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Trunk Height. Jun-2020 14", Aug-2020 36", Dec-2020 48", Jul-2021 62", Oct-2021 74", May-2022 80", Sept 2022 92", Dec-2023 104", May-2025 134" Today estimated 13' trunk ----- 2022 Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=un0O0tfCKos 2019 2025

Üdvözlet minden pálmafa-rajongó társamnak, Szeretném bemutatni mediterrán kertünket, amelyet 2008 óta építünk és szépítünk. Télen a pálmafákat lefedjük és fűtjük, kivéve a kint az utcán álló Trachycarpus fortunei-t. Gyula, Délkelet-Magyarország. Normális esetben USDA 7b zóna, de az elmúlt 8 évben 8b lett.

The last month of endless "Tule Fog" (radiation fog) in California's central valley has done some damage to marginal plants, despite temps not dropping below 40F except for two instances when we dropped to 39F. From November 21st, for more than 3 weeks, we did not see the sun, and temps did not exceed 50F. We were stuck in an endless cycle of lows in the low 40s, and highs in the high 40s, paired with 90% humidity. Everything wet, everything cold, no wind. Just stagnant, cold, wet air. 365+ consecutive hours of it. I think we broke a record this year for the most consecutive hours in the 40s Fahrenheit AND the longest fog event in recorded history for this area. While most of the state had clear skies and warm weather, we were under this 400-mile long stretch of cold fog. My plumerias are wrecked, I'm seeing dead tissue and rot at the tips. Most palms seem ok. Here are some winners and losers from that type of cold spell - frost free but cold and wet. Chrysalidocarpus mananjarensis - second winter. Seems to be ok with prolonged cold and wet. Chrysalidocarpus "Blue Decipiens" (which i understand is one of the "ugly Betafaka) has no issues with it either. Chrysalidocarpus ambositrae looking great as always Syagrus sancona - really thought this would be ok with extended cold and wet since they're grown extensively at high elevation in Colombia... Gaussia gomez-pompae seems ok with it. Tiny bit of spotting. Brahea pimo spotting pretty extensively The big loser, roystonea regia. Despite being well within this species' temp range, the prolonged "refrigerator-like" conditions really wrecked it. Sunnier and drier conditions are coming back so hopefully this pulls through. Might bring it indoors. Lastly, a shot from my friend's front yard just ABOVE the fog at around 1700 feet above sea level. 70s and sunny there, and just 3 miles downhill, 40s and visibility less than 30 feet. If anyone wants to read more about the phenomenon, here's a good link: https://weatherwest.com/archives/43605 Anyone else in the valley seeing similar damage?

I think you've gotta make your own connections...there are people posting here from all over the world and after a while you figure out who posts stuff relevant to your situation and you hook into that community. As for scientific names...have a look at this current thread to understand why most of us prefer them

A Kliene update. 17C 12/31/2025 @ 2:31pm I pray everyone is well. Here's my update. May God bless you all. God willing next year, I won't be a stranger. (It took me a lot longer to rotate the video than it was to record it) Happy New Year! new year 2026.mp4

December 2025.

