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L weddelianum today.

Didn't read all the posts, but I just might be the "old man" of the crew at 82 1/2. Born in May of '43. My self description: Born in the Bronx, Raised in Brooklyn Matured in Waiʻanae (got here at age 20) I wonʻt be held responsible for anything I say or do because of the above facts. LOL I weigh in at 160 lbs, 5ʻ 10". I use to be 6ʻ but w/time bone joints compress. I have Mitral valve prolapse, (is a heart condition where the mitral valve flaps bulge backward into the left atrium when the heart contracts, which may cause the valve to leak. While often asymptomatic, it can cause symptoms like palpitations, chest pain, shortness of breath, and fatigue) I have none of those problems. I can still do a 8 mile round trip hike gaining at least 1000ʻ in elevation w/little problems with a 15lb pack on my back. My only real problem is I canʻt lift much over 30 lbs because of a minor hernia. Been doing palms since 1998. I have about 100 in the ground from some 27 year old big ones to some 1ʻ tall newbeʻs planted just 2 years ago. Not gonna buy new ones until we get this CRB creature under control.

So nice to see you @Josue Diaz y'all come back, hear? (Keep yer shews on . . . .)

Chrysalidocarpus Lutescens Solitary Form and a dwarf Areca catechu happy with all these recent rain.

Dypsis procera, beautiful smallish palm.

So about 10 years ago, I got a small plant. After watching it grow for a few years I noticed it hadn’t developed the armor I’d read about. To this day I don’t really know what it is. Possible hybrid? Another Syagrus entirely? Super flat leaves, which is kind of unusual for this genus. Flowering at a fairly small stature as well. Pretty nonetheless!

I made my first palm trees from seed in 1986, nothing rare, the seeds I found in my city, then in the 90s I started to wander around the botanical gardens, finally at the beginning of 2000, thanks to the internet I discovered rarepalmseeds, I remember that when I made my first order, after paying I said how stupid I was, they took the money and didn't send me anything, after 25 years I'm still buying seeds from RPS

I am older than dirt, and have walked the Earth with dinosaurs.

Skippy the bush kangaroo in amongst the palms.

My 1.5yr old Borneo Giant has flowered! Never really found any of the Alocasia flowers impressive imo.

This is the 5th winter in the ground. The " Love Palm" (there's a story there) was purchased as a juvenile at a Home Depot in 2012. It has lived in two apartments, a town house, an office, briefly in a storage unit and in a garage before putting down roots five years ago. On nights below 29 or so it gets the Christmas lights and blankets treatment. Last winter we had snow on the ground for about three days and since the fronds are now way up there and too high for my ladder, I was unable to protect them. It experienced about 80% defoliation. But here we are in November and looking pretty good. The Washingtonia next to it was two feet tall five years ago. I can't protect it because it's so covered with thorns that any fabric would come off in shreds but it's been fine against that south facing wall.

Since then, I got another. Pretty sure I got the right one this time!

I have no economy to scale, in whatever I do I do in a big ocd manner, I have been like it all my life, flat out working for a living. I enjoy my time in life the best I can! Richard

Brassocattleya Gulfshore's Beauty 'Green Gem' I usually like the big, 1950s-era classic, floofy, corsage-type cattleyas. But, the color contrast on this smaller one temporarily pushed me into modern times. 😆 First time blooming for me and have been anticipating since purchasing a year ago. Slightly fragrant.

Wait until I get some of my personal collection in there. I hope the future generations get the full benefit of it. Iam sure the seeds in the years to come will be a welcome gift! Richard

I'm actually a little relieved to see some younger blood. @PalmatierMeg sent me a care package a while ago with a really nice note telling me that I was part of the next generation of palm enthusiasts, and I took it as a great compliment but I'm so used to working with people in their 20s so it's nice to know that there's still at least a few people here who won't get my pop culture references. And I can tell them their music is trash. And I can tell them to get off my lawn. I still don't pull my pants up to my armpits though, I still wear baggy jorts and t shirts like it's still the 1990s. Anyway, it's crazy that my insane plant journey and everything that I'm doing now all started with a $12 big box plant because I thought my apartment looked like an institution, and I ended up here looking for help with it. Words on a screen or not, I consider a lot of you to be friends and whether it was kind words, advice, jokes, or boxes full of plants and seeds y'all have gotten me through some really dark 💩 and continue to do so. I hope my babbling and my continuous eff ups provide some knowledge the way others have shared their knowledge with me. Ok rant over..

