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I just planted them spaced 5' apart before I got a chance to read your reply 😅 I know this is probably too close together, but than again, from a selfish point of view, I don't think I will live long enough to see it reach "maturity" so I guess if they grow into each other one day, it will be an interesting problem to have. It is planted in part shade part sun spots, with some wet feet occasionally from rain and tides from the river. I am curious to see if the brackish water with some salt from the Atlantic Ocean will be a problem or not. As far as wind, there is some protection since they will be understory to an oak, but if we are talking about hurricanes, yes the larger paddle leaves will be flapping in the wind.

It can be a good or bad thing crazy plant collectors, it is usually a bad thing for the native stands in habitat. Such a demand for seed and the plants, that the population is put in danger. Having an impact on regeneration. And how many of those plants they poached live? It’s an ethical debate with for and against. If the bulldozer is coming then remove the population git sure. But if it’s downright poaching, this is why we have international laws and cities to prevent such a thing happening, not that it will stop the illegal trade. The foxtail palm is one example of people in high places doing such a thing, poaching seeds. I have some of those original palms from poached seeds in my garden, purchased from a roadsides seller. So in a way we are a little guilty! Richard

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😄 hi all I was wondering if it would be fine to cut back all the brown leaves on my palm tree would it do any good to let the green push out? Thank you for any guidance

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcJegUXNHYA

I would wait for recovery, your area looks like it doesnt get these cold snaps often. I think your climate is similar to mine on the opposite(west) coast. They do better closer to the coast here. I am 15 miles inland and they took a beating this year around me. I didn't see any dead, just the lower half of the crowns were burnt to a crisp.

You are lucky bismarckias are dioecious, a species in which male and female reproductive organs exist in separate, distinct individual organisms. SO if you have a male you will not get any seed. Many palms are monoecious, that is a single plant produces both exclusively male flowers and exclusively female flowers. For reproduction to happen, pollen must transfer from a male flower to a female flower.

looks great!

Yes, although it might make steam shoot out of taxonomist's ears, elegans=sumawongii in the local horticulture trade. I don't know how big these get in Florida, but they thrive in Hawaii reaching maybe 15 ft after many decades. I would recommend a minimum of 10 ft separation in Hawaii, but in Florida they might look better spaced around 6 ft. They can tolerate a surprising amount of sun here, but might appreciate more canopy in Florida heat. Protection from wind is the big concern. I don't know how difficult (effective?) it would be to wrap a tree in a sheet before a tropical storm arrives. Typical results in residential Big Island gardens. About 5 ft tall & wide after 7 years in the ground. Overwhelming 35 year olds at the former Donn Carlsmith garden on the Big Island. 4-5 ft of trunk. 8-9 ft petioles. 5 ft wide fronds.

You absolutely can cut off the pollen, but there really is no reason to at this point. As a male tree, it will NEVER produce any seeds to clean up.🤷‍♂️ aztropic Mesa, Arizona

So I just wait and see? I was concerned the trunk is weak and could land on the house?

That's what I want to avoid. Can't I just remove the Pollen fronds now? Thanks for the replies

Tha Thanks. It was a brutal spring and hopefully it will survive a few more of these. Last time I saw the other coconut was still great, but it was a few weeks ago. I think it should be still great.

First of all, I'm slightly correcting myself, the type of palm I mentioned last night (I'm aware this is a past post and topic, but the topic of coconut palms came up in my search yesterday, and I love palms of all types....I just couldn't resist lol) the palm isn't called Torrey palm, that'll be a pine tree. The palm is called Parajubaea cocoides, as I mentioned as also known as the coquito palm (or Quito palm), they're native to Quito, Cuenca, and other high altitude Andean cities near it's habitat. So if anyone wants to bring back this topic again, I think it'll be worth studying and looking into being San Francisco already grows this beautiful palm species, Ecuador and Peru is another area in the Andes mountain chain of the region, and that region is considered the cloud forest habitat of the Andean mountain where it's milder and moister than it's Bolivian counterparts home. They can reach 40 feet tall with a crown span of 15 or 20 feet. The Bolivian species will handle dry heat. Those I've seen in San Francisco most likely are from even Ecuador or Peru (being San Francisco's foggy periods anytime of the year is and more humid then other parts of the California coast) other than not being so high up in altitude, it's no wonder San Francisco's weather and climate is perfect for these palms. And the small nuts also have three small eyes jut like the coconut does. I'm wondering despite the fruits small size, I'd be surprised to find that they're intergenticly related. The name of this palm is was looking for concerning it's taxa is called Parajubaea torallyi will grow to 50 plus feet with a husky trunk approaching 2 feet in diameter. It is considered the fastest growing large palm for the Bay Area now I think about it. And with the torallyi's coconuts are well sized of 2 to 3 inches in diameter. In Bolivia these palms grow as high as 11,000 feet above sea level making them one of the highest altitude palms on earth, unfortunately this species is endangered in habitat from the over collection of their edible seeds. Growing one of these rare palms helps buffered from extinction and brings a vigorous, graceful, easy presence to your landscape.