Yeah, it has been cyclical depending on the players in the game. @aztropic mentioned the Orlando thread since it is geographically consistent with what @Bkue can expect. When @palmsOrl and his alias accounts stopped posting and @RedRabbit took off for Texas, there was less posting from Central Florida since they were the original posters of the Orlando and Tampa area threads: https://www.palmtalk.org/forum/topic/59360-zone-10-palms-in-the-orlando-area-mega-thread/ https://www.palmtalk.org/forum/topic/61172-remarkable-palms-of-tampa-bay/ This friendly back-and-forth went on for a while and was one of the big drivers of interest for communities near the two cities, like Lakeland-Winter Haven, Deland, Daytona, etc. A bunch of the people who were interested in these threads have joined a WhatsApp chat that @Bkue or others are welcome to join (PM @EPaul) and typically come to CFPACS meetings and/or comment on the CFPACS Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/p/Central-Florida-Palm-Cycad-Society-100064719099155/ @Bill H2DB + @sonoranfans mentioned CFPACS and me, specifically, so it is important to understand the impact of threads like the above. There had not previously been a CFPACS meeting in Lakeland to my knowledge, but after the Remarkable Palms thread became popular, we had two meetings here in two years and have a booth at the Plantae-palooza sale at Hollis Gardens each year. Just going off what I see in CFPACS, we have a LOT of new members from the Jacksonville and St. Augustine areas. There's been a lot of interest in the coconuts and other tropicals around New Smyrna Beach. We had our four quarterly meetings this year, and attendance was through the roof. Our publications page is very helpful as well: https://cfpacs.com/org/palmateer/ Freeze events also tend to spark engagement. Back when PalmTalk became a thing, the forum was very active with posts from California, especially after the 2007 Freeze. When 2010 came, Florida became an area of focus as folks wanted palms that looked tropical, but could survive those types of events. Texas has gotten hit the last couple of years, so a lot of the activity in the Cold Hardy forums is from Texas. In that regard, I guess I'm good with little to no attention LOL. The posts from @happypalms have renewed a lot of interest from Australia and folks not accustomed to some of the stuff he is able to grow that we either can't or have a tough time with here in the SE USA. @Than and @Phoenikakias have a lot of content from Greece, and thankfully, @gyuseppe is back in the game. Overall, yes the forum has changed a bit with different players dominating the field, but that is normal. If there's specific content that you desire, consider creating a thread for it if none exists currently. Many of the users use Google searches like the one below to find something of interest: www.palmtalk.org: central florida palms In my own case, I keep a spreadsheet of direct links to content I found informative or interesting in the past so I can visit those links to refresh my memory.

Ive been on palmtalk since 2007. Posters have changed but it was always worldwide. There are less floridians as a percentage of posts perhaps but you are in 10a, you should be able to grow what I grow. Of the vast thousands of palms in the world perhaps 10-20% are good in zone 10a Florida. Scientific names prevent confusion, trade names are often confusing to me., in a world of thousands of palms the trade names are not specific enough to identify a palm. Many have no trade name as they are not common in general nurseries. I believe kinzyjr has a cold hardy list you should be able to choose from. WHen I look back many of the most experienced palm growers are not posting much these days. People get older and their garden mature so they are not searching for potential palm information so much. Get the list of 10a palms and do a search for the scientific names. Some palms are referred to as partial scientific names like for instance a search for bismarckia will turn up bismarckia nobillis or roystonea will turn up roystonea regia etc. WHen I started the names seemed difficult to memorize so go with a 10a list from kinzyjr(pm him)

With some logistical arrangements and the kind work of @palmtreesforpleasure Mr Colin Wilson. He has arranged for some plants to be sent to Tasmania. So iam kindly donating some Arenga engleri, a jubea chiliensis and some lepidozamia peroffskyana. This is all I can think of at the moment thay will survive the winter freezer in Tasmania. I have also placed in box some gifted plants to @Jonathan his holy grail palms 2 calmus muellerii and 3 black petiole baronii. These will go into his garden. So good luck to all involved in making it possible for the botanical gardens in Tasmania to get a few plants into there gardens. Oh and Jonathan who better not kill the baronii in Siberia!

I want to put out there that Caryota Urens are very dangerous when they get big. Do not wait for them to flower….cut them down when they get large. I had been warned by @DoomsDave but after posting on here and talking to my tree service , decided to wait for the first inflorescence. DON’T DO IT! We had a nasty Santa Ana wind event following a good amount of rain. That is all it took . This morning I got a text from my neighbor “ your palm fell over! . It was straddling her driveway , her husband had already left for work and his brand new truck would have been crushed! I guided her out of her driveway so she could come and go. My small electric chainsaw won’t help with this one. Harry we got lucky with this one! Harry

The guys above explained it very well. If or when you go to both places you can feel the difference in the air. A winter day of 80f in south Florida isn't the same as 80f in San Diego. Here in San Diego we are way drier and our night drastically swing. When we do get cold in winter (upper 50s and lower 60s during g the day and 30s to 40s at night) it's common for it to stick around for weeks if not well over a month. In Florida when they dip into those temps it might only be for a day or two and there quickly warms back up. My biggest heart breaker is Areca vestiaria, they never die from one cold event but rather the long cool winter slowly kills them right before it starts to warm back up.

