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The first ring on my California grown Chrysalidocarpus robustus. I don't recall seeing any other big specimens here in California. Thanks to visiting the Big Island I have seen some tall specimens which put my juvenile plant in perspective.

Two of my Kentiopsis oliviformis are getting ready to bloom for the first time

I had the pleasure of getting a tour of @oliver's garden and thought I would share a few photos of the palms he has growing that survived 2021 freeze and I was able to photograph. He also has a Raphia sp. (sese?) planted next to a resaca so it stays wet. First up Tahina spectabilis.

Medemia argun. He has a flowering male and female but not getting any seeds yet. He hopes to do some manual pollination as soon as the female is ready. 😊

A nifty diminutive palm from New Guinea, Hydriastele rheophytica. Loves water hence, the name, and sparsely clumping. I remember Brad posting a photo of one in his garden not too long ago. Tim

Copernicia fallaensis.

Coccothrinax borhidiana.

Syagrus stenopetala.

Beccariophoenix alfredii.

Copernicia macroglossa.

Copernicia baileyana hybrid (I think).

Pinanga caesia may suffer from overexposure on PT, but mine only recently started blooming so the novelty hasn't worn off yet. I still get startled when I walk by when a new inflorescence is about to open. The entire tree is Technicolor, but the blooms dial it up to 11.The deep red covering (bract?) only stays on for a few hours. After it falls away, the soft pink flower buds are exposed for less than a day. First thing the next morning the flowers open to a cloud of bees. After only a few hours all the flowers have fallen to the ground leaving just the bare violet rachilia that might go on to make fruit, if I'm lucky. I wonder what role the intense colors play. I assume the bees are attracted to some fragrance, not the color, but I really don't know. I could believe brightly colored fruit attracts birds for seed dispersal, but that is months down the road. No matter, it is an impressive, albeit brief, show. Palmpedia says this species is difficult in California. I hope people on the mainland are able to find a protected spot in their garden that can provide the right microclimate for this beautiful palm. If you are going to try zone pushing, might as well swing for the fences. I hear that this is one of the taller Pinangas,. I'll need to keep adding another baby every few years so I always have eye level blooms.

Last Friday, this Iriartea deltoidea dropped a flower sheath with a loud "thwop!" and shook itself out like a wet mop. A day or two later I finally returned with the camera to capture the glowing flowers. Now on the fourth day, the bees are still buzzing around it. These stately palms are a favorite.* I first saw them in Costa Rica, looking down on the fluffy crowns from hanging bridges, mesmerizing. These individuals were planted in July of 2011. IMG_5346.MOV *(All my palms are favorites.)

It is that time of year again in the Northern Hemisphere. Mostly a variety with orange flowers here in my garden. They make a nice green ground cover when not in bloom.

