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Here’s an update on how this palm looks roughly two years later. It’s been a relatively fast grower for me so far and is one of the most colorful palms in my collection.

We got hit pretty hard by hurricane Lala With many trees down. I got very lucky that the only palm loss was a Kerriodoxa elegans that had the unfortunate fate to end up under a giant fallen Guatemalan cypress and one of my peach palms came down. The Kerriodoxa still has a spear so it will make it. I chainsawed the peach palm and will eat the heart of palm, but it’s already got suckers coming up so no problem there. We’ve had a number of hurricanes come by pretty close, but nothing was ever as bad as hurricane lala. I also learned that the damage seems to be consistent with winds coming down vertically from above as opposed to sideways, which is very weird. Several places had trees down in a 360° radius. I looked this up and it seems to be a thing with hurricanes. They’re called mini downbursts. I was pleasantly surprised by the amazing tolerance of Bismarck palms. But also very disappointed in beccariophoenix which sadly are pretty much all leaning sideways. I am going to leave them that way so they make that coconut style curve at the base. But talk about a weak palm none of them have trunks yet so perhaps they will root in better once they make a trunk. I figured the Big Island would be a pretty safe place from global warming, but clearly it’s not. The super El Niño is churning out storm after storm and Hawaiian waters are now warm enough for them to actually intensify close by. on Sunday, another tropical storm is passing by this time much further to the south.I guess you can pick your poison, either fire And drought or hurricanes. I also learned what a hurricane cut means. Most of our royal Palms are now sporting that hurricane cut. They have a very effective coping mechanism of just dropping lower leaves, which is not good for anything going under them, but they look fine. .

Dave I would place in the shade and only use organic fertiliser like fishmeal or seaweed until they re established

Of my three, this one’s the first to recently show a trunk ring.

Here’s my youngster.

Took this photo of A. cohune at a garden tour in lower Puna back in 2013. I can only imagine what it looks like now. Yours is beautiful. Tim

I was particularly impressed by the size of the male cone on my Encephalartos munchii. It is the first time it coned and I don't recall seeing any munchii cones in person before. I had no perspective on what to expect until it began to stretch out and start dropping pollen. I decided to get out the tape measure just to see how tall it is. With the peduncle, the first cone is topping out at about 37" but the peduncle adds about 10" of that 37". Since my Encephalartos cerinus is also now yielding a little pollen and has likely achieved its full size, I measured it as well. This cone seems bigger than past, but now I will have a measurement as opposed to memory to gauge future cones on this species, or at least this plant. The cerinus is about 24" inclusive of the peduncle, which is about 4" tall.

Cycas panzhihuaensis x Cycas taitungensis

It’s often hot and dry in my coastal valley location in the summer but Hedescepe do exceptionally well despite that. Not sure how AI would rate my area but, as long as the palm is in shade or partial sun and watered often it will be happy.

These are at the corner of N. Delaware and 1st. Thought I would share pictures, as these are starting to clear the hedge in front. Nice old house back there too.

Photo of mine

It’s pretty easy to see what makes a saintlucei so popular. You can’t go past that beautiful look of an accent palm, with a trunk that’s straight as an arrow and the arched leaves to the white crownshaft. Easy to grow with a little dry, cool tolerance. They love black sandy loam soil that’s free draining. Single plants will set seeds. Just another one of those Chrysalidocarpus that are an absolute winner!

They certainly like cooler climates . I’m afraid I’m a little too far inland , like my friend Dave. It would probably grow but struggle . Harry These are growing very well , about 5 miles from the coast in Ventura California. Towering over the second story of apartment building where they were planted by the Sullivans. They are on the north side of the building so they got plenty of shade when they were young. When I was first introduced to these palms , they were still well below the building .

This pod split open today, which is always amazing. I'm having trouble understanding the difference between the butyracea and cohune. The fruits seem a little different but to my eye not by a lot. What should I look for to figure out which of the two I have here? Many thanks in advance.

Let’s try this again!

Are these free? If so, you posted in the wrong section. If not, you are supposed to post a price per the forum rules: All palms/plants/seeds offered for sale must include a price and size/quantity. I assume from your wording (Buyer Removal, CAVEAT EMPTOR) that they are for sale. Seems like a tough sell. DIY dig and remove might be possible on the smallest stuff. The single Roebelenii could weigh 300 lbs or more depending on the rootball. But the big CIDPs will require a professional crew. That’s a lot of $ and risk just to move some palm weevil food into your yard. That one by the utility pole should be fun.

Nice flush on C panz x C multifrondis pushing through a pollinated cone.

Chamaedorea radicalis, a nice Cham to have in the garden very tough and a lot good looks for little effort.

I had this happen and it was the only bamboo I have allowed to form a big, tall clump and only one damaged. Lesson understood. The bamboo will be fine but there is real damage to all understory plants - palms, anthurium, aroids now scorching in full sun and burned up.

Ceratozamia totonacorum

I was also excited to get myself a birthday present recently. I found a couple of silver Sabal uresana from Teddy's Nursery on eBay. They arrived healthy, and they already have great color: That little leaflet on the left is a dactylifera for color comparison.

