Leaderboard

Beccariophoenix madagascariensis in my desert neglected area.

What actually caught my eye today was my marojejya darinii, there are palms and then there are palms! This is one of those palms too me!

Great palms; like Steve says, even better in semi shade. The white leaf undersides are are an added bonus..

Here’s the one I have in the shade, super stretchy petioles.

A couple of the more common New Caledonia palms, but still very eye catching: cyphophoenix elegans: Kentiopsis Oliviformis:

Same old Pinanga demanding attention at leaf drop.

Latania & butterfly

Socratea stilt roots. Tim

With a bit of luck a few Ravenea glauca seeds have set after many years of flowering.

Clinostigma samoense in a light drizzle. One of the world’s most beautiful palms. Tim

Acoelorrhaphe wrightii at dusk in flower.

First flower on Chrysalidocarpus “Orange Crush”:

Just checking in on the hand pollinated Chuniophoenix nana, and it looks like we have lift off! 🌱

Hi everyone. I stumbled upon this strange looking palm on google maps in Malindi, Kenya. Here's the google maps link: Silversand Road - Google Maps. If the link doesn't work, then google map search "The Gilanis Hotel". Any idea what it is? Thanks,

I thought it may have been grower mistake, I get a batch of seeds that need cool temperatures to germinate, and i ask the cold climate growers, you learn as you grow, licuala seeds like scarification, licuala triphylla love constant high temperatures, Howea not so around 22 degrees Celsius for those ones. It’s alll a learning curve and the great thing about this forum we all learn from other growers! Richard

Certain enough to know that someone will certainly challenge my certainty.

A nice bit of rain and some high temperatures has the Sabal moving along looking rather good. A nice easy palm to grow tolerant of a lot cool weather and heat like most palms just add water and good drainage!

If you're in the Tule fog, your humidity and dewpoints are going to be at saturation, so why would you irrigate? Virtually all of your plants (including palms) are likely to have fully open stomata in these conditions and are surely gorging themselves on the atmospheric moisture in addition to what they can harvest from your soil moisture. And of course your soil-structure/composition is all important in figuring this out in your situation once your humidity and dewpoints decrease. I'm sure your Rhopies would be just fine with irrigation since it's plenty chilly and wet where they come from, but IMHO it would just be a waste of your $$$ to do it, particularly if they're established. I agree with what Tom Blank says above, and will add anecdotally that I lived on Big Pine Key in the hot, hot Florida Keys with very little rainfall for months at a time and brutal tropical sun bearing down, particularly in springtime with few clouds and near-zero rain. On a limestone rock, basically. And very different from Miami and much of mainland Florida, where there is land and convection to make rainfall, the Keys have nothing really to generate any rain on their own. And yet they are covered in vegetation. The Lower Keys have a freshwater lens that plants can tap into (it was about 3' deep at our house) if their roots can reach, but I had many plants--containerized, planted or native--that just survived almost entirely on the perpetually high humidity and the occasional bit of rainfall for all that time. And in the upper Keys (e.g., Islamorada and Key Largo) there isn't any groundwater, and yet plants survive there as well during the dry season. Many parts of the world have similar situations where there isn't much regular rainfall, and yet plants can do just fine using whatever atmospheric or soil-based resources are at hand, through drought and deluge. I now find myself in the Palm Springs area, where it is much, much drier in winter than either Florida or the Central Valley of California where you are, and palms here are generally still growing albeit at a very slow pace, I reduce irrigation markedly for the cool season, but don't turn it off completely. I factor in, additional to simple observation and past experience, the individual needs/metabolism and stress-tolerances of the plant; soil composition/structure (our porous sand and DG/granitic alluvium); sun/shade exposure and positioning; our low atmospheric humidity, in which water transpires out so very quickly; and the level of establishment of the plants (in my garden usually about three years for most plants to establish a far-ranging root-system). I change cool-season distribution of irrigation to one-minute spurts late morning and very early afternoon where solar warmth is still incoming (and always water containerized plants about 10-11am for that reason)...I avoid any late-day irrigation, which will likely deliver quite an unhealthy, wet chill to the roots of any tropical lowland plants. You'll of course have a very different situation where you are in Fresno, but this just to illustrate that I think all of the above factors have to be considered by anyone in delivering the right amount of irrigation, always keeping in mind the often very diverse native climes from which our garden plants originate.

Took the power out to the whole neighborhood - on Stupor Bowl Sunday Eve!

Some of my bamboo is around 4 years planted and beginning to look more mature, these recently caught my eye.

I agree with Sabal palmetto.

The pots without holes on the bottom and only on the side are typically used for water loving species. Here's a couple of examples for Ravenea rivularis and Archontophoenix cunninghamiana. I've also seen them used with Phoenix roebelenii and Syagrus romanzoffiana.

