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Still going strong, thanks to our mild winter. I'm curious to see how it does above the roof!

I just got back from a brief road trip to Bahia de Los Angeles to see the northernmost red mangroves on an island in the Gulf of California! It is a tiny coastal village in the middle of nowhere with no cell service and only satellite internet. Nevertheless, I stumbled upon some incredibly rare palms in a random garden! Anyone know any information about this garden? I tried knocking on the doors nearby but nobody was home, but there was a house pipe with wet ground beneath it so it looks like someone is tending to these palms. Click here if you want to see ALL the photos from the road trip First is the trip's purpose: the colony of red mangroves with the second pic being the particular northernmost mangrove in the colony. I'm guessing palms are Medemia argun, Bismarckia nobilis, Copernicia baileyana, Hyphaene coriacea, Cocos nucifera (only one in the village), Sabal riverside, Brahea armata (native), and Chamaerops humilis var. cerifera.

The palm didn’t miss a beat with the move… Seems equally happy in its new location. Both the old and new locations see a lot of sun (the new location slightly more sun than the old). I haven’t tried it in either of my two “worst of the worst” spots for sun, but it seems fairly sun tolerant to me (within reason). Likely similar to lutescens in that regard, but more cold tolerant (as in fewer “fried” looking fronds coming out of winter). Here’s a snap I just took at 9:30am this morning…

A few more red fronds , anyone? Finally some blue sky to show off the colors. IMG_5250.mov …and a backlit Chrysalidocarpus ‘Dark Mealybug.’

My biggest Hedyscepe canterburyana that I grew from seed from the beauty in pogobob old garden is finally setting seed. Last summer when Tim from Hawaii was visiting it flowered but the seed aborted.

Thought I’d ‘bump’ this topic and add a few recent progression photos. This Lemur has really grown in the last few years and is such a magnificent palm. In one of the overall shots there is a shovel with an orange handle for scale. Tim

These three varieties of palms are a must have for any palm collection. All easy to grow and all have that exotic look so desired by gardeners and collectors. So if your climate is good enough these ones are a must have. I should know they are my best selling palms I have, proof enough they are popular! lanonia dasyantha kerriodoxa elegans Johannesteijsmannia altifrons

Hi all, Back in late 2017, myself and some fellow palmtalkers took a trip to the big island of Hawaii. We had a number of people there on the island that graciously showed us their gardens, which also included a trip to Floribunda. I remember one of the regulars that we met at Floribunda mentioning something to the effect, “man, you really got Jeff on his A game today“, which I thought was funny. Anyway, the following day we went over and saw the garden of Bill Austin. He was just a wonderful, funny guy. I remember standing by some beautiful clumping Chrysalidiocarpus, and Bill reached down on the ground, grabbed a fistful of seeds and said “here take these with you“. So I dutifully brought them home, germinated a bunch of them, and they turned out to be largely solitary, with a red growing point. At this point, I thought my memory must be faulty, and I poured through all my pictures and could find nothing that even remotely resembled them. I gave most of them away and kept one for myself. It’s been a slow, steady grower, that split a couple years ago, and is still only shoulder high. Lo and behold, I’m looking in the “for sale“ forum a couple days ago and I see some palms being sold as psamophilla x leptichielos, (being called a Sandy Bear palm) that are identical to the ones that I sprouted. Anyway, here it is in all its relatively diminutive glory…Thanks for looking!

A flash of red getting around the place!areca vestria dypsis lantzeana dypsis louvelli

Walt's wife just posted on the main forum on an Elaeis guineensis post that he passed away in June 2025. I don't know if she is aware of this subforum so figured I would post here. I never met Walt, however, have been following his posts on his garden since approximately 2003. He was one of the first contributors who regularly posted photos in posts, which I always appreciated because I lived in Seattle, WA at the time and loved seeing palm photos. It was fascinating learning about the difference between USDA zones in CA and FL because of him, as he would "famously" grow coconuts in USDA zone 9b! He also would share photos of his trees that would recover from seasonal frosts. Anyways, his posts will be missed!

You say it's a busy sidewalk. If it impedes walkers, maybe they have a point. As far as I know, a sidewalk is normally owned by a city, and is intended for public use. I remember my days as a young mother pushing a stroller trying to make it safely around obstacles. I never would have contemplated cutting anyone's bushes, but it seemed inconsiderate of some homeowners not to maintain a reasonably clear walkway. You might consider your liability if anyone were hurt by a spiny robelenii. I removed two that were leaning way over the sidewalk at my house. I see my thoughts are in the minority here.