@ChrisA Thank you. I’m not positive if the white one oleander is a Sister Agnes, but it has always been hardier than the little red oleander which was supposed to be less cold sensitive. Oleanders are much more common than palms in my neighborhood. Almost all of them had some leaf burn this spring, but my little red is the only one I know of that almost died back completely. Maybe that is why it is still blooming. The pic of the white oleander is old. It stopped blooming a few weeks ago.

The next in line which opened this morning were the Laelia anceps barkeriana type. It is exceedingly unusual to have all my Laelias open flowers before Thanksgiving arrives.

I think we need a qualitative study on WHO responded vs who didn't lol. If you attend any of the society meetings, you'll see the average age is much higher - and wealthier. And they do participate here, but perhaps not as often as the younger folks. Same typically goes for other societies too. In my area at least, the orchid societies, cacti & succulent society, etc. I mean, it does take time and money to accumulate a big collection. I was collecting palms as young as 15 or 16, but as you might imagine, I had no property of my own, and very little money of my own. fast forward 20 years and I've got better means and better conditions for collecting palms. My only regret is not buying a specimen Pseudophoenix sargentii when I was 15! It would be so big and grown by now lol

Yeah I read like a whole giant thread on agaveville of people debating titanota/oteroi classifications, origins, characteristics, etc. Like at the end of the day the average person looks for a cool plant rather than the name. I really like those types of agaves too, I wish I bought a black and blue a while ago that was like 10$ on the lowe’s reduced rack, the teeth are really cool looking. But what goes around comes around. I need to restrain myself a bit anyway.

There's a thread on palms across NC & SC. Many of the palms posted are 1-2 hours from Wilmington.

“I’m growing older ,but not up! My metabolic rate is presently stuck .” Jimmy Buffett Always a man of words. Harry

The palm whisperer! Harry

Such a shame your local botanic gardens is not interested in rare palms. If it was a zoo they would be interested in anything rare to bring in the public. I guess rare palms in a public display dont make money, but a rare animal we can make money off. Richard

Epidendrum marmoratum is now in full bloom, emerging from the Platycerium that was a small tag along when I bought the plant 7 or 8 years ago. The Platycerium now dominates the little stick they were mounted on.

A few extras.. Cascalote Flowering at the same time as ..cassia fistula ( wayyy last it's season here ) Others in the hood looking great And new ones to come 👍

Mine too. We aren’t as cold as you are but pretty much the same seasonal temperament with my Plumeria. Harry

Thank you I appreciate that I have learned that lesson. There is a huge delay between a frond looking dead and a frond being willing to come off the trunk without leaving an open wound. November 21, 2025 It has been back to back cool storms now for a couple days here and I think I finally can’t notice it actively growing. Maybe it will resume when it warms up Sunday but last year in November is also when I noticed it coming to a halt in growth. Maybe the sun is just too far away now. It really has not gotten cold at night yet so it hasn’t been tested really this year so far because the moderating fog has swooped in just about every night

They have started to drop leaves, but they will hold on to leaves until January at least. By February, they will be leafless. This is my last bloom, it will likely fall off soon. The photos above are from the summer months.

Mine grew nearly to one metre overall height in just 9 years. Such ingratitude for all the care I gave it. Peachy

Based on the number of Araucaria you already have in your collection you must have a significant amount of acreage. Araucaria bidwillii alone will require a significant area. San Diego Botanic garden ropes off the area below their Araucaria bidwillii when it is dropping cones so no one gets struck. I would suggest calling some of the Southern California independent nurseries for potentially sourcing Araucaria laubenfelsii seedlings. Maybe one will be able to source one from a specialized wholesale grower. My neighborhood independent nursery gets some uncommon Ficus and other trees periodically and has carried Wollemia nobilis intermittently too. Good luck in your search.

