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Thought I'd share a few pics from my yard after a rather chilly winter - the Central Valley of California had a record-breaking fog event from late November through about the end of 2025. Temps stayed in the 40s for 360+ consecutive hours - no freezing, no frosts, just consistently cold and wet with next to no sunshine for nearly a month. Most palms grew right through it, but a few of the more tropical species really hated this - I rehomed a few to warmer (drier/sunnier) climates down south. Here are a few shots from today - everything in growth mode as we're getting 80s and 90s consistently - racing toward the 100s too! In just a matter of weeks winter will be a far memory as we bake in the 100s until we cool again in October. Archontophoenix tuckeri - grown from seed from @DoomsDave. I'm pretty sure you threw a handful of seeds at me during one of my visits to your place. Trunking archontophoenix cunninghamia in the back. Seed-grown howea forsteriana & allagoptera peeking in behind tuckeri. Syagrus rommanzoffiana - nothing special, but I recently did clean up the trunk, which makes it look 10x nicer. A shot of my front yard - the pink Handroanthus is just about done blooming. Below it I have Brahea Super Silver, Brahea Pimo, and closest to the bottom is a Jubaeopsis affra, recoving from an irrigation mishap in summer of 2024. The irrigation timer went offline mid June while we were out of the country traveling, and this whole area went without water for 2 weeks. Jubaeopsis took that personally. It's been slowly recovering from that 'drought' event. Handroanthus umbellatus was in bloom just a few weeks ago. This is Livistona speciosa. I grew this from seed, and gave the rest to folks in Southern California. Does anyone have any still growing? I think some of them may have gone at palm society auctions. Chamaedorea hooperiana - The ficus roxburghii looks so pretttyyyyy in the back with all that new growth Sabal uresana - looking stretched. This thing is slowwwwwwww This is the view out our back door. Arcontophoenix tuckeri on the left. The red amaryllis is an heirloom passed down from a neighbor before she passed. Phoenix rupicola. You can spot the Brahea Super Silver in the background. The silver-ish palm below it is Chamaerops humilis var. argentea. There's a Cycas deboaensis on the bottom right that will need to find a permanent spot. I have a habit of putting plants in temporary spots, then moving them when I decide on a permanent spot. I feel like plants develop much better in the ground than in pots. They also benefit from regular irrigation being in the ground, and I don't have to worry about forgetting to water them in pots. This little corner area is filling in so nicely, and will become very thick with vegetation as plants keep growing. Beccariophoenix alfredii is in the far back. Ravenea glauca is center toward the left. Sabal mauritiformis is off to the right. Cycas revoluta x deboaensis is front and center. Lastly, a shot of a Clytostoma callistegioides flower, and a Dendrobium chrysotoxum which I have in bloom. The Dendrobium is grown inside a greenhouse. The last photo is of my plumerias waking up after a chilly nap. I had lots of rot to deal with this winter. BONUS - see if you can spot the Chrysalidocarps prestonianus... It went into the ground directly as a 4-inch plant from Floribunda some 5 or 6 years ago. Almost forgot the Chrysalidocarpus decaryi as well. Decaryi doesn't like the prolonged cold/wet conditions, but it grows out of damage fairly quickly - and we don't always get those particularly cold/wet winters. Some years we are dry and sunny like the rest of Southern CA.

Wow! Thanks for the response. I was worried it was something bad. Glad I didn’t cut it off! I’ll just let it be. Thanks again!

It's a flower stalk called an inflorescence. I may be wrong but I think your palm is a male. @Allen has flowering windmills in Middle Tennessee so maybe he can confirm the gender of yours. Windmills are dioecious so male and female flowers are on different plants. Congratulations, your palm is happy! And yes, your other palm is flowering too! Maybe you'll get seeds if they're male and female.

It’s great that whoever trimmed it just threw it all in the water.

I just noticed this on my other palm tree. Same thing?

I live in East Tennessee. I have 2 windmill palms and every year when the weather starts turning colder, I winterize them inside a structure wrapped with plastic sheeting and a couple of heat lamps that kick on when the temperature drops below 35. It's always worked out well, but I just started taking the structure down today and noticed this was growing out of one of the palms. From what I can tell, everything looks ok so far, but I'm not sure what this is?? Forgive my ignorance, please. Is this bad? Is it due to something I have done wrong? Can I just cut it off and be OK? The tree is probably 8 years old and I've never seen anything like this. Thanks!

