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After a miserable drought for most of 2025, rain finally returned to East Hawaii in mid October. All my wilted tropical plants are gradually recovering. No matter how much it rains, I'm always thankful for more. Months of cloudless blue skies is a disaster when you live on a small island, or even a Big Island. Always thankful for my monster Metroxylon amicarum planted 12 years ago from a waist high 5 gallon. Fingers crossed the coconut rhinoceros beetle never attacks.

I love all my palms and I am thankful they continue to grow. Today my Rhopalostylus Baueri Cheesemania opened another frond , I am thankful it has done so well! Harry ‘This palm is growing very quickly since I planted it about a year and a half ago. Nothing spectacular , just steady growth .

On tonight’s show we have some lovely exotics that are straight from a jungle nursery near you! First we see the fabulous packaging from such a fantastic grower of the finest gifts Mother Nature has to offer! Then from the great land of Madagascar we have a lovely little Dypsis just simply known as CLBS. Just looking a picture perfect for this evenings show. Next we have a beautiful little Areca tunku that looks to be a baby! From there we go all the way to the jungles of Panama with a gorgeous zamia nesophila, a lovely understory Zamia. Staying in the understory we have a armorphallus lacourii, followed by a nice anthurium talmancae that’s also perfect for the understory. And to finish of tonight’s show we a lovely Etlingera cornerii aka Siam Rose these would definitely make a wonderful gift for that certain someone in your life! So thank you all for watching tonight’s show and stay tuned for nexts weeks show!

Scored another two variegated weddlianum seedlings. Germinated from seeds from my garden it’s one palm in amongst 4 that set seeds that has the gene or mutation more likely. Not sure which one but I have an idea to who the mum is. I will be keeping an eye on the 3 I have found and see if it holds true in the variegated department. But for now a few freaks of nature in the collection!

Zoo Miami.

Acrocomia crispa

This Rhopalostylus got my attention with an opening frond! Harry R. Baueri Cheesemania a fast grower in my climate. There is already the tip of another spear emerging.

My Bactris major. It has grown a lot in less than a year.

Dark petioles are consistent with the Chambeyronia hookeri that I have too. Jim, perhaps yours is a little darker on its petioles but only s degree of difference. Nice specimen that you have!

A couple more palms go in the understory, a nice juvenile calciphilla that will look good in a few years time. And now I have worked out how to grow iguanura palms, they are tricky little critters that’s for sure but I worked them out. I had some teething troubles at first with them but got there. So now it’s time to get them in the ground and hopefully no more trouble with them!

Iam not surprised the geonoma atrovirens died, there tricky in perfect healthy conditions, let alone bare rooted in a box. I have purchased a few atrovirens and the longest they where in the postal system was 3 days, all of them arrived in perfect condition. Sucha shame to kill such a beautiful palm, it most likely succumbed to transplant shock and transpiration. We learn as we go with palms!

Colin is a warm hearted gentleman. And quite a character, one great moment with him was a tour of Sydney’s botanical gardens with him. I will never forget his knowledge and love for the palms in that garden!

I will let you know when they seed. 😉

If I buy a plant from a market stall or nursery that has weeds I hold the plant and tip it upside down and tickle the a little topsoil away hopefully with all the weed seeds as well. Then I quarantine any new plants that come into my nursery monitoring for weeds to germinate. And about 90 percent of the time I get weeds from these places that have weeds in there containers. I cannot stand weeds in my nursery and nursery grower thay has them…….. Richard

Keep us apprised!

You soon learn to spell Johannesteijsmannia, I had too with so many joeys, sometimes you run out of room🤣 But some great seeds in this batch! Richard

Good question and not really I put a plastic liner on the bottom, occasionally I get the odd root slip past on the side. But have been pretty lucky, I did once forget to line the bottom of a box once with Joey seeds in it and it was a nightmare I had to cut the styrofoam and then break it away from the roots. I also had a very well known growing once say to me you don’t need to line styrofoam box’s, naturally I just ignored his advice and thought he’s got it all wrong you have to line the bottom.

That’s a bit better now, hot sun they dislike , I have a few around my garden and the best ones are in shade. A couple of others are in some sun but shaded at different times of the day. And they love water!

