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They sprout easily. The hard part is living long enough to see some semblance of maturity on the babies.

I’m more concerned why Coccothrinax and Copernicia aren’t grown more here than “Sablah”. 🤣

I made a Ceratozamia zaragozae x hildae hybrid and posted a seedling on eBay for auction. Adult plants are unique-looking--like a compact hildae with very narrow leaflets and upright, twisted rachis. Check it out!

Imagine the Pseudophoenix Sargentii Navassana, which is slower. I've managed to germinate many.

Too slow to start from seed.

North of St Augustine, FL

Red Latania opening a new frond

It's not like you can't find them in SoCal if you look in the right places...Palm Plantation in Riverside currently (price-list updated Feb 2026) shows availability on S. minor, S. palmetto, S. 'Riverside' S. uresana. Fairview Nursery (I think in Vista, owned by "Josh O" on this forum) shows availability (not sure how current on the website) on S. etonia, S. palmetto 'Lisa,' S. pumos, S. uresana. Usually Phil Bergman (Jungle Music, Encinitas) has a selection of various Sabal species for sale as well. There are some other sources mostly run by folks on this forum who may also have them. You should also check mail-order sources like Etsy, eBay, and Plant Delights. Sabal King of Texas ("Sabal King" on this forum, he also sells on Etsy "SabalKingofTexas") specializes in mail-order Sabal species and has gobs and gobs of unusual Sabal palms available on his Etsy store right now. Good luck in your searching!

Whoa!

BLOODY EXPLETIVE OBSCENITIES SCREAMED MATE!

Look, my great lord and friends. Look at the little Juania Australis. They are like your beautiful palm trees too. But just look at them. You know that every palm tree gladdens the heart of us all. This one, of course, gladdens my heart. The more I search, the louder I will applaud it, the more shouts of joy I will raise, and the more trust I will place in it. This other unique kingdom has been added to my collection.

Our cold February has caused questions about the effect of early or later blooming of these beautiful trees. I was very surprised to see an early bloomer:

Thank you Michael! The early blooming RP is a real conundrum. With our cold event in early February, I never suspected an early bloom. They must be really confused. Plenty of barren RP's all over. It will be interesting to see what happens with them!

Bubba, your first "unknown" photo is the lovely Bauhinia monandra, a very underutilized tree in SoFla. The second one is harder to tell exactly which species, but likely a Cassia. The paleness of the flowers makes me think it is probably Cassia bakeriana, which has become somewhat popular in SoFla in the last 20 years or so. If not that, it could be a pale form of the Cassia javanica/nodosa/renigera complex. Or possibly a pale form of the hybrid Cassia x nealiae, the 'Rainbow Shower,' which has been a popular tree particularly in Hawai'i, where it was hybridized in the mid/late 1910s by David Haughs. (And it is a hybrid of Cassia javanica x Cassia fistula.)

Overcast day so color is hard to see:

90%+ of S.palmetto sold east of the MS River is sold as field dug. There are some seed-grown ones near me planted a dozen or so years ago. They have one to two feet of trunk. A W.robusta at the same age would have 10 feet of trunk. As I said, people want fast, cheap landscapes. Many have HOA rules. That influences people's buying. Ask the local nurseries. Where I live (Atlanta), palms disappeared completely after the 2014 blizzard. Only a niche nursery will carry them - at that, only Trachycarpus.

Congratulation on finding that Black Sphinx. I have one in my yard that i planted in 2018. I had my first full harvest in 2025, it took my 7 years to get that harvest. I have sort of a pedigree doc about the trees source dating back to the first one in 1928. Mine hasn't bloomed this year yet but it should push blossoms soon. I had 7 blooms on it last year and pollinated with male pollinator palm i had access to with 100% success. Absolutely love this date, i think its the best tasting palm date out there. Here are some pictures.

Nice B. Eriospatha. I've heard they are more cold hardy than B. capitata.

They lay eggs in mulch and plant litter and our forests are full of that so I don't see anything but a biological controlling insect or disease.

Listen up, everyone, gentlemen of this great forum. Here and forever, long live the Sabales! In our America and the entire world. I have spoken. 🌴🌴🌴🦜🦜

Here is a really big adult female at Mounts Botanical Garden in West Palm Beach

Dioon edule, “Palma Sola” pushing up its first Encephalartos cerinus with a new frond

It is such a pleasure to have something much color popping all at once. I enjoy walking around my garden with my granddaughter and showing her the orchids that are both in bloom and yhe ones with flower spikes getting ready for the next display. She really warmed my heart when she said she wants to grow orchids "when she gets big". We wi)l see what a 3 year old considers "big" in the coming years. You have a lot of variety blooming now to enjoy. Hopefully some are also fragrant to appeal to a different sensory mode.

Good to see you again!