With the final day of this crazy month under way, a ..somewhat humid n' cloudy 85F at 11:15AM, with some spit ..and a few flashes < west of the valley > in the skies atm.. We'll see if today marks day #3 of " mini - monsoon -y esque madness ..in March " Rest of the day looks partly to mostly cloudy with the threat for a few sprinkles ..or isolated, weak storm?? around. If we're lucky, maybe enough rain to wet the sidewalks overnight is possible as a weak cold front works it's way through the region overnight into early tomorrow morning. Same front could generate just enough convection as it moves through the area for a few more flashes too.. " Real " rain? = ..Likely confined to the mountains north and east of the valley.. A much appreciated ..BUT BRIEF.. cool down will bring temps back into the 80s thru about Friday ..Before.. ..We head back to the 90s as April gets under way and right in time for Easter. Looking into April? ..Salt on the glass rim time but, here is the latest thoughts from the CFSv2.. We'll see if < ..more like when.. > the next big heat wave arrives.. Of more importance locally, April marks the start of " Watch Mexico closely " season for the first clues regarding what the best season in AZ might offer up this year.. Looking at the maps above, and current thoughts from the GEFS, EPS, CFS weeklys, and Mean Precip Anom. forecasts from the ECMWF Charts, it looks like the rainy season across both southern and eastern Mex. will start off on a decent foot, with normal to above normal lean precip anoms. spreading into the interior of Cen and N. Central Mex. during the month, with increasingly deeper shades of green building across the southern section of the country ( on different maps ).. As has been demonstrated over the last few days, some of that activity could seep a little further west < ..into the Sierra Madre Occidental > in both Sinaloa and Southern Sonora / Chihuahua at times, esp. later in the month.. ..All good signs and something to watch ..but not a guarantee... for the summer ahead up here.. May is the month when the best clues arrive. As warm as the waters are off most of Western Mex. atm ..and look to continue to stay all of next month, early hints of " ..something Tropical " trying to spin up off S. W. MEX. can't be completely ruled out as we get later into the month as well.. Some signs that section of the E. Pac. may start waking up a bit in some of the longer term forecasts at least right now.. Since we can't actually teleport, no matter what some might " believe ", we'll see what actually occurs.. For now, .. While the final numbers won't arrive until tomorrow, prelim. look at the maps below shows just how crazy March has been here ..and nearby.. **Included data from Scottsdale, El Centro, and Yuma this time around ** Note the minimal amount of days we had below 80, let alone 90.. ...and the mornings ABOVE 65F / Below 60F. Wowzah! Other spots like Tucson, areas of CA ..rest of the west.. that endured much March Madness with us will likely have their monthly climate summaries out before Friday.. You know i'll post 'em here.. Parting thoughts from Dan from yesterday ..who will be live again around 2PM today ( Local AZ and Pacific Standard Time ) to discuss it all ..and peer into the month ahead..

Some palms like bismarckia and royals dont need fertilizer here, I don't target them. Others like C Oliviformis, teddy bears, P. Rupicola, and the cuban copernicias will show deficiencies if you dont have enough micros. I dont think Nitrogen or phos are big issues here, but potassium is a huge issue, soil has almost none, and Mg deficiencies are also common. my archontophoenix seem to like fertiliers in that they will get a little pale without it, but not really notable. Bismarckia need nothing here, they grow in laterite soils in habitat which have minimal micronutrients. You loamy soil probably supplies some micros that my soil doesnt. I also think my palms get more water due to rain and auto irrigation and that means nutrients are rinsed away. And yes planting small plants in established gardens usually means they will struggle if there is a lot of root competition from larger plants.

No trunk cut on that one

Agree with @SeanK but ditch the queen altogether. Syagrus romanzoffiana is a Class II invasive in FL with no redeeming values, No self-respecting nursery stocks it anymore. It hates our alkaline coral shell rock soil and sweltering climate, is a water/fertilizer hog and drops large, smelly, rotting seeds all over yards then leaves you with 1,000s of sprouting seedlings to pull up. I lost all mine to fusarium wilt - tragic at the time but good riddance in hindsight. I suggest you replace your crippled queen with a mule palm, which while a bit more expensive than a queen (highly prone to wilt) is cold hardier, and, wonders of wonders, is sterile so not invasive. Sometime cheap isn't worth the effort.

Beyond his famous zone-pushing, Walt wrote about and photographed the many interesting lake and topographic microclimates of Highlands county. He definitely inspired my curiosity for what could be grown there; a curiosity that finally led to a trip there last December. RIP Walt!

