Leaderboard

Thrinax radiata

Here’s one for the hybrid fans. This one was identified a while back on palm talk.

Indeed they are a wonderful palm!

Hey y’all. I recently moved to Northwest Florida from coastal North Carolina, and with that, I can finally plant out my potted palms. To start off this thread, here’s the Needle Palm finally in the ground this morning…

My favourite at the moment is lepidozamia peroffskyana, a plant that’s native to my location. Here’s both male and female cones being pollinated by the weevil that is so important for pollination with this species.

Ptychosperma nicolai

Areca is still one of the best hedging palms around. Individual trunks are not crazy heavy either, so if you do get a 25-28F cold snap that kills a few trunks it's not too tough to clean up...and they'll grow back reasonably quick. Caryota Mitis have noticeably heavier trunks when they die. In FL the frost is the big issue with Lutescens. Frost-free nights in the low 30s didn't seem to affect them too much.

Yes apart from a million dollar climate controled environment my odds are pretty slim in my climate, I do know of a couple of cool climate growers so they may destined for those places. Wait and see how many I get I may keep a few to try and the rest shipped out to a much better climate that would suite them. They were originally purchased due to a request from another grower who consequently later purchased their own seeds. The cool climate growers got pretty excited when they were released from rps.

Garret, yours an excellent looking example of copernicia baileyana! Mine started growing faster once it trunked. They are not fast for sure but the slower growth at that height is desirable, its a better view than looking up there. These are great palms for florida, but as they get tall, the hurricane damage is greater. Milton hit my yard at 100-110mph, the damage increased with height seemingly regardless of species. My bailey was spared some as it was about 15-16 feet tall, as tall as the house. My C. Fallaense was not so lucky at 25' overall, about 70% damage to the crown. Palms taller than the house saw the worst winds. My neighbor said my 40' royal was bent horizontal in the wind and it lost all 18-20 leaves, just a spear left. My bailey is still in recovery mode, it lost half the leaves to wind damage, lowest first. At this time 3/4ths of the crown is back, though it still holds 6-8 leaves that saw some damage in Milton. Milton seems to have stimulated trunk growth some as it has for several other palms of mine. This palm was planted in this time of year in 2011 about so 5 years older from a 3 gallon. The trunk, from ground to the last dead leafbase is 10' first, 6months in the ground sept 2011. New growth had smaller leaves since it was grown in shade and I put it in full sun. Next 15 months later Dec 2012 it was pumping out leaves at a good rate. Then it started to go vertical and carry more leaves by june 2015. Then it was hit by a hurricane IRMA in 2017 and suffered a spear bundle infection (caused by spear fracture) that persisted for two growing seasons till I managed to kill off the fungus with repeat treatments of daconil. Just when I was wondering if it the fungus was still present, it started to grow faster. This was a period of slow growth for 2 seasons as the infected spears grew out. In sept 2020 about 10 years in the ground, it was trunking and looking fully recovered with a good growth rate. Here it is with a full crown sept 2020, pictured with my larger Fallaensis. Frankly, I wish they both stopped growing at that size as the colors are best when you can see into the crown. Then it was hit by two hurricanes the next 4 years. The sharp thorns on petioles of the newer leaves shred the leaflets on the older ones in the hurricanes. Now here it is 20 months after Milton damage, still recovering. It is 16 years in the ground. I am hoping for a full crown late this summer. Trunk is about 6 1/2-7' clear and 10' including the dead leafbases waiting to fall off in the wet season. Let it rain please!

Great in Atlanta, or Pittsburgh or Cleveland. Not so much in inland so cal.

It is a lovely example, I was at the mother in laws house and spotted it in her garden. I then proceeded to explain to her what the palm was and how it got to be in her garden. It has no trunk yet and its about 4 meters to 5 meters.

I can’t believe I managed to get these ceroxylon seeds to germinat. I wasnt doubting the quality of seeds. I was more worried about my climate being to warm for once, pretty well much sown at the start of summer so my fear was was that I wasn’t going to be able to keep them cool enough to germinate. It was a long hot summer, so the seeds were kept inside on tile floor in the coolest part of the house. So nearly 6 months later they are a popping. Not sure what I will do with them I might have to send them to the polar bear growers down south!

Three great originals for any garden! kerriodoxa elegans ptychosperma sanderianum dypsis cabadae

A touch of colour in paradise!

@Merlyn Yeah, I'd get rid of the Foxtails if their close. They might look fine for a while and then collapse. Hollis had that happen with a Bismarckia out of the blue. Thankfully, no one was standing anywhere near it at the time. It is good to see some green coming back in your garden and in the area, in general.