Thought I'd share a few pics from my yard after a rather chilly winter - the Central Valley of California had a record-breaking fog event from late November through about the end of 2025. Temps stayed in the 40s for 360+ consecutive hours - no freezing, no frosts, just consistently cold and wet with next to no sunshine for nearly a month. Most palms grew right through it, but a few of the more tropical species really hated this - I rehomed a few to warmer (drier/sunnier) climates down south. Here are a few shots from today - everything in growth mode as we're getting 80s and 90s consistently - racing toward the 100s too! In just a matter of weeks winter will be a far memory as we bake in the 100s until we cool again in October. Archontophoenix tuckeri - grown from seed from @DoomsDave. I'm pretty sure you threw a handful of seeds at me during one of my visits to your place. Trunking archontophoenix cunninghamia in the back. Seed-grown howea forsteriana & allagoptera peeking in behind tuckeri. Syagrus rommanzoffiana - nothing special, but I recently did clean up the trunk, which makes it look 10x nicer. A shot of my front yard - the pink Handroanthus is just about done blooming. Below it I have Brahea Super Silver, Brahea Pimo, and closest to the bottom is a Jubaeopsis affra, recoving from an irrigation mishap in summer of 2024. The irrigation timer went offline mid June while we were out of the country traveling, and this whole area went without water for 2 weeks. Jubaeopsis took that personally. It's been slowly recovering from that 'drought' event. Handroanthus umbellatus was in bloom just a few weeks ago. This is Livistona speciosa. I grew this from seed, and gave the rest to folks in Southern California. Does anyone have any still growing? I think some of them may have gone at palm society auctions. Chamaedorea hooperiana - The ficus roxburghii looks so pretttyyyyy in the back with all that new growth Sabal uresana - looking stretched. This thing is slowwwwwwww This is the view out our back door. Arcontophoenix tuckeri on the left. The red amaryllis is an heirloom passed down from a neighbor before she passed. Phoenix rupicola. You can spot the Brahea Super Silver in the background. The silver-ish palm below it is Chamaerops humilis var. argentea. There's a Cycas deboaensis on the bottom right that will need to find a permanent spot. I have a habit of putting plants in temporary spots, then moving them when I decide on a permanent spot. I feel like plants develop much better in the ground than in pots. They also benefit from regular irrigation being in the ground, and I don't have to worry about forgetting to water them in pots. This little corner area is filling in so nicely, and will become very thick with vegetation as plants keep growing. Beccariophoenix alfredii is in the far back. Ravenea glauca is center toward the left. Sabal mauritiformis is off to the right. Cycas revoluta x deboaensis is front and center. Lastly, a shot of a Clytostoma callistegioides flower, and a Dendrobium chrysotoxum which I have in bloom. The Dendrobium is grown inside a greenhouse. The last photo is of my plumerias waking up after a chilly nap. I had lots of rot to deal with this winter. BONUS - see if you can spot the Chrysalidocarps prestonianus... It went into the ground directly as a 4-inch plant from Floribunda some 5 or 6 years ago. Almost forgot the Chrysalidocarpus decaryi as well. Decaryi doesn't like the prolonged cold/wet conditions, but it grows out of damage fairly quickly - and we don't always get those particularly cold/wet winters. Some years we are dry and sunny like the rest of Southern CA.

I didn't think this would open sky flowers but I was mistaken. It is a pleasant surprise to see them.

As noted, the crownshaft on these is just beautiful; here’s one of mine. Forgive the blow up pandas, my wife won’t let me get rid of them. One of those battles not worth fighting..:)

Damn that thing is beautiful. More than I deserve. Sprouting seeds maybe sell the babies.

It’s also just this side of lethal. The dead leaf that fell would make a wicked conk on the noggin. Conan and waste cart for scale.

I have finally been able to bring the three main species of Beccariophoenix together in my Oakland CA garden. B. Alfredii has been growing well from 1 gallon and has really picked up speed this past year (prob close to 4 ft or so of frond length. B. fenestralis has been slow but solid from a 1 gallon as well for the past 3 years (hard to see this palm as its protected and covered by other plants). B. madagascariensis has proven to be very hard for me to track down until this past week in San Clemente! I was able to get a masterfully grown 15 gallon and drove it back to Oakland in my car with palm fronds slapping my son in the face in the passenger seat! B. fenestralis with nice windows! 3 years in the ground. B. madagascariensis with Acanthophoenix rubra in the ground for 2 days lol. Looking good with the recent rains! B. alfredii with beautiful purple petioles and fast growth.

2026 update...and yep, still thriving! The overall width on the last several sets of fronds has widened substantially, with them starting to encroach on my Syagrus campylospatha. Also, comparing the trunk height, the new growth appears to me to be emerging several inches taller; last years shows about at eye height on the statue, this year eyebrow height.

Mine came from the same FB batch as Kim's. It went into the ground in March 2019 from a 1 gallon pot. After seven years, it is now about 15 ft (4 m) tall overall with about 4 ft of bare trunk. The color of the trunk is a dull red-orange. Totally carefree. I had never noticed any spines on the crownshaft, but when I looked closely today, I do see very widely separated short spines about a half inch (1 cm) long. Much more conspicuous are the white hairs on the leaflets. I have not noticed these on any other palm species growing in the garden. Could this be a reliable diagnostic character in addition to the coloration? Mine has developed a swollen base.

The yard was FULL of Clivia flowers but due to the unprecedented heat in March, I didn’t have much time to snap photos before the flowers began falling off.