I had the chance to visit Discovery Point at SeaWorld San Antonio today, and I snapped a few pics while there. Nice use of Sabals: Chamaerops: There are a few Phoenix dactylifera in the area. This one was a pup growing up from a stump: While this one appeared to be planted as a single (not a pup) There were even some really over-trimmed needles in the area: And some Butia: My 8 year old for scale: Sagos and counties: Lastly, it has been so hot and dry for the last month that even the squirrels at SeaWorld are feeling the heat. This one was laying flat on shady concrete under a fan:

Chamaedorea woodsoniana crownshaft patterns.

Given the potential damage it sounds like you did pretty well. The fact that you didn't bring up any damage to your house, safety issues must have been limited to flying debris.

Here is an Ai rating of Hedyscepe canterburyana

Thanks for checking in after hurricane Lala. We had strong winds and 18.5” of rain but thankfully not too much damage. A limb on the monkey pod tree snapped and several palms had fronds torn off. A few small palms blew over but they’ve been propped back up and should be fine. Thankfully our area of the island did fairly well, it’s the southern part of the island that received a lot of flood damage.

Only five hundred more years to go....

Rather large ! I can’t use them all but a bunch are spoken for , ahem….Dave! That still leaves quite a few . Harry

This Kaapsehoop Cycad caught my attention in the setting light this evening. It is still a juvenile.

Thanks for looking

A few listings I have for some of my palms. The price reflects what it actually cost for rare and exotic palms now. It’s not cheap growing exotic palms nowadays with customs fees, germination rates, shipping, phytosanitary certificates, soil pots, water, electricity for pumps. Plus many other hidden fees. So what should a rare palm be priced at when you consider what it takes, after the real mathematician has had at go at some numbers. Is it how rare the seeds are, how hard to obtain and so on. If you import the seeds it’s a whole new number again that gets added to the cost of everything. So just one plant germinates from a hundred seeds that cost ex amount of dollars to buy and import. You’re not going to take a lose on that business venture. If you germinate a hundred out of a hundred then the cost of a palm can be a lot cheaper from the grower. Seed availability is another factor, hard to obtain seeds of endangered species changes the mathematical equation a lot. This puts a higher price on such palms. So it’s not the growers fault for the prices it’s the cost of the whole thing of growing rare and exotic palms. Some palms will take years in Australia before there is a local source of rare palms, and then they may not set seeds. And even then a not to open public supply, with seeds being so rare they would most certainly go to others in the palm community. That’s the cost of rare palms nowadays. It’s supply and demand like any business it cost to produce. The only real solution is to have a garden full of exotic palms to collect seeds. Mind you though they all look beautiful in my garden, so I know the look that can be created with rare and exotic palms. I would happily pay this amount for such beautiful palms to have in my garden if I wanted a tropical garden that’s for sure worth every penny!

Hey Marcus! Yes I have absolutely no issue passing right by the Queen Palms when I see them at HD! 😂 I used to entertain the idea but I can save money, time, and heartache just watching other ones around town die. Of the three that were planted late last year in my neighborhood only 1 survived, the one right next to the wall of the house. In spite of all the rain earlier and all the heat this month it has only grown one stunted, floppy frond. By the time this coming winter’s cold snap arrives it’ll be toast. Especially if we get the usual ice or freezing rain. I recognize those sandals, they conveniently have a bottle opener on the bottom! Perfect sandals in my opinion! Ben, I look forward to seeing your stunning uresana grow, those an incredible! My three have been going very well and one of them has grown much faster than the other two. Now I’ll have to keep my eye out for the Ox Beetles. Disappointing to see them killing palms, especially Chester’s Lisa Palmetto. Anhwho, here are some photos from a walk last Thursday at the Oblate School of Theology. They have several more Sabal ursanas than I thought. I just love their blue coloration. Also seen again is the mystery Sabal…. yapa maybe?? What are these two palms? I thought Brahea, but they have spineless petioles: Mule, really not a fan: Some gorgeous Brahea armatas, looking as good as I've seen them here, especially with some flower stalks: The next grouping I really think are all Sabal uresana, some everyone is aware of, but I don’t remember seeing the smaller ones before: Mystery Sabal… I’ll call it Yapa! Surprising that there are only a few Washingtonia remaining, this is one.

Dang, that looks messy. I was hoping to read something from Hilo Jason, hope all's well at his place. I had a brief text exchange with Floribunda. I was concerned for them because there is a dry creek bed that floods when there are exceptionally heavy rains. Reportedly this was "as bad as we have seen," with damage to fences and "big palms snapped." House is fine. My neighbors have assured me that all is well at my place, no damage to property. The garden may have suffered yet more falling trees, kind of a regular thing at my place. When I see videos of the severity inflicted on the south end of the island I feel very fortunate. Power was out for a week, but that's common enough in my area after any storm. What's good to see is the local communities springing into action to help one another. People are distributing food, water, gas, and other supplies into the hardest hit areas -- no simple task with roads washed out completely in a few places. People are offering to come with their chainsaws and other equipment to help people clean up, sharing extra generators, etc. It's a big island with many small communities and people are very hands-on in these situations. I admire their true community spirit.

