All Activity

Do you rule out cats?

Stick around long enough and you will be hooked😂. It usually starts with just one. Oddly enough , @happypalms and myself both started our journeys with Howea Foresteriana ( Kentia ) . I would gather seeds with my young daughter and trade them to a large Kentia farm here . I ended up with quite a few around the house , spreading them around the neighbor hood . Most folks , back then , had no idea they would grow outside in the garden .

Got a random .58 inches of rain last night. Puts me at 1 inch for June so far

I’ve got way too many of these and I know they don’t sell for as much as some of my other seedlings I need to make space for so I’m giving away 1-3 of them. If your up to trade I can throw in some royal palm germinated seeds, cocoa germinated seeds or a small Pseudophoenix sargentii. I’ll trade for absolutely any palm or rare tropical plant. (All seedlings only have a strap leaf.)

So true for many palms we have today . I remember the first Wodyetia showing up here in the 1990’s , back when Australia had strict regulations to protect the seeds. They still made it here , thanks to some determined palm collectors . I was telling my daughter how some palms may have gone extinct had it not been for private collectors in search of the next rare palm. Some of these palms have been decimated in habitat due to over development or climate change. Thanks to folks like you , and others , we can get “endangered “ palms and grow them in our collections . It all starts with discovery , then getting precious seeds , and someone who sees the demand . Harry

Up to now, the heatwave has underperformed a bit, in part due to rainfall from thunderstorms on Monday night that has caused wetter soils that reduce the heating capacity. Also a northeasterly wind off the North Sea limiting temperatures a bit. We just about scraped a new June record on Wednesday with 36.1C / 97F… Last night was baking hot. 29C / 84F at almost midnight last night in places… My bedroom didn’t drop below 31C / 88F last night despite having all the windows open and two fans running. My nighttime minimum was 22.7C / 73F here. New UK nighttime record for June set in Wales… It is definitely going to get even warmer the next few days/nights though with more records to come…

Bring on the red.

Richard, here we only have small mice and they don't eat the seeds, but the blackbirds and turtle doves do eat the seeds.

Sounds like it will end in tears 😭

I remember the day I planted this agave some 30 years ago. Time is one of the best gardening techniques around!

They don’t come any tougher than this one!

Those beloved rats that all palm growers could do without, have a fondness for chamaedorea seeds. Clever little sods I say and on the menu is chamaedorea adscendens seeds. If I didn’t place these simple clip lock sandwich bags over them I wouldn’t get a lot of seeds. It’s a proven method that works for me.

A nice chamaedorea elegans, one you don’t see much off around these pages!

Very pretty specimen. The display of its 'burlap' is unique. aztropic Mesa, Arizona

That’s exactly what you do with them, this way you don’t get that huge one dozen mother plants that grow into a monster. Single individual plants are much more attractive. Soon you will have a lot canes to plant around your garden!

Picked up some mass planted seedlings the other day as it looked as though a couple of them might have some dwarf genetics, separated them into there own pots. What do you think, not normal right?

If they were discovered yesterday in habitat, omg they would be in such demand. The yellow colour they have is rather beautiful. It’s only the fact they have been around for decades that they are overlooked. Richard

It is a lot of work, but unfortunately it’s the only solution to a big problem, gas guns to chasing them in motorcycles, fake hawks hanging around the farm, even flying kites they think it’s an eagle above them. And those birds travel a long way returning seasonally each year, they know the food sources on the migration routes. Clever birds I say. Richard

No flower but Heres a doozy of a brom, and the best part is I know the name Neoroglia cats pyjamas. Only because I just purchased it! @Jonathan

Sounds good to me, I’ll take a dozen!

You’re welcome, and there is even a few variegated ones getting around. You just never know your luck in shopping for them. Enjoy your palm and dont fuss over it. Overwater is one thing to be careful of indoors!

Brahea clara

Brahea ‘Super Silver’ is thought to be a variant of calcarea, and the petioles appear to confirm that.

A few more species of mine to compare to… Brahea dulcis ‘silver’grows in the eastern half of Mexico