Regarding Elais guineensis: this palm is not cold hardy. Temps below 32F may be lethal especially for juvenile palms. Also, this species has trouble with major hurricanes (cat 3+). I lost two normal palms to Hurricane Ian (cat 4/5) which tore them out of the ground. I won't plant one again and ripped out whatever seedlings survived that storm. My only surviving oil was a whole leaf mutant planted just above our canal. It barely survived Ian and is smaller than normal oils so not as risky. If you do plant one, don't forget they are armed, get huge and should never be planted next to a house or other outbuildings. When they fall they take out any/everything below them (Chrysalodocarpus decaryi anyone?)I really like the "Jurassic Park" look of them but no longer for me.

So sorry to hear of Walt's passing and extend sincere condolences to his family. I always read his posts and learned a lot from him over the years. He knew his palms and willingly shared his research and knowledge with members of PT. That is rare in a place where people are unwilling to do their own due diligence or refuse to share what they have learned for the benefit of others. Why so many people avoid all semblance of self-guided learning or guidance for others makes no sense to me. Or maybe it does: most people drop in just to troll for and scarf up "goodies" for themselves. I've missed Walt's posts for some time now and am saddened I will never be encouraged by more of them on this mortal coil.

Update on this? I think if no growth in nex 3 days, cut down farther till you see a more round white center. https://youtu.be/KQ9zPxk5EjY?t=222

Hi Bret, I gave up on trying to clean the seeds, it's just too hard. They germinate anyways. Disclaimer that I have never waited it out to see if I actually get a good overall germination rate. I got ~10 germinated seeds from several hundred, and then gave the rest to Len, then he got several and I think tossed them. I thought it was maybe because our climate is not ideal that the seeds were not great, but Jeff Marcus said he has had the same experience, super slow and then very sporadic germination. The seedlings seem pretty easy despite the starting so small. This all applies to A rousselii. My A rubra haven't flowered yet, but I germinated from three different years off of Dennis' plant. One batch gave very high germination rates and the seedlings were very robust - I literally did not lose a single seedling after germination out of maybe 50-60. I just could not kill those plants. The other batches I got either no germination, or low germination and all the seedlings died within a couple months after germinating. I'm generally convinced that conditions during seed development can impact not just germination rate/seed quality, but also the health and robstness of seedlings for at least the early stages of development. Matt

It looks very happy there. Here in California we have them popping up everywhere. I guess a bit more rare there. I actually like them , some folks don’t because we have so many . Harry

Cubs.

Here is a vendor list Chip Jones Jones Landscaping Nursery Robin Crawford Sunfish Gardens Jeff Searle Rainforest Collection by Jeff Searle Robert Miller Art of Palms Chris & Greg Spencer Jupiter Farms Road Nursery Keith Buttry Neglected Plants Rick Kern (independent seller - no nursery name) Steve Garland (independent seller - no nursery name)

Thank you... The fascia behind the palms is approx. 8' off the ground level... Butch

These are the same Neo Cruenta x Vulcan clone, in the yard right now, 10 feet apart. One in all day sun out in the open, the other part sun under canopy. They look like totally different plants.

You definitely made the right call. Hopefully it pulls through, but its not looking great. If you need replacements, Pollinatives has some small and some larger non trunking ones for sale. Small ones were $22 and the larger size was $42 I believe. I have two updates to my damage list. 3/4 needle palms now show damage, the same as last year and I forgot to mention that I killed a Brahea moorei outright. In general all the palms are growing out of their funk, so I have a bunch of unsightly fronds to look at for the next year.

Hey Matt, Do you try to clean the fruit off of the seed itself, or just sow them as is? As you correctly note, these things are small & the fruit is pretty thin (& persistent) when trying to clean. Good to hear from you.. Bret

Sun exposure changes them quite a bit also. I just ran across this post demonstrating different growing conditions on the Neo “Lambert’s Pride”. In general, a lot of folks greatly underestimate the amount of sun that Neoregelia, Aechmea, Billbergia and Hohenbergia want to look their best. Here a lot of sun exposure in the cool winter months can bring out a lot of color

I think that's the key for sure, figuring a not too unreasonable climate match. Cloud forest palms, Ceroxylon, Chamaedoreas, etc do well here, so I've been looking for broms from the Andes or high altitude Central America, which is fun! SE Brazil seems promising too...a slippery slope, lol!

A couple of common palms got a bit of attention this afternoon! Dypsis lutescens Howea fosteriana rhapis loaensis wodyetia bifurcata dypsis plumosa