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Latania & butterfly

Este es ,las fotos me las paso un amigo que vive ahí

Socratea stilt roots. Tim

Spanky is getting ready to drop one, right above the BBQ grill.

A bit of rain and heat has the garden looking like it’s been having a holiday in Hawaii! Well not quite Hawaii but definitely tropical looking!

Even I get amazed at the garden when I see the pictures and considering 27 years ago it was just Australian bush.

The bills are always going to be there, paid or not paid. But that grandis won’t be, and a Thai constellation for that price a bargain, they are still ripping us off down here and we don’t ever get grandis and as for Thai constellation $110 to $90 bucks! Richard

A couple more borneense have come up, and they have to be the biggest seedlings I have worked with. There’s another two that need potting a bit later so 5 out of 10 not too bad for imported seeds. Should be an interesting rather large palm tree to grow, definitely looking forward to seeing them in the garden.

In 2014, I gathered seeds of this species from habitat in Cuba. 12 years of growth in the Arizona desert and here are the results. The ones I planted in full, all day sun, are finally putting out larger fan shaped leaves. The ones planted in shade, although a much prettier shade of green, are still only pushing strap leaves after all this time. Full sun definitely makes a difference in speed of growth. Species is basically a miniature version of Copernicia macroglossa, but is better adapted to smaller yards and gardens where space is at a premium. Unfortunately, due to its extremely slow growth rate and rarity of seeds, it will never be common or commercially produced. aztropic Mesa, Arizona

Climate dictates a lot of the gardening theme you choose, never get discouraged by the cold weather, you can create that sanctuary of peace with your garden, never lose sight of your goal that you want yo achieve. Most of all dream, dreams do come true!

I look back at the garden photos of before and after it’s incredible. Without Mother Nature our planet would not be the same, the gift of plants and animals is a wonderful joy in life, we need to take care of this planet it’s all we have!

Blank

Very good question! Perfect supplement to my reply right above... On a side note this palms looks like suffering from chronic nutritional deficiency and it is also uncertain, whether it receives adequate water. Both factors may affect frond size though!

Yes. Most of my palms continue growth during the winter and being well fed during the cooler time of the year is much healthier than being undernourished. A well fed palm will endure cold periods much better than one starved of nutrients. In my climate, there’s really no good reason to hold off feeding a slow release fertilizer going into winter.

Here are a few Encephalartos flushing around the garden. I always love the way this longifolius flushes with recurved leafs This lehmannii is a thin leaf variety Last up is aemulans or what I believe to be aemulans. I lost the tags but did germinate aemulans seeds and it seems to match the description.

Have been to busy to walk the jungle finally got some time and found these fronds!!!

Well done, Peachy, I am gratified that you have the correct priorities !!

I posted this elsewhere on the forum, but this S. weddelliana arrived on Wednesday. Just noticed that it has three flower spikes coming out…I think!

First flower on Chrysalidocarpus “Orange Crush”:

Here’s mine in the backyard sold to me as Baueri. 2nd pic is Nov 2020 so It’s very happy and grown great. I just noticed yesterday how big and wide it’s getting. Crown is a little smaller than a 5G bucket. No rings yet. -dale

A very congested 2 gallon pot was the subject of my attention yesterday. All that's needed was a pruning saw and a little brute force. I potted 5 plants from this.

Still have more of these seeds. Also have some new ones just cleaning fruit off and will update. R. baueri and cheesemanii are two..... Thx! -Joe

I wanted to dig it up, but I can't because the agave americana variegata keeps stinging me or Sabine... I haven't discovered this before ... Another Phönix dactylifera??

En chiringuito los leones

The scene is very tranquil and the plants enjoy the shade of the canopy . Harry

One may argue this way!

Spotted this grafted gum today an amazing colour!

Yes, absolutely. Sabine and I are trying it here too, with the means at our disposal.

Wonderful, Paul 🤗

3 inches of rain from Saturday night through Sunday evening. That will surely help the local drought index.

Thanks a lot

No 2 normanbya normanbyi No3 looks a archontophoenix Alexander No 4 a Pinanga? Thats my 2 cents worth right or wrong guessing!

A nice fish of new Leaves on the dioon spinolosum. And the common revoluta living up to its usual show!

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

We haven’t reached the cold down here , it is cooler than it was but still warm enough to water regularly., It seems , up in the Bay area , you guys are quite a bit cooler right now . Another warm spell is predicted this week so more water because we are not getting any rain since the November deluge. At my place , it has not yet dipped below 52f in the early hours with daytime temps in the upper 60’s to low 70’s. It looks like we will be warmer this week . Harry

Are you referring to Georgiopoulos?

