread became popular, we had two meetings here in two years and have a booth at the Plantae-palooza sale at Hollis Gardens each year. Just going off what I see in CFPACS, we have a LOT of new members from the Jacksonville and St. Augustine areas. There's been a lot of interest in the coconuts and other tropicals around New Smyrna Beach. We had our four quarterly meetings this year, and attendance was through the roof. Our publications page is very helpful as well: https://cfpacs.com/org/palmateer/ Freeze events also tend to spark engagement. Back when PalmTalk became a thing, the forum was very active with posts from California, especially after the 2007 Freeze. When 2010 came, Florida became an area of focus as folks wanted palms that looked tropical, but could survive those types of events. Texas has gotten hit the last couple of years, so a lot of the activity in the Cold Hardy forums is from Texas. In that regard, I guess I'm good with little to no attention LOL. The posts from @happypalms have renewed a lot of interest from Australia and folks not accustomed to some of the stuff he is able to grow that we either can't or have a tough time with here in the SE USA. @Than and @Phoenikakias have a lot of content from Greece, and thankfully, @gyuseppe is back in the game. Overall, yes the forum has changed a bit with different players dominating the field, but that is normal. If there's specific content that you desire, consider creating a thread for it if none exists currently. Many of the users use Google searches like the one below to find something of interest: www.palmtalk.org: central florida palms In my own case, I keep a spreadsheet of direct links to content I found informative or interesting in the past so I can visit those links to refresh my memory.

And further palms in pots: And last, but not least:

I think it may have to do with the length of the cool season. They dont do so well here in mid coastal florida either until a few months after winter. They seem to come out yellowish and get a nice green mid summer. Rain in summer probably also helps in florida as opposed to rain in the cool season. They look great in miami but not so great 40 miles south of tampa. We are 4-5 degrees cooler in lows than miami in winter.

Germination attempt in coffee filters was a failure. So let's do this. Sunrise papayas. Gonna do the same thing with the rainbow seeds. Gonna hunt down some clear plastic to build a tent and cover this. Ohhh wait. Somewhere I have a huge plastic drop cloth for painting. I can cut that up. Plenty to cover at least 2 totes.

This hits home. For roughly 3 years I was the very proud owner of some surprisingly speedy S. minor, only to realize they're something else as they put on size and their frond shape changed. Beautiful plants but the years lost on something that won't work for the space will forever be a sore point.

I also think the intensity of the sun. Some of it due to latitudes or humidity or both. When I am in Hawaii or tropical areas I can feel the difference. So can the palms. Harry

Ok. After 2 weeks of doing nothing, I just lugged about 40 gallons of water in here to refill the humidifier tote, 2 humidity buckets, and mix up some more soil. The FedEx lady dropped off the Chewy packages and I'm telling her to stay warm as I'm like, wearing basketball shorts and slides and it's 40°. Tbf it's hot in the grow room, but not big enough, the heater crapped out again so I guess I need to step up and get an Inkbird wifi thermometer since I've already got one of their thermostats. Anyway, foliage. I planted these what, not even a week ago? And my bananas have officially hit canoe paddle leaf status.

Perlite and another shop light showed up today. I guess the porch pirates aren't just limited to porches anymore, since all of the packing tape on the perlite box was sliced open. I dunno what they expected to find in a box that big that weighs nothing - clothes? Purses? I know it didn't happen at the house because we're in BFE my nearest neighbor is 1/4 mile away and we woulda heard and seen them coming up the driveway. But whatever. Coir will be here Sunday. I haven't done much of anything other than sleep for like a week, I dunno if I'm sick or just exhausted or what, but I finally hauled the last bag of garbage out last night. I think my Ensete Marrelli is unhappy from getting too much light, the 3rd pineapple crown I was gonna attempt pretty much crumbled into nothing but I'm still gonna stick it in some dirt and see what happens. I got nothing to lose but time. Aside from needing a big pile of larger pots, we're doing well - and I'm gonna order those soon. 5g pots for the keepers and try to limit stuff to 3g for what I want to sell. The bedroom jungle is pretty sparse now, I need to work on that again. Because, you know, I just don't have enough stuff growing right now or whatever. I have dozens of Sabal Minors to pot, there's probably another Brahea or 2 ready too. And hundreds of more Sabal seeds to sprout.

