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Last year I planted Japanese Aucuba in April. They say full sun. In May I cut down trees overhead. They burned. This year they look better b/c the new foliate grew under full sun.

This was one of the photos you post earlier, I was just hoping you knew which species! :D It does look a lot like one of my Bambusa Textilis "Ladyfinger" clumps, just a bit wider spreading at the top.

2023 - 2026, extremely fast. Never affected by freezes but appears to have a phytoplasma disease from which it seems to be healing. There's 2 new spears coming up fast.

Sunday Morning check in: U.S. detections / cases = 12 as of today..

I checked @Bigfish's photo on PalmPedia for reference (reposted below for convenience) : https://palmpedia.net/wiki/Sabal_miamiensis

@MrTropical Looks like you're enjoying your new digs already.

I’ve lived in Northern Virginia for almost 40 years. This last winter was the worst, long duration a.m. p.m. cold I’ve experienced. I truly thought my 12-year in-ground Trachy was going to die. Don’t have the stats but it was at least 2-weeks of continuous sub freezing F. temps. Along with about 8” of snow and ice that lasted that whole time as well. Maybe the only saving grace was sunny days after the precip. fell? I removed about 6 of the most damaged lower fronds mid spring. Haven’t fertilized yet but it is pumping out nice new firm fronds, maybe 6 or 7 as of today. I’ll clean it up again this fall, after it’s had a chance to fully recover and replace the canopy. Even though it’s messy, it still looks great! It’s about 13’ of trunk so winter protection consisted of 200 Christmas lights in two loose balls laid up at the crown covered loosely in a layer of burlap…very unprofessional but it’s too tall now. I also wrapped a 3’ tall band of black landscaping cloth around the base of the trunk. This catches a fair amount of the sun’s radiated heat several hours each winter day. Of course, it flowered like crazy in early spring. I’ll cut those remnants off as well this fall. Anyway, I’ll send out status reports soon. I was shocked at how poorly my sunny Needle did.

I guess there is not much else I can do. Thank you.

I have two Zamia sp Jamaican Giant gifted from CB Lisa. I was lucky to get a male and a female.

Greetings, I am new to this list. I have a question about helping a Sabal minor recover from winter damage. I am located in southeastern Wisconsin where just makes it into a zone 6a. I have a Sabal minor that has been growing on the south side of my house for about 20 years. I protect it each winter with an insulated box filled with dry leaves. It still sustains damage by spring but ends up growing 2-3 large fronds by the end of the summer. For a number of years now, it has been producing a flower stalk each spring and has been producing berries. Last year was a productive year where it produced a few hundred berries, although the growing season here isn't quite long enough to allow the berries to ripen before the really cold weather sets in. This past winter was particularly bad for my hardy exotics between the cold spells, strong winds and overall lack of insulating snow. The Sabal minor was hit harder than usual. To make things worse, a rodent managed to find its way into the insulated box and decided to chew on the emerging spear. The palm survived and is pushing up a new frond after doing what it could with the chewed spear. I also see a flower stalk emerging again this year. My question is: should I remove the flower stalk to allow the palm to focus on producing new fronds or just let the flower stalk continue to grow? A few years ago, it produced several smaller flower stalks--so if I remove one, it may just try to grow another. I'm not sure whether the presence or absence of the flower stalk will make much difference in the palm's recovery. Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

This particular queen in Galveston is sooooo green 🤩.

That's awesome! I'm growing a few palms myself, although I've never tried turning one into a bonsai. I'd love to see how your salak palm develops.

@Steve in Florida The seeds were definitely large. As far as the branching goes, I'd have to verify. This was a Leu Gardens donation. UPDATED: Photos added - let me know if this looks wrong. I am terrible with botanical terms

Some photos of the garden over the past week…

Another nice group there . That Rhopie will take off . Mine almost doubled in a year , growing steadily even through our winter. Harry

-2 well that’s a game changer for planting that one in the ground. Perhaps patience is the key to this one, try getting it into a warmer spot they like the heat.

Sabal DeFuniak - May 29, 2026

Medjool! Medjool! Medjool! VID_20260614_062221_902.mp4 VID_20260614_062233_465.mp4

Nurseries get away with it because their plants are usually watered multiple times a day, packed tightly together (which raises humidity and shades pots), and they're often grown under shade cloth even when they look like they're in full sun. A black nursery pot sitting alone on a patio can get much hotter than one surrounded by hundreds of other plants. Also, "full sun" on a plant tag often means a few hours of direct sun in ideal conditions, not Mississippi heat index of 100°F+ with blazing reflected heat from concrete. If your colocasia roots are getting hot to the touch, that's probably the bigger issue than watering. The plant can handle sun, but roots cooking in a black pot is a different story. Sounds like some afternoon shade cloth would help more than adding even more water.

A similar issue through MacBook

test test test

I don't know if at this age they can take my winter lows of -2C...

I missed that your Biz fell over, that would seriously weaken/reduce viable roots for a few years or so. The Uresana down there seem to like the clay. I had caliche clay in arizona but I used amendments and dug 4-5' through it to the native soil to improve drainage. I think the clay soil is probably part of the problem for your bizzie and establishment of its roots. Wind is no a problem for mine, never tipped over even in 110mph winds of Hurricane Milton. The leaves on the Biz were 2/3rds shredded in the wind as were a smaller number of the oldest Uresana leaves. The Uresana was a very impressive survivor of MIlton. Little damage and it was totally exposed to high winds near the south(eastern wind) and then the west (northern wind direction) of the eye. I am a little surprised by how well Uresanas have done in clay soils in wet Houston, I didnt expect them to look so good.

@Harry’s Palms has it right he’s on the money with this one, i would acclimatise the palm over one winter and then plant it in the ground. If it lives that one winter then it stands a fair chance in the ground.

Yeah the box store kill them and then write them off. They have little incentive to keep them happy and healthy. Hiring enough people to take care of them is too expensive. They just write it off. This is why you will see a lot of poor looking palms in bigger organizations, using tax write offs is cheaper than keeping them healthy. Good reason to buy from a smaller nursery, they tend to take better care of their stock.