It is a conundrum, cause we do not have enough data, like WHEN does it bloom and whether it is MALE or FEMALE! I am inclined to id it as Phoenix porphyrocarpa, whatever this taxon may be in various instances. What confuses me though, is how did a canary (yes porphyrocarpa should be actually a type of canary) manage to escape demise by rpw. I had claimed in the past, (for those who follow my posts it is already known, I do not wish to sound like a CE prophet) that porphyrocarpa is more resistant to rpw. Other people contested this information, but pay attention please: porphyrocarpa has been used rather in a descriptive manner, i.e. any palm resembling a CIDP and producing red dates is called porphyrocarpa. Anyway what Prof. Diego Rivera e.a. described as Phoenix porphyrocarpa in his study (which was found to be a variation of CIDP), looks a lot like this specimen (if memory serves me correctly). Especially in same study is mentioned, that this taxon has not very robust trunk. Besides female canary specimens are less susceptible to rpw than male ones, and this information lies beyond any doubt. Same applies on dactylifera with an exception: if fruits are left fermenting on the tree. Then rpw is attracted also to the female specimens. Thus far only I have been able to help. Some monitoring of this specimen's life cycle would certainly help to a more positive identification.

Paul, It’s been warmer down here and I haven’t watered since the November rains. The ground is still very moist as relative humidity levels have remained high. Looks like the weather will remain pretty much the same for another two weeks before rains return so I’ll probably hand water a few plants that are in the sunniest warmest parts of my yard in a few days. With your chillier temps, I’d guess your soil is still holding a lot of moisture.

I'll totally cover it up, if it dies it dies and I have replacements in pots and can always just go buy more. The 'Bulgaria' was from Plant Delights and I never owned one before this year and I wanted to see what all the hype was over, some people swear by them and others dismiss it as a marketing tactic (which I believe a lot more). Keep in mind to that Sunny Beach in Bulgaria which is famous for Windmill Palms is in a outrageously comfortable 8b zone, there's also some fat trunking Washingtonia hybrids and CIDPs that seem to do well there. I don't know what to believe about whatever temperature was recorded in Plovdiv because no one can agree on what it actually was not only that alot of palms in Plovdiv are sourced from nurseries in coastal Bulgaria which is zones 8a through 9a I believe (9a being essentially throwing distance of Turkey). The 'Greensboro' however was seed sourced from a long living specimen outside of Greensboro, NC which experienced record cold winters and survived and only died due to being cut down for construction. I think you are gonna get a lot better cold hardy genetics when you are sourcing seed from a palm that has lived through extreme temperature and snow events. Not only that there's probably a generational gap between a Bulgaria in Plovdiv and one that was grown in the warmer areas of the southern US, and that you are getting a weaker plant.

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!

From what I've seen in my area over 25 years is, that every T.fortunei (or Waggie) is cold-hardy at 10°F. At 5°F, 20% are untouched, 60% show varying amount of damage, and 20% have catastrophic damage or death. We don't have enough palmetto up this way to measure. The few I've seen saw leaf tip burn at 5°F but nothing catastrophic.

That depends on the forecast day temperatures and how full the moon is, for winter watering if a risk of frost try to avoid container waterings, try to pick a higher than average day temperatures to water your plants. Palms dislike cool feet in winter and the same us humans. If a full moon is approaching then you will get colder temperatures around that time along with the risk of frost. I try not to water in winter as much as possible, letting the rains do that job for the ground and containers. Maybe twice throughout winter I may water my containers, with temperature lows as 2 degrees celsius I try to avoid watering, if you do have to water in winter do it around 9 or 10 o’clock do it has time to dry out a little before the cool night air. So temperatures below 10 degrees Celsius I avoid watering.

While you @Ben G. were at the zoo I went shopping with my wife at La Cantera . Lots of common palms but one stood out . Serenaoa repens. That blueish color is definitely an eye catcher to me.

Just a handful of local pics from yesterday. Nice robusta at the San Antonio Zoo: A little coconut still hanging in there in December, also at the zoo. I liked this pair of S. mexicana on the river at The Pearl. I thought the people in the shot help demonstrate the scale. At my own house this morning, I caught a tenant living in my Washingtonia. This Washingtonia continues to grow at a rapid pace. Here it was when planted late in May of 2024: In October 2024: May 2025: And today:

PalmGain is slow release.

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

Time to pot up a few kerriodoxa seedlings, and to my surprise some trachycarpus sitjong seeds have germinated on the potting bench, I usually reuse the germination medium and just tip it out on the potting bench to recycle it. These are so lucky little sitjongs, just never give up on some seeds you just never know what will come up! And with the warm weather time to start potting up some tropicals.

Surely a hybrid, sylvestris is a smaller relatively thin trunked palm that doesn't grow so tall and has a smaller crown with less rigid petioles. I cant add anything new to the hybrid ID. The dactylifera have biplanar leaf arrangements, that one almost appears a flat arrangement as a CIDP would be. This could be a hybrid crossed several times. I see many more sylvestris hybrids than pure sylvestris here in florida.

That’s a chunky Chamby frond Dave! Here’s a 28 foot P. torralyi frond stretching across my entire front lawn area that I just removed the other day.