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Here’s my youngster.

You could try a few Australian Livistona palms. They’re pretty tough! I can’t grow coconuts due to being ten minutes inland from the ocean, but they can grow them on the coast just ten minutes away, so that’s a great example of zones being totally different. Yet all classed as a subtropical zone. So understanding microclimates is a big advantage that you can only fully understand if you live in that zone’s microclimate. Australia has a lot of beautiful looking tough plants, especially the wildflower small shrubs and trees, while not a country known for having hundreds of unique palms we do have some good ones. I live 3 hours south of the Queensland border and that border region is very rich in microclimates that is pretty well much up there with the other top palm growing areas. My climate suits Madagascar, New Caledonia, South America and the Asia regions. While you can’t grow a lot of the top tropicals, you certainly can grow a lot especially with all the new palms coming into cultivation. With a microclimate that I understand and know it’s one of the advantages of knowing your climate. I don’t go by the books or internet saying it needs this zone to survive, some of the top tropicals from around the globe are in my collection once unthought of growing in a subtropical climate.

@LowDesertBoil Your plants look great with the backdrop of all of the deep green! Hope your tiling job went well. That's a blue collar job that is more of an art form. A lot is happening in the garden to get it ready for a few planned Fall showings. The weeds have been out of control this year, so there are currently three large piles waiting for their return to the earth... from a single garden bed that is not yet finished. That said, negativity is bad for a person, so here is one of the piles from my driveway bed, flanked by plants with some new borders. The bamboo has used this year to start annexing property. The clump has gotten wider than expected. Some of the new shoots are oval-ed in red. Even in a bad year, you get some kind of harvest. This year, we got our first pineapple. It's good to have friends in high places. This December will mark ten years of me and @DoomsDave trading seeds, stories, mistakes, dreams and aspirations. One of the seed batches Dave sent included Chrysalidocarpus plumosus. All of them that I haven't sold spent the entire winter outside. None took damage, including this one that has been in the ground for a while and put out its first pinnate frond earlier this month. 24oF and not a scratch. Often regarded as an impossible palm here due to our extreme heat and humidity combined with copious amounts of nematodes, Chrysalidocarpus decipiens from @Fishinsteeg234 went in the ground last June as a 2-leaf seedling is still going strong through its second summer, come 24oF or 101oF. I did lose the companions I bought for it, but that doesn't mean more are out of the question. This photo shows the first split-leaf, a new occurrence since the last photo in May. After seeing the performance of the Zombia antillarum at Lake Hollingsworth, I decided to start adding a few in some of the spots that opened up in the yard. This is one of a couple I plan on adding. The one just got a small layer of cut-up pine bark nugget mulch today. My host gift plant for the Fall 2022 CFPACS Meeting was an Encephalartos ferox. It has started to cone. Since two of my large coconuts survived the big freeze, two more were added. On the left is an Atlantic Tall seedling from @redant 's large 2010 survivor. On the right is a Panama Tall I got from @Plantking165 .

Particularly silver Brahea aculeata. Planted this past spring in my backyard. Very solid growth rate for a Brahea, which makes me wonder if it’s 100% aculeata.

Here’s a couple for you @Hu Palmeras in the Aussie bush showing you how it’s done with foxtails, just a master of the garden we create!

Ok we mostly have had a pet or two in our lives. And these special little creatures are the love of our lives. They ask for nothing in return, with souls that reach into our hearts beyond the furthest reaches in our mind. The love they offer is like no other. So what’s your favourite palm and pet picture!Sari the Calyptrogyne ghiesbreghtiana!

Cz totonacorum

It may change to green/greener as it gets older, at least this had happened to my onwn specimen. On the other hand it nay also have some genes from Brahea armata.

Put a bar in there for a pit stop with all the top shelf goodies. That’s the plan spring, you gotta see how many new seedlings I have to pot up, I couldn’t do them in winter. Made that mistake before and lost to many.