I just noticed a spathe tip poking out from below an old boot on my Burretiokentia koghiensis. The two oldest boots were easily removed and I could see another spathe that was previously hidden beneath a boot. They didn't get an opportunity to fully open since the boots never dropped on their own. These are the first spathes on this specimen.

Acquired from Floribunda and planted January 2019, this palm is looking really lovely at the moment. It has always been a very spiny thing, but yesterday I did a double take -- it's as smooth as a fine suede jacket! And such color! No evidence of the "rubra" (red) for which it is named, but beautiful all the same. Still young, and has only a few spines on one side of the trunk. I'm interested to see yours -- please share photos if you are growing this species.

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.

And here's a trio, rousselii is the big one, crinita front right, and rubra in back

This one is in a prime spot. Trunk is almost a foot across at the base, much more robust than the others, but hard to tell in photos.

Been pleasantly surprised by my one and only to sprout from a small seed batch last year. Hasn’t been fully exposed to the elements yet but has coped with the cool. Suchan interesting and colourful little seedling. Very rewarding from seed.

I am so sorry to hear about Walter! I have been following photos of his garden in Lake Placid since approximately 2003! He taught so many people about growing palms in central Florida. Thank you for letting us know.

crysophilla warscewizianus Johannesteijsmannia Altifrons Chuniophoenix nana All looking rather good! And they catch my eye continually!

@Foggy Paul I have one that is just starting to get rings . Pretty fast grower here , thirsty palm. Harry

Had a quick visit to the gardens yesterday and snapped a few photos. We’ve had a few extreme heat days this summer up around 44C/111F but for the most part there’s not too much damage. Good to see more new plantings and there’s more to come. Geonoma undata. Pretty exciting new addition to a new cleared area where some South American species are being planted. Chamaedorea tepejilote Licuala ramsayi new planting off to a new start. Let’s see how it looks after winter but they are proven to be hardy here just very very slow. Hedyscepe canterburyana Arxhontophoenix maxima with a bit of heat damage to a new frond. Brahea armata in flower. Puts on a great show. The colour on Butia odorata in the background is eye catching too. Both such great palms for here. Parajubaea cocoides loaded with fruit Jubaeopsis afra is really becoming a standout feature specimen now. Beccariophoenix alfredii. Such a beast. Livistona mariae. This is a very old plant. Been about this size since I can remember. The smaller Hedyscepe canterburyana. Appears possible a bit heat damaged with its lower fronds dropping hopefully should recover with our long cool season coming up Chamaedorea woodsoniana still going pretty strong Syagrus schizophylla One of the big old Jubaea chilensis caught my eye with half of its crown shining silver reflecting the light off the fronds’ abaxial surfaces.

Asterogyne martiana is apparently an easy grower for me, this one has done outstanding this last 6 months despite a chilly winter, even in the greenhouse. There are others that look good but this one I really noticed recently after moving it.

Not Carpoxylon. I’d stop short of saying this is a 100% positive ID since the lighting makes it a bit difficult, but looks like Satakentia liukiuensis to me.

I only have one Chambeyronia so I really get excited when a new frond opens. This time it didn’t mess around, the spear showed no signs of opening Sunday when I was watering . Yesterday afternoon it opened . Within 3 days it will be green , it is in full sun. Harry

A vigorous push on one of my Encephalartos ituriensis.

I’ve been cleaning up the garden beds recently, and they are packed with bromeliads. Here’s some of my favorites so far this year. They really start to multiply over the years.

A couple of common palms got a bit of attention this afternoon! Dypsis lutescens Howea fosteriana rhapis loaensis wodyetia bifurcata dypsis plumosa

I will be as soon as I can get these three in the ground, but for now they are quite fast growing and have cool tolerance, another year of growing them and see how I go planting them in the garden.

Came out true...I just had one seed I left sprouted to see if it would come true and it did. Picture attached...

A gift from a palm talk member @Harry’s Palms sent me some decipens seeds. They have germinated quite well and apparently they came from a well know palm growers collection. Which makes them even more special to me. I put some seeds in and the rest got disturbed to a few other fellow palm talk members in Australia. And it seems none of there ones have germinated yet, so if those couple of growers need a lesson on germinater palm seeds iam running a online course just for those couple of members 🤣 so they can’t blame the seeds! But jokes aside thank you Harry for the lovely gift of seeds, they have become rather special now! Richard

These are awesome looking. Used to be my holy grail palm. but South Florida was not k8nd to these. Not sure why more people don’t grow these… maybe those spines when young. I picked up a couple of babies from Floribunda a few years back. At first they grew like crazy, then (like so many tropicals) when the summer nighttime heat really picked up, they got miserable. They went back and forth like this for a couple of years, then I decided to it was cruel and unusual punishment. They looked terrible. I took the loss. They kind of have thin, soft leaflets, like teddies, or a R rivularis.

some of my ALSTROEMERIA in bloom, called lily of the Andes of Peru

Here are a couple of pics from the garden and the parent to your babies! Harry One of two that produce copious amounts of fruit . This is the smaller one of the two. A Ceroxyline ( spelling?) at the Sullivan garden. Hedyscape that is doing quite well in Ventura at their apartment building by Ventura College. Looking up at the SECOND STORY of the building ( to give scale).

