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Show off your Kentiopsis Oliviformis
bubba replied to Cape Garrett's topic in DISCUSSING PALM TREES WORLDWIDE
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Show off your Kentiopsis Oliviformis
bubba replied to Cape Garrett's topic in DISCUSSING PALM TREES WORLDWIDE
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Southern Hemisphere Growing Season 2025/26
Jonathan replied to Jonathan's topic in WEATHER / CLIMATE
Talking to myself here I think, but we seem to be having a second summer right now...very weird, but I'll take it! These temps could be any week between December and March but unusual at the end of April. -
They are beautiful palm, and they are very dry tolerant palms. They will also drink as much water you give them, so the best of both worlds with this palm, give it water and it’s quite happy and if it is in a dry spot it’s just as happy.
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Welp…. I “saved” my Orlando-planted coconut by almost cooking it to death. But can it realistically survive being dug up and potted now?
Jonathan replied to chad2468emr's topic in DISCUSSING PALM TREES WORLDWIDE
Wow, what a brutal climate. It offers so much promise for a few years, then pulls the carpet out from under you in a couple of nights. I hope you have better luck at the new place and that the poor old Cocos gets a new lease on life...always nice to see a bit of sentimental optimism take precedence over cold hard pragmatism! -
Not Palms But… Passiflora Edulis Survives One of The Worst Winters In Washington, DC In 40 Years (2025-2026)
Josh76 replied to jwf1983's topic in TROPICAL LOOKING PLANTS - Other Than Palms
That's interesting that you mention incarnata because my first thought when I saw your post was to wonder if it was a hybrid between the two - that would certainly explain the hardiness. It seems there are records of that hybrid being made in the past: https://growingfruit.org/t/hardy-edible-passiflora-hybrids-pedigrees/69650 Either way, I would happily trial some seeds but, as you mentioned, we might not get sufficient summer heat here. Pure incarnata struggles here and isn't reliable but some of its hybrids are. -
It’s chamaedorea time in the garden
Jonathan replied to happypalms's topic in DISCUSSING PALM TREES WORLDWIDE
You need to try harder Richard...there's another 400 species to collect! - Today
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Not Palms But… Passiflora Edulis Survives One of The Worst Winters In Washington, DC In 40 Years (2025-2026)
jwf1983 replied to jwf1983's topic in TROPICAL LOOKING PLANTS - Other Than Palms
Ha! Funny, my wife and I travel to London, staying for a few weeks at a time, for work pretty much every 3 months or so. Not sure what part of the UK you are in, but I’d be more than happy to send some seeds this year. I’m fairly certain that’s how these ended up around our back yard this spring anyway, through seeds dropped by birds or squirrels, I just don’t know how they could’ve made it through one of the most severe winters in memory, that included 2 weeks or so of 15cm of ice. It usually doesn’t ever stay cold long enough for snow to last a day, let alone ice that thick. I’m not surprised by how many sub-tropicals/tropicals do well in the UK—I’ve seen many looking great in the parks around London. The only thing I’ve noticed about Passiflora Edulis is that it seems to accelerate its growth when it’s most disgustingly hot and humid. We do get at least 3 solid months of that here, and the last couple years it was the time the vine fast expanded throughout the back yard trellises and fence, flowered as fruited, continuing until our first true freeze, typically the first days of December. Sometimes I don’t think the fruit would come out as consistently flavorful (or at all) without that period of unrelenting heat and humidity. All things considered, we seem to have just the right amount of growing day (barely), and just enough heat and humidity at the peak growth period. Id love to see how they turn out in the UK. It’s worth noting, we also have native Passiflora Incarnata (Maypop) in the area and in our yard. They can tolerate lots of cold, and typically start sending out new shoots from the ground, at random, and relentlessly, around May. It’s borderline invasive, and unless you pull all the shoots as you see them, they will take over any space. Last season Edulis and Incarnata competed, and overlapped in several locations in our yard. I don’t believe there’s any way they could hybridize, but nonetheless, it’s weird to see the “Edulis” popping up all over in a way they haven’t before. -
I dug this pair out of the wild, forgotten corner of my greenhouse recently. The label has completely faded. I was thinking B. eriospatha because of the green colour of the leaves, but is this striping on the boots common at this young stage? Any ideas? Hybrid??
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Show off your Kentiopsis Oliviformis
tim_brissy_13 replied to Cape Garrett's topic in DISCUSSING PALM TREES WORLDWIDE
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It’s chamaedorea time in the garden
Josh76 replied to happypalms's topic in DISCUSSING PALM TREES WORLDWIDE
Beautiful plants - my favourite genus! -
Not Palms But… Passiflora Edulis Survives One of The Worst Winters In Washington, DC In 40 Years (2025-2026)
Josh76 replied to jwf1983's topic in TROPICAL LOOKING PLANTS - Other Than Palms
Maybe you have an extremely hardy variety there. Fancy sending some seeds to the UK for us to trial? 😜 -
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Not Palms But… Passiflora Edulis Survives One of The Worst Winters In Washington, DC In 40 Years (2025-2026)
jwf1983 replied to jwf1983's topic in TROPICAL LOOKING PLANTS - Other Than Palms
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Not Palms But… Passiflora Edulis Survives One of The Worst Winters In Washington, DC In 40 Years (2025-2026)
jwf1983 replied to jwf1983's topic in TROPICAL LOOKING PLANTS - Other Than Palms
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For some, Florida drought is getting very "extreme"
JLM replied to SubTropicRay's topic in WEATHER / CLIMATE
0.24" this morning. A light rain but a soaking rain. Need more like that. There's about 0.75"-1" in the forecast for the next 7 days. Pattern favors chances for at least scattered showers and storms over the coming weeks in the Panhandle. -
So What Caught Your Eye Today?