@sonoranfans for sure I do not want any fast growing, large, non-self-cleaning palms. I can deal with somewhat smaller fast ones (Kings, Foxtails) and small trunk diameter clustering types (Lutescens, Mitis). I am sure the 14 Alfredii are going to eventually be a big hassle. I will probably trash one before it gets too big, as I planted it only ~10ft from the house. Around 15-20ft is ok, but ~10ft is not. The three Bismarckia are already irritating due to fan size and fast growth speed. They are just growing out of the remnants of Wilson damage now, even with only ~90mph gusts. @flplantguy I planted a perimeter of Viburnum on the entire SW, S, and SE sides, but they were not that great at absorbing sound. And then they started dying of root rot (probably Armillaria). I am 100% sure the new perimeter of bamboo will become a maintenance hassle (nightmare?), but once the ~15ft tall culms leaf out it should be reasonably quiet back there. If you have space, things like Gracilis, RG Dwarf, and Ladyfinger (20-25ft, 15ft, 10ft) are great dense noise barriers. And they are leaf hardy below 20F so great even in winter!

Very good. More should follow. It’s really good that they fruit in NZ. I remember reading a long time ago probably here on Palmtalk that they don’t fruit in SE QLD. I don’t know if that’s true now. They are a palm from the mountains of NE QLD so maybe they need the cool that NZ gets. I’ve been up to Mt Lewis in November and it was definitely cool needing a jacket even being so close to summer. They grow easy for me down here, and look much better than they did in Perth where they seem to struggle on the coastal sandy soil. My heavier wetter soil seems to keep them happy. They seem to like full sun and struggle in too much shade as well. I’d love to get mine seeding one day.

I have 2. Hemithrinax and Pseudophoenix. Both species seem to thrive under Arizona desert conditions, and both are small and slow growing palms that are easily managed in smaller yards and gardens. aztropic Mesa, Arizona

I’ll be 75 next June and immigrated from the Netherlands in 1956 at 5yrs old. Been into surfing all over the world, road racing bicycles on and off until 65 years old. Been a Palm society member since 1977, and now I’m on my second go round with my 13 years old garden in the hills of Vista/ Bonsall area of San Diego. I just finished spreading 36 cubic yards of mulch this week myself. I’m growing cycads, aloes, agaves, plumerias, protea, boojums, and of course palms. The world keeps on changing but I’m still the same cantankerous beast that I’ve always been 😎

Great hobby to share with the children . I remember my little girl , then a toddler , following me around with her pink beach pail “helping “ me plant palms everywhere around our home . She would go with me to Jungle Music and different palm specialty nurseries around the north San Diego area on “ safari “ . Cherish the memories , as your palms grow , the child’s voices will echo after they have grown and left the nest . My favorite …” Why are you trying to hide our house , Dad ?” Now , at 71 it means so much. Once , while visiting us on holiday , she posted on social media a photo of the view from our deck with a one word caption “Home” ! Harry

Apart from a Rhapis, I have never been able to find a variegated palm on the market. Lytocaryum are one species I never imagined as variegated. Well done, lets hope they breed to type. Peachy

I have purchased a geonoma atrovirens from ecuador, shipped bare root & the palm did not make it !! I soaked it in a bucket of water with super thrive over night, then potted it up & into my green house cabinet. The soil was well draining but did not dry out. The palm slowly started to dry up & die, it was the strangest process. to this day I'm not sure what the cause of death was, as when I unboxed the palm, it seemed so healthy. my guess is transpiration loss ?

Here's a couple of stills from the video. Smallest Jubaea on the east side of the house. Biggest tree.

Hers a nice bit of hookeri colour for you Jim!

Im late to the game apparently . Great to hear and I’ll keep learning.

It’s a palm mafia code thing! I think if they share they end up swimming with the fishes!

R moorei was the focus of the 2023 Save the Species campaign.

I don’t have children and my family are not living near me, so I just want to share my garden and knowledge with the world. My garden to me is my life the same as my container palms. Iam no Einstein when it comes to knowing all there is about plants and learn every day something new about plants. I have been living in my home for 27 years, living the quite reclusive lifestyle in the bush not wanting the world to bother me, an old hippie with idealistic views of peace and love for the planet, then the world changed about 5 years ago and I got my nursery growing again. I mean no harm to anyone or any living creature, I just want to love my life in peace with my wife my cat and garden oh and my palms. I live for my garden and my garden lives for me!

