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I have tried growing Vanda coerulea twice. The first one survived a couple of years and the second attempt was similar in duration. They don't seem to like my damp and cool winters. That is a lovely Vanda you have. I am happy that this third attempt with Epidendrum lacustre Panamanian variety is thriving still after 4 years. The flowers aren't especially large or colorful, but I love their structure.

Just one Sabal (burmudana) in my garden of well over 100 different palm species but I love it. The photo doesn’t show how massive it actually is very well.

This just in from IPS President Andy Hurwitz! Help Celebrate 70 years of the International Palm Society

Here’s one I’ve grown from seed. It’s been flowering about four years, and is just now developing seeds. It’s growing away from a big Beccariophoenix, & is surprisingly stout. Nor is it very tall, maybe 2-1/2 meters.

Here’s my Cycas Panz x Debo coming alive. -dale

They shouldn't have built that so close to the palm!

These 2 Cycads basically never stop flushing and flushed right through the winter. Encephalartos Cleopatra x True blue Arenarius.

When I planted the two (another a few plants down the wall), I realized that it could be a temporary planting due to the ultimate size. I'm just enjoying them while I can. I still have a few inches between the footing of the wall and the edge of the plant, so still some room before they cause a problem. Speaking of big green cycads, my wife actually likes the Encephalartos laurentianus on the other side of the wall best. She isn't a fan of getting poked by my cycads, so that says a great deal. One of my favorite greens is starting to flush now. It will never be as giant as the Encephalartos ituriensis, but with time, it can get big.

A few from LHI.. Last one is a red leaf emergent fosteriana

I have lots of Cycads flushing right now! Like Dale said this is an exciting time of year. Here is Hor Wood x Are Wood(aka bride of frankenstein) I can definately see the Horridus starting to come through.

Lots of commonly planted palms in CA need extra water to survive. Syagrus, Archontophoenix, Howea, etc. They all need more water than most Sabal species. By the way, I have a humongous Sabal bermudana on my side yard.

squashed queen palm

This afternoon, while walking through the community garden, I saw that the rhizomes of all three Strelitzia reginae plants are healthy and thriving and firmly rooted in the ground. It’s nothing short of a small miracle, and we’re incredibly grateful for it...

Yes the rhizomes of Strelitzia are very hardy, even when you don't want them to be. Over the years I have helped my neighbor trim and ultimately remove some rhizomes of one that was planted too close to our shared fence. It is once again pushing against the fence and making it lean over to my side. I put a root barrier down over a decade ago, before this plant was the problem and I was dealing with roots from a Brazilian Pepper tree that was out of control. (photos of the fence leaning below). In the right place, they are an appropriate plant, but near a fence, wall or overhanging pavement, they are a nuisance. My neighbor on the other side planted one near their pool and was over asking about what to plant when they remove it. We walked the garden and I think they will go with a clumping Chrysalidocarpus, like rufescens or onilahensis. A small solitary palm like a Ravenea glauca might also work for them.. All that said, it is quite a feat to grow one there on the Bodensee (Lake Constance).

Banyons are most appropriately planted in large public parks or on properties that have several acres to use as a canvas. I don't have any photos of the biggest one here in San Diego, which I believe is the one in Balboa Park. That said, there are photos of the Balboa Park Banyon available all over the internet. They are spectacular! I don't recall the species, but recall some gigantic specimens when I used to travel to Samoa. I would have to dig through prints and slides to find my photos of those trips and some of the specimens I saw. That is a project for another day though.

There’s some cones, there is some flushes but people often ask how do i propagate suckers/offsets or how do i pollinate a cone, how do i know when it’s ready etc….. today i removed a couple nice offsets from one of my female E. Dyerianus plants. A fairly easy process depending on plant location and soil. These happen to be in easy digging soil. I removed the excess dirt around the area of the offset. Today my tools consisted of a hammer and crowbar. Simply placed the crowbar between the offset and main stem and a couple love taps later we have a beautifully removed female dyerianus sucker. I treat these in a fungicide and add a rooting powder to the exposed areas on the offset. Place in perlite or pumice and give it a good water in. Sit back and wait for your roots to grow….

