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Someone certainly loved palms and went all out with a hedge of engleri. A local suburban house in my hometown, they went for privacy and certainly got it with this lot of palms. So engleri will make a great hedge over time. They even threw in a Bismarckia for good measure.

I finally got around to building (assembling a kit) a small greenhouse for my seedlings. I had so many taking up space between other palms in the garden and also dominating my work bench. I really don’t have much room around the house so it had to be very compact. It took me about a day and a half to put together , including a 4x4 wooden skid to give it height . I finished it today and quickly put all of my babies in there to enjoy the nice , warm environment. I have a few varieties now and more sprouting so it was time for a dedicated space. Harry It is squeezed between two large Syagrus R with enough room for my ladders. A nice vent to keep it from getting too hot . The wet pea gravel will hopefully raise the humidity a bit . I just opened the vent more to allow it to cool down and circulate the air. I plan on adding a solar powered fan at some point. These are very reasonably priced but take a lot of assembly time. There are many sizes to choose from . I chose the 4’ x 6’ . Harry

Hi there, First of all, Happy 4th of July to all our American members here. Hope you have a safe and wonderful Independence Day! Alright, just a short update of this one - please have a look: A great source of joy! It looks quite happy and I recognized for the first time... ...two new spears at the same time! One more time a full shot... Maybe I got to think seriously about a small pond to be made....🤔 Thank you for following - Lars

This Thai palm has been in the ground awhile now and the large, attractive,segmented leaves are pliable and relaxed rather than stiff and thick. Well behaved and good scale. Me likes this one. Tim

Hedyscepe canterburyana dropped an old frond and the freshly exposed crownshaft is looking great!

Borassus flabellifer were looking good at sunup this morning...

Have always liked these medium sized palms and fast growers in my location. Produce seed regularly, providing offspring for other locations in the garden. The pair of taller palms in the one photo are the mother plants for the smaller plants. Tim

Now in their third summer from 4” containers, the Burretiokentia kogiensis, and B. dumasii, and second summer B. vieillardii have proven to be winners in my Northern CA garden. Partial shade and lots of water seem to be the trick not to mention good soil. I had imagined much slower growth with these but they’ve sailed along. Not pictured are my two B. hapala. Would love to see examples in other members gardens! Burretiokentia vieillardii B. kogiensis B. dumasii

I've been over to Indonesia a few times in the last couple of years. Always interesting to see the sights...beaches, rainforest, volcanoes and all the local culture etc...so very different to home in Darwin! Suprisingly not as hot as I thought it would be. But all that volcanic soil, good rainfall and tropical temps makes for a very lush landscape...Have seen quite a few native palm species growing in natural habitat, plus the milions of coconut palms everywhre (although the Rhino Beetle is doing a fair bit of damage unfortunately) Fortunately it is only a two and a half hour flight to Bali from Darwin, and reasonably priced. Internal fights are super cheap. Over the top of Kilingking beach So many volcanoes on the flights from Darwin to Bali and from Bali to Java Rural life Plenty of bamboo forests Rural villages everywhere in Java Pinanga javana Caryota rumphiana Calamus sp Corypha utan Areca catechu Caryota rumphiana Plenty more if you'd like to see...

Putting the new property machine to good use, a recent investment for landscaping my property an excavator. And I should have purchased it years ago. With so many new palms and exotic plants in the collection I have a lot of landscaping to do. Raised beds with good quality soil is the only way to go in my environment. The original garden was done in this landscaping manner. Dig the whole are and remove the rocks, and use them for landscaping. Backfill with soil and plant. Even the kookaburras have worked out that the excavator means disturbed soil and all sorts of critters to eat , iam sure I have a few exotic palms to fill this section up with!

Mid winter in Melbourne and it’s the Ceroxylon sp. opening new fronds catching my eye. C echinulatum C alpinum C quindiuense C amazonicum C vogelianum

It appears I have a lot more leaves to grow before my ones look like that beauty in sunny Hawaii!

Getting a bit of trunk these days, looking good today. Tim

I started out with two little greenhouses and a small hothouse, the addiction grew along with more greenhouses, the pictures below are where it all started. Soon you will be building another one. It’s a great hobby that’s for sure and your setup is perfect! Richard

A very unusual way of clumping the rhizomatosa. They just start a vegative shoot and head for the ground and pop up further away from the parent plant. It’s still a rare palm, I have removed small plants and they are quite easy to keep alive. A very unique palm, with its rhizomes.