Well, the forecast was all over calling for at most light rain in the 80s during the day….. we just got hammered. It was needed though. Supposed to drop to the high 50s overnight. Happy Thanksgiving!

Love it, thanks for the intel! Definetely Madagascar is one of the top of mind places, or any place into the less explored high altitude ranges

A bit of hey look at me on this day with temperatures and humidity that would give cairns a run for it’s money, this double header of a licuala ramsayi feeling right at home in the humidity!

All great pix.

But this one 3 times shorter, on full sun all day, already first flower this spring and now making two heads...

Few pics...intersting thing, recently find out that one of my rostrata make 2 head without flowering....i thought they do that only after flowering....

Glad to see I'm not the oldest here, at 77-1/2... I was beginning to wonder.... I've always been interested in nature and gardening, but got the palm bug in the '90s when doing some major landscaping of my yards... I wanted some palms, and lurked this site, long before joining... It has been a wonderful resource, and I hope it continues for many more years.. Butch

Gen Z palm collector here. I've liked palms since I was like 3. First discovered PT in 2016. Started collecting around 2017, but I only started collecting rarer species in 2021.

All signed up......and the rumor is true about this meeting, it will sell out!

Hello from Cali, Colombia. It is the evening of the Farewell Dinner, but I will take a few minutes to post some pics from the adventure. Bo (bgl) and I spent a few days in Bogotá in advance of the Biennial. We visited the Jardín Botanico de Bogotá and also went up the teleférico to the top of Montserrate to take in views of the city. The elevation of the city is 8,675 ft. (2,644 m.) and the top of the hill is 10,341 ft. (3,152 m.), a good way to acclimate for hiking at lower levels to see Ceroxylon.

In the density of the jungle it was often a challenge to catch a photo of the palms, especially the really tall Socratea and Iriartea, whose crowns were high above the canopy. Hopefully others will contribute some photos. After hiking in the heat of the day, everyone needed a beer or two when we made landing on Juanchaco dock and made for our sweet little hotel in Ladrilleros. Early morning at the hotel The next morning on the way to the boats again, these hats made from the Manicaria spathe were quite popular souvenirs!

These are from our second, less muddy hike on an island with no trail to follow. We saw Euterpe precatoria and oleracea, various Bactris, Wetting, Genoma, 2 species of Socratea, Iriartea and others. (Not all are pictured here.)

More from my group’s first hike Bromeliads were thick on the ground and in the trees. We got a bit ahead of the guide and realized maybe that wasn’t such a great idea. Tiffany took advantage of the pause to scare up interesting orange-clawed tiny crabs in the leaf litter, among other critters. Some were enraptured by a Mauritiella macroclada, so I snapped a shot ...then realized they were looking UP at this monster Lots of big Manicaria on the trail

Massive stiltroots from Socratea exorrhiza. Cindy, Bo and Burt during a break from the Jeep exhaust. The largest butyracea I have ever seen.

I love the shot of Jason craning his neck to see the highest canopy!

It was an amazing trip, never to forget.

Cindy Adair waving from the Niña Victoria, one of the four boats we filled. This part of the ride took over an hour, but I lost track of time while admiring the scenery. These little broken islands densely covered with vegetation were a common sight. Once in Bahia Malaga, at La Plata Island we switched to narrow open motorized canoes to better reach the trails where we would hike. L to R below: Debbie and Greg Hamann, Jason Dewees, author of the recent book, Designing with Palms; Larry Klotz in white hat, Larry Noblick in camo hat Our canoe was the Correo la Sierpe, La Sierpe also being a village on one of the islets we would visit.

Photos from our walk in Tochecito, mature Ceroxylon quindiuense among the cattle, who unfortunately munch on any palm sprouts. The only chance for younger palms to survive is in the thickest and steepest groves.

Brugmansia sanguinea, had no clue it could grow to tree size. Having fun with the views... A couple more from the botanic garden (photos not guaranteed to be in perfect order...) More later as time permits.