Iam in it for the love of palms and I love palms that’s for sure. As I quoted before I will sell more golden canes than joeys in any given sale day. Iam also in it for a ten year plan and if i havent made a go of it by then iam wasting my time. It’s the passion for plants and gardening that drives my bus. I have a mate he does the markets with all those easy to grow granny plants, we discuss our business ventures together, I know he will sell more of the granny plants than I will sell rare and exotic at the markets, so as you say out come the golden canes from my nursery to the markets or I will miss a sale. But in the other hand I only have to sell 4 rare palms and i equal my mates sales. I know the market iam after, my prices are what I have paid for rare palms in the past and will continue to pay what I think is a reasonable price, the grower deserves what he asks for his plants I should know because iam a grower and understand what it takes to procure and grow such beautiful exotics. Go giving them away and somebody else will profit of my hard work. It’s not easy importing seeds only to get one seed to germinate out of a hundred, or even worse nothing germinated out 300 seeds, better still pay all that for seeds only to have them confiscated at the border. Fairs fair and it’s crazy palm nuts like you and I that are taking the risk, both winning and losing. But look on the bright side I get the best of the best for my garden plus some!

It certainly does depend on location, the are I live in has some of the highest unemployment in and some of the lowest wages in Australia. Drive 3 to 4 hours north and you can smell the money in the air along with the extravagant lifestyle and spending that goes with it. That extravagant lifestyle is the market iam after. When you factor in the cost of electricity and freight costs, you can buy a $10 dollar plant on eBay and pay $20 postage. It’s the whole economic situation that keeps on driving up the cost of everything while wages stay the same, and at the current rate the way the world economy is going the cost of everything is totally out of control. So if iam spending x amount on things just to produce palms, let alone the cost of seeds and the import fees, add into that you have to make a living, Iam going to go broke real fast. For sure locally sourced seeds and seeds from the garden will reduce the price quite a lot, and market availability like any other bussiness supply and demand sets the prices on thise locally sourced seeds.

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

Thanks, Tom I had all 5 seeds that I bought, planted there, in situ. The plan was always to only keep one plant. I’ll need to carefully kill the other two - I don’t wish to risk digging them up. They’re maybe 8’ from the fence and maybe like 12’ from the house. Mostly Western with lesser Southern exposure. This was the most practical spot for me, at them time. I do love the hue of the leaves, as well.

Iguanura wallachiana beautiful little seedlings!

Licuala bracteata.

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

This pure strain blue E. Arenarius is flushing for the second time since spring! These things get big quick! I was lucky enough to get a handfull of these blues out of a flat of greens. Thanks for looking🤙

One of the last “True blue” Arenarius I have to flush this year.

E. Whitelockii

Natwood x Arewood

E. Fat Are x Are Wood

This is one of the big green Encephalartos you dont see everyday. Instead of flushing with a white fuzz it flushes brown and looks more like animal fur. E. Sp. Bunia

The flushes are still going strong and here are just a few. E. Laurentianus throwing a 3 leafer. Not a great pic as it is buried in a jungle of other Laurentianus.

I don’t see a specialty nursery as a good source of income . The ones I’ve seen around here have all gone . As a hobby they can be rewarding . As they say …don’t quit your day job! If you spend enough time , I guess it could be a supplement if you were able to maintain your inventory , but the economics are challenging. Harry

From Palm Island in Vacaville CA a few years ago. Was there today, they didn’t have any.

Iam a hobby grower or is it hobby obsessed grower who loves palms. It’s my retirement fund my hobby something to help pay the bills along the way, and if I can make a few extra bucks even better, a lot of what I make now goes back into the hobby. To survive in business nowadays it’s a tough act, you also need to spend money to make money. Sooner or later theres a cut off point with any business it has to pay for itself. Even if I was an accountant I would still be doing this as a hobby at a lose or profit. Time is another factor with palms, grow 30 joeys to sell and by the time you get to sell them for a few decent bucks, you should have been growing them by the hundreds, saying to yourself I wish I had more joeys. You can’t put a cost on your hobby otherwise I stops being a hobby and a business that either goes broke or makes money!

@Robert Cade Ross It would be great to get some fruit off the Arenga when it fully ripens. I don't know of any up in Houston that are fruiting or even close to that size.