A little trip into the gardens today for a spot of planting with the garden team. Rick ackland the garden curator is right behind getting the palms into the garden. And I will say it’s not only palms he is working on with the garden, the major improvements he is implementing are going to change the botanical gardens into something that will be a must see on any botanical gardens list. And if we can get a lot more palms in there even better, all palms that get planted are going into the database Hortis which is linked to Kew botanical gardens. So this project will be a vital link in the chain for palm conservation in the future. And iam in it for the long run as long it’s permissible to do so, and a big thank you to @palmtreesforpleasure Mr Colin Wilson for donating a lot of the palms you see and backing me up. Future generations will have something to look at!

Here’s an Archontophoenix species, seed collected from McBride Gardens in Kauai as purpurea. It is not, but it is lovely nonetheless. Another store-bought “tropical foliage” palm from years ago at a home center. Just a beautiful example of Archontophoenix, although I don’t know which one. Sabal mauritiformis at the best possible size. Long petioles and 6 foot diameter leaves. Lastly, another Home center purchase from 15 years ago, Crysalidiocarpus lutecsens. Common in the tropics, much less so here. But just such a glorious palm when it is content with life.

Axel, Filling in the pool/ koi pond, as seen in these pictures, opened up an area for several more palm species. Archontophoenix, Burretiokentia, Bassalinia, Chambeyronia, Pritchardia, Bentickia, Howea, Syagrus, Rhopalostylis, Geonoma, Dypsis, Chamaedorea, Cyphophoenix, and Pinanga are some of the genus growing in that former pool area. The new area for planting was created three years ago.

Brahea elegans showing the armata portion of its genetics .

Hi there. One of my Satakentias, a bit hard to make out... But with a nice color after shaking off a boot... Hallelujah!🥹 Lars

I’d say that looks about as good as you could hope for given the conditions. Well grown!

Fresh Pinanga caesia

Areca vestaria

Royal

Another great little chamaedorea for the understory the genoformis. Easy to grow like most chamaedorea varieties. Easy to propagate and very predictable growth patterns making for an excellent palm wherever you can find a spot in the garden. Excellent container palm for the patio or indoors for a couple of months. A great palm all round palm for any collection.

A few colorful flushes around the yard today.

The Chambeyronias throughout the garden are pushing new leaves, a welcome bit of winter colour!

I managed to get a few hapala seeds up, apparently these are red velvet crown shaft that are totally different according to @palmtreesforpleasure who gave me the seeds. But iam pretty happy either way about getting a few hapala going!

Guys, honestly… is this palm ratty, normal or about the best you can expect for the conditions it grows in? Realistically, is there more I can do to increase its health/vigor? I dont expect perfect or tropical/Florida like appearance and growth. After all, this is grown outdoors in California in the Central Valley (low humidity, little to no clouds, hot temperatures) and goes indoors for several months of the year. The palm was strapped leaf when bought in 2024. None were starting to split. I estimate the palm was about 6-10 months old. If that estimate is true, then it’s about 2.5-3 years old in real years now. No green house, no humidifier. Occasionally is misted though. It does need some afternoon shade. Currently I’m too busy to apply shade without shading longer than I want. So there is some sunburn despite my attempt at slow acclimation to increasing sunlight when I wasn’t as busy. Its a green Malayan dwarf. The trunk at the thickest is 9 inches around, the middle section is 7 inches, the thinnest is about 6 inches. The trunk is decently thick. The canopy is approximately 67 inches (5.58feet) long. The palm is approximately 57 inches (4.75feet) tall. It grows slowly in winter (indoors) so it doesn’t truly stop growing. The last 3 fronds, when they were still spears, before they began to open I can already see a 2nd spear several inches tall.

Update of my B hapala after another year or 2 of growth since the last photo. Really bulking up before producing clean trunk. What’s more noticeable to me now looking at this is how quickly my nearby Cyphophoenix elegans is growing (white trunk and crownshaft to the right).

Arenarius

Clinostigma after a night of heavy rainfall. Tim

Here’s a better picture of the leaf pattern on the Blue Arenarius and also a few of my Green Arenarius. The green is not in full sun like the Blue and you can tell how “thin” the leaflets look in comparison. Blue has better form as it’s much more compact looking. -dale Blue Arenarius Green Arenarius

You are doing well with that one . They usually don’t do well out of their preferred environment . It looks fine , to me. Harry

Pure strain Arenarius

Erecting this thread from years back. I think Encephalartos Arenarius is way under used in gardens. Let’s see your “poor mans Latifrons” out there. No hybrids. -dale Blue Arenarius

Looks good overall. Yeah, there is excess drying of the fronds. I would watch the sun travel overhead and set it on the east side of something that gives afternoon shade.