Most sabals are slow compared to the alternatives for most people. Washingtonia robusta or filifera are popular widely out west and are fast growers. Among many palms enthusiasts I think fan palms in general are not what they are looking for. Feather palms are more popular in general. There are many choices in california, and some members do have sabals and they look very happy so its not the weather. I think sabals are most popular in colder zones, 9B and lower. They do grow a bit faster than CA sabals but "sabal steve" has shown that S causiarum grows fast in california, he has a monster. If you go to a palm nursery in california you might see 100 species available and the vast number are pinnate palms. I'd say the choices there are vast and if you are unlimited by weather few will be sabals are hundreds of species are available and pinnate palms look more tropical in general. Sabal palmettos and some other sabals are slow in florida to so they plant them with 10' of trunk. I have grown my sabals(uresana, causiarum) from strap leaf seedlings. But in my yard they represent only 2/65 palms, a small percentage.

In Florida, absolutely. In Texas north of the RGV - not so much. Even here Adonidia isn't easy to find. The blue big box store just started selling Hyophorbe lagenicaulis here again this past year after several years. I wouldn't mind trying one of those coconuts if it's mature enough to be viable. ☺️

Let me know when those plants are ready. I want one of each!

I have a few left. What's left needs a flush of growth. I also have a few Nova X Princeps. What's left should be ready in a few months. I have more seedlings that I'll be potting up this spring.

From the island's park ranger. I hope to get even more. But don't you know this palm tree is the last link in the palm tree world? They want to clone palm trees. If palm trees already exist, the palm tree kingdom already exists. You just have to go after them.

This palm tree is native to Chile. Robinson Crusoe Island (Juán Fernandez). Here in Chile, my friend and I are germinating Juania Australis (Chonta) seeds. I hope to germinate many more, and a new batch. I'm sharing some photos.

I had the same experience with a couple of palms that just decided to stop living. It sucks to grow a palm for 15 years or so and just have it die for no apparent reason. Harry

Juania australis in a North Berkeley palm garden, visited on Aug. 19th, 2018, by members of the NorCal Palm Society. https://www.palmtalk.org/forum/topic/57500-northern-ca-ps-meeting/#comment-861662

What do you think was the lowest temperature she experienced, Ben ? About ... Wonderful 🌴

Another Juania to add to the growing list in the UK… but this time in someone’s back garden in southern England! These photos were recently posted by Dr Kevin Spence. Hope he doesn’t mind me sharing them in this thread about the UK Juania! That thing must have been in the ground for at least 10-15 years. Maybe more…

Message sent also... lemme know!

Good looking plants.

Fortunei is the hardiest, everything else is less. Nainital is a pretty hardy one though. Martianus and Latisectus are the more tender Trachys.

Much better looking than fortunei. Princeps are beautiful palms with their bluish leaves and silvery undersides. Plus they don't get the messy look that a lot of fortunei do. IMO princeps are the best looking Trachy and they tolerate heat better than other Trachy species. With a bit of waggie thrown in you further increase their ability to be undamaged by wind.

T princeps is a rare and beautiful palm. Unfortunately from my experience it can be difficult to grow. This hybrid is a nice bluish color. The whitish back side of leaf will stand out in the garden. I imagine with hybrid vigor it will be a robust grower. The contrasting color is what really gets my attention. An example that comes to mind is BXS witch is typically green. I have several in the garden, all more or less look the same except I have one that was crossed back to Butia Yatay. This one has a nice metalic sheen on leaves and the backside of leaf is silver. That makes the plam really stand out in the garden. I get more compliments on this palm than any other, it’s also my personal favorite. My thought is T fortunei x princeps will be the similar.

Don't want to sound like a palm snob, but I'm wondering what is special about either of these, or the cross, as compared to T. fortunei. Are they more attractive than fortunei? I'm in zone 9B+, with only occasional temps below 30 degrees, so T. fortunei is a super easy grower here, but I don't find it that exciting. (Sorry... but I plead guilty to plant snobbery!) Bruce

I got mine on the weekend. Don't hesitate on these if you want them, as they are pretty rare outside the UK. Big and healthy and very inexpensive.

I purchased the seeds from the UK. They are much quicker than pure princeps and straight wagnerianus. They are still slower than most regular fortunei. They do maintain some of each of the parents when it comes to leaf form. I'm unsure of what the New Form hybrid will look like. I do have larger T. wagnerianus x princeps but not the New Form hybrid. They do seem hardy so far and similar in sensitivity to moisture of standard fortunei or wagnerianus. I do prefer to mound them up a bit and use courser potting mixes with them. However I'm not sure this is necessary as I've had some which seemed unbothered (no more than fortunei) by being left out in cold and wet during winter.

Another question - how many can you fit in one package?

Message sent! Btw, a note for everyone else, I've purchased palms from Drew off of eBay in the past and they're shipped nicely but more importantly they're very healthy palms. Here's a picture of a Nova x Waggie trachy shortly after receiving it.

I cannot add a dang thing about how to grow this palm, but it obviously likes Hawaii as two growers on the big island have great examples (one is on 'autopilot'- no one even living on the this property that does anything more than pick up dead leaves (Sullivan property). Marcus has a nice one, too, last time a visited, though not so colorful