Found five Nubium a in the back of the greenhouse, it’s great having so many plants. You forget what you have until you see them again. So a quick repot and we have great chamaedoreas underway ready for next springs plantings.

Dave it looks healthy so hopefully the spathe will open normally and you will actually get a flower bract. My largest has produced the flower spathes for years, only to abort them before opening. It is currently holding two, but I have learned not to expect much from them.

You got me on this one Dave by a few years! Remember the older we get the better our palms look!

A colorful couple in the morning sun. Pinanga insignis, and orange Areca vestiaria. Tim

I have a lot of affection for this elegant palm. And the seeds are so pretty, too!

My interior NorCal/Sacramento suburb garden: Bauhinia bloom bonanza this month. Keeps local hummingbirds well fed (B. candida and B. blakeana). That's a Butia yatay in the foreground.

Bauhinia variegata 'rubra' blooming in a 5g pot at a friend's house yesterday-from seed from my tree. Mine lagging behind this year so no blooms yet.

Like a lot of tropical fruits,they do ripen quickly. Green one day, black the next! 😄👍 aztropic Mesa, Arizona

Beautiful sunset at Mission Bay Park during San Diego’s hottest March weather on record.

Germinated Chrysalidocarpus onilahensis sprouts from my tree. Not exactly sure how may are in the bag but my guess would be 75-100. $50 for the whole bag. Shipping in CA only. PM if interested

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated:

I have what seems to me, a very strange situation. I have a 4 year old Sabal seedling that has shot up an inflorescence. Im not sure how this is possible at this age, and I have confirmed that the flower stalk is not from some rando weed seed in the pot. I wonder if it can set seed, and if so if the seed would be viable. Seems weird

The palm in the lower two pictures is sending out three inflorescences at once.

Dypsis saintlucei in flower, Chambeyronia macrocarpa and hookerii both flowering together, dypsis rosea and a archontophoenix Cunninghamiana with that rare orange leaf for a bit of colour!

Young Nepenthes ‘briggsiana’ a cross between Nepenthes lowii and ventricosa.

Some form of Cocothrinax in front of a cluster of MacArthur palms. Please help me with ID's and corrections.

Juvenile Latania lontaroides. They do not stay red in humid Florida long:

Bottle Palm that DoomsDave may recall:

Shot of the same palm from another direction:

My youngest and smallest Encephalartos arenarius is the first one to flush this year.

I finished up most of the backyard, and have a LOT of free mulch. This stuff is ridiculously stabby. I spread it all around the main rear and SW beds...I bet the local bear won't like it much! I've started calling this the World's Meanest Mulch(TM). Here's the center backyard before pruning: And after pruning and taking out most of the weeds: There's a Copernicia Fallaensis on the right of center, just behind the Sabal Lisa. It took 100% burn, but just opened up a brand new frond. The small Beccariophoenix Alfredii triple in the center back are probably all D-E-D. Two of three spear pulled with 100% frond burn. I'll probably yank these and replace them instead of waiting to watch them turn to mush. The Encephalartos Gratus (bottom left) and triple Ituriensis/Whitelockii (behind the Fallaensis) provided a good 20+ foot diameter layer of the World's Meanest Mulch(TM). I made it by clipping off the ~10' tall frond and then using the hand pruners/loppers to just knock the leaves off the rachis: I'm impressed by the Fallaensis. The new fan was a growing spear during the cold front, and looks almost perfect. The old fans were burnt, but the stems/petioles are mostly green. There's another green spear tip about halfway up the left side of the below photo. Despite not being super "leaf hardy" the palm skated right through 22.5F...

Planted in 2015 as a 5 gallon

This Latania from several latanias collection

B fenestralis I cleaned up the area around this palm and gave it a good watering. The windows are showing really well and only the oldest frond has any kind of burn of damage after winter. I really enjoy this palm!

Satakentia liukiuensis:

Outstanding assortment of palms! So many real cool Copernicia's, Tahina and Medemia. Personal favorite is the large Cocothrinax borhidiana! Much bigger than the specimen at Ann Norton Sculpture Gardens!