Looks like S. palmetto from what I've seen. Nice. Is your intention to plant these?

I am in Fresno, but we're under that dreaded tule fog at the moment. Haven't seen the sun since that last rain in November just prior to Thanksgiving. Just fog all day long. My soil is still wet and my palms look good, so I probably won't be irrigating unless we go another month without rain and I notice the soil becomes too dry.

I have one growing in full sun and I love it. It is perhaps my favorite Sabal in the garden, because it looks quite different from the rest. Unfortunately not very resistant to wind but even so it retains an interesting figure. In a worrying incident during past warm season it had its youngest fully developed frond dried out almost up to half the length of its petiole and further growth stalled. This has signaled a loud alarm in my mind, because it could be a symptom of rhizoctonia, which had killed many other smaller Sabal specimens around with similar initial symptoms. So I had to resort to very radical measures, I had nothing to lose anyway. I drenched the soil around the plant with 10 lt water containing 400 gr tolclofos-methyl. This is a horrific amount of fungicide. But no other young frond has died ever since and plant was growing all summer long at snail's pace but it was growing nonetheless! As weather has progressively cooled up and rainfalls started, plant has taken off and a huge new leaf has unfolded.

Was thinking about your garden today and realized I haven't seen a post from you in a very long time. Everything alright? How did the palms do with the snow? And, how are you doing yourself?

It'll fit in a box. Trade you for 2 pounds of frozen palmetto seeds with weevils in them. In all seriousness I hope it finds a good home.

Pity you can’t make a meal out of the gophers 🤣But yes one nice palm! Richard

My favorite Sabal as well. Unfortunately the gophers liked “Marty” enough to make a meal of it. 🙁 Harry

I have another one that’s quite large in deeper shade and the petioles stretch to almost 3 meters, definitely better looking in the shade. Most people think Sabal it must have sun, not the mauritiformis. One nice palm they are and a bit rare in my area!

Hands down my favorite Sabal. In my opinion you did it right by planting it in the shade. To me they look the best when shade stretched.

Previously mentioned baby mango. Tommy Atkins, and I've got 3 more rooting and I'm eating one every day so I'll have tons.

Paul, I have irrigated 12 months per year for many years, sometimes for dryness, and sometimes as a political statement. I would urge all California growers to read a book called "Cadillac Desert".

A couple of palms doing well in the garden, synecanthus warswecwiczianus looking good. Along with a new leaf or two on the bactris gassiapaes.

It was great to see @PalmJuan @CodyM @aabell @PalmBossTampa @SubTropicRay @ChristianStAug @Creekside @Steve the palmreader @TaylorPlantHunter @sarasota alex @cycadjungle and @kinzyjr! A short meeting recap is published here: 20251206_HolidayMeeting_recap.pdf We look forward to seeing everyone who can make it to Plantae-palooza 2026!

I got some Butia catarinensis × Syagrus romanzoffiana sprouting, 105 days in .

Than, don't be embarrassed. The only embarrassing trait is lack of curiosity.

white nerine bowdenii, which bloom here in winter, and a South African bulbous plant

Unreal great to see happy palming🌱

😊🥂

My Sabal mexicana with the sky

Oenocarpus distichus is getting big. Rocky 2 and Suubi stayed still long enough to provide some scale.

Parajubaea torallyi underneath a Japanese Maple.

It looks like I just needed to be patient. Flowers are opeing in mass now and the bees have been going at it, doing their part. The next challenge will be the weight of this inflorescense when it has seeds. The palm has dropped one leaf since the spathe opened, and only one remains to hold onto this inflorescence. I think Tim mentioned that he has had to tie off his to keep them from dropping from excess weight. I will likely try the same thing when it drops the next leaf.

Three new leaves on our little onilahensis

Two beautiful dypsis saintlucei caught my eye today.

A Dorset Canary… 🇬🇧 A fat old trunk on that specimen…

We're confirmed and have been advised that we'll be back at our usual spot. It's a very short walk from the Parking Lot, and the Garden Bistro is close by if you are hungry. If you're looking for something more upscale, Harry's Seafood Bar and Grill is only a short 1500 ft. walk/5 minute drive away. Our President, Dave Hall, is planning to be at the booth with our Membership Chair @kinzyjr and vendor Farnsworth Farms. We'll have quite an assortment of plants, T-shirts, and other stock to sell. Come early, buy often, eat well, see some amazing palms, cycads, desert flora and tropical plants. A portion of our proceeds are donated to the garden. For any questions, please feel free to contact us at cfpacs.membership@gmail.com. WHEN: Saturday, February 22nd, 2025, 9:00 AM - 2:30 PM WHERE: Hollis Garden, 702 E Orange St, Lakeland, FL 33801 MORE INFO: https://cfpacs.com/org/events/

This tree grows here in San Diego. There's two trees in Balboa Park which bloom very well every year.