@BayAndroid's thread inspired this, but I thought it was worth expanding a bit. One of my pet terms is the Palm Water Need Spectrum, ranging from Desert Denizens, through Drought resistant, Drink and be Merry, Thirsty devils, [ethnic] Fish and Swamp Things. Swamp Things are those palms or other plants that will literally grow in standing water. In CA, those include Archontophoenix tuckeri, cunninghamiana (but not purpurea), and Ravenea rivularis. Anyone know others? Where you are. I don't have the blessing/curse of an actual swamp but I'm sure others of us do. Introduce us to your Swamp Things.

Here’s a picture of Sabal palmetto along the St. John’s River in central florida. Roots can grow in air and in standing water. The river edges get flooded from each hurricane and thats what probably eroded away the shoreline overtime. I thought this picture clearly shows how resilient and impressive this species is.

Hydriastele gibbsiana is very high up on my wishlist. Never seen seed available or even really spoken about anywhere in cultivation. Still never grown Ptychococcus lepidotus but would like to try. Other than that, there’s a few highland Calamus species that would likely grow well in our climates, but still not too many others from >2000m. Palms of New Guinea is a good resource which has a nice summary I’ve attached. The Heterospathe sp are interesting.

Chamaedorea microspadix and a slow growing cocothrinax eckmanii standing the test of time.

Update: the first spear has opened with a nice salmon color. I expect future leaves will look better, not having been stressed in the weeks prior to opening.

Chamaedorea plumosa doing its best impression of a crownshafted palm, with very little encouragement from me. I’m sure this has something to do with our recent heat wave and continued warm weather.

How its going.

Iam finally getting back to the greenhouse, with a change in the season it’s time to get on with the property projects. So time to get the welder out put it to good use. So far total cost 2 rolls of welding wire and labour the rest of the materials from leftovers at work, the boss even gave me the two roll of shade cloth. About time as well after 24 years of working for them! My sister works for a trucking company so the plastic pallets were freighted up from Sydney. Not what you know but who you know in the palm growing game!

Well just adding to my blog here. I had my first in person customer today. Sweet lady, home health care nurse. She and her daughter showed up looking for the elephant ears I have on FB marketplace, and they were just kind of in awe of all the stuff I've got growing _out here_. She told me she keeps killing her houseplants, I showed her how to mix coco coir and perlite and stop using potting soil, her daughter was fascinated with the kittens. Sancho didn't make an appearance, and she killed a bee that flew in after I told her I was allergic so I basically gave her the plants for half price and gave her a philodendron. I think she'll be back once more stuff sprouts up. I've got dozens more bulbs to sprout. And then there was a bunch of "ohhhh yeah that's not for sale" 😂

Agree with Satakentia liukiuensis

Not a palm tree, but our loquat. While the surrounding Cfb zones by the sea are still in their early spring dormancy, my loquat tree began a massive growth spurt around March 15. As you can see in the photo, the velvety, bronze-colored new leaves are already several centimeters long and are sprouting with incredible vigor. This early start (about four weeks ahead of the regional average) fits perfectly with my nectarine blossoms, which also burst into bloom around March 11 or 12.

This part of the garden definitely caught my attention after I planted this anthurium, just the pop that spot needed!

They get rather tall at least 5 meters on this one and still growing!

Livistona australis. I've seen them in habitat with their roots pretty much in standing water, so I planted a dozen in amongst the reeds of one of my swampy areas down here in Tas, they're coming along nicely. We've got winter dominant rainfall, so the swamp is super wet and cold in winter, doesn't seem to bother them at all. L decora growing in similar conditions yellows off a bit in winter, which isn't surprising given it's more tropical distribution, but greens up again pretty quickly in spring. In a warmer climate than mine it'd be a beast in a swamp!

All of the new plantings and some well established palms are tucked in well after a long hot summer. Another couple of years with this lot and there will be quite a few new palms well established in the garden!

Allogoptera caudescens opening a new leaf is such an attractive sight.

Yesterday was a great day, PRA with Justin, Jason, and Billeb. Toured Jason’s and my garden which gave me a photo op opportunity with Jason for an update. Powering on! Tim