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Received my two Butia eriospatha today in great shape. The order went from west coast to east coast and shipping was fast. I ordered and paid just before midnight and Pdmesa shipped the following morning on 4/30, before 9:00 am, and the package arrived on 5/5. Well grown beautiful plants were packed perfectly and with great attention to keeping them safe. Not one thing was out of place or broken. Seller communicated very well and did everything he said he would. Would definitely buy again!

A great palm for SoCal

The Magic Kingdom Skipper Cantina bottle palm lives, there’s a sign in front of it now so it’s easy to miss. The famous Satikentia is doing well. Photos taken today May 5th.

I'm glad the Sabal mexicana damage was not from ox beetles.

There is a group of Jubaeopsis at (of all places.....) the Beverly Hilton hotel in Beverly Hills CA. These plants are 50+ years old. I first saw the grouping in the mid-1980s, and it was an impressive sight. They looked liked coconut palms. The original planting appeared to be 1 or 2 individuals and in the 1990s some of the trunks were 2+ meters in height, and some were flowering. Unfortunately the plants were 'rearranged' during a massive restructuring of the valuable hotel property, still in progress. The plants were moved a small distance and possibly some of the clusters were split. I saw them in October 2025, and they are still striking. Inquiry at the hotel was met with fascination. The plantings are located at the Wilshire Blvd. entrance to the hotel, now the main entrance.

Lightning strike is my guess, too. If so, and damage is as severe as you tell us, palm is probably a goner. Lightning kills countless palms in FL. Take a wait-and-see approach to find out if it collapses over time as it may be dead and not know it yet. Have you seen indications of weevils and borers? Has anyone put up a ladder to inspect the crown for signs of lightning strikes or insect pests?

To be honest, id prefer less visibility, especially considering there’s a camera in the window. Im sure its pointed toward their house, but still I prefer minimal visibility for that reason. The house is on a slope, so ideally I would need at least 12-15 feet of vertical coverage. I did a privacy screening with white birds of paradise and the arenga engleri, but I need more height to block the 2nd story. Below are some combinations im considering. queen+ Med fan palms Queen+giant bop Finally the podocarpus fern solid wall.

Here's a photo of the entire palm.

My knowledge of cycads (I do know they are gymnosperms, not flowering plants and of ancient lineage) is woefully less than for palms so I have questions about fertilizing my cycads (mixed Zamia, Dioon, and a couple more genera). Am I safer fertilizing them with timed release pelletized palm fertilizer or can they take the blue granular stuff dispensed via hose? I don't want to burn their roots and maybe kill them. I plan to begin fertilizing tomorrow before applying mulch. Can someone wiser in the ways of cycads than I give me some guidance on the best way to safely fertilize my cycads? thanks and regards

It may help to see the entire palm. Perhaps a lightning strike?

What's going on with this Sable? It's bleeding from many places. Most of the sap is hard but some is still soft. It has pooled on the ground.

Beautiful palm. I have one 25+ years old, been in the Backyard Jungle for 15-20 years. It is about 3' tall but even more amazingly it has survived Hurricanes Irma, Ian, Milton, yadda, yadda (my 25 y.o. trunking H. forsteriana succumbed to Ian in 2025). H. belmoreana is supposed to keel over in my sweltering climate but this one clings on year after year. It is shielded by a mutant whole leaf oil palm above the canal, overhead canopy and palms to the east and west. I plan very carefully how to protect this little palm.

Great looking palms! How old are they? I have one about 15 years from a 1g. It has yet to trunk and flower. So slow growing

At Mount's:

The original planting of Cycas thouarsii were 7 gallon pots in the first photo you have and the second photo was about 8 years later. The solution is start with a bigger plant than the 7 gallon size I started with. If you plant Podocarpus, plan on having to trim them frequently and having leaf drop in your pool. People in my neighborhood have used different Podocarpus species as hedges and it is a constant battle to keep them in the space they want them. Anything that you plant that fills the need fast will require continual maintenance unless you start with something big that doesn't grow fast. The Encephalartos I used are large growing species, so can get tall pretty darn fast. With that genus it is a matter of selecting the right species and even then don't expect to start with a tiny planting. I have three plantings of Chrysalidocarpus lutescens in my gardens and even with a "fast growing" clumping palm, it takes a few years before they were over the wall height to do any screening. The first one I planted in Carlsbad now gives zero screening because all the trunks are significantly above the wall after 15 years.. One was planted as a freebie 1 gallon I got at a Palm Society meeting, and the biggest was a 15 gallon pot (not the one in Carlsbad). Only you can assess your ultimate goal, be it plants that make it difficult to see into your yard but if someone really wants to see between plants or leaves, they will still see inside or do you want blackout obscuring your backyard. If you really want blackout, go with the Podocarpus but be prepared to trim it continually to keep it from getting out of control.

Veitchia arecina or Veitchia joannis:

Thank you Palms1984. Because both palms are Licuala's, I guess that they could hybridize. This is an opinion of a non-expert. The soil in the shot is somewhat muckier than it appears in the photo. Congratulations on your success in San Diego. These are not the easiest here in South Florida. These gardens work very hard to maintain these palms and they are experts. I am just a day trader with a handheld phone, shooting pictures of what I see and look for. As many can testify, my identification attempts are desperately lacking!

@happypalms Thanks for answering! Yes, I was asking about outdoor containers, basically add it inside the winter boxes again. I will mix it with new mulch then, to reduce the amount of soil in the mix and increase air circulation. I don't think I need to care about drainage though, because the winter boxes are sealed and no water gets inside the box into the mulch...

How bout a small ‘BUMP’. So, how are all of the posted specimens doing? Thriving I hope. Here is a photos I took yesterday of a grouping grown from seed back in 2012. The tall palm in the center surrounded by B. condapanna is B. nicobarica. Tim

@Tracy Thank you! That is indeed quite a process! I always wanted to live in a hot climate, somewhere in the south, with palm trees, but never managed to move there. So I decided if I don't go to palm trees, palm trees should come to me To be completely honest, packing and unpacking 12 palm trees for winter is too much for me, and if I could rewind back, I would have planted fewer palm trees, like 8 or 6...

Cool to see commercial property owners using palms other than syargus, phoenix etc. Have any of you carried your hobby into properties other than your home? Here’s my attempt at identifying these near me in the San Gabriel foothills jubaeopsis caffra bismarckia/ roystoneas ravenala madagascariensis Struggling dypsis sp? With caryota mitis in background some sort of cycas?