Leaderboard

🤣just seeing if your awake gyuseppe! Bit of a typo that one, bit much when I don’t know my chamaedoreas!

I want to sell about 30 of these Arenga westerhoutii seedlings. Impressive palm when it matures and I'm just selling my excess. $4 each or 10 for $35. Shipping extra and should fit in a Medium Priority Mail Box.

A great palm the basilonga, with a lot of Chrysalidocarpus you can see the similarities. Baronii you can see so many that all very similar but a slight difference between them. Arenarium is a good example so similar looking to others in the genus. They do have a weak petiole as juvenile palms. Saintlucei is the same as a young palm they don’t like wind. Now you have to find a saintlucei for the garden I see you have a bit room left on that steep embankment in your garden one would grow well there with protection as juvenile. Richard

Very interesting what Dowe says. How this form escaped from widespread cultivation I don’t know. Yeah, I used to think Eungella was the furthest northern Bangalow population but recently I found that Mt Elliott had them and that is the northern most limit. I wanted to check that area out but we just ran out of time in Townsville. It’s not an easy climb either. About 12hrs one way and the track now goes through private land meaning it’s more than just a “let’s have a quick look” type of place. It’s also the place where the stepped trunk version of alexandrae comes from. I think it’s been called Archontophoenix alexandrae var beatricea. I think for Archontophoenix the real jewels are up in the clouds at altitude. We went to the town of Paluma for a quick look and it’s at 1000m asl. It was 27C on the coastal plain and 18C when we got up there. Lots of Calamus australis and moti, and the first place we’ve found Laccospadix australasica and in large amounts. Beautiful place up there. We didn’t find any Livistonas up there but we were likely on the wrong track for them. Paluma roughly marks the start of the Wet Tropics. After that you’re in Licuala territory.

I have two Baselonga planted together that look very similar to the small potted one. They are very slow at that age. Harry Dypsis Basilonga , tied together to keep the petioles from breaking in the wind. The leaves are very long for the size of the petiole. The petiole are very dark when first emerging. Harry

The rain and storms right now are insane in western pasco county. Areas that have been dry are getting nailed tonight. My weather station picked up a 6 inch an hour rainfall rate.

no problem, getting confused is natural , and thanks to a certain Mr. Richard M. now I also have 3 chamaedorea metallica 👍

Hey Mark, are you growing these guys in California?

It’s pretty easy to see what makes a saintlucei so popular. You can’t go past that beautiful look of an accent palm, with a trunk that’s straight as an arrow and the arched leaves to the white crownshaft. Easy to grow with a little dry, cool tolerance. They love black sandy loam soil that’s free draining. Single plants will set seeds. Just another one of those Chrysalidocarpus that are an absolute winner!

Yes , saving room for the Chrysalidiocarpus Blacki that are in the green house . Another year or so and at least one will go in the ground with a C . Decipiens. Harry

I have my pets getting in on the action. Our younger dog chases them when they fly low. Our cats are indoors only except when walking in the yard in their harnesses with leashes. The leashes don't stop them from jumping at them. While the cats have never caught an SAPW, one just nabbed a similar size June bug 2 nights ago. Klaus, our purebred Tijuana rescue street dog, has actually caught a weevil but he didn't like it and dropped it. I got to finish his work for him. Good dog Klaus!

Matty, how is that cutting doing? Were you successful in getting it to root and establish?

All-time record high for Miami and Fort Lauderdale is 100F. I always find that odd as every state I’ve lived in prior to South Florida hits temps higher than this… Even up north. The difference is the duration, and the months of night time tropical heat down here without a break. Miami hit 100F yesterday and Fort Lauderdale hit 98F, night time lows in the 80s. Dry as a bone. Local AC units seem to be dropping like flies after months of this. Mine went down the other day. Indoor temps of 92+ at night for 3 days, til it could be fixed. Supposed rainy pattern on the way as Saharan dust moves out now.

Yep, its a Permian mudstone derived duplex. Old, acidic, and leached, like so many Aus soils, but the topsoil has high natural organic matter levels, and seems to respond pretty quickly to added nutrients. Although the hardpan requires a bit of management, it's soooo much better to work with than the hydrophobic nightmare of the South Arm sand. Back on topic...I was reading Dowe's description of A cunninghamiana last night in Australian Palms, and the purple colouration seems to fall within the species parameters, so I guess this population has been studied at some stage in the past, or there are other populations with similar characteristics maybe? Dowe also mentions that cunninghamiana extends right up to Mt Elliott at Townsville, so another 250km north of Eungella...another population to explore! Interesting that Livistona australis also tops out at Paluma in the mountains just north of Townsville.

And today’s little special winner is a nice healthy Geonoma pycnostachys, straight out of the end of winter and into the ground. The full royal treatment for this beauty, quality soil amendments along with being right next to the tap, pole position in the garden went into this one, the old chicken pidgeon coop, that had 20 years off bird poo. If I can’t grow this one in that soil iam going home!

By popular demand: Asta 11 months old, world class clown, spoilt little princess!

It is fig season, Socatran Island style. Actually it is in my backyard.

Not only was it cold we had extremely high winds which I think made the damage so much more than prior freezes. Fortunately, I have a large collection of palms and most made it through. Even some that looked bad at first. My Chamaedorea cataractarum clump has come back very well and it looked terrible after the cold and my two Beccariophoenix alfredii had severe frond burn on the outside fronds but stayed green in the center. First time ever they have had any damage as well.

That big freeze made the news in Australia, and a clump 35 years old succumbing to a freeze like that it must have been cold that’s for sure. I could image how you feel after 35 years, that’s a fair bit of gardening over 35 years!

I just found one in my neighborhood and knocked on the door to ask permission to take a picture. I ended up leaving with a huge cutting.

My potted one is technically in a 7 gallon pot but the roots say something different.

I had no idea they could match Ficus roxburghii in size. Here's one that may be larger: http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xFrEe4F73DE/T9_AoDQ43vI/AAAAAAAABfA/IKdG5ima_Z8/s1600/IMG_1145.JPG Was there a price tag? Hi 103˚, Lo 68˚