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My second order this season from Floribunda arrived this afternoon and all are new trials for me. They all are BIG in their respective containers as is usual from this excellent vender. Pritchardia aylmer-robinsonii Chamaedorea arenbergiana Chrysalidocarpus ‘Baby Red Stems’ Pinanga ‘Maroon Crown Shaft’ Anyone with personal experience with any of these, please comment.

Been MIA from here for a while (you know life got busy), but I'm really excited for my Brahea Aramata to be blooming for the first time ever. I bought it almost 20 years ago as a tiny plant from Lowe's and I know how dramatic the flowering can get on these. Finally I see some flower stalks forming. Not as exciting to my friends and family so I thought I'd share with fellow palm enthusiasts 😆

Thrinax radiata

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Kentiopsis Oliviformis opened a new leaf today. Compared to some others on here, it looks to be more stretched out. It has no rings of trunk yet but it’s 10ft+ to the top of the frond. -dale

A nice row of hookeri with almost three in a row putting on show.

Not under the powerlines though. My guess is about 14 to 15 years before a 1 gallon will hit the powerlines. My sun exposure Chrysalidocarpus ambositrae is about 10 or 11 years in the ground from a 1 gallon and it will hit that height in another 4 to 5 years, so give it head room. Cocothrinax do well here but won't be a height problem. Arenga engleri cap out on height so are well suited for positioning under those powerlines. You get the added bonus of their fragrant flowers this time of year.

Dark mode!

Update May 2026..

Hey y’all. I recently moved to Northwest Florida from coastal North Carolina, and with that, I can finally plant out my potted palms. To start off this thread, here’s the Needle Palm finally in the ground this morning…

Cyphophoenix elegans and nucele do well in the coastal zone as does Clinostigma savoryanum. Maybe my neighbor a couple of blocks away, Billy or Dale in HB, can share their experience growing Bentinckia condapanna in the region impacted by the marine layer. I think they will be positive comments.

Dave, I am a little suspicious as to which palms that you can grow that they can't grow in Huntington Beach. You have been to my garden in Leucadia and seen what I am growing. Huntington Beach is very similar if not a little warmer and windier than her due to both local topography and the large flart plane inland from Huntington Beach. Look at Dale's plantings in Huntington Beach and some of the other members both there and in Seal Beach. So there are two parts to your question, first the palms that grow well in the coastal zone of Southern California, and second the ones that are smaller for small lots with lots of power lines impacting the overhead heights. On the coastal zone issues Chambeyronia of all variety will grow, several of the Burretiokentia species, Howea's of both variety, Rhopalostylis of all variations. Chrysalidocarpus of many species will all grow here, ambositrae, affinis, basilongus, cabadae, pembanus, rufescens, prestonianus, robustus, lanceolatus, lutescens, saintelucei and the list goes on. I could continue, but the focus isn't on what will grow in the coastal zone of Southern California, but what will grow that is appropriately sized. So I'm now going to focus on the smaller palms that will grow well in Huntington Beach, here in Leucadia, down in OB, Cardiff by the Sea, or Venice where the next SoCal Palm Society will be. Someone mentioned above the various Chamaedorea, which are good choices. Ravenea glauca is a good choice, but Ravenea xerophilla is a bit of a challenge unless there is a good southerly exposure, perhaps with a good wall behind it for reflected heat. Some of the smaller growing Pritchardia won't interfere with power/comm lines overhead. Burretiokentia kogihensis is a slower growing species that won't be a problem overhead for a long time compared to hapala. Cryosophilia stauracanthia is an uncommon small palm that will meet the criteria. Several Coccothrinax do well here in California's coastal zone. On a slightly different note, there are a bunch of Cycads that give a tropical feel. I don't think is a species in the Encephalartos genus that can't be grown here (Dale in Huntington Beach will verify that). Ceratozamia, Cycas, Lepidiozamia, Macrozamia and several Zamia thrive her for a tropical, palmy feel. Complementary plants like Anthuriums, Bromeliads and Orchids will all thrive. I know I'm missing a bunch of good recommendations but this is just a first swing.