What you said about the color of the Purpurea is interesting, as is your comment about its growth. Of course, I can't just compare its size based on how long it's been planted; there are many other factors. Although I read that it tends to be one of the more delicate varieties and grows somewhat more slowly than other Archontophoenix species... but I don't know if that's true, and many factors are involved. They arrived today, and yes, it's definitely a Purpurea. In person, you can see the difference in the crown cap, although it's young, and I imagine that when that old leaf falls off, it will be more noticeable, especially when it's a bit more mature. I love learning from such passionate people on this forum. I'm grateful for the patience you show in explaining things. I've had hardly any luck on another forum in my country, and nobody shares information there.

CIDP is not nearly as slow as sabal palmetto, and they are one of the few choices for a really cold hardy pinnate palm. ANd people like the pineapple look architecturally. Most of the CIDP I saw in CA were public plantings and you can grow a phoenix in the heat with much less maintenance than any sabal. They are tough in the desert too, less needy of water than any sabal. Water is expensive out west in my recollection.

Happy birthday Dear IPS 🎂🎉 Love, Kris ❤️

V. Manuvadee. A favorite blue. been looking for this one for years to replace the one I lost to cold one autumn. Just shipped from a wonderful grower in HI.

They are all over:

I don’t think I have ever seen a sabal in private or commercial landscaping. I haven’t seen them at ant box stores. Only place Ive ever seen one is at a specialty exotic palm nursery. Why is that? Im sure they grow just fine in California.

Not true of either Washingtonia sp. ...locally at least. Pretty sure there are plenty of " water side " W. filifera growing around both natural and man made Oasis in CA < and Baja > as well. ...More examples.... Tempe... Tucson...

Sabals have long been established in California, Franceschi (and probably a number of other pioneering horticultural pioneers and nurserymen in the burgeoning region) was working with them in the late 19th century and there are today specimens of many species scattered around the entire region, in botanical gardens or other landscapes. In Santa Clarita you have a rather hot inland climate and you can probably grow all the species (maybe depending on your microclimate with rare damage to S. mauritiiformis or S. yapa). They are not harmed by low humidity, at least I've never noticed this on specimens I've seen over the years in SoCal, and barring any extreme drought/water-restriction issues that may crop up in future, they're probably not going to die from lack of water, certainly not after establishment and if there's a water-table available (and note that the L.A. County Arboretum's collection of Sabal species enjoys a notably high natural water-table). But certainly there are species better adapted than others. Tom's notes on S. uresana are indicative of how well adapted some species may be to the hotter interior areas where resources may be harder to provide, whether that may be Arizona or California, and I agree with him that something from Sonora is likely going to be better adapted to the rigors that may face a palm in the dry interior of California. Along those lines, I plant S. mauritiiformis in protected, shadier areas here at my landscape in the desert but I'm not worrying about S. yapa, since the latter is a heliophyte growing in open savannas, whereas S. mauritiiformis is a denizen mostly of Central American jungles and would likely resent an open exposure here. Researching these details can be revealing and informative, at least as a starting point in selecting species for your area. In the coastal belt S. bermudana and S. mauritiiformis, with 'Riverside' coming up behind them, seem to be the most discussed species by growers on this forum, and that, too, can be used as a clue. But there are a couple of factors that influence the usage of certain palms, one of those being how unique in appearance the palm is, and how quickly it satisfies the needs of the landscape designer/owner. Human patience and plant patience are two different things, and the growth-rate of most of these species in the cooler coastal zones is what makes them less attractive to homeowners and designers/landscape architects, and in particular nurserymen are not going to be jumping at any of these species because they're not going to be making money when they have to hold stock for many years before it's saleable. So larger specimens have to be imported from hotter areas, whether that be desert or the southeast/Florida. Which is expensive. And when you can buy a Brahea or a Washingtonia for a fraction of the price and get a nice specimen sooner, the dust settles and you're left with a genus that gets overlooked by most. And as I noted above from my experiences with S. palmetto in Mississippi (of course a very different climate) there was a huge difference in growth in sun-soaked, really hot-hot areas where they raced skyward vs. the north side of that two-story house in a very leafy courtyard, where they hardly budged over more than a decade, only 30 feet away. So your positioning of them is very important. If you really want a Sabal, go ahead and plant it. But research can be valuable. Drive over to the Huntington, and also to the L.A. County Arboretum, and look at their collections and see which appeal to you, look at the tags to get a clue how many years it has taken for them to reach their current size. Take into consideration your own climate and microclimate, heat-units, night temperatures, etc., and your possible needs for quick growth. That should guide you toward finding the species that will work at your location.