If you could send them to Santiago, Chile, or Madrid, Spain... These are a gem fit for a prince.

PM sent.

@SHEP to me it looks like an infant Enc. Lehmannii. That plant is very stretched and obviously young so surely its characteristics will change. The leaf tip and color looks like other Lehmannii I’ve seen. As others have said, it’s nearly impossible to ID at this age tho -dale

Like those i see here every year when they emerge from the " chunk of trunk " i kept to provide habitat ( Were using it as a nesting spot before i cut that specific tree down ), how they look when observed can vary a little, depending on age / time of year, and other factors.. Interesting article on the genus.. Did not realize they can live for ...3 years and are considered -at least- somewhat social. https://www.fs.usda.gov/wildflowers/pollinators/pollinator-of-the-month/carpenter_bees.shtml Some i've seen ( when they'd actually sit still, long enough to get a shot or two, lol ) had less fuzz, and / or eyes that were more gold colored than leaning toward the suggested " shade of green ". The main thing to focus on when narrowing down an ID? esp. insects?, basic morphology.. Then eliminating any " could be " candidates via how likely they are to be common where you live.. Luckily, this is a pretty easy sp. of bee to ID.. Ligate, Furrow, Cuckoo, and /or Sweat Bees? ..Can definitely take more time to ID with 100% accuracy. Not sure if all phones have the ability now or not but, i know some have the feature on them that can instantly suggest IDs of pictures of critters taken on the phone itself. Isn't perfect, esp. with plants, but would consider the ID suggestions i've gotten from an old phone i'll use when not using the camera have been better than expected. ..Suggestions from it have narrowed the list of possibilities down enough that i could then use iNat. to find the best match at least. Avoid anything Facebook myself but there are numerous, really good insect - centric FB groups out there. Bugguide.net is another good insect reference / ID'ing site. As a whole, and unlike sites that might focus squarely on a specific / specific groups of animals ( ..or plants.. ) while iNat. has it's flaws, as a " Citizen Scientist -esque / focused " website, there is nothing better out there for ID -ing ..anything.. Observation data from it has actually helped experts document unknown populations of various things as well.

At first glance it looks to be a form of Ceratozamia. Interested what others guess. -dale

Yes I am staying in this neighborhood and it is quite hit and miss with what's surviving and what's dead. Foxtails were all damaged and had about a 20-30% mortality rate Royals were all damaged - I have seen all of them recovering (there's not as many here vs Foxtails. Why? I don't know. I'd prefer Royals since they seem more robust) Christmas - major damage, up to 40% mortality rate Bismarck - Foliage damage, recovering (including those along the Turnpike) Mules - 0 damage Coconut - the single coconut I know of, which is next door so I have been seeing it everyday, took a beating but it is recovering. I'll see if I can snap a photo of the tree itself later. I'm glad that the owner knows what he's doing - this coconut was thriving pre-freeze. Bananas and Bird of Paradise - Completely defoliated, Bananas recovering, a few BoP stalks dead, rest are recovering Some Alexander (King) Palms off of Narcoossee/Tavistock Lakes Bv - up to 40% mortality rate, the survivors look terrible yet alive The landscaping across the neighborhood, which once was very rich and tropical, has since been neutered due to the advective freeze that drove temps down into the mid 20s. By Winnie Palmer Hospital near Downtown Orlando - Foxtails severely damaged with a couple completely cut down.

They are so thick out here. Its gotten so bad that my 7 year old daughter points them out and yells "WEEVIL KILL" when we're driving. My 14 year old son has gotten good at whacking them out of the air with a baseball bat. I dont know what lures them in but every evening I get a few that buzz under my patio cover and bounce off my sliding door.

Do you have a pic of the mother plant?

I have been looking for Thrinax radiata seed from this area since 2017. Looking for Yucutan, Quintana Roo, Cozumel, etc. provenance. Seeing these growing in Mexico nearly a decade ago is what got me into Caribbean palms. I know Florida has plenty of them, but getting them from a Mexican provenance would be cool.. Would need to be able to be sent to Florida.

thanks for sharing tracy. just thinking into the future, i surmise that it will eventually make its way up to santa clarita and then north through castaic although there are not many cidp's around. more washies than anything else. at that point there is the grapevine which i think would be a hardstop for it northwards but they can obviously circumvent through oxnard to carpenteria and up the coast. its very disheartening to see these old and majestic cidp's going under. wondering how your garden is holding up or rather how is your fight against these pests in your garden. i imagine they are just flying around on a regular basis now where you are at and have completely domesticated themselves. cheers tin