Brahea Latania Sabal Yapa Other latania Bismarkia

There’s a Palm Talker who liked to carve Caryota wood like this cup with Conan the fierce Guardian of the Garden for scale.

I’ve been on here most of my life and I’ve always found it helpful. I agree with the above, I think the key is to filter through to find the stuff relevant to you. Being in CFla, there should be some regular poster who can help. I know I’ve always admired photos from Leu Gardens. Another suggestion - starting a topic with a particular request often helps, e.g if you’ve got a spot in the garden you want to fill with something interesting snd obtainable that would do well in your climate.

Looks like quite a few of my palms will be getting the ring this growing season. Here’s a couple: Chrysalidocarpus prestonianus hybrid (consensus is likely x pembanus or cabadae). I believe this is originally from Floribunda seed. It definitely has hybrid vigour just in the fact it is growing here in Melbourne. Next up Chrysalidocarpus baronii Black Petiole/Vokona Lodge. Got a batch of 10 seeds from RPS back in 2018 and all germinated 2019. This is the largest of the bunch but also the least colourful. I’ve got 5 left now and the others are all quite striking in the range from red to black leaf bases and petioles. Always thought they’ve been quite slow, but considering it’s been 6-7 years from seed to producing clean trunk, I’d say that’s not bad.

Parajubaea sunkha all decked out. Merry Christmas! IMG_4013.mov

San Francisco has 10b zones but is a mild to chilly climate. The zone designation only applies to average minimum winter temperature. It has nothing to do with the amount of daily heat. No freezing temperatures but nowhere near the necessary heat needed to support the growth of a coconut palm. Southern CA has a few areas (Santa Ana, La Quinta, Coronata for example) where coconuts will grow but likely never fruit.

Climate zone is a human made concept that really only looks at average yearly minimum temperature. I’m apparently a 10a but we don’t really use them in Australia. Cocos won’t grow until about 1000km north of me in the subtropics where average temperatures can sustain their growth. It’s the same problem for So Cal. Outside of a few known examples, the average temperatures in winter are the limiting factor regardless of how often it gets down near freezing.

Dypsis rosea

I think when your zone limits choices, the names can seem superfluous. I started palms in zone 9a where perhaps less than 2-3% of all palms can grow. trade names seemed to be sufficient, but now in a solid 10a the numbers of palms I can grow have increased dramatically and things like trade names for sabals, livistonas, dypsis, kings, chambeyronias, copernicias/yareys, etc all have a frustrating lack of specificity in trade names and make researching care for them more difficult and error prone. How many have planted a palm in the wrong site and wasted money and more importantly time due to lack of information? You want to push a zone make sure you have the right sabal, and some like being very wet while others hate it. There are two that will kick it or be severely burned at 25-26F degrees in an advective event. When I want palm specific growing conditions for planning my garden I want the scientific names so I can determine water and fertilizer or cold protection needs. I dont buy palms from nurseries that dont even have the scientific names on the label because they often don't know what that palm is and I cant identify many palms at a young seedling stage that I buy. How many of us have bought a misidentified palm and were frustrated when we didn't get what we paid for? I have planted half a dozen misidentified palms that didn't grow or thrive as expected. Im not wasting my time with sellers that don't even know what they have, the expense of caring for a palm eventually exceeds the purchase price so I want to know how to care for them. My favorite palms have almost invariably come from sellers that know the palms so I can research them and care for them properly. I used to get frustrated by the names too, I don't like being forced to memorize anything I cant use, so I understand if you are in a cold zone or are not that interested in palms as a hobby. I lived away from my garden for 7 years and rarely posted as I was not taking care of them week to week. I also saw old friends disappear from this forum, sometimes by choice and sometimes not by their choice(RIP). I got tired of the redundancy and all the coconut palm posts but you can zoom right past the really basic or redundant posts if you are not interested, or don't have the time to help someone new. Personally, this forum has been a goldmine of information for my #1 hobby, and I want to give something back, as there were experienced people who did that for me. I was one of the ones that insisted on the cold hardy palms forum, if you are zone 8 or 9a that might be the best forum here for you as you will be able to find what you want faster with less effort. When you live in zone 10 or 11, its different and you cannot get a lot of information without reading about and asking about palms, and if you are serious the scientific names really matter. I have looked at several other sites, and found them lacking in at least one of several areas I wanted to explore. I am not looking to sell anything or for the off topics that often contain just gabbing or trolling. Palmtalk is a well moderated site that I can get away from all the $%^ out there in the world that is often represented by a small number of the population that is angry or frustrated with their lives. I am too old to let someone I don't know drag my day down and kill my qi. I can come here for information, or to help someone, who like myself at one time, needed it. Palmtalk may not be for everyone and that is ok, there are other sites that cater to various degrees of involvement and content people may desire. This one is more about the rich information and help available almost nowhere else in help for selecting and growing your palms. You can be starting at square one and get help, or more experienced and looking to branch out in your garden. I sometimes ask myself what would my garden look like if I had not joined palmtalk? It would probably be a pretty boring garden I might have never been bitten by the palm bug. I may have chosen the low maintenance approach everyone else around me has. Bkue you can grow this one very well in your zone. I never would have known it but for palmtalk when I had it planted it in 2011. peace