I understand your frustration . I think , for now , my desire to import seeds or plants has diminished as fees everywhere rise . Here , costs are going up disproportionately to affordability. I understand the idea of biosafety and all , but the cost is driving some into smuggling mode. I have an idea of what it takes to germinate palm seeds and it is a lot of time and a bit of work. I get my seeds for free but still spend on soil and containers . I admire your dedication to the palms , I can only imagine the amount of effort and $$ required. Harry

Plenty of seed coming on this one...

A nice wet winter day with the sun coming out in the afternoon.

The utilis a garden favourite of mine, this one is around 26 years old, endured many a dry spell and heat along with seeing temperatures around 2 degrees celcius. It’s proven itself in my garden as a nice exotic palm that’s super tough. Catch them at the right time and they have a glorious colour to their new leaf. There aren’t many palms that split their trunk dichotomous is the word I think. A lovely palm with a few strange traits.

As a young fern they like dappled light and water, but as soon as they get a metre or two sized leaves they take a lot of sun. I use them as canopy trees in harsh areas around my garden. Great pioneer plants for establishing a garden. And once they get a couple of metres of trunk full sun not a problem. They do like a drink but once established they are tough plants. Just plant as many as you can anywhere you will be surprised how many live, you may lose one or two out of 20 or so, once they get growing they are rocket ships.

*geonomiformis - alluding to the similarity to Geonoma species in terms of growth form. Agree it’s a great little palm.

They look great Jim! I’m learning that these don’t have high heat requirements. I killed a B vieillardii decades ago before I really knew what I was doing and just assumed at the time that they weren’t suitable for my climate. More recently I’ve grown B hapala and B koghiensis without issue so probably should give B vieillardii another go. I haven’t yet got my hands on B dumasii or B grandiflora. B hapala (I need to take an updated photo, this is a bit old)

Not entirely true... Over time, I've learned to never say never when it comes to a particular plants survivability. Both the Jubaea and Parajubaea CAN definitely be grown in the hot, dry, desert.They may not look California perfect, but they don't just die, either. Arizona summers are notoriously famous for having over 40 days a year at 110F+, with several nights where the low temperature is still in the 90's F. I have both species planted in my Arizona garden for over 15 years now. The Jubaeas actually do fairly well in Arizona, so much so that our local moon valley nursery has imported and sold dozens of them over about the last 5 years. I started a batch from seed myself in 2016, (last few available are in 15 gallon pots) and have also sold a couple dozen of these trees locally. Growing in full sun, the only thing I notice is that they do yellow up just a bit over summer,but the yellowed fronds actually do green back up over the cooler winter. Parajubaea,on the other hand, while it will survive here, burns considerably over the summer, although producing about 4 new fronds over the winter, so only looks good about half of the year. We have already had several days around 110F this year,and you can see the burn setting in.🤷‍♂️ While I would recommend a Jubaea for my area, I would caution against a Parajubaea, as it will not live up to its potential under our extremely hot summer growing conditions. aztropic Mesa, Arizona

At least there’s plenty of soil moisture in winter!

The garden is loving the cool temperatures, summer is nice, but the change in season brings a different perspective for the garden.

They love there water, as suggested above. Your little palm has been on the dry side of life. In habitat they thrive in wet gullies creek beds, almost cool temperate conditions in dark shaded areas. They break through the canopy and take all the sun they can get, while there root system is in dark forest wet conditions. They dislike drying out.

Thanks. Appreciate that. Here is a picture in 2016 when I initially planted it. You can see the sprouted coconut to the right in a pot. That's the red spicata. Good growth in 10 years. Queens are gone and old man palms died when hurricane Irma broke a small one at the base and the other died of fungal infection...crown rot. Garden has been added to over the years. Behind this there is more....tri bear, Fiji fan, sabal Lisa, bucaneer, a couple Chambeyronia oliviformis...just can't see them in the pic. They were added in 2017.

This spring my Butia yatay has a big crop of seeds developing on more than one blooming spike. The squirrels will be interested!😉