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A slowly growing R. sambiranensis.. And a sp. “giant”— still no name as far as I know. Plugging away, about 13 years old, but otherwise reasonably happy.

Here’s my glauca post blooming.

There’s a few good glauca in my garden.

So here’s a R. lakatra 10 years from a seedling; as mentioned earlier, it doesn’t appear to be one of the giants. And looking up into a fast growing sp “new”, possibly madagascariensis?

Was out back this morning and snapped a photo, all the while keeping my distance. Tim

Polyandrococus caudescens

I have always appreciated palm trees growing up in LA county. I remember driving around neighborhoods and seeing giant robustas and canary dates row the skyline. Most people never thought twice about them, but they signified something. These palms are now over 100 years old. Sherman Way ay Haskell 1928 Same street today Palm trees are part of the aesthetic and skyline. But curious how some of you guys got into them? Particularly people who grew up in colder climates where palm trees were/are rare.

Hard to pinpoint, but from memory it was a few family holidays when I was 10-12 or so to Sydney, Cairns and Darwin that really started the obsession. I still remember the first time I saw Arenga pinnata and Attalea cohune and thinking they looked too huge to be real. I had some level of interest when younger than that, but the interest grew into a different beast around then 🤣

I’ll go as far as to say I’m 100% certain it’s not C costaricana. 99% sure on C radicalis. Please don’t use plant ID apps to check! They have some limited use for common plants but for 99% of palm species, they’ll have no hope.

My fastest is C. alpinum. This one being approximately fifteen years old from seed. Still no trunk though.

C vogelianum also my fastest mate. I suspect it’s genetics - its growth habit seems to be more ‘reach for the sky’ than ‘fronds erupting from ground level for decades’ like the really big species. My larger of 2 C vogelianum specimens in the garden is now as tall or taller than all of my other Ceroxylon. It’s from seed from 2018, compared to similar sized C alpinum from 2007 seed. Kind of hard to get a good photo but the C vogelianum is around 2m/7’ tall and it’s starting to look nice and plumose. Was from C ‘parvifrons’ seed from RPS - the initial disappointment of not having parvifrons has worn off seeing this develop, especially now having hopefully true C parvifrons seedlings.

Growing up in Southern California , i always liked seeing palms everywhere. I wasn’t really into them like I am now but I liked them. In 1990 , after more than a dozen years of living on a sailboat , we bough a house with a swimming pool . My wife wanted a palm or three for around the yard to give us a “tropical paradise”. We went to a nursery in Ventura that had a decent selection and great reputation. The manager was a Palm Society member . I am a bit OCD about collecting things and after buying a few palms , became obsessed . I would buy rare seedlings in bands that were in the greenhouse and raise them in a spare bedroom with a south facing window . Then I built a greenhouse and a lath house so I could have several species of palms , orchids , and Tillandsia. That was my beginning. Harry

I know the feeling you have too well. We all feel for our palms just like any living creature we live with. It’s just like losing a pet, my princess sari the wonderful kitty cat. Our palms are no different from that feeling!

What got me into palms, I was 16 years old fixing my mates Yamaha YZ 125 motor cross bike, jumped on to test her out. Took of down the road in nothing but a pair of shorts and a t shirt. Tapping her out down the tar bitumen road hitting about 65ks. I fixed her I thought, turn around tapping back down the bitumen road, and yes you guessed it right the neighbours dogs thought let’s chase this young victim for the hospital down the bitumen road. Yes sir two dogs either side trying to eat rubber tyres, ok let’s accelerate we can out run these flea bags, so I gunned it with the two dogs,who at that moment decided to meet each other in the front wheel. Yep straight over the handlebars at about 70ks an hour. No helmet, T-shirt and shorts hurtling for that bitumen road. So now iam breaking my collar bone, skin off every part of my body, hit my head millimetres away from my temple and dam lucky only to get 10 stitches. I lived but my mother was not impressed with her so son’s behaviour, so I had to apologise to the lady up the road who’s dogs I run over. Through her saying she had to pay vet bills and her job was working in a palm nursery, I asked her to see if there was a job there to help pay the vet bills. And that was it I started working in a palm nursery at 16. Found the love of palms and they joy they bring me in my life to this very day, some 40 years ago! And yes the dogs lived and iam glad the hippie lady Diane came into my life, and showed me the world of palms!

I have been into palms since I was like 3 years old. I would always ask my grandma if she could take me to the neighbors house to collect queen palm fruit, I liked collecting it and inspecting it. Little did I know the Zetas were entering northeastern Mexico at that time and leaving your house at certain hours and places was dangerous. At 4 years old I saw coconut palms for the first time and that made me like palms even more, my favorite coconut palms have always been the varieties with orange petioles. I remember planting a green immature coconut that I brought from Guerrero hoping something would come out, obviously nothing came out. Now I have around 16 species and 40+ palms. Including the coconut palm which is a must have in my collection.

Danger Will Robinson! Danger. Yes that robot citation dates me. This makes some of my Cycads look less intimidating.

Just came home from the beach with 2 6ft. Windmills, 6-8 inches at the base. Hauled home in a U-Haul. Have never planted one in my life. Used chat gp. to help. Any advice will be greatly appreciated. I like things that look like they don’t belong. I’m determined to make them live, everyone thinks I’m crazy, but oh well. I know winter will come, any help you beef them up, and protect them , or any other advise will be greatly appreciated. I’ll have to get a picture of the second one tomorrow. Can I fertilize. Chat GTP says not for a month. I don’t buy it. What kind of fertilizer do palm trees need? In my growing zone here in East Lynn Wv. I’m going to need all the help I can get.