They are survivors of littoral forest which used to grow down to the waters edge in protected areas Old drawings from the ealier 1800's exist showing it. Landcare has planted out 300 from Wollongong to the shoalhaven in the last 5 months with at least another 200 to go. Their plan is to plant them close to the ones that are in paddocks that were cleared in the 1800's. As they are aging out due to many being around 400 years old The reason they did not get chopped down back then was because they blunted the saws so much had to sharpen them every time they brought one down vs up to 40 trees without need of sharpening. When landcare plant them they fence around the young ones to stop animals eating them

The canary islands get 6-7" rainfall a year and sabal habitat(most are in the Carribean) get 40-55" rainfall a year. THe CIDP are far better in the arizona desert as they are less water needy. I was there 10 years growing sabals and phoenix sp, phoenix come from dry or seasonally dry areas, so they are genetically adapted to that drier climate. Arguing the reverse makes no sense genetically and my experiences in the desert validate that. CIDP are going to be less water needy and if I have to guarantee thesurvigval of a palm for even one year, I'm selling that CIDP, not a sabal. Same thing for washie filifera, easy care if you have the heat and don't overwater. Filiferas hate cold damp roots in winter and are even more susceptible to root rot than CIDP.

Tracey, Great shape on that one; reminds of some of those harder to find, obscure, star-shaped Catt species. Beth Davis, of Waldor Orchids just gave us a fabulous presentation on cattleya orchid species at our Cape Cod orchid society mtg. There was a cattleya in her slides that had that similar, exaggerated star shape. If I can capture the image and name I will post it here. Re: V. Coerulea, one of the parents of manuvadee: I understand that it brings more of a cool temperature tolerance to its crosses. Although, cool and damp, I agree, is not a good combination for vandas. That was my carelessness and pushing things too far when I lost my first manuvadee. Tracey, Great shape on that one; reminds of some of those harder to find, obscure, star-shaped Catt species. Beth Davis, of Waldor Orchids just gave us a fabulous presentation on cattleya orchid species at our Cape Cod orchid society mtg. There was a cattleya in her slides that had that similar, exaggerated star shape. If I can capture the image and name I will post it here. Catt. perrinii is what I was thinking of. Photo from Wikipedia:

Thanks Tyrone quality not quantity, but in my case quantity before quality. But iam sure I could post a few pics of some good disasters I have in the greenhouse. I took my grandmother’s approach to gardening less is best. But iam still learning, some palms no matter what I do will always be messy and not up to standards, they just simply don’t like the microclimate or soil, water or whatever it is. Overwater underwatering too cold or too hot, I call those ones the goldilocks palms just not right! If I was to have every variety of seed germinate that I have purchased I would have hundred of varieties, alas as you know they don’t all germinate! You grow pretty good stuff I have seen your work, you do quite well. It’s lack of good viable seeds that holds us back. Your climate holds you back as well but given those seeds and climate you would be cranking em out! Australia has some dam good palm growers and gardens, Australians can give them a run for their money, we got it going on down under! Dont let them tell you any different just keep planting palms !

You’re a really good grower Richard. Your palms look perfect. This weekend I’ve been planting Howea belmoreana, Rhopalostylis baueri and Rhopalostylis sapida Chatham Island. Last weekend was Chamaedoreas. Trying to get things in the ground so I have room to pot up things that desperately need love, bigger pots and fertiliser.

Nice one there a tough palm!

You gotta spend money to make money, personally iam not in the game of growing palms purely for profit, it’s the love of palms and gardening that drives my obsession. And if I can make a few bucks along the way even better, but you can rest assure it will take quite a few palms sold before I get anywhere near my money back. And at the current rate of everything going up in price, I need to be growing quite a few more rare palms than 1500 joeys! That said the rewards are there just not overnight, I have met a few growers who have been growing palms a lot longer than myself, they have been successful in what they have done. But it takes a long time to do so! The older we get the better our palms look! The little adscendens in the picture 27 years old this is the sort of time it takes.