Last post was in October when it opened a leaf and it just opened another yesterday. It does seem to be getting faster as the last leaf took a whole year. It’s a super slow palm for me but it’s not dead so I’m stoked. The leaves holding look perfect too so that’s good. Not too impressive tho. -dale

Just a few more Chams in the greenhouse!

Here’s one for the hybrid fans. This one was identified a while back on palm talk.

Edited a palm and it tried to edit me.

The first thing that caught my eye today is the fact that despite me having been unable to work in the yard for months, plants are growing but some sure need mowing. I see my volunteer palms that hitched a ride from Floribunda are keeping pace with my remaining stilt palms - I had one cycad pot that had two volunteer palm seeds in it and another with one.

Moving towards heavy:

It just goes to show never give up on your seeds. I had this lot dead and buried, took them off the heat mat and put them on the potting bench around 12 months ago to use the old medium in some potting soil. Well iam glad I didn’t use that mix. I lucked up on one seed sprouting. If they haven’t rotted away completely, keep those seeds around you just never know your luck.

I had read in the past that it may occur, but I knew it only as theory. Now I am experiencing it live in my garden: a Phoenix dactylifera up to now male, bearing this year also female flowers! Yes it is true. Only presignal was that it was belated in opening the spathes. Pretty much belated almost by three weeks. At first I thought it was caused by the weather but now I am starting thinking of hormonic causes because of the female flowers. Exciting!

Yellow Poinciana starting after looking like a stick tree:

Some of my Encephalartos growing in the front are pushing flushes, finally catching up with the rest of you in Southern California.

Pseudophoenix vinifera at Mounts:

I don’t see many sabinara on palmtalk, iam sure they are out there I just don’t see many here. I have 4 in the ground and a few seedlings. Surely iam not the only one growing them, are there any Australians in a subtropical zone growing them. Or am I the only one growing them this far south.

Where there's a will, there's a way. Home depot rents 32 foot tall ladders for $50. I rented the ladder, edited my Bismarck, and had the ladder checked back in at 3 hours time. Planning out the job ahead really makes things go smoothly.👍 aztropic Mesa, Arizona

Indeed they are a wonderful palm!

Garret, yours an excellent looking example of copernicia baileyana! Mine started growing faster once it trunked. They are not fast for sure but the slower growth at that height is desirable, its a better view than looking up there. These are great palms for florida, but as they get tall, the hurricane damage is greater. Milton hit my yard at 100-110mph, the damage increased with height seemingly regardless of species. My bailey was spared some as it was about 15-16 feet tall, as tall as the house. My C. Fallaense was not so lucky at 25' overall, about 70% damage to the crown. Palms taller than the house saw the worst winds. My neighbor said my 40' royal was bent horizontal in the wind and it lost all 18-20 leaves, just a spear left. My bailey is still in recovery mode, it lost half the leaves to wind damage, lowest first. At this time 3/4ths of the crown is back, though it still holds 6-8 leaves that saw some damage in Milton. Milton seems to have stimulated trunk growth some as it has for several other palms of mine. This palm was planted in this time of year in 2011 about so 5 years older from a 3 gallon. The trunk, from ground to the last dead leafbase is 10' first, 6months in the ground sept 2011. New growth had smaller leaves since it was grown in shade and I put it in full sun. Next 15 months later Dec 2012 it was pumping out leaves at a good rate. Then it started to go vertical and carry more leaves by june 2015. Then it was hit by a hurricane IRMA in 2017 and suffered a spear bundle infection (caused by spear fracture) that persisted for two growing seasons till I managed to kill off the fungus with repeat treatments of daconil. Just when I was wondering if it the fungus was still present, it started to grow faster. This was a period of slow growth for 2 seasons as the infected spears grew out. In sept 2020 about 10 years in the ground, it was trunking and looking fully recovered with a good growth rate. Here it is with a full crown sept 2020, pictured with my larger Fallaensis. Frankly, I wish they both stopped growing at that size as the colors are best when you can see into the crown. Then it was hit by two hurricanes the next 4 years. The sharp thorns on petioles of the newer leaves shred the leaflets on the older ones in the hurricanes. Now here it is 20 months after Milton damage, still recovering. It is 16 years in the ground. I am hoping for a full crown late this summer. Trunk is about 6 1/2-7' clear and 10' including the dead leafbases waiting to fall off in the wet season. Let it rain please!

My (4) Kentiopsis are fruiting for 3-6 years now and some spots under them are wet and shady enough for volunteers. Overall height I estimate at 22-32' tall. They still are a few leaves short(~3-4) of a full crown(10-12 leaves) after Milton stripped them 18 months ago. Some have currently green fruits that will turn red in a couple months if restrictions are lifted and we can get them watered. They are water lovers, maybe its better they have less leaves in a drought. Trouble free palms that add the dark green crownshafts and leaves for a complementary look to the other crownshafts. These do like their Mg, K to stay that darker green color. I dust them along with my cuban copernicias with langbeinite every year and fertilize with florikan palm osmotic release fertilizer. They are so tall, I have to crank my neck to look at the crowns these days. They do provide some good filtered shade for the C. macrocarpas I have under them.

An interesting little batch of seedlings, seeds kindly donated by @palmtreesforpleasure it will be an interesting palm to grow for sure!

Growing season pretty much over now in Melbourne, so time for some updates. Starting with the South facing backyard garden. Generally cooler climate stuff growing in here: Archontophoenix myolensis getting very large now. Howea belmoreana to the left, Chamaedorea hooperiana to the right. Hedyscepe canterburyana Lepidorrhachis mooreana pair. Pleasantly surprised with how they coped with multiple 40C+ days and a couple around 44C/111F. Didn’t stop growing over summer. Chuniophoenix hainanensis. Slow here, but happy enough. Oraniopsis appendiculata getting (too?) large A couple of Chambeyronia divaricata settling in nicely. Linospadix apetiolatus (left) and L microcaryus (right). I like the contrast of the entire fronds and finely divided leaflets of these two. Caryota monostachya Ceroxylon alpinum Archontophoenix purpurea. Possibly the nicest colour a palm can produce in my climate.

I bought this as beccariana about 15 years ago. It seems to fit but I would be interested in other views. The trunk is quite thin for such large leaves. It's protected by a huge stand of henon bamboo which is flowering so it's going to be a challenge to keep it protected from prevailing winds.

Gaussia princeps and any of the Hyophorbe will grow in the coastal zone. Give Hyophorbe lagenicaulis reflected heat from a wall for best results. Pseudophoenix sargentii is another Cthat will be slow enough to not cause problems for closer to 3 decades in a height constricted position. If you have headroom for something bigger in a spot, Chrysalidocarpus decipiens does well along the coast from Ventura to Point Loma at a minimum.

Here are a few shots of the mature P. beccariana. Tim

They absolutely can survive planted in the ground, in Phoenix, if sited correctly. (Think microclimate) Here's one I had grown from seed that was in that spot for several years. Also had a bottle palm in the ground for about 20 years before our brutal summer of 2020 took out both of them...🤷‍♂️ aztropic Mesa, Arizona

Some decent rain after a dry spell is always welcome. You can water all day long with a hose, but the difference good rain makes you just can’t beat!

lilium yellow bruse

Lagerstroemia speciosa or Queen's Crepe Myrtle:

Sold to me as Encephalartos Longifolius x Princeps. This plant has exploded in 5yrs. Planted out as a 1G with a 2-3” caudex at the most. -dale

Great night to plant the clearance rack Washy…

I was surprised to see this at Leu Gardens in Orlando, Florida back in December 2025. Wonder how it handled the big freeze event?

Pritchardia martii. Tim

Today I received a superlative 1 gallon, magnificently grown by the incomparable @Darold Petty Best Mother’s Day present ever😂

Ptychosperma nicolai