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Some new additions hit the ground this weekend. Rhapis excelsa 'Super Dwarf' and Rhapis excelsa 'Koban'. The tropicals are Bouvardia ternifolia (left) and Hamelia patens var. patens 'Lowrey Fuzzy Leaf' (right) which both survived our winter freeze just fine with mulch. Chuniophoenix nana. The roots were pretty stunted on these and it looked like they had been in the seedling tubes for a long time. This was the best looking one. Group of seven C. nana. Rhapis laosensis, planted a few weeks ago. I was surprised how fragile and brittle the roots were on this plant and was worried the offset that was just starting to develop would abort, but it has pushed up through the soil fine. I believe this clone is female and would love to track down a confirmed male if anyone has one. Licuala spinosa. Definitely a zone push in Houston and I was trying to balance how much sun they get versus how much canopy. Group of L. spinosa planted among an unknown Hamelia patens cultivar (maybe Lowrey). Mystery Rhapis seedlings at the back and Lobelia laxiflora at the end. Arenga spp. in next raised bed. Mystery Rhapis. Supposedly R. multifida. Not a new plant, but one of my Arenga spp. produced its first offset. Note, the two larger ones were seedlings I didn't bother to separate. This was the first year I didn't cover these (only mulch) and they lost pretty much all of their leaves and one didn't make it.

After seeing everyone’s palms, as well the ones in my yard, I think this is the best palm to come into cultivation in years. B. alfredii is a close 2nd, but can’t think of anything else that comes close..,

SE Houston the past few days (Pasadena/Deer Park) These pygmies have survived the last few cold years, planted 2021/2022. The buds are quite hardy relative to the foliage. There's a reason they managed to stick around for 20+ years prior to the 2021 freeze. New royals to usher in the warm epoch

I’ll be attempting to zone push this majesty… South facing / semi-protected. Winter low in this spot was 27f so I think it has a good chance with a little protection.

Here’s mine a year later. Some growth but pretty slow still. I hope it speeds up a bit with time.

2023 - 2026, extremely fast. Never affected by freezes but appears to have a phytoplasma disease from which it seems to be healing. There's 2 new spears coming up fast.

Thought I'd bump this thread as there are some real gems in this genus & never enough information about them. Please post away..

I planted my 25 plus year old augustii in the previous summer. After been in the container in the collection and standing y me never fading living with me. Now in one single hit a falling palm leaf comes down snapping the crown out. Such a majestic palm gone. There is some hope I just pushed it into the ground, bit I do t think it will live. So the Metallicas and adscendens get more spotlight now, now the grand old augustii no longer looks over them.

I hope it makes it . I tried a snapped off Tepejelote and it didn’t work but I have heard of others that have had success. The beauty of having so many palms is there are others to admire , it softens the blow of losing one. I lost a Howea earlier this year , a nice big one . It happens but only the second one I lost in over 30 years ( not counting the half dozen the gophers ate ). It was sad to see that Kentia go but right next to it is a thriving mate that just opened a new frond. One door closes ….another opens…. Harry😄

A couple of Golden Malay Dwarfs from around Darwin...easy to spot with their slender trunks and leaf form

Areca vestria orange!

I’m not suggesting Hawaiian soil is the same as in NZ, I would just find it hard to believe that soil would be the reason they wouldn’t do well. I don’t think there’s a lot of evidence in cultivation that Ceroxylon are picky with soil - in Melbourne alone I’ve seen them thrive in predominantly clay soils and also nearly beach sand. There’s also great examples of Ceroxylon in Tassie, NSW, NZ, California and parts of Europe which all have hugely variable soils. The one thing I do know is that nearly all species apart from C amazonicum, C ravenii and to an extent C echinulatum struggle with tropical conditions. If you’ve got some elevation to keep temps down, give one of the lower elevation Ceroxylons a go. I don’t see why they wouldn’t do well considering they hail from similar parts to Iriartia, Socratea and Dictyocaryum which all do famously well.