Guys, meet my Daltons😎. In this case not the Dalton brothers, but the sisters!

Hoping ours someday looks like this, grown by you know who in our 8.8 suitability climate.

That is pretty intense , I’m so glad you are ok . This is the first report of damage from the hurricane from our Big Island people . I see a lot of contributions from folks that live there and hopefully they are ok. My friend lives on Kauai and they had a bit better go of it , mostly rain and wind like tropical storm strength. I’m not sure how Southern California will do this winter but forecasts seem to agree that we are in for a lot of rain. I was here in 1997/1998 El Niño , the first year in our new home . It was pretty gnarly with some squalls dumping 1” per hour or more. Reminded me of 1969 and other wet years living in Ventura County . I am not a scientist but I do know , in my lifetime , things have changed a bit . We just have to hold on and hope for the best. Harry

I've tried saw Palmettos in the past and I could never get one to grow, but I decided to try again and this time I decided to create artificial drainage with drainage gravel, I replaced all native soil with sand and equal parts garden soil and then topped off with pure sand. And for the first time I have a saw palmetto that's actually growing and not rotting away. I've included the drainage I've created. It's a lot deeper than it looks in the image,the idea was to make water quickly drain away down Hill.

Iam quite impressed with the tashiroi, coming out of winter looking like it was a spring festival. Not too worried about winter the least, pretty good for a seedling.

They should trim the hedge so the Parajubaea can be seen better.

I’ve wondered about this. If you think about some species like Prestoea acuminata, various Geonoma sp like G undata, even Washingtonia filifera now that W robusta is lumped in, then the differences between Archontophoenix species (I’m thinking especially A alexandrae, maxima, myolensis and tuckeri) are relatively small. Recently genetic study is becoming much more accessible and affordable so hopefully there can be a study to understand the relationship between all of the Archontophoenix species.

Not exactly in Texas but I think it’s remarkable that this row of coconuts along the mainland portion of Daytona FL survived 23-24° earlier this year . Even a few Christmas palms are coming back . 😱

A beautiful little Pinanga sarawakensis.

I germinated a batch of these Jan 2026, coming on strong now in their second summer. I've got a couple extra, free to any local palm gardeners willing to pick up or meetup in the Ft Myers area. I have other misc seedlings around too, feel free to message if you're local I'd like to find good homes for them.

Could you copy Dowe’s description mate? I’ve seen references to it online but not in full detail. I’m mainly interested in whether it mentions the presence of ramenta on the abaxial surface of the leaflets (I couldn’t tell from your pics but it should be pretty clear at the size of your plants if you can get photos of the underside of leaflets) and the fruit and seed size. I’d probably defer to those with more experience, but just my 2 cents: Archontophoenix have been cultivated for generations now, particularly A cunninghamiana and A alexandrae. Although there’s clear evidence that they can hybridise (Albang and reverse and some purpurea hybrids on this forum), my experience is that seed from a specimen in a garden with other Archontophoenix sp will generally stay true to the mother. There are also areas of overlap with the native habitat range of A cunninghamiana and A alexandrae yet natural hybrids are extremely uncommon from what I know. I’d guess Archontophoenix sp are nothing like Chrysalidocarpus sp which almost seem to act functionally dioecious when multiple species exist in the same garden. I’m not sure the risk is huge in Richard’s case for example, but it is something that’s good to be aware of.

Stanhopea orchid flowering ( not sure of the species ) I have inherited a few specimen's from my father and I'm not really an orchid person per se, so I'll see how I go with them...

Ravenea glauca

The rain and storms right now are insane in western pasco county. Areas that have been dry are getting nailed tonight. My weather station picked up a 6 inch an hour rainfall rate.

Very interesting what Dowe says. How this form escaped from widespread cultivation I don’t know. Yeah, I used to think Eungella was the furthest northern Bangalow population but recently I found that Mt Elliott had them and that is the northern most limit. I wanted to check that area out but we just ran out of time in Townsville. It’s not an easy climb either. About 12hrs one way and the track now goes through private land meaning it’s more than just a “let’s have a quick look” type of place. It’s also the place where the stepped trunk version of alexandrae comes from. I think it’s been called Archontophoenix alexandrae var beatricea. I think for Archontophoenix the real jewels are up in the clouds at altitude. We went to the town of Paluma for a quick look and it’s at 1000m asl. It was 27C on the coastal plain and 18C when we got up there. Lots of Calamus australis and moti, and the first place we’ve found Laccospadix australasica and in large amounts. Beautiful place up there. We didn’t find any Livistonas up there but we were likely on the wrong track for them. Paluma roughly marks the start of the Wet Tropics. After that you’re in Licuala territory.

Iam not to sure what gives such deep red, I do know it’s anthocyanins that cause the red. But some years I get a lot of deep red colour and other years lighter red. It could be temperature, moisture, heat, cold. Whatever it is we need more of it!