PAPalmtrees replied to The Gerg's topic in DISCUSSING PALM TREES WORLDWIDE
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Hu Palmeras started following happypalms
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Hu Palmeras started following ARVA GARDENS
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Colvillea racemosa
aztropic replied to aztropic's topic in TROPICAL LOOKING PLANTS - Other Than Palms
I've never seen or even heard about a single example of this tree in the Phoenix area, so my experience will probably be the first documented. Looks like I picked a promising tree for a new opening I just created.😄 As with palms, I was the guinea pig trialing many different subtropicals to figure out which ones could survive our extremes. Turns out, species native to the Caribbean or Mexico are the best adapted to our hot deserts. Species like Copernicia, Coccothrinax, Hemithrinax, and Pseudophoenix just keep plugging along,year after year. I love to grow palms from seed, just to watch them grow. I'm probably responsible for getting some of these species into Phoenix gardens, as I have sold many plants over the last 30 years. Pseudophoenix has always been one of my favorites, so I am always starting new batches of those.👍 -
ARVA GARDENS joined the community
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So What Caught Your Eye Today?
gyuseppe replied to The Gerg's topic in DISCUSSING PALM TREES WORLDWIDE
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Coralloid roots gone wild
Urban Rainforest posted a topic in TROPICAL LOOKING PLANTS - Other Than Palms
So yesterday I was working at some condominiums I maintain as a landscaper in Pacific Beach San Diego. Im weeding around a street planter when I see them. Coralloid roots with the nearest Cycad a Cycas Revoluta at least 7 feet away! The crazy thing is it had to go underneath a curb and sidewalk to pull it off😳Is this normal? Here is a pic of the roots and the Sago in the distance.-
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Colvillea racemosa
mnorell replied to aztropic's topic in TROPICAL LOOKING PLANTS - Other Than Palms
Congratulations, Scott (and Happy Birthday if it's yours that is being commemorated!). This tree really seduced me when I saw it in full glory while I lived in Honolulu back in the late '80s..."wow" is the word for this tree when it's doing its thing. I have grown several from seed and have them either planted or in pots here in the Palm Springs area, an easy grow from seed and pretty quick at first, then slows down a bit, at least for me...I feel they are definitely tougher than Delonix regia, certainly when young. And they have a better-enforced winter dormancy and probably a few degrees more cold-hardy. Mine haven't yet bloomed but I'm sure they're not old enough. It is a good tree for higher canopy because it tends to go up, up, up where the Poinciana wants to go out, out, out. Less invasive in the root department, needless to say. It has a neat reddish trunk, gorgeous leaves and of course those marvelous flowers. I also grew this in the Florida Keys where it seemed very much at home but I never got it big enough to bloom, though I have seen it blooming in Miami. I don't know why it isn't more widely used in SoFla and in the Keys, as I had one come through Irma (160+mph winds and 4' of seawater/muck for 24 hrs) with no problems. So it is really a strong tree. I believe I read that Gary Levine had one near Escondido and apparently flowered it, though I don't think he posted any pics here. Apparently the one or two trees at the San Diego Zoo have never flowered, likely due to the chilly springs and relatively cool summers. I wonder if they have planted any at the Wild Animal Park (now I think called Safari Park?) in San Pasqual, which would seem a more appropriate place to trial it. And just to sidetrack to Delonix regia for a moment, you say you have them blooming consistently...Most of the specimens here from Palm Springs to La Quinta grow beautifully (though without the extreme tropical horizontal form), stay evergreen, and barely bloom, which is what my trees did in the Keys, and which I attributed to the high freshwater water-table on our island: always green with a smattering of flowers over many months. (BTW they flower like crazy on Key Largo, which has no water-table.) I believe that behavior here in the Coachella Valley cities is because they're planted at country-club entrances or along grassy parkways with lots of H2O year-round. From pictures posted here, it seems y'all get better flowers on Delonix in the Phoenix area. You say yours bloom consistently...do you enforce a January-to-June drought on them, or do anything specific with fertilizers, etc.? I suspect Colvillea will prove much easier to flower in the low desert climate once it attains reproductive age, partially because it blooms with the fall growth-flushes rather than at the break of winter dormancy...not sure if that hypothesis will hold up, but I keep my fingers crossed. In any event, both of these Madagascan beauties grow well in the low desert as long as strong freezes can be avoided, make beautiful trees even without their flowers, and obviously love the heat...the remaining question is just about flowering behavior on Colvillea. -
Cycad cones and flushes
Urban Rainforest replied to Urban Rainforest's topic in TROPICAL LOOKING PLANTS - Other Than Palms
Last but not least my favorite Cycad Trappes valley Latifrons. This is my second biggest at 5” and has thrown every single year since I bought it as a seedling! This one has very stacked leaves. -
Cycad cones and flushes
Urban Rainforest replied to Urban Rainforest's topic in TROPICAL LOOKING PLANTS - Other Than Palms
This one is E. Arenarius x Latifrons. I harvested a pup about 3 years ago you can see behind it and there is another pup on it right now. All 3 flushed at the same time almost like they were talking to each other and said LETS GOOOO!! -
April joined the community
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Cycad cones and flushes
Urban Rainforest replied to Urban Rainforest's topic in TROPICAL LOOKING PLANTS - Other Than Palms
This is my completely spineless Trispinosus. It has very long needle like leaflets. Sorry for the bad pic but it was buried in a sea of 15 gals. I did’nt feel like moving🤣