@richnorm we had our saws ready then the landscapers across the street came over and offered a killer deal to do it. They did it by starting at the base , as you and others suggested, and worked their way up . They were done in less than an hour ! Those big Husqvarna chain saws ate that palm so fast. Harry

Dypsis “Big Curly” lookin pretty good today. Getting some size to it. Going to be a bit of an annoyance for a few years due to its placement close to the walkway but I wanted it to be close so I could smack the fat crown and trunk when walking by. 👍🏻 -dale

I haven’t been here 5 years but I have seen plenty of helpful advice on growing of all palms , whether exotic or common. Scientific names are helpful to me as that is what I normally go by . Harry

Sabal Yapa

I am the most lazy gardener in the world. I grow palms by throwing seeds around my yard, and seeing what sprouts and survives. Brahea edulis is my best success. Here is my largest, which is about 17 years from seed, throwing its first bloom spathe.

Wish you a merry Christmas. Here’s Houailou and Hookeri in the background (two, look closely!) after our rainy Christmas Eve. Maybe share a nice palmy Christmas picture, even if the palms are indoors….

Merry Christmas

DON’T plant Caryota urens in suburban settings!

Two of the finest palms from South America definitely worth having. Germinated the bondaria and they have been slow as seedlings. And the socratea purchased a couple of seasons back. The socratea show a little cool tolerance surviving in the ground and in the greenhouse. Two palms worth growing if you can track them down!

Palm growing has changed over the 35 years I have been growing them for. Once rare and exotic lytocarum weddlianum is now that common you can’t give the seeds away 35 years ago they were that rare. Now once common is replaced pretty quick by new rare exotic varieties. There are the true exotics from the past thay always remain exotic Johannesteijsmannia, licuala orbicularis, mapu, kerriodoxa iguanura palms Calyptrocalyx they are here to stay as exotics that are not rare. Nowadays growers want the rare unobtainable stuff that is super exotic looking. You could join a gardening club or other type of society’s that are more specific in your interest. They are always looking for new members w are more than willing to share or sell thay specific plant that takes your interest. Think outside of the greenhouse and there is plenty of content material just waiting to be posted!

No budget was spared in this little makeover, with 5 dypsis louvelli and a lovely dypsis minuta as the stars in the makeover. And a trio of chamaedoreas with the usual winners metallicas, adscendens and a few Ernie’s, so a bit seed production in the years to come with this nice trio of exotics. And for a bit colour a nice draceana goldieana along with an anthurium vietchii, there will be no shortage of eye candy in this corner of the garden!

Here are some of the more colorful palm trunks in my Northern California garden. Post yours please! Howea forsteriana Rhopostylis baueri Archontophoenix purpurea Chambeyronea macrocarpa Archontophoenix myolensis Chanaerops costaricana Rbopalostylis sapida ‘Chatham Island’ Rhopalostylis baueri Rhopalostylis baueri Chrysalidocarpus decipiens Wodyetia x Veitchia Chamaedorea ernesti-augusti Howea forsteriana Chambeyronia hookeri Euterpe edulis Archotophoenix alexandrae Phoenix roebelenii Caryota urens R. sapida Hedescepe canterburyana Chamaedoea tepejelote Bentickua condapanna Dypsis rosea Chamaedorea species Euteroe edulis ‘Orange Crownshaft’ Chamaedorea elegans C. radicalis Livistona australis

A while back one of you knowledgeable persons ID’d this unusual Chamaedorea and stupid me can’t remember what it is. It’s solitary, fruits are tiny and brownish black when ripe, nodes on trunk are bulged and irregular, and leaflets are droopy and a bit irregular. The palm is roughly fifteen years old.