This is one of my Washingtonia filibustas, located in my west-facing backyard. It was started from seed in July 2025 (supplied by Desertscape Nursery), and it spent its first winter indoors. It was planted outside in May 2026, and after being moved to its permanent home, it rapidly transitioned from growing juvenile strap fronds to growing mature palmate fronds. The trunk visibly thickened in a matter of weeks, and since May, the palm has added nearly one foot (30.5 cm) in vertical height. Due to a large brood of early summer grasshoppers and intense high-altitude sun, it was sheltered within a pop-up mesh protection tent for its first 45 days in-ground. The palm has a dedicated drip-irrigation emitter, and it is watered every 3–4 days. That said, this summer’s monsoon season has been very active in Arizona, and consequently, I’ve been able to cut back on watering across several weeks. While the palm remains under 4 feet (1.22m) in height, I will use a combination of an inverted plastic trash can and chemical heat packs to protect the palm during the coldest and wettest nights of winter (while also temporarily tying the fronds together). Because I live at 5,000 feet (1,524 m) above sea level (USDA Hardiness Zones 8a/7b), most winter nights in this part of Arizona hover right around the freezing mark (32°F / 0°C), but even colder nighttime temperatures are possible. I plan to deploy winter protection for my filibustas if the forecast calls for a low temperature below 22°F (-5.56°C) on dry nights and below 25°F (-3.89°C) on wet nights. Because dry-wind desiccation is a BIG problem here, I will also use the inverted plastic trash can to protect the palm on extremely windy nights. While El Niño-fueled winter storms tend to be slightly warmer than typical winter storm fronts in the desert southwest (potentially meaning more rain than snow at this elevation), a heavy snowfall event is still extremely likely here this winter. It’ll be interesting to see what happens!

As a fellow grower at an elevation of 5273' in Rio Rancho, NM, large rocks/boulders at the base are most beneficial in my climate. The heavier the better for thermal mass. I actually seed mine directly in the ground, do not protect other than the rocks, and maybe dry leaves. Do not water past mid October. Nice palms

I finally got a palm planted this afternoon. I’ve been waiting for cooler weather but it ain’t happening so impatience won. I came home with this palm after visiting @DoomsDave a few weeks ago. It is one of about 5 or 6 palms I adopted. This one is just a bit of a push for my climate but I’m pretty confident it will be fine. I chose a nice spot that only gets sun after about 1:30pm and only for about 3 hours this time of year. As it grows , it will see just a bit more . Palmpedia says these like a warm tropical to sub tropical climate and like a rather sunny location. Digging holes in rocky soil with many mature palms sending out feeder roots is a chore , especially in 89f temperature! I dug out three fist sized rocks and chopped through a bunch of roots . There will be enough room in this spot for a few stems if it decides to clump( very likely). Harry It doesn’t look like much right now but in a few years, it will be looking great! If you are growing this species , post pics so I can dream!😂

I am 50 miles inland in SoCal. I have one that’s in my front yard where it’s in full blazing all day sun with a mini block wall on one side and my drive way and on the other side my driveway reflecting heat from the sun. It’s 2 years from a small 5 gallon and is now almost 7 feet at the top of the newest leaf. I give it copious amounts of water. These are tough palms that grow faster than its flamethrower cousins. As was stated above I believe the wax protects against both heat and frost which it gets each winter as it’s on the south east side of the yard and has seen 27-28 at night last winter.

That’s fast growth for a seed sprouted in 2025! Great job! Looking forward to see how it performs in an environment such as Parson. That’s a beautiful area of Arizona. Hoping the El Niño won’t be a bust, too much hype regarding this event. Would be nice to see an end to the extended droughts over the southwest and southern US. Please let us know how this little dude does! Cheers, Chris

I couldn't help thinking about the space that takes just to cut up a dead old frond when it comes down. Living in an urban area where our green waste gets picked up and hauled away, the other challenge is how much space in the waste bins just one dead frond would take. And before that, the damage that one of those fronds dropping would create in a huge footprint. Not something for a little garden like either of mine even if they would grow here. They are beautiful though to admire in other gardens better equipped to handle them.

I just took this picture there are 3-4 royals in it and mules the only burn my old eyes see is the little I circled I don’t know what would cause that one frond to burn maybe it’s not sun burn we have had some crazy winds so maybe it’s not sun burn but maybe the result of strong winds when it was freshly opening!!!