Here's a few more flushes turning my garden back from brown to green! In the upper right both Pygmy Dates appear to be growing back fine, with complete sets of fronds. On the left middle an unknown "big green Encephalartos" is flushing. It could be an Equatorialis or just natural variation of Ituriensis/Whitelockii. Just behind it the big one is a Gratus x Laurentianus. Common Zamia Furfuracea are flushing bronze in the middle. In the foreground a Sclavoi x Ituriensis has 5 leaves going, and in the bottom center a Natalensis x Horridus has 5 finished leaves. Just to the bottom right is a Horridus x Natalensis with 3 new fronds in process. Not really visible behind the Pygmy Dates are a couple of Zamia Vasquezii and Picta also flushing. Also not really visible is a double-coning Cycas Simplicipinna on the other side of the path from the Gratus x Laurentianus. So this is sort of a 10-fer flush! In the center rear bed a few more are going gangbusters! The middle is a big Dioon Spinulosum with a pup flushing too. Just behind is to the left is a 2-headed Cycas Revoluta flushing just one of the two heads. Just below it is a single frond growing up on a tiny Encephalartos Umbeluziensis. Bottom left corner is a "fasciated" Zamia Furfuracea. The lower right cone is an unfortunate timing on a male Cycas Multipinnata that was completely defoliated. To the right behind the Spinulosum is a solid flush on an Encephalartos Ferox. In the background left of the Spinulosum is one of the triple Encephalartos Whitelockii/Ituriensis with a solid 8 leaf flush. The other two in the triple are thinking about it...but not quite yet! At the arch on my E pathway I planted some Mandevilla vines. There's a red and white on one corner and a pink Dipladenia on the other corner. The pink is supposed to be more bushy and less viney, we'll see what happens. I should be able to "train" the Dipladenia to grow up the side of the arch anyway, it just might not climb up and over. A bunch of other stuff is pushing new fronds, even if they are a bit distorted. A couple of Attalea Brejinhoensis, Phalerata, Speciosa and Butyracea are looking good, though a strap leaf Butyracea is probably toast. Two of the three Arenga Pinnata have opened new fronds, all the big Alfredii are growing well, and the Fallaensis and Baileyana are pushing new spears. The Triangle is opening up a horrendously ugly frond but making good progress. All of my Bamboo are sending up new shoots except for a Dendrocalamus Tsiangii...it might be a goner. My solo Foxtail with ~10ft of trunk is opening up a frond, but the triple looks pretty sad. I'll start culling the herd in a few weeks after our daily thunderstorms start. At that point it should be obvious what's alive and d-e-d. I didn't go to the Leu Gardens spring sale, the MB Palms open house, or the St. John's sale because I really had no idea what I might need...

I have had 2/8 pop from same batch. They are in my germination box - a plastic ice cream box with barely damp vermiculite/perlite that sits behind an arm chair in my sitting room. It gets some sun in the cooler months so it probably quite warm for a few hours some days but mostly room temperature. If I had lots I would have just put them in a pot in the shadehouse but these are too precious to risk hungry rodents.

Red is the color of the day.

Finally starting to get some of the seedlings into the ground. A few additional Livistona species start the perilous trek to adulthood. @Plantking165 pointed me in the correct direction for a true Dwarf coconut. That coconut is going to attempt life opposite of the Atlantic Tall for best survival chances. You can also see the new Adeniums from GreenThumb resting on the rocks. The next couple of photos are plants from the CFPACS Spring Sale at SJBGNP. This Bismarckia nobilis will start life in the ground this year. Hopefully, I was gentle enough with the roots while cutting the pot apart. Thank you, @CodyM The first Chrysalidocarpus decipiens seemed to do pretty well during the heat last summer. I had an opportunity to add two more to the garden. Thank you @STLOUISPALMGUY! Clay Porch had 3G Phoenix theophrasti for sale. I've had trouble with these getting a fatal leaf spot in the past, but as tough as they are, I'll roll the dice again. Let's all hope we actually have a rainy season this year.

I don't comment much but I was saying on a dozen Facebook forums that the damage was bad but less than the 2010 freeze, I think we can all see that now, at least for cocos, which would seem unusual, in my neighborhood in old eau gallie, almost every coconut palm is recovering, almost all the cocos at frigates (including others), the old talls at squidlips that survived 2010, even relative juveniles are recovering well. The bottom line, this was an extremely rare strong adjective freeze which we aren't used to here, 2010 was deadlier by far but a totally different animal, and the royals, we all know by now that relatively established robust royals are not nearly as sensitive to freezes as most think.