Two beaches in one day for Christmas in beautiful Puerto Rico. Plenty of palms! Happy Holidays everyone!

Here’s a better picture of Houailou.

Anytime of the year for a Chambeyronia, cheers to all!

Never noticed until today that this palm makes butterfly shapes in the leaves…in first pic

Brian, you can pm me with questions any time. I am older so I dont hang on line all the time but I do answer. I understand about the searching its more complicated these days it seems, I also have struggles there. Your soil may well be alkaline due to limestone rock. This you should know so you can make the best decisions. If it is limestone base in your area, all the cuban copernicias will do even better for you than mine as I have to add dolomite to make the pH slightly alkaline. Satakentia liukinesis( a must in our area) and chambeyronia oliviformis also prefer slightly alkaline pH and do better in those kind of soils. Many who I have learned from seem to not be on here much theses days. What I have learned from from them I share readily, that is what this site is about, IMO. Teddy bears "chrysalidocarpus leptocheilos" are gorgeous palms and do well in our climate. I still struggle with the name changes and spelling on the species that have name changes. It used to irritate me that they changed the names, but as a scientist I feel compelled to follow. I am not a botanist by any means but I do understand soil chemistry as a PhD chemist(dual undergrad degree with chemical engineering) with friends who did study transport of nutrients in soils(its complicated). If you are ever in my area you are welcome to see my garden. Its a small yard(about 12000sf(about 1300m2) with sandy soil so I am somewhat limited. some of my species are serenoa repens silver(really light blue) bismarckia copernicia: hospita, fallaense, magroglossa, baileyana and alba (blue) BxJ, (BxJ)xJ Roystonea Regia archontophoenix species(4) these are not fans of alkalainity to my knowledge and are pretty leaf tender @ 30F chambeyronia macrocarpa watermelon, hookeri, chambeyronia olvivformis , chambeyronia houilou livistona saribus, decora and chinensis dypsis madagascariensis, pembana, lutecens (not sure if they are now renamed to chrysalidocarpus) sabal causiarum, uresana phoenix rupicola dyctosperma album furfurcea, rubrum I can offer you what I know about growing these if you are interested I would suggest you visit palmpedia.com for descriptions, just paste the names in and you will get good information If you want to purchase palms, a trip down to miami area would be good to get some better deals at "Redlands nursery" and some you can order at small sizes online from them. Like I said, we can communicate through palmtalk personal messaging(best way) as my email is inundated these days with unwanted junk. THe engineering side of me hates spelling these latin names( I never took latin), and memorization of unconnected facts. Only my love of palms has motivated me to learn them as much as I have. best Tom

First one is what was D. Ampasindave and the flower of L. Rupicola

Nooooo the Central Valley is fog central from November through January, give or take. It doesnt always happen, but it can happen during these months when conditions are right. It usually begins with one of the rainstorms off the Pacific which soaks the soil. High pressure systems often form over the area which block new storm systems from blowing the cold, moist air out. Being that the valley is surrounded by a 14000 foot ridge to the east (the sierra nevada), and the coastal mountains on the west, the air has nowhere to go and condenses at ground level. As the air warms at higher elevations, the cold air sinks and compounds these conditions. The longer the fog lingers, the more dense it becomes. It often stays with us a day or two before the next storm moves in and clears the skies. This fog spell lasted approximately a month, which is pretty long even for us.

It’s one thing to germinate palms, but you need something to put all those little babies in, and both go hand in hand requiring both things to get any sort of results. It’s been a labour of this one project, life getting in the way has halted the completion process. Slowly getting there, this one project will be one of the better ones I have built learning from the past 3 structures refining this one to my liking. Another row of benches and then the floor and a potting bench at one end along with a storage shed the other end. It won’t take long to fill it, I know that much!