I’ve lived in Northern Virginia for almost 40 years. This last winter was the worst, long duration a.m. p.m. cold I’ve experienced. I truly thought my 12-year in-ground Trachy was going to die. Don’t have the stats but it was at least 2-weeks of continuous sub freezing F. temps. Along with about 8” of snow and ice that lasted that whole time as well. Maybe the only saving grace was sunny days after the precip. fell? I removed about 6 of the most damaged lower fronds mid spring. Haven’t fertilized yet but it is pumping out nice new firm fronds, maybe 6 or 7 as of today. I’ll clean it up again this fall, after it’s had a chance to fully recover and replace the canopy. Even though it’s messy, it still looks great! It’s about 13’ of trunk so winter protection consisted of 200 Christmas lights in two loose balls laid up at the crown covered loosely in a layer of burlap…very unprofessional but it’s too tall now. I also wrapped a 3’ tall band of black landscaping cloth around the base of the trunk. This catches a fair amount of the sun’s radiated heat several hours each winter day. Of course, it flowered like crazy in early spring. I’ll cut those remnants off as well this fall. Anyway, I’ll send out status reports soon. I was shocked at how poorly my sunny Needle did.

Not unless you have a Time Machine!

One of my favorite astrocaryums, heard it has some cold hardiness.

We come in peace!

Good grief Jim, that looks great! Attractive petiole’s and abaxial side of the pinnae. Tim

Here are the pictures of the green uresanas. Both planted as large strap leaf palms. All the palms grow much faster in the ground. The larger was planted maybe November 2025 and the smaller 2-3 months ago.

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

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

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.

yeah had it rain a couple time 4-5 days ago, nothing since and its HOT. 1 time a week irrigation restrictions are causing burns for the more sun exposed water lovers. Glad I put down a ton(2000lbs) of turface MVP a few years back now. Most definitely helps in water retention in sandy soil.

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

It gets a small trunk at the base, but most of the trunk is subterranean. The PalmPedia link has a lot of good photos from Leu, Frank Glavin, Meg Price, Ed, Christian Faulkner, etc. The 2009 photo from Leu shows roughly what I have as far as trunk, and Meg's photos of the berries are what I get come late summer/early fall. To my knowledge, the plants at Leu were from Meg and my plants were from Leu. So mine are effective progeny from Meg's plants by way of Leu Gardens.

Areca vestria orange!

The jungle got my attention!

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.

I have two Zamia sp Jamaican Giant gifted from CB Lisa. I was lucky to get a male and a female.

-2 well that’s a game changer for planting that one in the ground. Perhaps patience is the key to this one, try getting it into a warmer spot they like the heat.

Nurseries get away with it because their plants are usually watered multiple times a day, packed tightly together (which raises humidity and shades pots), and they're often grown under shade cloth even when they look like they're in full sun. A black nursery pot sitting alone on a patio can get much hotter than one surrounded by hundreds of other plants. Also, "full sun" on a plant tag often means a few hours of direct sun in ideal conditions, not Mississippi heat index of 100°F+ with blazing reflected heat from concrete. If your colocasia roots are getting hot to the touch, that's probably the bigger issue than watering. The plant can handle sun, but roots cooking in a black pot is a different story. Sounds like some afternoon shade cloth would help more than adding even more water.

Variegated rhapis, iguanura wallachiana and Pinanga purple crownshaft.

This lot lot also got my attention. Howea fosteriana chamaedorea radicalislinospadix minor

A lot catches my eye in the garden and today it was. Bactris gassiapaes Dypsis basilonga Chamaedorea metallica

Royal Palm

Adonidia merrillii

With all the rain we’ve had and the long summer days, this palm dropped another leaf and is now showing another ring of trunk.

Great post! I planted a Bizzy on my hill , it only took a little over a year for the gophers to find it and eat the roots right up to the trunk! The Sabal is still there. What is said about speed of growth after trunking is my observation as well . Most of mine , with the exception of the Bizmarkia , were very small palms . Once they started trunking , it seems like the growth rate sped up. Harry

A few seeds are setting on the lytocarum in garden. A fantastic palm that’s easy to grow. Super tough and very forgiving. I would say a bit slow growing to reach maturity in a subtropical climate. But once they get there they don’t look back. Very predictable and a great learning palm to grow, just put them in the shade as seedlings and away they grow.

Most elegant palms…here are 3 planted together.

That palm tree is the sharpest I've ever seen. I hope no good man gets smashed against it.

always a fun challenge to prune the large Astrocaryum species one time while harvesting A. vulgare fruit, the whole infructescence bounced off the trunk and whipped its spiny peduncle into my thigh… ill never forget the feeling of pulling thorn after thorn out over a couple hours 😵‍💫

Astrocaryum murmuru, astrocaryum murmuru, astrocaryum murmummumum, nice palm, but for the life of me I can’t say it three times in a row fast let alone spell it three times fast! Lucky Hawaii growers🌱 Richard

For some reason Astrocaryums seem to have bigger spines than other members of the bactridinae subtribe (Acrocomia, Aiphanes, Bactris, Desmoncus)

Kostas, I agree with Len and Pedro. Get your plants in the ground, as soon as you can. Tillering ("heel-forming") types are a lot slower than non-tillering types, like R. rivularis.