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@STEMI That's awesome. Congrats! What's the plan for winter? I have the first couple of H. latispatha starting to flower here, a little earlier than I expected for some given they all froze to the ground in January. I need to get my H. rostrata rhizome I started in the ground.

I am also worried I planted them too deep. I was rushing planting them because I was on a time crunch. They are planted lower than the traditional soil level that surrounds them. I may have planted the root ball too deep that could cause suffocation. (It’s probably about 1-2 inches too deep) How major are these problems? There doesn’t seem to be a good way to fix it other than pulling them up and re planting.

I remember collecting seed of one of these in the Yucatan peninsula back when I thought that this was a Ceiba or something from Bombacoideae, the pod that looks like a pumpkin didn't explode but it had been eaten and was non viable.

Drove by the filifera in Clayton, NC today. It’s looking really good

H. polyandra or crepitans would be the only two choices in the Genus, w/ poly having the wider distribution across Mex. between the two. ( H. crepitans = Caribbean Basin / southern Cen AM / Northern S. AM. ) Interesting tree regardless though i might be mindful of where they are planted ( Seeds are released quite violently, hence one of it's other names being " Dynamite Tree " ) YT short vid discussing it. Seed can be flung at a rate up to 160mph/ 240km/h https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ZWGFQ-K67jc Have seen specimens of these growing in Baja when street view touring ...and in Sonora, so i'd imagine surviving in S. TX. should be pretty easy.

I thought I had killed this clump of rostrata by putting it into the ground too early. It got absolutely pummeled by the cold and wind and all of the stalks started snapping and dying. Look out pitiful the clump looks as a Look out pitiful the clump looks as a whole 😂 After all of that, I’m proud to say that I finally have a a rostrata putting out an inflorescence!

Thank you all! As one who enjoys botanical gardens , even when on holiday , I often try to picture the volunteers responsible for the enjoyment of others. A day spent touring one of these treasures is a day well spent. Harry

My Cyphophoenix Nucele has been slow to start but plugging along , as they say. I have a similar climate to Jim and I anticipate a nice growth rate once the C. Nucele and Chambeyronia Pyroformis get established . The New Caledonia palms give a tropical feel to a temperate garden. Harry

The beauty of the pinkish inflorescence on a King palm . The first time I’ve seen the flower open before the leaf base falls . The color was lost a bit when I zoomed in to capture the image , but it sure is colorful to the eye. . It looks like I will be germinating more Archontophoenix . Harry I have quite a few babies from this palm . The Cunninghamiana has a pinkish inflorescence , unlike the white color of the Alexandrae in our courtyard.

Yea , probably not next to the hot tub!! Location , location , location. Harry😂

Richard , you are an inspiration! Yes , some take quite a while but seeing that sprout or sprouts is a reward . This past several months or so I’ve been dabbling in germinating seeds that @DoomsDave gave me , also seeds from the Sullivans and my own or friends palms . The amount of time each species takes varies significantly. Harry

Yes , I’ve experienced that recently . I potted up about ten Chrsalidiocarpus Blacki seedlings that germinated and already lost two of them . They just weren’t strong enough to survive the transfer . The majority are doing well though. The C. Decipiens that germinated using the baggie method are going strong but only about half of the seeds sprouted . I think the new greenhouse will help the seedlings get through the first year or so. I do plan to add low level heating in the winter. My old greenhouse had a boat heater ( from our sailing days) set on low just to keep the temp up to almost 60f until the sun came up. In nature most seeds don’t survive but enough do to keep the species going. Many factors at play there. Harry

I never thought about roots clinging to or growing through styrofoam. That would be enough to keep me from trying it . My concern was just the mess it can create . I did use aquarium gravel (white) , that I got somewhere for a pond I was building , when I was out of perlite . It seemed to mix in the potting soil ok but not as good as perlite. That’s why I bought the big bag of it recently. Harry

Nice one, great palm to grow needle sharp or not no matter how much a danger palm!

Some good ones in there, it not only takes time, but you need to do large batches if you are to get any decent amount of palms in the end. With the process of natural attrition 100 palms will in the end will give you around 60 to 70 percent winners in that attrition rate. That’s palm growing not every palm gets to live due to many factors at play. Richard

The only way is to mulch and hand weed, no chemicals involved which is even better. And another gardening tip is try not to let the weeds in. Once those weeds enter and set seed every year of seed is 7 years of weeds. A canopy also stops the weeds in combination of mulch, in my main ornamental garden there are practically no weeds and the new establishing areas have a few weeds. By creating the canopy over time it builds itself into a living bio sphere of a living ecosystem you created that Mother Nature balances it all together!

They are still coming up after 11 months, they sat on the heat mats for about 9 months, in a community pot with a plastic bag over them. Coco coir perlite mix, just slightly moist. So dont give up on your seeds originally there was about 30 seeds and i would say at least 95 percent germination rate. The seeds were locally sourced as a gift.

Just a big old flowering Chambeyronia hookeri today, heading down the driveway!

Being in NC, your palms have limited growth potential and should be fertilized accordingly. That is, not as much as subtropical areas. I think that you should use a lesser amount than listed on the product and you will be fine. When you circle the palms with the fertilizer, just take note where the overlap is and don’t recover that spot too much. Theoretically if the roots of each palm overlap, they should both be able to uptake the nutrients so the overlap wouldn’t matter. But you could create a concentration in that area that might cause burn so it’s better to limit the application. What fertilizer are you using?

A little trip into the gardens today for a spot of planting with the garden team. Rick ackland the garden curator is right behind getting the palms into the garden. And I will say it’s not only palms he is working on with the garden, the major improvements he is implementing are going to change the botanical gardens into something that will be a must see on any botanical gardens list. And if we can get a lot more palms in there even better, all palms that get planted are going into the database Hortis which is linked to Kew botanical gardens. So this project will be a vital link in the chain for palm conservation in the future. And iam in it for the long run as long it’s permissible to do so, and a big thank you to @palmtreesforpleasure Mr Colin Wilson for donating a lot of the palms you see and backing me up. Future generations will have something to look at!

At it again with a few specials this time around. Iguanura will be an interesting one to grow if they germinate. And as for the Pinanga paradoxa definitely looking forward to those ones in the garden.

After watching the locals in Hungary pick up snails around there garden, I kinda thought hmm I might try them, and did so. I guess us Australians are not refined enough for such fine dining as escargot. A meat pie and and a bit of tomato sauce or a sausage sandwich is how far we have come when it comes to such fine foods!

No no no, it’s not good in your soil , the roots grow through it, and when you plant your palm the stuff goes everywhere. I myself use styrofoam box’s to germinate in so iam guilty of using this environmental hazard material. It’s slowly being fased out in the food industry in Australia. Fish mongers use the box’s, chemist use the box’s to get medicine in that needs to kept cool.

Hello :) , I finally got the V. Splendida seeds today! Their total is actually 6 but the seller gave one bonus! I've soaked the seeds in warm water and we'll just wait in 72 hours. I will always give updates of this palm whenever I can!