Well it looks like you got them figured out. You don’t see many guys in San Diego saying “ I need to thin out my borassus patch

Thank you @James B ! Luckily I have a seedling from one of my adult trees to plant. I think some of the variation was that this cold lasted three consecutive days and there were very high winds for the first day (40-45 mph). Ironically, my younger palms that were much closer to the ground faired much better than the tall stuff that was completely exposed. Even varieties that are 10b palms. Like Calyptrocalyx.

Took this photo of A. cohune at a garden tour in lower Puna back in 2013. I can only imagine what it looks like now. Yours is beautiful. Tim

It’s getting to the point where I think I may have to remove one of these so that the remaining one(s) have good air flow and space for the roots. These are about 2’ tall, now. Who else has updates?

So here is the tally; Chambeyronia divaricata - 2 specimens 3,5ft, both dead. The 5ft specimen had split near ground level a few years ago and had 3 separate heads Chambeyronia macrocarpa- only 2 survivors, 1-20ft tall and 1-4ft tall, 5 younger specimens 3-6ft all died Chambeyronia macrocarpa (hookeri form), 2 specimens 4-5ft both perished Chambeyronia macrocarpa 'Watermelon' 1 3ft specimen survived, 1 died Chambeyronia magnifica- 2 specimens 4ft tall both died Chambeyronia oliviformis 2 specimens 4ft tall, both survived but slow to grow back Chambeyronia pyriformis- 2 specimens 4ft tall, 1 of 2 survived

Chambeyronia macrocarpa, the only juvenile survivor

I had this happen and it was the only bamboo I have allowed to form a big, tall clump and only one damaged. Lesson understood. The bamboo will be fine but there is real damage to all understory plants - palms, anthurium, aroids now scorching in full sun and burned up.

fruits of Causiarum are small, 7-8 mm, Domingensis fruits are 12-15mm. Further Zona describles in his sabal monograph that the causiarum has 3 orders of branching and domingensis has 4. I was sold a palm that was labelled domingensis, and I found out it was causiarum after the inflorescences arrived and it fruited. There was a huge mix up in seed 15-20 years ago at RPS and other normally reliable seed sources. The orders of branching is described as the branching off the main inflorescence spike. I consider all those dominagensis that are unusually cold hardy are more likely misidentified causiarum. I also expect that near a building is good for at least +5 degrees if it is a heated building. Temps near heated buildings or even large concrete structures are warmer than the reported ambient temps especially when it gets really cold. Out west under canopy I have measured over 5F warmer advantage under canopy in a radiational(low wind) event. I had some phoenix roebelinii out in the open and under canopy in arizona when it hit 21F. Those under 6 closely spaced healthy queen palms were not touched, no leaf damage. The ones in the open had no green matter left, even leafbases fried. Consider that canopy best works for heat retention when there is no wind and when the cold events are shorter. As the wind kicks up(advective cold is more common in the east) that advantage shrinks drastically. To fight winds you need windbreak and a fire pit in the wind break area would help a lot.

My first Butia purpurascens (Yellow Fruit) has sprouted after almost one year to the date I got them from Philippe (MobileBayGarden)! My patience has been rewarded. For the past few months I kept them on damp sphagnum in a plastic container in an east-facing window with no bottom heat. Perhaps our recent 100 deg. F temps helped germination?

thanks for looking

And here are some year end updated photos of the garden. I’m not going to list out IDs for all of these but am happy to give IDs if interested, just ask. I’m also happy to post photo updates if there’s something you don’t see in this batch of photos. Just ask. Thanks for looking and happy new year.

A few new plantings to close out the year, first up is one of my mystery Chrysalidocarpus (possible hybrid) that I grew from seed from my old garden. I now have 2 of these planted out here with hopes that it will look like the parent plant from my previous garden. next up is Hyophorbe India hybrid from Floribunda. last planting is a small Coccothrinax Crinita:

I’m happy to report that the Tahina I planted in memory of our dog Gracie, and also the first palm planted after finishing construction and moving into the house, is doing well. After planting it, it experienced another spear die off, but this time in the ground. I wasn’t going to dig it up and mess with it and just hoped that it would send up a new push. It did and now it’s finally showing good growth with each leaf being larger than the previous.

Looking good! Love the new frond coloring next to the silver blue of the older ones. Maybe it is just getting everything it wants or needs. Harry