Made me green with envy that I could drive 30 mins uphill and find plenty of warmth and sunshine lol Yeah! That damp cold just penetrates any sweatshirt or jacket. Most plants can tolerate these conditions for a short while, but the longer these conditions persist, the more cell death you start seeing on the more tropical stuff. Even completely "hardy" stuff begins to show signs of cell death - i have several mushy spots on some agave leaves. Agave attenuata boutin blue is especially sensitive. Agave marmorata and Agave celsii as well. Both hardy enough (i mean 39F is hardly a threat to these!) but they just begin to suffer in prolonged cold and wet. I also lost a nice astrophytum asterias. The substrate was bone dry, but the plant just melted. Too cold and too wet for too long. I found it oozing one morning and the entire plant was one mushy mess inside. The plumerias are south facing, so now that the fog is broken up by sunny afternoons, they are getting the sunlight they need, and also drying up. The last time I had damage similar to this was in 2022 with the long, cool, wet spring we had. I did remove all of the leaves to increase airflow and allow sunlight to penetrate. I also sprayed liquid copper fungicide on the stems, and applied a soil drench of Garden Phos as a systemic to guard against root and stem rot. I had anticipated a wet winter, so I had given them a dose of systemic in October, and again in November. This is the third application of the systemic, so I'm hopeful that is enough to get them through. Fingers crossed for more sunshine! No more endless fog, please!

Again with this same Cheesmanii in my front yard. The purple hue seems to be a thing with this plant which is great!! It’s grown great and consistently pushes new leaves but it’s nowhere near the stature of my Baueri. This plant has a way smaller diameter trunk and smaller crown shaft than its cousin. I’m digging the curve it’s got. Looks to be straightening out. -dale

Today I noticed a coleus hitching a tide on L rupicola I believe this is?

Andrei, CongratuLations on the maturing of your B. edulis! Mine’s roughly ten years older than yours. It flowers profusely but I remove the inflorescence before the flowers open because, honestly, I can’t stand the smell that emanates from them. It’s a strong urine-like odor and attracts flies instead of bees. If the palm were in a more open area, it would likely be okay. Your’s looks to be in a more open area.

I wanted to share something important with fellow palm enthusiasts who have been following the ongoing issue of lethal bronzing. I’ve recently published new research that looks deeper into how lethal bronzing may actually lead to palm death. Instead of viewing the disease as simply “blocking” the palm’s vascular system, this paper explores the possibility that the palm’s own internal defense response may become over-activated — and that this extreme reaction may be what ultimately causes the collapse of the apical meristem. This is not presented as a cure, but as a step forward in understanding the mechanics of the disease. My hope is that clearer insight into what is happening inside the palm will help guide better treatment strategies and research going forward. If you’d like to read the paper, it is openly available here: 🔗 https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18027736 Author: Gary Kennemer Title: A Host-Mediated Defense Collapse Model for Lethal Bronzing Disease in Palms (Phytoplasma-Associated Phloem Failure) I know many of you care deeply about palms and the spread of this disease. Hopefully this contributes meaningfully to the conversation and helps move the science forward.

Hey all, i’ve had this plant in the ground for a number of years. Located in pretty close proximity to a large Beccariophoenix and amid numerous other plants all vying for water. Up until a year or so ago I had a number of zones irrigated primarily through above ground spray. It certainly always seemed like they should’ve been getting enough water, as most of the other plants in the area had reasonably decent growth rates. But this one just languished. As I’ve posted before, I had drip irrigation put in about a year ago with a fertilizer injector, which has been remarkable. But I was walking by this plant yesterday and noticed the difference in the growth ring spacing “Huh”.. Whether it’s finally getting enough water, or fertilizer, or both, it definitely seems happier.

Here’s another big Dypsis / Chrysalidocarpus with its first ring. This came in as Chrysalidocarpus Sp. Ambanja. 2 different palms have come in with this name. I don't hear about this one much.

Wishes for a merry Christmas to everyone! Not quite the color exhibited in Dave’s picture, but a wonderful sunny morning in between storms. Couple that with the fact that I’m rarely home in the morning, and it’s pretty nice.