I grow this in Jacksonville FL ----collected the seeds in 1988 from habitat in Northern Domincan Republic --- in my front yard ---

The solitary one I have in Leucadia is getting more light now that I removed a Guava tree to its west and a little north. The top of the wall is 6 feet high for perspective.

This is correct, if referencing " traditional " Arborvitae, Genus Thuja.. " Chinese " Arborvitae, Genus Platycladus, < Single - species genus > are a 50s - 60s landscaping option relict you can still see planted in warmer areas like S. Cal ..and here in AZ though. Agree w/ Bougs... don't have a pool, but, after yanking the last of the " old skool " types from the backyard, glad to be rid of them. Will probably take until sometime this fall to never see a remnant flower bract hanging out somewhere in the yard ever again, lol. Bamboo is only something you'd plant if you have the space ..and yes, lol, def. not near a pool ..Only plant clumpers ..unless you have deep pockets to shell out lots of $$$$$ trying to correct damage done by running types, both on your property, and surrounding neighbors.. Podocarpus would be the least messy of the 3, imo, and aren't too hard to keep shaped ..though i'd ditch the out dated, OCD -afflicted " obsessively shape everything into un-natural, geometrical shapes " waste of time, and / or wasted $$$ for busywork and train them to be dense and " controlled ", but look more or less as nature intended. Can't recall how it did there compared to the standard green Podocarpus Maki types but, Blue -colored Podo. ( P. elongatus ) is quite nice, and would get away from the mind numbingly boring, " everything is green " funk many people seem to end up in. Keep in mind, while they look similar, Afrocarpus gracilior isn't a Podocarpus and will get big / isn't so keen on being penned in, long term at least, ..and drop lots of fruit.

You either love em or dislike em. Each to there own on this palm, but it’s a proven winner regardless with its yellow colour and it’s predictable landscaping growth. It’s hear to stay, no wonder it’s been around so long. I even grow a few for that question got any golden canes?

I am in the “love it” camp. I have a large one on each side of the house. When they form trunks the color under the old leaf bases can be amazing. The new spear can have a pink color as well. Harry The coloring , from golden orange to pink as the new spear emerges. This one on the east side of the house now has a few trunks reaching the roof line . This is one of the younger stems , maybe 6-7’ tall so the coloring is visible.

Barring some miracle I think it is very dead. I lost one to crown rot unrelated to cold, looked very similar though. Like palms, they can't recover from losing their central meristem like this. As a small solace, the trunk, root ball, and any fibrous material that's left over make excellent media for orchids and other plants. Definitely don't let it go to waste. I used a sawzall to cut several plaques out of the solid mass of the central root ball of mine. It's not quite as dense as the New Zealand stuff you can buy commercially but it retains water while being very rot resistant.

A lovely example. What's the height of it?

@epicure3 there's a really nice one over at Palma sola botanical Park if you drive over there. One of the nicest and biggest orange geigers I've seen in the area. It's flowering really well right now too.

Update…like nothing ever happened. Why it would have shut down for months is a mystery to me! Looks better than ever now though..

Oh it will live here, Australia has a very unique climate all in one day it can be snowing, bushfires drought and flooding all 4 seasons in one day just pick which location you want to be in!

Here's a few more flushes turning my garden back from brown to green! On the left middle an unknown "big green Encephalartos" is flushing. It could be an Equatorialis or just natural variation of Ituriensis/Whitelockii. Just behind it the big one is a Gratus x Laurentianus. Common Zamia Furfuracea are flushing bronze in the middle. In the foreground a Sclavoi x Ituriensis has 5 leaves going, and in the bottom center a Natalensis x Horridus has 5 finished leaves. Just to the bottom right is a Horridus x Natalensis with 3 new fronds in process. Not really visible behind the Pygmy Dates are a couple of Zamia Vasquezii and Picta also flushing. Also not really visible is a double-coning Cycas Simplicipinna on the other side of the path from the Gratus x Laurentianus. So this is sort of a 10-fer flush! In the center rear bed a few more are going gangbusters! The middle is a big Dioon Spinulosum with a pup flushing too. Just behind is to the left is a 2-headed Cycas Revoluta flushing just one of the two heads. Just below it is a single frond growing up on a tiny Encephalartos Umbeluziensis. Bottom left corner is a "fasciated" Zamia Furfuracea. The lower right cone is an unfortunate timing on a male Cycas Multipinnata that was completely defoliated. To the right behind the Spinulosum is a solid flush on an Encephalartos Ferox. In the background left of the Spinulosum is one of the triple Encephalartos Whitelockii/Ituriensis with a solid 8 leaf flush. The other two in the triple are thinking about it...but not quite yet!