Concerning Ceroxylon, since living here for the last 17 years and touring a number of gardens, ( I’ve lost count), I don’t ever remember seeing a Ceroxylon of any size. Well, I take that back, I’ve had a C. alpinum growing in the garden for 14 years now. Considering it’s a high altitude cloud forest palm, it continues to grow slowly being totally out of its element. In fact it just put out a new frond after hearing it was in competition with Jonathan’s palm in Tasmania. Power on…I guess? Tim

I have a rare Phenakospermum guyannense plant that has been growing in a one-gallon-size container for about a year. It is well established and ready to send to you. I don't know how cold-tolerant it is, but I wouldn't try it in CA; southern FL would be a better bet. It is an offset from the mother plant in the photos. $100 plus shipping. Phenakospermum guyannense, commonly known as the South American Traveller's Palm or sororoca, is a monotypic genus in the family Strelitziaceae and the only native species of this family in South America. Native to the Amazonian Basin (including Suriname, French Guiana, and the eastern Amazon River basin), it is a palm-like giant herb that grows up to 7–10 meters (23–33 ft) tall with a pseudostem. The plant is characterized by large, fan-shaped leaves arranged in a single plane, resembling those of bananas or the Madagascan Traveller's Palm (Ravenala madagascariensis). Its most distinctive feature is a massive, erect inflorescence that can reach one-third the plant's height, featuring green to yellow-green bracts that hold small, creamy flowers pollinated by bats (Phyllostomus genus). While often cultivated as an ornamental for its exotic form in tropical and warm subtropical regions, it requires full sun to partial shade and moist, well-drained soils to thrive.

I appreciate the expertise everyone. Pretty solid on Chamaedorea Radicalis seeing all of the responses. Fingers crossed I can keep the nematodes at bay here. Thank you!

Ok that’s a bit Arenga looking. It appears a bit more linear looking, also the tomentum look, time will tell. Arenga take fair amount of time to germinate. Richard

I hope you get yours in the ground sooner than later, as it will appreciate it. Here are updated photos of my big boy and the medium size specimen. I hope that maybe next year someone will have a female flower nearby when my male is ready to donate some pollen. The base of the male with a size Large Rainbow sandle for comparison in the last photo.

Looking good though Jim, even if slow. Mine are both crawling along, although one seems a bit quicker than the other. The fastest Ceroxylon I have is a vogelianum, which is absolutely flying now, and leaving its three siblings for dead. I've got no idea why that particular palm is so happy, maybe just genetics, who knows?

I only have the generic R. Rivularis , my friend has Glauca . It is much more compact than the huge trunk on my old “Rivie” . They are truly Madagascar’s gems. Years ago the Palm Society did a great expose on this palm . More to it than I thought….. Harry

Lovely orchid! Makes me think of underwater creatures. I don't know my orchid names very well, but this type always brings to mind the X-wing fighters from Star Wars.

Nice new D minor ‘Amoenus’ shoot…

Yep Harry, the dwarfs are much more manageable 😊

Licuala cordata. Winter is here, so no more potting up seedlings that have germinated. There holding up well. They are not in the rain, there under the veranda, so no cold and wet for them. Time will tell. Adonidia merriillii variegated lanonia dasyantha large formchamaedorea metallica licuala paludosa Livistona decoraSyzigium boonjie Areca vestria red form

Kinzyjr, I see three orders in your photos. Thanks for the pics..

Most of the exposed and neglected majesties I've seen around are bouncing back. Even the ones near Katy (low 20s). The things are like cockroaches

I have a couple of the green form of uresana as well. They are small but are growing very fast compared to the blue. Multiple times as fast so far. I expect they will be trunking in a fraction of the time.

They don’t mind the cool weather the Rhopalostylis, yep just wonder down to the greenhouse, argh I might grab a tray of adscendens today they look good in the garden and grow well i thought! Richard

Ha I’m sorry, II misunderstood, that is the Murray Island.