Agree 100% w this.. and the last part, lol.

Great thread …. Inspired me to write AVerse I am nearly 70 And some call me a grumpy old man I see I see I and Us and them I see politics and war and religion and war I see humanity I see a planet overwhelmed I wonder Am I fatalist or nihilist Its not my job to have hope I grow palm trees

Just a few! Go big or go back to the potting bench. Nice batch there , Richard . Harry😂

@kinzyjr sure, I was just making a suggestion. It doesn't help grow PalmTalk when a new member joins and post a desperate request for help...and then that post is immediately buried several pages deep by a single PT member. I've seen it happen several times recently. Of course, there's a fine line between "stifling discussion" and "preventing spam." But when people start posting threads about "where's the regulars?" then maybe it's time to address the root cause with a simple fix?

In my own case, still pushing down on the grass instead of up. Between work, my own garden, the gym, CFPACS, and once in a while, sleep, time is at a premium nowadays. Some of the folks on here that were frequent fliers went to other platforms like Facebook, Twitter/X, WhatsApp, etc., with several citing the reasons similar to @Merlyn's.

I've been away for a couple of weeks to a place with lots of palms and a lot of desert but uneven internet connections.

You got that right ! Here’s proof, Harry

Yeah, I regret wasting so much time endlessly scrolling the Book of Face. I have a friend who I swear spends 3/4 of his waking hours on some antisocial media site. I told him I'd rather spend my spare time tweezing nose hairs with a pair of rusty sporks.

Not everyone is on Facebook (me). That site is evil and we need to stick to our own dedicated spaces.

Yeah. It turned silver on top when it Al was about 3-4 feet tall. I between the pleats it stays a little greenish. I’m hoping it will flower soon. It seems to be about the size I’ve seen them flower in habitat (I’ve seen photos only. Not in person). I can only get a good pic of the top now when I’m on the roof. I blew it I guess because I was up there this weekend hanging Christmas lights. Here’s a few shots from tonight. You can see the tops a bit from this angle.

Did you water it from the crown? I lost a Cyathea from crown rot pretty recently, all the fronds suddenly died and the crown turned to mush when I touched it.

Planted this one as a bare rooted mail order. From what I read get them in the ground asap and don’t worry about container growing. The original leaves from tropical growth have taken a bit of a hard time but the new growth is substantially healthier. Another 5 years and I will have a nice palm I hope, having survived one winter there is hope for this species to live in my climate.

CIDP in Ocean Isle Beach, North Carolina https://www.google.com/maps/@33.8992332,-78.4423914,3a,31.3y,283.69h,90.63t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1shpYOz2UxQVIXmoTYv_vbrg!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fcb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile%26w%3D900%26h%3D600%26pitch%3D-0.6257015209903329%26panoid%3DhpYOz2UxQVIXmoTYv_vbrg%26yaw%3D283.68854796016365!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDcwOS4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D

Not in North Carolina But I had to show you guys this amazing house in Danville, Virginia https://www.google.com/maps/@36.5925539,-79.3807934,3a,48.9y,235.78h,95.73t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sCtOMtl0iaAGYaTD8Wh5Uyw!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fcb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile%26w%3D900%26h%3D600%26pitch%3D-5.732221420549521%26panoid%3DCtOMtl0iaAGYaTD8Wh5Uyw%26yaw%3D235.7823407195356!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDQxNi4xIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D

First post on the site. Been following a long time, and learned a lot over the years. Sharing some great NC Palms! Washingtonia in Clayton, NC - Saw the google maps link was shared, and was at the brewery this weekend. I never miss a chance to see this one in person. (Photo from Jan 2025) Butia odorata? - This is on hole 4 of the Oak Island Golf Club - I'm assuming its 50 years old or more? Absolutely beautiful in person (May 2024)

x Exotic palms of Columbia, SC

CIDP in Irmo, SC! Very close to Lake Murray, so a very nice micro-climate, but it has been there for many years and has even survived the last two winters, which were especially harsh.

Here you go.