Well that was a bright idea someone had 25 years ago planting it so close to the building.

Two more smaller but well tended. These trees are ubiquitous and when the fruit starts falling in early summer, it gets very messy!

@Than this is my Albang entering warm season after a comparatively rainy winter. I think, given my xerothermic summer and water cost, is the best result I can achieve regarding its appearance. I expect from now on a progressive deterioration.

I can’t see any major problems that will lead to progressive deterioration. I have seen worse looking than that. I will say keep the water up to them in summer archontophoenix are thirsty and to look there absolute best they need to drink.

It's mid - April, Cloudy and warm ...which means it is time for this year's spring check in up at Boyce.. As usual, we start the tour with a check in on the Palms.. Other leafy and mobile highlights from the walkabout yesterday = find em' elsewhere on the forum. Sabal uresana.. Most look great, Some got a trim. ** Not pictured ** Seems the smaller specimens sited in the " Sonoran Desert Garden " section suffered from ..an issue w/ the irrigation perhaps?? ..Recovering it seems, but look a bit rough atm.. Hopefully the summer ahead gets them out of their funk.. Same issue w/ some of the Brahea armata planted over there.. Palmy area #2 between the AUS and Mediterranean gardens.. Rhapidophyllum specimen looks great.. Nannorrhops .." Smaller " one near the uresana grove coming along nicely ..Same with the bigger, more hidden specimen planted near Queen Creek in a different area.. ** Interesting side -note regarding this specimen. When looking at some stuff on iNat, came across this observation.. Coati, Nasua narica specifically, have been steadily expanding their range north and westward since returning to AZ from Mexico decades ago. More recently, they have been inching their way down out of the mountains east of PHX and have become a reasonably regular site at Boyce. Are now a fairly frequent visitor in more developed neighborhoods near washes in Tucson, inc. west of I -10 so, not out of the question we'll see them turn up in neighborhoods much closer to Phoenix in time. As you can see from the included observation links below, it seems they really like the fruits of Nannos. Observations are from the specimen pictured above.. https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/317151847 https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/317152091 As with the " Feral Phoenix" that can be found outside the garden, which they also seem to enjoy, will be interesting to see if any seed consumed and ..deposited.. result in this species randomly popping up in other parts of the garden / outside the garden along both Queen Creek and in Arnett Canyon nearby.

Speed of growth is important to those who think they may not be in their permanent home. Sabals like heat so they will grow fastest in inland CA. Sabal palmettos are painfully slow even in their native habitat with plenty of fertilizer and water. Nurseries dont want to keep a palm for 5 years so they can sell it. 5 yrs from seed for some sabals is a 10 gallon size. 5 years of care including fertilization means a higher price, less profit, and less sales throughput for a fixed size nursery. If I had a nursery I probably wouldnt offer any sabals aside causiarum, which is very fast. I grew what was called "sabal blackburniana"(bigger than palmetto) in arizona and saw the mother tree, it was not as big as a causiarum but the petioles were 2-3x thicker than palmetto. With 8" rain a year and super hot temps they did well. Sabals are a loser for nurseries unless they are selling in zone 8-9b where just 2-3 percent of all palm species can grow.

I must agree with @sonoranfans; folks want quick results. They want the landscape to look mature in 3 years, if not 3 months. That's why W.robusta is everywhere, moreso than W.filifera. Rare to see Braheas in Cali landscapes. Money, size, and speed.

Exactly! They are east coast palms supposed to grow in the west coast with all implied complications. Water is one, soil pH is another. Put in to equation also the great variety of other more elegant, feather palms suitable for Califorinia, and there you have the answer.

Being Australian any excuse is a good excuse for a party, so happy birthday IPS!

Bunch of stuff coming alive in the garden. I’ll post quite a few times here in the coming weeks/months. Love this time of year. Admittedly I don’t know the cross but I believe it’s Longifolius x Princeps. Could be Lehmannii x Princeps as it’s very blue. Who knows….its happy tho. Last year was a 2 Leafer, this year it’s 4. -dale