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Gorgeous photos. I’m looking forward to seeing scenes like that very soon. Archontophoenix cunninghamiana is the building block, canopy plant of much of my landscape. It’s common, but a well grown one is beautiful. A landscape full of healthy ones is stunning.

Microclimate and time is correct. It takes time to create a microclimate, as well as grow the garden. I’ve been here 12 years and I feel like I’m just starting. However 12 years ago, the place was so open that I could see the neighbours and when it was cold everything was in the firing line. Not now. The microclimate is growing.

A very scary forecast for tonight onwards first appeared at the end of last week, and kept getting worse. It hit a three nights run of -3C, -4C, -3C at its worst. If accurate was/are facing worst in about 10 years. This is the offical forecast comming from our equivalent of the B.O.M so had to take it seriously. However, puzzlingly, the main models EC/GFS etc all along have not/are not showing anything too crazy. The irony is that the forecast temperaures are pretty close to what has already been recorded at the met site eailer this month and my garden coped just fine and there are bannnas around town that look barely affected. The concern that is that the forecasts were only for -1C when that occured, it seems like the forecast tries to predict what urban residents will see, what gets recorded in a low lying open field out of town is much colder. Have they suddently decided to start forecasting for what the met site will record as the low? Spooked, I've done some serious erection of temporary artificial canopy, took most of the afternoon. The sky cleared before dusk and it is calm but the temp has not absolutely crashed, down to 3.2 at 10pm, only dropping slowly. I've seen it hit 0 by 10pm before. If this is going to be coldest night in ~10 years it's not stating as I would expect. Can't do anything more than have done can only watch it play out from here.

Those melt in summer here and my garden has never seen 30c!

I thought the same thing. I wish I had seen the original post. On a side note to anyone in the Orlando area - Lukas Nursery in Oviedo had a couple of these in huge containers when we were there in the spring. They had just arrived and had several feet of trunk. To say I was surprised is an understatement. They are generally not cold hardy enough for the area. The timing was bizarre too since we just had the worst cold snap in years. We haven’t been there since but I would assume that they still have them.

A vine that was scrambling along the ground.

Beautiful! What's this plant...I can't place it??

The peace and quiet and with a lot of areas inaccessible to the family car there’s always a spot where you won’t see anyone at all except for the animals!

True, true. I don't think I'll buy from him again. I bought a Veitchia Joannis and it was literally the only one I found on sale in Europe back then, so no choice.

They are not always multi stemmed . I planted one over 25 years ago that just grew straight up , single trunk. . It has never produced pups or offshoots. It was a very small plant that I got from a palm nursery near San Diego , California. Harry

With very unique plants that have adapted to cope with all sorts of climatic conditions, and relying on the animals for that symbiotic relationship to survive for a lot of species and visa versa with a lot of animals dependent on that ecosystem for survival.

Have taken your advice Darold and put them in small pots, fingers crossed. Noticed today that my G undata weberbaueri are starting to pop, so hoping for better results with them second time round, after fussing the last batch to an early grave!

The mid north coast of Australia a subtropical paradise. With thousands of hectares of rainforest that covers a fair chunk of it. Before settlement it would have been one very unique piece of land. Now it has been fragmented into isolated areas broken up by farmland. Much of it is either state forests or national parks with a lot of special reserves locked up for conservation purposes.

You can create a microclimate, if the conditions are to harsh its amazing what a canopy will do for that game changer. Microclimate and time are two factors that build a garden. Iam in a very unique position for growing a lot of tropicals and temperate plants. With the temperate stuff iam up against the heat and with the tropicals cold is my enemy. Now with so many great palms available it’s a bit of trial with a bit of error. Yes there are certain tropicals I won’t bother with but iam yet to really get into the temperate palms, as they become available I will try with them, but for now I will leave them up to the refrigerator growers @Jonathan @Tassie_Troy1971 and @tim_brissy_13 they have the real cool tolerant stuff that I can’t grow for now but that’s not going to stop me from trying. Also being realistic is a good approach as well, but as for the rule book it’s thrown out the window in my garden! A great example is I planted a Calyptrogyne ghiesbreghtiana yesterday with 2 degrees celcius this morning, they are from altitude and I know they are cool tolerant and with spring coming up bring it on!

I did, very nice to see these hybrids in person. They also planted a Jubutiagrus on the edge of the lawn.

Easily the best palm fertilizer I’ve used. Great lasting results.

@Pdmesa did you end up selling the last two?

Good luck, and if it doesn't work out we can always try again.

Actually plant size is a bit deceiving, because it is disproportional to root size (smaller root size, larger aerial parts). You do not need special experience to imagine, what would happen, if you plugged the plant directly in to the ground in such condition. Whatever intial advantage relates to seemingly lower price, is canceled through the horrific transport fees. Long story short no need for us to beg for a deal with this enterprise.

Looks good ..just keep a close eye on it thru the summer. It may be starting to put down roots atm, but won't be well on it's way to locking itself in until next spring. Yea, that's one ( or two, lol ) differences between how the summer plays out here and Tucson ..Most of Tucson at least.. Even during the bad summers, you rarely see extended stretches of 110+ heat. On top of that, ..a bad monsoon season there = rarely under 2" of rain. Here? we had .15" in 2023 / .74" in '24. I might have had .10" more where i'm located compared to Phoenix both years ...very brutal on everything, even native stuff folks assume can tolerate plenty of heat. When we had the first " killer summer" in 2020, i was quite surprised to see lots of melted Agave and various cacti in people's yards, let alone the reporting of collapsing Saguaro that occurred in other parts of town. I saw you mentioned A. ramossimissum in your last post, Been a few years since i last saw it but, here's what the specimen at Tohono Chul looked like back in 2022. Hopefully it is still there. Notice that it is being grown under a slatted canopy rather than out in the open. Boyce had one as well in a raised display garden but think something took it out ...Wasn't there when i was up there this past April. Can't remember the species ( Tracy probably will ) but, here are some of the other " trunking " Aloes in T. Chul's collection ..At least as they looked the last time i saw them ( 10/ 2022 ).

@Sabal_Louisiana I added these airports to the map for the 2026 freeze. There are a few others on my list that are available using their short name, but these are relatively reliable PWS models that might help fill in some gaps:

The February 2026 Freeze map has been updated to include 23 more small airports that were available on Weather Underground as personal weather stations. These numbers may give some insight into a few of the hot/cold spots in the state. Salty Approach in North Captiva didn't get below 40F while a few stations near Okeechobee had low 20s. The west-to-east trajectory of the wind made a big difference in where the cold landed. The list of stations added is shown below: This is a sample of one of the airports that was added near Okeechobee, FL: Meanwhile, the same event was a non-event on Captiva:

The image was not visible. Perhaps try reloading it. That said, i would put it in the ground sooner than later, predicted on your seasons.

Max of 30.1C / 86F here on Saturday. Now onto day 39 since it last rained here. Currently in a bit of a chilly spell (27C / 80F expected on Sunday) before the heat reloads again next week... Can't even escape to the Scottish Highlands right now. They've evacuated everyone out of the villages. At least they have rain coming up north. Not so much down here... Unless I catch a passing isolated shower later today, Monday will be my 40th day without rain.

Hybridization is not easy at least not for me I have tried multiple times to cross Phoenix robellini with Phoenix rectilinata both directions and never had any luck and Phoenix species are supposed to cross on their own but no luck for me!!!