Wonder what happened to Merc’s Black Stems? Hope they went to a good home. @PALM MOD need “In memoriam” for Merc.

Yes Liverpool is quite a bit cooler than London. Though it is still mild enough for canary island date palms to grow there. They tend to get more Atlantic westerlies whist during the winter Atlantic westerlies are more common in London it’s more from the south west direction. Even February sun here can heat those tropical/subtropical air masses up from the canaries sometimes into the high teens. Whilst spring and summer we get much more continental heat and southerly winds coming up from France/Spain and occasionally Africa. Besides having one of the largest heat islands in the world London also has hills to the south, as well as the north. Then some lower elevation ones to the west whilst the east has none. Which also helps the trap the heat in. As well as block the wind. For example London city airport can sometimes be 2-3c cooler on hot days compared to central and western London. As there is a cool breeze flowing down the Thames estuary originating from the North Sea. Here’s it’s possible to grow 9b plants and even some 10a plants in microclimates. Ensete Ventricosum and monstera year after year I see be left out as summer bedding plants and they continue growing in spring with only partial damage. I have not been to Lake Constance but on wunderground map it clearly shows the microclimate differences when I last looked. It’s always amazing how a short distance can have such a sudden change on the temperature and weather in some areas. Which is why the canaries and Hawaii's climate always fascinates me.

The Howea belmoreana presents well from the street outside my garden now too. It is above the wall with its foliage, visible in the center behind the two trunks of Chrysalidocarpus pembanus in this photo. The 5 gallon bucket from the big orange box provides perspective. I need to borrow Tim's shovel for future garden shoots.

You can practically buy those at the gas station. What got her attention is I'm growing stuff you can't get here. They came out for colocasia and there's this big black and pink Redemption right there. I ain't selling those but a quick look around and while it does feel like I have a dozen Pink Princess philodendrons, she (and me too) want unique stuff. I'm not obsessed with variegation but if that's what gets me paid I'll grow it. I might have to throw a couple palms on here. People are selling alocasia corms for the same price as a plant, it's crazy. And on these live auctions? It's like people compete just for the sake of competing. Its insane. I'm used to $12 for a ziploc bag full of seeds.

I think I found my solution, the travellers palm (ravenela madagascariensis) I may buy two 15 gallon and one 25 gallon and place them staggered so the smaller specimens have width and the taller one gives height. I think it should provide relatively good screening even when they grow taller.

You could go with what I have on the outside of my wall which was first to obscure the wall and later to create a privacy screen above the wall. Further down the wall, I have planted some Encephalartos species, both Encephalartos ituriensis and hybrid Encephalartos sclavoi x whitelockii. There are hybrids of Cycas revoluta x multifronidis which might also handle your conditions and grow both full and tall. Space them at intervals to achieve the desired coverage.

Who would put a peppercorn tree next to a pool 😐 I have a birch tree that I plan on removing. The Dypsis Lutescens look good, though I would plant them behind my pool wall. Thats why I am thinking the fern podocarpus might be mu best bet.

Calyptrocalyx leptostachys. Tim

As mentioned, Dypsis lutescens would be the standard " answer ..for obvious reasons. You will have to thin / trim them overtime to get them to the right height and form though. Another bulletproof option? Arenga engleri.. also a clumper, sorta slow < by impatient people's standards > ..but worth it.. Suckers produced will eventually will form trunks, and.... ..if it gets cold enough there to injure them, ..you're gonna have many more things in your landscape that would be killed ..or severely set back. < AKA: hardy to the lower 20sF, if not a little lower than that. > When old enough, flowers produced smell wonderful. Unlike Areca palms, fruit / seed production is easier to handle too, imo. Taller / trunk -forming Chamaedorea sps. can work too though i myself would add them only after you have some overhead canopy.

If you want that tropical exotic look than look no further than platycerium!

Chrysalidocarpus lutescens Dypsis leptocheilos Dypsis decaryi

Bismarckia nobilis Borassus aethiopum Hyphaene coriacea Borassus spp

Attalea speciosa

For Tim Merry Xmas

Dwarf WBP pup is now blooming in a 15 gallon pot. The mother plant hasn't stopped blooming and it hasn't grown much either.