Ok. Lots of pics inbound. Pilot light in the heater keeps going out, there's a gap by the door. I doubt it's wind since it faces southeast, I think it's the box fans bouncing something. Anyway here's my ghetto hot box humidifier. It works. White Princess. Yeah, the $5 one that came with a free baby. So pretty, and I'm wondering now if it's the super variegated one since it gets red and pink on the stems? I dunno. Pink Princess. Soooooo many nodes. I still can't decide if I should chop and prop or just sell it for a healthy profit once it hits 3 gallon size. It doesn't seem too far from there. If you know who this is, you're a real one. And it's time to get your prostate checked. Whale fin getting fat. Maybe it's time to give it a bigger pot so it has room to make babies again. I think this is gonna be my setup for Sabal seedlings (say that 3 times fast) Just surround the bananas with the cups and let them bottom water from the overflow, the shade shouldn't phase them. This dragonfruit looks like it's suffering from symptoms they advertise on sports shows, and I don't mean plaque psoriasis. But it's rooting. Papaya survivors. I still haven't given up hope for the Kahuka that didn't sprout and I've got 2 more varieties germinating on the mats as we speak. Mango leaves are starting to turn green! And it's pushing roots out the bottom of the 1g pot. @5am this is the banana pup from the pottery shop that had no roots. The Orinoco. Mr. Mekong Giant is fixing to throw a MASSIVE leaf. This blue Java - I don't know how long I've had it 2 months. 2 months!!!!! I checked Etsy. Maybe a 13 foot wide wall of bananas in the winter time wasn't the greatest idea? But you know what? We get crazy down here in the south. There's probably a reason nobody else can say "hey, I've got a 13 foot wide wall of bananas indoors," but the fact is they can't say it and I can. One day. One day, this table will be cleaned off and it'll have heat mats and a shop light above it. One day. A clean desk means a cluttered mind, remember that. My mind is still very cluttered, but at least my desk is messy. Looking north towards the house. That light needs to be brought down a couple feet and brought back about one foot. Ceiling gonna look like Swiss cheese. I think I'm gonna use this table for the Butia hybrid and the Butias and just hang a pendant lamp over them. They'll be happy. Next to La Chancla. I'm ready for seeds. Cups for days. Just kidding, I need another 100 pack easy. I was gonna use cut down coke bottles but pulling roots out of those little notches at the bottom completely sucks. FINALLY brought this bench back here. It's gonna go under the back window, ordered a shop light for it, plastic totes with one gallons. It's 49.5" wide so I still have room to get stupid and build another table. Tote Row. I'm probably gonna hold off on more bulbs but just put really tall stuff here for now so I don't give myself any more anxiety attacks. WALL OF BANANAS© - I'm scared what they're gonna do when I hang that other curtain and start giving them more fert. The tables might have to come out and just put them on the floor. The shower curtain looks ghetto as hell, but a) so does everything else in here and b) it gave me a measured and confirmed 50% boost in PPFD. Dirt supply is looking kinda sparse there. 20 lbs of coir and 4 cu ft of perlite will be here late this week. That'll make me roughly 75 gallons of soil give or take depending on how much I'm spending the pots with compost and other goodies. I do not wear size 18 Crocs, these are size 11 Ooh-Ahh by Oofos and yeah they sound kinda whatevery but they're comfy and great for my neuropathy. Okie dokie.

Photos around the garden after a minimum of 19F. The Pindo & Sago were stored in an unheated shed with plenty of straw for insulation. The carnivorous plants were totally unprotected. This was nothing for a Needle Palm so it did not receive protection either.

Sabal causiarum I’ve noticed that ample heat & keeping the soil moist is key to fast growth (by Sabal standards) with these, even indoors. The room stays around 75°F and receives several hours of morning sun + additional light from the grow lights.

Some non-palm updates…

Well, an unexpected but pleasant surprise yesterday. I bought a Sago from Walmart in April 2024 for $20. It did very well last year, but then we got hit with some nasty cold and that destroyed its growth. I pruned off the dead growth sometime in February 2025, and waited. And waited. And waited some more. June arrives, still nothing. So I put it back in its original nursery pot with some old soil and and forgot about it. Yesterday, I was mowing around the shed and noticed something different about the Sago...it is finally sending out new growth! After repotting with fresh soil and a healthy watering... Also, I noticed that there are three areas where new growth is pushing out. Will these eventually form individual trunks?

Kyle, please post and keep us updated on your Cocos in El Centro. We know that they've been grown in Mexicali successfully to fairly large size and you're all of 15 miles away from there. I'm sure we would all love to see your success, as well as anyone else in this zone. And thanks for the kind words, Keith, though I feel even after five years rather like a newbie trying these in this desert environment, since I am originally from the much cooler climes of San Diego and L.A....and I've already lost quite a few Cocos here in that time through bad placement, etc. So I'm becoming keenly aware of the shortcomings of this area as compared to the insanely easy cultivation of Cocos I enjoyed in the Keys, a far cry from anything we can hope for out west. At least we have proof that it has been done before in the Coachella Valley, and I enjoy this sort of challenge...to get something in the right combination of variety/cultivar, soil composition, and placement/canopy conditions that can a) survive and carry a decent crown of leaves; and b) have maximum attractiveness for the greatest part of the year. Cocos are pretty at any age, easy to procure, fairly inexpensive, and fast in heat; and thus, if they are an annual, or only survive a few years...so be it. But I do feel that there are one or more forms out there that are going to prove themselves to be amenable to culture here. I have two new coconuts in the ground, one is an additional Jamaican and the other is a humongous (large football) fruit that I bought from a vendor in Maui (they don't know what it is). I will post updates in the near future on the second-year plants (all three of which are progressing) as well as these new ones...so please, other like-minded desert denizens, plant away and document your results!

At least we know who to hit up when the Jacksonville folks ask us to host a meeting up their way