Leaderboard

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

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.

Nineteen years ago I crossed my fat trunking Butia eriospatha with Jubaea chilensis. I have several of this palms growing here. A few were imported into England also. Yesterday I cleaned the trunk of one of this two. It are beasts! How you call the hybrid of a Butia eriospatha x Jubaea?

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

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.

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

Everything in the picture was planted by hand circa 2018-2019. New zoysia sod just went in a month ago. Love my little tropical garden! (SW Florida Zone 10b) JD

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.

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.)

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.

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

An update, plants already brought there. A picture of the chief gardener next to the donated plants. And the previous happy owner...

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.

Flowering now after taking a few years off

Not exactly today, but....

Calyptrogyne.

Visited the motherland this week. The smaller fruiting coconut is from a ditch that was collected by a lady in homestead Fl 5 years ago . receives no love from the owner . second the largest coconut that has managed to evade the 2021 Texas palm massacre lol over on port Isabel if anyone wants the exact address message me . across the same street I found a yard with 3-4 young cocos that looked really great the lady who lives there mentioned her husband collected all the cocos that washed ashore and they sprouted! other pics are of various parts of the valley for whatever reason palm talk won’t let me insert individual Info per pick so if yall have questions I’ll answer what I can haha . #Zone10A-BTexas IMG_9409.mov

Ours just bloomed! I had to move it under the Chrysalidiocarpus Decaryi , it started to get sun burned . The courtyard is now getting a lot more after noon sun. Harry I love the blooms of these . We will probably get more at some point.

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.

Progress:

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.

My diannanensis decided to throw a double cone!!! 😯. Need to find a female so I can produce pure species on this, as the ones at @edbrown_III house are phenomenal specimens! Multifrondis also coning...looks like more hybrids this year! 😁

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

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!

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!

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

Prestoea acuminata var montana inflorescence would catch anyone's eye. In two weeks it will be pink, then red. The bees are having a party.

The next step in this flush. It clearly has a tilt toward the southwest sky, which is where it gets the fullest sun exposure.

Well done my friend, I too have donated plants to the botanical garden of Naples in the past, I also donated the very common chamaedorea radicalis, an easy to find plant, but they didn't have it, I saw lately that they were male and female and they produced seeds.

The first is Aiphanes minima. They are usually very spiny but can vary with less. And older palms often have less spines on the trunk as they age and wear off. Older Acrocomia do this too. I think the mystery skinny palm is Reinhardtia paiewonskiana.

Chamaerops humilis var. argentea (syn. Chamaerops humilis var. cerifera)

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

One of my coconut palm spear caught my eye with its huge size

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!

Stangeria eriopus with a new frond coming

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:

Planted in 2015 as a 5 gallon

I would call it a big Bertha!!!

This coconut palm from my collection caught my eye

Your "What in the world is this" palm -- could it be an unhappy Howea forsteriana?

Florida Thatch Palm: