first big palm order and it's progress

[flplantguy]

The last set of one gallon for now with the rest in a large plastic pot for moving back out.  Minimal issues on bent fronds with the chrysalidocarpus lestellianus and small spots from travel but that's it.  I'm hoping they get outside in my spot I chose this weekend and they can take off.  Has anyone tried burying the pots for stability when small before potting up or is that a bad idea?  I'm thinking it may help some stay in place when wobbly and small. They would not stay that way long at all if I try it.

[iDesign]

2 minutes ago, flplantguy said:

Has anyone tried burying the pots for stability when small before potting up or is that a bad idea?  I'm thinking it may help some stay in place when wobbly and small. They would not stay that way long at all if I try it.

There are two dangers I know of with burying pots (or even burying the pot bottoms)...

1 - By blocking the drainage holes you prevent good drainage, risking death if the plant requires impeccable drainage.
2 - If it's a fast-growing palm, the roots will quickly figure out that dirt is nearby and escape through the drainage holes.

Ask me how I know. 🙄

* I originally tried burying a few pots so they would "look nice" in my yard while awaiting their final destination. I killed one this way (a plant that I later learned needs perfect drainage). And another was a PITA to dig up, even though it had only been buried for a short time. I now put any pots that I'm testing in the landscape ABOVE ground, and try to disguise the pot (a little) with plants in front. If the pot isn't stable I use rocks to stabilize it.

[flplantguy]

1 minute ago, iDesign said:

There are two dangers I know of with burying pots (or even burying the pot bottoms)...

1 - By blocking the drainage holes you prevent good drainage, risking death if the plant requires impeccable drainage.
2 - If it's a fast-growing palm, the roots will quickly figure out that dirt is nearby and escape through the drainage holes.

Ask me how I know. 🙄

* I originally tried burying a few pots so they would "look nice" in my yard while awaiting their final destination. I killed one this way (a plant that I later learned needs perfect drainage). And another was a PITA to dig up, even though it had only been buried for a short time. I now put any pots that I'm testing in the landscape ABOVE ground, and try to disguise the pot (a little) with plants in front. If the pot isn't stable I use rocks to stabilize it.

Very glad I asked drainage I did not think of! It may be ok but I'm not going to try it and find out lol.

[Merlyn]

1 hour ago, flplantguy said:

Very glad I asked drainage I did not think of! It may be ok but I'm not going to try it and find out lol.

I ended up putting down pavers in most of my nursery area for small pots (4in to 1g).  That helps keep them from tipping over, and prevents them from accidentally sitting in muck or failing to drain.  I do occasionally have one fall over, but that's because I used leftover 3x6 or 6x6" small pavers and they aren't totally flat.  In my new larger-pot nursery area I made sure the dirt was mostly flat, then put a solid 3+ inches of cypress mulch down.  I then stomped all over it to make sure it was "flat enough" for 1g-7g pot sizes to be stable.  The extra thick mulch (or pavers) also helps keep weeds from growing up into the pots.

[flplantguy]

1 hour ago, Merlyn said:

I ended up putting down pavers in most of my nursery area for small pots (4in to 1g).  That helps keep them from tipping over, and prevents them from accidentally sitting in muck or failing to drain.  I do occasionally have one fall over, but that's because I used leftover 3x6 or 6x6" small pavers and they aren't totally flat.  In my new larger-pot nursery area I made sure the dirt was mostly flat, then put a solid 3+ inches of cypress mulch down.  I then stomped all over it to make sure it was "flat enough" for 1g-7g pot sizes to be stable.  The extra thick mulch (or pavers) also helps keep weeds from growing up into the pots.

My plan this winter is similar. I want to build a paver space and pergola over the top for the east side yard so they are safe no matter what.  I will enclose in winter also if needed.  I'm potting up this weekend so that will help too.

[flplantguy]

Hopefully these photos and the story behind them encourage people to try new things.  It took me years before I thought I could grow some of the things I easily succeed at now (and were not all that difficult).  If you read these types of posts and think these plants are not possible for you, it may not be true!  These plants have a fussy reputation, but not always, so why not take a chance and see what happens? I'm looking forward to the surprises along the way, and I hope it inspires other people to put themselves out there and try something new.  I personally will see the successes as opportunity for the future, and failures as a lense to focus efforts on what works for me and my garden.

[WaianaeCrider]

one foot square pavers here are to expensive   I've been making walks and other places by layin 4 x 8 x 16 cement blocks on their sides.  they are strong enough for walking on and a lot cheaper than the square guys.

[flplantguy]

I'm finally working on potting up and arranging the mini jungle for fall.  The area is dappled light to shade all day, except a small area of morning sun in front and one side where the sun lovers are.  The backside reveals all the shade plants and the weakness in the spot: it's wide open on one side. Wind from the gulf can come right in and while the sea breezes are nice, a cold front is not.  By winter I hope to have a pergola built with shade cloth I can enclose in a protected spot on the east side of the house that gets little to no sea breeze but also protection in winter.  If not they would need some kind of windbreak on the northwest while they have canopy already for frost.  I have weedmatt I could use as a temporary windbreak before fronts arrive but I would prefer full protection.  There is always inside if all else fails. Now to spend the weekend potting up the ones that need it.

[kinzyjr]

2 hours ago, flplantguy said:

I'm finally working on potting up and arranging the mini jungle for fall.  The area is dappled light to shade all day, except a small area of morning sun in front and one side where the sun lovers are.  The backside reveals all the shade plants and the weakness in the spot: it's wide open on one side. Wind from the gulf can come right in and while the sea breezes are nice, a cold front is not.  By winter I hope to have a pergola built with shade cloth I can enclose in a protected spot on the east side of the house that gets little to no sea breeze but also protection in winter.  If not they would need some kind of windbreak on the northwest while they have canopy already for frost.  I have weedmatt I could use as a temporary windbreak before fronts arrive but I would prefer full protection.  There is always inside if all else fails. Now to spend the weekend potting up the ones that need it.

You're off to a fast start!

[Merlyn]

In my experience here, the canopy has been critical to survival of marginal palms and cycads, just from prevention of frost.  Proximity to the house is also a big deal, my thermometer 5' from the house is always 3ish degrees warmer than the yard 20-30 yards back.  I don't have any experience building a greenhouse area...but an open sided back porch under a roof is also about 3ish degrees warmer than the yard.  Maybe doing an impromptu lean-to backed up to the house would work if you expect only 1 or 2 cold nights in the year?

[ruskinPalms]

I have no canopy but if I did I wish were Sabal palms like yours 👍. I haven’t had much frost problems where I’m at now since I moved here in 2015 but I know it is only a matter of time before a massive freeze blows through and I’ll be wishing I had more hardy canopy the following night. 

[flplantguy]

I'm adding more canopy too in spots and the sabals are seeding like crazy so I'm keeping them as well. Probably going to be a lot of them as windbreak along the west exposure.  The view is of the backside of an old storage complex so nothing to see there. Once that is filled in all I will see is trees even looking across the street from the driveway. Too bad highway noise is harder to conceal, but I love this forest and it's only just maturing at about 40 years old or less.  The lot was cleared and regrew after 1957 or so but only recently did the trees return all over.  Minimal invasives and a lot of native diversity too. A far cry from the city in Pinellas that's for sure!

[flplantguy]

I posted this elsewhere but the Euterpe 'orange crownshaft' is coming back! It's in the house among other plants to baby it for now.  The rest are growing well, some faster than I expected and others pretty much what people describe.  No disappointments yet, just some I'm watching closer than others due to oldest leaves dying back. Likely adjusting to the location and hotter temps. We dropped into the upper 60s at night after only a few days of lows in the 70s after they were put out, so nights are nothing like they were.  We shall see come next summer what the heat does but for now I think they are mostly out of any adjusting phase.  One spear about lived up to it's name when I didn't see it and almost poked my eye out!

[flplantguy]

The greenhouse is set up much faster and easier than I expected.  Even solo it was not too bad, took me about 5 hours today with the perfect 60 degree cloudy weather to work in. Helped that it's calm too after the drizzle this morning.  The plants on the table are hiding a thermometer from the sun tomorrow so I can see how warm it gets in there before I put anything in it.  If its too hot I will need to put them in only for cold events and bring them out, so I'm hoping the ends and windows are goon enough to ventilate it's 10 by 20 foot area.

[flplantguy]

All loaded up today to be arranged and repotted tomorrow.  It gets warm inside so I may use a fan to ventilate during the day.  It was mostly cloudy again so seeing the sun amount was hard to do so I'm hoping its out tomorrow so I can arrange them right.  When the sun was out it was about ten degrees warmer than outside for a short time.  A mid winter heatwave may be an issue but other than that I think it will work well.  Overnight lows were the same open so only daytime is warmer which many plants are ok with to an extent.

[Merlyn]

Yeah the thin plastic sheeting has an R value of something really small, like 0.85.  UFL references it here, but I've read it's actually less if there's any breeze.  https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/AA212

It'll hopefully prevent frost from forming on the plants, which seems to be a major factor in defoliation at my place.  I had several freezes around 28-30F that didn't do a lot of visible damage, but a frost at ~34F that torched a lot of fronds.  You can get some radiant heat in there if it's supposed to get *really* cold, but it would take a LOT of watts to heat up a volume that size by more than a couple of degrees.

[flplantguy]

I'll find out this week with the cool down to the low 40s.  It will get closed up with just the plants inside to see the difference.  I may try to get phase change material of some kind, water of nothing else.

[flplantguy]

After a chilly and cloudy winter this latest rainy spell was perfect for planting a few things including this Beccariopheonix alfredii that was needing to be free of it's pot. All the roots were at the base of the root ball and will be rooting into the native sand I have pictured (candler fine sand for you soil people) I did not add amendments, I want to see how it likes the sand alone.  I prefer to do it this way with what I can, the sand is deep and goes to the moisture of the water table so it will have a huge root zone as well as all that space to use up. The gap in the trees is small and may fill in as the palm grows so I may need to trim if it gets up there.

In other news for the order the Drymophloeus olivifolrmis did not make it. Whatever issue it had was too strong for it to recover. I have placed a new order for some ones I missed before as well.

The greenhouse never dropped below 45 with a small utility heater, and the yard was 33 in the coldest spot on an advective night from the polar vortex that hit everywhere else (not to jinx myself but I thought those were worse here).  All other spots that night were about 35 under cover and all the other nights this winter were 38 or higher in the cold spot. Days have been mopey and dreary with little sun and highs around 60 to 64 on average, normal lows in the upper 40s and low 50s between fronts. Its much cooler than further south on average so we are not far from the normal here, except for the rainy days.  We still have nights in the mid 40s to deal with and cool days heading into spring, but the risk of a major freeze now drops off to record lows just at freezing so I'm itching for warmer spring weather to get stuff done.

[flplantguy]

Repotting is also well under way and most have new larger apartments to grow into for now. Those heeled palms are no joke they can easily fool you!

[Merlyn]

This winter has been pretty mild as far as freezes go, I think the lowest I saw was about 38F one night and ~40F another night.  It was enough to burn some fronds on several Hyophorbes, but other stuff like a 35+ year old Peace Lily look basically perfect.  There's been a whole lot of cool days and nights, but the big freezes all went North of us.  I usually get 1 or 2 cold fronts into the upper 20s here, so it was easily 10F warmer than normal.

Out of curiosity, did you log temperatures inside/outside while not using the radiant heater?  12F warmer than ambient with a small heater is pretty impressive, that's a much bigger delta than I expected.

[flplantguy]

There were a few nights I left it off but closed, and the temp was close to the same outside as in, sometimes a degree cooler from the added moisture.  I'm thinking it was because I have a lot of plants in there, as well as the floor being weed mat and the sand underneath can maybe add heat the active heater helps retain?  Probably not but I was very happy with it; the plastic I doubt has a decent r value.  The only night I had even close to cold was the one night from the polar vortex, and the wind didn't seem to effect the temp in the greenhouse much that night either, but the wind wasn't howling.  I wonder at the temp readings I get on the tempest since it seems to be always a degree and change lower than everything else nearby including the rest of the yard.  I would say it was more like 34 with the the 45 inside but still better than I expected. 

[Merlyn]

It wouldn't surprise me if the sensors are off a little bit.  I checked my 5 sensors initially by putting them all in the fridge at 34F and then the freezer at 0F.  They varied a little, but by less than 0.5F.  I haven't checked them since, but I had two with leaky AA batteries so I need to replace those anyway.  A degree or so inaccuracy probably isn't a big deal.  In my case knowing the front yard was 3ish degrees warmer than the backyard made a difference in where I planted stuff.

[D. Morrowii]

On 2/17/2024 at 10:45 AM, flplantguy said:

After a chilly and cloudy winter this latest rainy spell was perfect for planting a few things including this Beccariopheonix alfredii that was needing to be free of it's pot. All the roots were at the base of the root ball and will be rooting into the native sand I have pictured (candler fine sand for you soil people) I did not add amendments, I want to see how it likes the sand alone.  I prefer to do it this way with what I can, the sand is deep and goes to the moisture of the water table so it will have a huge root zone as well as all that space to use up. The gap in the trees is small and may fill in as the palm grows so I may need to trim if it gets up there.

In other news for the order the Drymophloeus olivifolrmis did not make it. Whatever issue it had was too strong for it to recover. I have placed a new order for some ones I missed before as well.

The greenhouse never dropped below 45 with a small utility heater, and the yard was 33 in the coldest spot on an advective night from the polar vortex that hit everywhere else (not to jinx myself but I thought those were worse here).  All other spots that night were about 35 under cover and all the other nights this winter were 38 or higher in the cold spot. Days have been mopey and dreary with little sun and highs around 60 to 64 on average, normal lows in the upper 40s and low 50s between fronts. Its much cooler than further south on average so we are not far from the normal here, except for the rainy days.  We still have nights in the mid 40s to deal with and cool days heading into spring, but the risk of a major freeze now drops off to record lows just at freezing so I'm itching for warmer spring weather to get stuff done.

I planted 2 Beccariophoenix here last year, 1 fenestralis and 1 alfredii. The alfredii went directly into the sand right next to a Sabal (the most sandy/shelly soil in my yard) and the fenestralis went in with some light amendments and in an area that gets wet when it rains. Just anecdotal I know but the alfredii is greener and puts out more growth so far. If I found a spot for another one I’d probably go the straight sand route. Either way I hope yours does we for you. 

[flplantguy]

My weekend last week consisted of fixing this greenhouse collapse. It was temporary anyway so I'm not upset and there was little damage to the plants. With the next order coming soon, and spring here, they needed to come out anyway.  Growth has been consistent even on the bucaneer out front.  It's new spear has gotten longer all winter and I'm excited to see it's first full frond that developed here. Lesson here is anchor all 4 of the greenhouse corners at minimum, even if you think it's unnecessary.  The next one will be a hybrid greenhouse that is a pergola structure(s) that I can shade and cover as needed. A permanent greenhouse in summer is too hot unless you have a ton of fans that cost too much to run, but if I design it right the cover can be removed and replaced as the weather dictates, with ventilation still designed in for winter days.

[flplantguy]

The newest member of the garden has been planted, Bentinkia condapana is now under the oak trees and we shall see how it does here.  I didn't amend the soil much at all, just some organic matter in the top to hold some moisture before I mulch it later on.  It has a little spray emitter for water too and I can water it heavier by hand when/if it needs it. The humidity here is always so high I want to make sure I don't kill it with water, especially since I like to water lol. (key to that is have too many plants to water all at once, so you can't overdo it)

[D. Morrowii]

The color looks great on that one! I wish you luck, so far only heartbreak over here. I have a 3rd attempt ready to go into the ground in the next week or two. 

[flplantguy]

5 minutes ago, D. Morrowii said:

The color looks great on that one! I wish you luck, so far only heartbreak over here. I have a 3rd attempt ready to go into the ground in the next week or two. 

I'm hoping to get lucky with how much cooler at night it is here and the sandy soil being acidic, but I will be anxious until or unless it grows like it did in the pot. It outgrew the three gallon I put it in 6 months after I potted it up! The sunpatiens I planted in that soil love it too, a nice dark green.  The water has dissolved iron that helps, nothing in largo was this deep green with the same care. The palm was outside in the mid-thirties nights this winter, and it showed no issues at all, so I think cooler weather is key like many say and I'm hoping two or three months of warmer nights won't stop it.

[Billeb]

50 minutes ago, D. Morrowii said:

The color looks great on that one! I wish you luck, so far only heartbreak over here. I have a 3rd attempt ready to go into the ground in the next week or two. 

Dean, I’ve killed two. The one I planted out as a tiny stick has done the best ironically. The two that I waited longer to plant out did not make it. Probably just coincidence but I find this plant super finicky. Here’s the one that thrived. Pictures are 2yrs apart. You can’t see the trunk but it’s easily the size of a soda can. 

 

2 hours ago, flplantguy said:

 

Looks good 👍🏻

-dale 

[D. Morrowii]

That one looks great Dale!

[flplantguy]

Last month when the latest floribunda list came out i went a little optomistically off the deep end and ordered a bunch of seedlings and smaller plants.  Including some cold sensitive ones that will never go out in the ground here.  Pictured inside are (random order but the tags may be visible) Verschaffeltia splendida, Kerriodoxa elegans, Marojejia darianii, Neovietchia storkii, (a chamaedoria elegans from a BB store); next photo Pinanga urosperma, Pinanga sylvestris, Coppernicia ekmanii, Pinanga speciosa, Archontophoenix cunninghamiana and Hererospathe califrons(hidden); next photo Loxococcus rupicola, Ravenea sambiranensis, and Pinanga phillipinensis 'compacta' (not pictured: Pinanga 'maroon crownshaft').  Many of these need the greenhouse I had before the storm ruined it, so i need to wait to put them oustide until I have a space I find good enough for them.  Outside are the cooler tolerant ones, first photo Chrysalidocarpus dicipiens (both forms Jeff sells), and Ravenea glauca. Second outside photo is Orania palindan, one of the coolest seedlings ive ever bought. The set of larger pots have the tags visible in the shot.  The seedling group outside in shade has Pinanga coronata, Hyophorbe indica 'green', Roystonia regia, Vonitra fibrosa, Chrysalidocarpus 'Bef', Chrysalidocarpus oropedionis, and Ravenea hildebrandtii.  Now time to watch them grow while the yard is prepared and the new greenhouse built before Thanksgiving.  More than once this week i had the thought that im a little crazy, but the ones that can't do chilly weather here will be donated or sold-once they are too big or if its clear they dont like it here.

[flplantguy]

Planting is starting in the yard and the bigger specimens have started putting roots out of the bottom of the pots, so in the ground they go.  I figure it will be easier for me and the plants can establish better with the heel growth style.  The roots in the pots were going straight down, so that tells me what they need is a lot of depth and anchorage before they shoot up.  Planted out is Chrysalidocarpus carlsmithii, titan, and prestonianus.  Lost the decipiens seedlings but not the 'blue' form (my controlled greenhouse space i intended to use was not available, so all the seedlings are doing less well than i expected- the ony death is the decipiens from damping off🙄). I planted them around and under the sabals, and the carlsmithii is under a small live oak canopy that will spread over as it grows.  I am concerned about the sun levels being high but its not all day.  Is it possible to overwater them in sand?  This area holds no water in the rain and is higher than the front yard, so it drains off in seconds. Also planted were two japanese maples, a tiny japanese blueberry, and a red bannana. A cyphopheonix nucele was also planted amongst the orchids in a shady wet spot.  The rest are all in larger pots than they arrived in while i debate where they go, i think a cleanup of undesirable weedy stuff may help with that.  Im waiting on heavier work until a cardiologist can clear me for it, there is way too much to get done before next winter (including surviving the rainy season test these little guys havent seen yet)

[flplantguy]

The shade jungle is taking off, including another chambeyronia leaf opening pretty fast. They are all speeding up now that days are longer and in the 80s and nights are in the 60s.  It seems that a lot of the chrysalidocarpus are happiest there, they were MUCH slower until these past two weeks, and now spears are lengthening noticably every day.  Im hoping that trend continues even in summer with nights of 77 or so, but a slowdown in the hottest time of the year is ok by me (as long as there is no damage).  New seedlings are greening up and starting to show spears, but there are some casualties (as expected) too. Im starting to think some of these palms that fail in south florida from the heat are super narrow in their prefered metabolic ranges for temps and rainfall, which makes sense considering their homes of origin and the past geology of those areas.  There is geologic evidence of some of their ancestors living near the south pole in warmer times but winter would still be a chilly time of year and heat would not be as intense and extensive as the equator even in summer.  Even if that is a load of hot garbage they are mostly higher elevation too so no 70s at night there either. Now time to plant more out somewhere lol.

[flplantguy]

More plantings of the group have been done recently. First Chrysalidocarpus baronii in the shade in the front. Im hoping the spot gets cool breezes in summer and shade much of the year to keep it cooler.  Next is the teddy bear (Chrysalidocarpus leptocheilos).  This one i had trouble picking a spot i liked with the right amount of sun and ease of access for watering (another issue im having that will be rectified soon i hope).  Third is Chrysalidocarpus basilongus, the wild card i'm not too sure on cold tolerance. Since it is smaller too it gets a spot closer to the house that i will see daily (while i watch for the bubblegum pink to appear again).  Fourth is Chrysalidocarpus saintlucei, about ten feet away from the basilongus and a but higher for drainage. It was pushing itself out of the pot by the roots so now it can reach for the groundwater. Last is the Carpoxylon macrospermum in the same part of the brightly lit forest area.  My hope is good light and some frost protection for them but i will cover them on cold nights anyway until i know how it works here.  The one frost last year was not terrible and only really visible on the house and cars; plants had some but not a layer of it.  All others have been fertilized and potted up as needed, way faster than i anticipated for some.  The Arch. purpurea also has a tinge of color starting to show that is not visible in photos much yet.  All around looking good, but palms planted in the ground all get shorter petioles and smaller leaves at least at first. Im hoping they grow out of it, but if not the Bentinkia will be moved back into a large pot unless the fall cool down changes things.

[flplantguy]

Fall greenhouse setup for the winter is done and the plants arranged. The one i was most concerned about, Euterpe 'orange crownshaft' has recovered from the trip here and is opening its second normal frond now (note the tiny stunted brown frond photoboming the Euterpe photo). All palms seen are from floribunda either 15 or 7 months ago, with a few exceptions hidden away.  Not all pictured, there are a few off camera to the left of my spot in the photos. In ground palms are doing well, even the bentinkia is pushing a new spear.  Just some chlorotic plants i need to figure out why, pH is my first thought.

[flplantguy]

Now to plan and build the permanant one. Anyone with knowledge of greenhouses can see how temporary this one is, but i did not have time for the big one and my allergies have been so bad with mold and pollen and stuff that it was on hold. Allergy shots and winter mean its go time now, and i need to decide if i use a wood or metal frame, and all the other stuff that goes with that decision($).

[DoomsDave]

@flplantguy you GO!

You’re starting to make me appear just this side of sane by comparison!

Nice work!

