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The first two of them ended up surviving. Freeze damage combined with sooty mold and rot took out the other two. The first one bounced back super fast, it couldn’t wait to burst out new fronds. It was still pushing out growth throughout the winter, making big fronds too. The second one is putting out small sized fronds and is struggling a bit with ants on it that I have been trying to get rid of, same pest problem I’ve been having with the other palms also. Sprayed the thing with fungicide also. I’ve been using ant traps nearby too. My two largest windmill palms also got sooty mold and rot problems, both had spear pulls and I poured peroxide in the holes recently and they still fizzed. It looks like this biggest Washingtonia has some strong genes or is lucky because it is the only palm I planted last year that is very healthy at this point.

As a fan of big entire leaved palms, your are one to be jealous of.

Day Geckos love nectar, not seeds - most likely looking for that or insects attracted to the palm.

This year the SBP ( Sociedade Brasileira de Palmeiras) will meet again on the 30 and 31th of oct and 1th of november. This time it will be in my region, the "Campos Gerais", 2nd tableland. One day the meeting will be held in my garden, in Carambeí, ( 1030 m altitude) state Paraná, southern Brazil. Another day in the "Parque Estadual de Vila Velha" to see a population of the endandered small Butia microspadix palm ( also Butia eriospatha, Geonoma schottiana, Allagoptera campestris and Syagrus romanzoffiana) in the impressive scenery of the rock formations of the Vila Velha Park. There is a lot to see in my state Paraná. For example the natural wonder of the Iguaçú Falls are located 500 km from here. Of course, you are welcome!

I bet this smells heavenly

A friend of mine gave me this little fellow . I planted it in the backyard where it gets a good amount of sun. I don't expect much growth in the following years . Most Sabals are slow growing. I'll be happy to see a few palmate shaped fronds growing within the next 5 years. We shall see. Give it a lot of water and fertilizer to speed up the growth process. Does anyone else grow a larger Defuniak in their yard ? Would love to see some pictures.

Howea, Chambeyronia,chamaedorea!

She is a beauty alright, they grow so well in my area actually pretty well from Sydney up to the far north coast of Australia they grow very well. It does get a bit irrigation and our annual rainfall is 1800 but more in a good wet season and prone to drought conditions!

Sabal Yapa opening a new frond

Wellspring Gardens Banana Fuel is insane stuff. I grew a wall of bananas indoors over the winter and one of my blue Java and Cuban red dacca hit the ceiling from pups in 4 or 5 months. Its not cheap but damn. It's bonkers.

I've got a couple one gallons. I think they're Kiett. They'll never ever fruit here, they're in the freebie forum if anyone wants them. I grew them from seed a from fruit from the Guatemalen market. I tried the yellow ones but they're apparently irradiated before they cross the border.

Man, these would be awesome to have if I thought they'd survive here.

Lord. Just follow the Instagram lol.

Beautiful old Howea belmoreana! I think one that size here in San Diego would be 40 years old. We receive very little rain here. You must receive a tremendous amount of rainfall during your wet season, right? I have one in the ground that’s almost 20 years old and barely has a trunk and is only 9 ft tall. It doesn’t receive a lot of water, though.

A couple pix of bliss!

Don't see them actually eating the seed, but they sure seem to be attracted to them.

Thanks, it’s a very nice picture. I enhances the exposure of the other picture and there seems quite a lot of leaf damage from -5C.

This poor old cocos looks like it has endured many a hard day, but still growing that’s how tough they are. Having seen extreme heat up to 42 degrees Celsius and lows down to -2 it’s, drought conditions I would say it’s one surviving example of a tough palm.

They used to wash up on south facing beaches in Grenada when I lived there. My friend has a nursery there and collects them and managed to germinate a couple, however none are naturally found there. I'm not 100% sure, but o think the population in Trinidad is a relatively new arrival, or at least the range is expanding there. Here's a pic of took of some seeds in-situ in Grenada on Fort Jeudy Beach, which is where they seemed to end up mostly.

Yes, I too have noticed that specimen at Montgomery, I am pretty certain it is an A. cohune. They have auctioned seed before but I didn't make a bid because I mistrusted the i.d. on it. It's called coco de aceite due to its high oil content (as you note Attaleas in general are great biofuel sources) but so is A. cohune in its native range, so they could be easily confused if trying to order from here. Not sure what technicalities would have to be satisfied to get it here legally. I have thought about writing to the Botanical Garden in Puerto Vallarta but, again, trying to get a plant or seed would no doubt still be a headache. I wish I could find a fruiting one in a botanical garden somewhere in SoCal, but haven't seen one anywhere. Frustrating. I have a number of A. cohune here, several in the ground from a guy in Florida who really I think wouldn't know which species he had grown, he was vague about the trees from which he collected seed, so I'm thinking they could be A. phalerata or another species more commonly found in Florida; and I also have several still in containers from Jeff Marcus, his tree came from Inge Hoffman years ago and is the real, gigantic A. cohune from central America...not really what I wanted but I'm not getting any younger and they take about three years in the ground before they start pushing anything to speak of, probably looking at another 3-5 years before my biggest "Florida" specimen (which is quite happy in full, hot sun) starts to make an impression...so better what I have than nothing at all...and I doubt I'll ever see anything in this genus get much of a trunk on it, I understand it takes quite a number of years.

This is in SD area? I think there are a lot more palm enthusiasts in SD. I’ve never seen one in LA county. Im sure there are, but I just haven’t come across one. That’s not really slow growing if that was a 5 gallon. That seems moderate to me.

Lanonia dasyantha

Palmpedia lists a shot of one from Montgomery B.C. in Miami but, ...crown / leaflets on the pictured specimen look pretty different compared to a majority of iNat obvs. specimens of the same size, so 🤷🏽‍♂️ if it is a legit specimen or miss labeled. Seems ..based upon looking over other iNat. observed specimens and some noted on inat i could get a closer look at in town via street view, like this 👇🏽 ...and shots #2 and 5 in this observation: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/331995932 Seems these start fruiting quite young so i'd imagine it wouldn't be hard for someone to track down a " city dweller " and collect a few seeds. I also saw somewhere else that oil is extracted / utilized from the seed, which makes me wonder if they'd be sold in market places there. How true that is, no clue ..but, if so, that might be source for seed that might pass a border inspection easier.

Nannorrhops also branch which if this palm is very old should be branching!!!