A Cycas multifrondis is flushing well overhead.i had to walk up the steps of the deck to get photos of the leaflets at eye level. The unfurling flush blends in with the fine leafed Chrysalidocarpus rufescens adjacent to it.

Yes, that specimen is a female.

My Acrocomia has grown pretty fast this year I hope it gets a thicker base and plumose leaves next year. How fast have Acrocomias fared for you this year? Share them please. First of all, this is my palm when it arrived on january, it didn't start growing until spring was close, which is when I planted it. The palm comes from the state of Tabasco in southern Mexico. April 2nd 2023, My spring or "Semana Santa" vacations started and I decided to start planting palms. The first one was obviously my Acrocomia. Yesterday. It's still growing pretty fast even though it's fall.

Sunday Morning check in: U.S. detections / cases = 12 as of today..

I checked @Bigfish's photo on PalmPedia for reference (reposted below for convenience) : https://palmpedia.net/wiki/Sabal_miamiensis

This particular queen in Galveston is sooooo green 🤩.

Some photos of the garden over the past week…

Looks just like the C. Radicalis I have growing around my garden. Some have very relaxed leaflets , others vary a bit . All of mine end up as tree form. Harry This is more upright This pair has more of a relaxed leaflets habit Growing up through a neighboring Pritchardia These are all on the shady section of the garden . I also have some in full sun. Very cool hardy and sun tolerant .

Agree with C radicalis. Looks typical in every way to me including the inflorescence.

Chamaedorea graminifolia?

I agree with radicalis, looks a lot like it, and surviving those temps unscathed probably rules out pretty much any other Chamaedorea than maybe microspadix??

@RiverCityRichard I have 20+ C. radicalis I grew from seed from non-trunking parents and another couple I purchased that might have a little C. oreophila mixed in. They vary a bit in how stout they are at the base and how delicate the leaflets are despite all growing in roughly the same conditions. These appear to be growing more of a trunk than mine, but otherwise fall within the variation I see. If others have different thoughts, I'm curious to know as that is impressive cold hardiness and would be viable for my climate here.

Another group in Houston.

Local Sabal uresana. Some or all of mine came from these trees.

Bismarckia is about a foot taller than the uresana but does have a small trunk.

The direction I took the pics from provides the best overall ground to crown visual. But it has the least reflective sunlight to show off the grey colors at that time of day(AM). If you want get a better white grey view, you put the sun at your back, this would be the opposite direction in the AM. This is optical physics applied to plant reflectance and diffuse transmission. I placed these palms so that I had the better view from my yard, not the street view. Here is the opposite view where the sun is at the obvservers back. So consider the view you want with either uresana or bismarckia. I try not to give the street the best view.

Hilo is already rainy but this year seems quite over the top. We have already accumulated 137 inches since January 1. In our micro climate, we get upwards of 180 inches a year, but it usually is quite a bit less. Last year we only got 89 inches. There are still 7 months left so we may end up in record territory this year. May alone featured 40 inches total. As a result of the high rainfall, we have literally little to no fruit set on any fruit trees. Palms seem largely unaffected and in fact are growing like weeds. El Niño is supposed to be associated with drought due to reduced trade winds but we have very strong trade winds which makes me wonder if the El Niño will actually form as predicted. I don’t see any evidence of El Niño in our local weather. At this point, I’m concerned that my feet may start growing webbing in between my toes.

rained again last night an hour before sunset and another burst after sunset too. I'd guess half an inch. Dew point at 73F and humidity in the air today at sunrise 94% RH. I dont care for this sticky weather but most of my palms are loving it.

Usually that means it was in deep shade for some time. 😐

Just got this Krociana recently, any photo updates out there I can take a look at would be appreciated. Hope mine can take the sun and doesn't burn.

This is my tree, about 6 years planted from a 3 gallon.

here is my Chambeyronia houailou(s), quite possibly one of my new favorite palms in the garden. I see huge differences between these and hookeriis/macs. Much different leaf structure and petoile forms. I have three in the garden, they all grow great, and range about 10yrs in age from seed I sprouted in the past. I wish these palms would come around again!