[Merlyn]

@flplantguy that looks like a good setup to me!  I don't know much about building greenhouses, but I had one of those mini standup plastic thingies when I first started growing palms.  It was remarkably hot in the winter just sitting on my back porch.  The downside is that it didn't hold heat very well at night, only a couple of degrees warmer than the porch.  With a space heater in there it should help a lot, as long as you don't have big gaps between the sheets.

[flplantguy]

First update post, the plant damage from the cross polar flow event (split polar vortex) that had us below average for 18 days, mostly in the low 40s with 4 days in the low 50s scattered in the 40s in late november, lasting to 4 days in the 30s, 2 just above freezing, to end the first week of december.  Light frost but none on the plants shown here. This is all from no protection, so none of those mistakes pictured either.  The Ch. lastellianus was burned only once at 39 and change the first major chilly night, only on the newest spear just starting to open, and unbothered the rest of the time (🤨) while the rest of the damage on the new frond appeared after it warmed up more this week.  Adonidia unprotected the whole time as a baseline plant since i know their limits, and it has minor damage thats more glaring in person than the photos.  Last, the tiny Ch. carlsmithii has started spotting, but it was not protected (none were due to a bad forecast) at 32.9 degrees, covered the next night at 32.7 (in the coldest part of the yard, this was likely warmer and no frost).  Only frost appeared in the very front right-of-way lowest spots, and none on plants unless it was a sheet covering them (oops, use thicker fabric or legit frost cloth).  Other plants unprotected and undamaged the first 32ish night were numerous, but the only surprise was the Ch. basilongus showing no spotting or any damage, past some minor discoloration (the same night the lastelianus burned) thats still hardly visible. Same with a carpoxylon, minimal chill spots except for my cover mistake (also don't forget that plant by itself over there you always forget about). Good learning experience for next time. Next post is new oopsies i shouldn't have bought from Floribunda that will never leave the greenhouse, for the most part.

[flplantguy]

The latest order from Floribunda arrived here last week and dodged the chilly weather.  Areca catechu 'dwarf', Areca vestiaria 'red', Pinanga speciosa, and in the last photo all the seedlings. Left to right: Phoenicophorium borsigianum, Chrysalidocarpus malcomberi, Masoala madagascariensis in the baggie, Bentinkia condapana in case the first dies thats struggling (im determined to figure that out even if i can't fix it), Lemurophoenix halleuxii, Cyrtostachys renda, and Pinanga urosperma.  I have a heated greenhouse they are in now all potted up, and the large one will have space for them and hopefully enough height. If not, the endangered species that can't do the chill/freezes here will be donated to a botanical garden that can accomodate them instead when the time comes.  The others will be experiments or sold if i cant contain them in the warm space.

[flplantguy]

I have to say the the plants always arrive from Floribunda very securely, and this box you could tell was thrown around a bit in transit. Two one gallons were smushed some from weight on the box but none were effected at all.  Professional work and attention to detail is always worth it! I have even seen growth on them already, a lemur looks more open than this photo already. Greenhouse sits above 55 (65ish) most nights, but a very cold one may hit 50 or even 45 if its bad outside, so some may come in if that occurs for that night. Days always warm up into the 70s at least, but not higher than 90 now with active ventilation on the day that hit 85 outside. It also keeps the pests out of them so i have not lost a seedling yet from that, in fact i have all of them but a few happy, and most of my orders were seedlings last march.  They did take a hit adjusting then, but these wont be exposed to sudden florida swelter like those were. I lost the first greenhouse right after i placed the order, so they were not given acclimation other than shade. Have you even seen a defoliated seedling royal palm (or any defoliated seedling) come back? I thought they were lost and they are now on their third little frond.  Amazing plants indeed. Even a Pinanga looked dead that is now a small miracle, but i got a few more anyway.  Last but not least, the Ravenia glauca did not like the back to back storms and feet of rain, so it lost its new frond but still has the first. I think it will not survive, but it is in the window (sunny and drier/warmer) to see if that helps it recover.