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Here is a blue and silver tinted Brahea dulcis in front of a nice, almost white cenizo in bloom. I couldn't remove the cage without knocking off a bunch of flowers.

It’s a nice area you live in their Richard. Semi open Eucalyptus woodland will protect you from extreme cold. Yesterday morning I was one of those places down in a valley. The ice box. -1.2C recorded near me. White lawn crunchy bird bath ice. Canopy saving my delicate palms. Spring 5 weeks away. Bring it on. 🌴🌴🌴🌴🌴🌴🌴🌴🌴🌴🌴🌴🌴😁 It’s great to see so many Lepidozamia getting into your shots. It’s a really nice look. They’re a beautiful cycad.

Macrozamia johnsonii I grew from seed is now coning. 1996-2026. These are large plants with 10ft+ leaves.

The good old peacock ginger I do believe. Top little understory ground cover.

Smaller size but yea, they've got some atm ..per their current inventory listing. For anyone interested / looking for it, they also have " Goliath " in stock as well. Was either '19 or 2020 when i planted it ..both summers being the first two of several recent " Agave and Cactus Killers " locally.. That yard has no shade / gets blasted ..all day.. and i'm pretty sure that was the biggest factor ..I lost a few Agave i'd planted out there / others in pots the same summer as well. Bad timing ..planting that spring, instead of the previous fall as i should have, ...and making the mistake of watering once or twice, at the wrong time that summer are two other things did it in.

To be seen to be believed, some populations in different areas are just covering the understory while others are just small groups or single individuals scattered in one area. But wherever they are it’s deep shade mostly!

When is the best time to plant a palm 20 years ago, time for that sancona to go in the ground!

Having grown Aloidendron Hercules from a small one gallon, it is apparent to me that the specimens you are considering in your post are from cuttings. I would go with the single stem, unbranched rather than the forked one you were initially considering. If you are worried about any marginal conditions where you live then don't introduce complications of a forked one that may abandon or abort one of the growth points. If you want an Aloidendron that branches low, then grow Aloidendron ramosissimum. Let the Hercules grow as they want to, which is vertical to about 6 feet before the initial branch. All these Aloidendron are fast in my book. All my Aloidendron were acquired as 1 gallon or smaller (Aloidendron pillansii being the exception which is slow). Watering schedule appears a bit different in your climate than here, so I will defer to Nathan's advice above on when to water and when not to. For Hercules here, it is more about not over watering to keep it from growing too fast. Aloidendron Hercules and a dichotomum starting to branch below.

Thanks Rich, will put them in individual pots today. My propagator is set up basically at room temperature 20-24c, so not too hot, Ceroxylon parvifrons are germinating happily in there at the moment, so hopefully it's a comfortable temp for these guys.

Cool, thanks so much for the photo. I'm going there next week. Did you spot the Jubaea x Syagrus I gave to the Isole di Brissago too? They planted it quite prominently on the centre lawn.

I don’t believe Aridlands carries any Hercules. I still have to make a trip out there and check out what he has. I think they usually want you to make an appointment before crashing in. It is on my list to do though. You said your Hercules rotted- what would you say was the main factor? I’ve got one in the ground already and very paranoid about how much or not to do with the thing LOL.

Oh it's already used to the sun. I got this palm as a little seedling in late october 2024. It's a rocket in both sun and shade.

Strikingly beautiful palms, so clean and straight as an arrow. Tom, those trunks are stout and thick. Mine are taller and thinner, but still show the deep purple color, especially on. The lower portion of the crown shaft. Thanks for the ‘bump’ Andrea. Tim

I’ve been looking for Encephalartos seeds for a long time, and so far the only seller I really trust is RPS . Does anyone know any reputable private sellers or have any recommendations in Europe?

I would drop it in the ground. Start acclimating it to the sun little by little.

i Its neighbor to the left is quite something itself!! 😎👍🏻 -dale

The palm in question is Syagrus sancona. It's getting too big for its pot, I don't have bigger pots/containers. <Zone 10> Climate similar to south texas, maybe a bit warmer. Palms I have in the ground (+1 year in ground) Cocos nucifera Syagrus romanzoffiana Chamaedorea seifrizii Chamaedorea microspadix Chamaedorea pochutlensis Chamaedorea plumosa Thrinax radiata Attalea butyracea Acrocomia aculeata Sabal yapa Wodyetia bifurcata Tropicals I have seen around my neighborhood (Not owned by me) Roystonea regia Cocos nucifera Thrinax radiata Delonix regia Enterolobium cyclocarpum Ficus microcarpa Ficus benjamina Ficus elastica Ficus obtusifolia Chrysalidocarpus lutescens Adonidia merrillii Terminalia catappa Heliconia spp. Alpinia spp. Wodyetia bifurcata Pseudobombax ellipticum Heptapleurum actinophyllum Ceiba speciosa Tabebuia rosea Araucaria spp. Hibiscus tiliaceus Pithecellobium dulce Cassia fistula

Can definitely cut them / will add new growth afterwards. Gamble is ..how much you can cut, repeatedly, to try and keep the overall form shorter, w/out harming the plant. One i'd bought years ago was cut quite short ..might have had a foot of base on it before the grower it came from had trimmed it... Added 4 or 5 branches after cutting but, each branch grew straight and unbranched again afterwards. When i picked it up, each new branch was ~approx another foot tall so, ..they would've continued that trend until reaching ...whatever.. height at which they'd decide to branch again on their own.. Unfortunately, it started rotting the summer after putting it in the ground up here and i had to rescue the plant by lopping off / re-rooting what i could. Before headed up here ..into the furnace, lol, you might make a trip over to Aridlands Greenhouses and talk with Bob or Toni about pruning -related thoughts / see if they have any in stock atm.

Last night as the sun dropped low in the sky, I was reminded why the relatively common Encephalartos longifolius is one of my favorite Cycads. The shadows on the leaflets really was emphasizing the insertion and overlapping nature of the leaflets. This is a smaller one that has grown slowly since I transplanted it from one garden to the other several years ago. It had already stalled prior to the transplant due to my neighbors having planted a hedge along the property boundary that completely changed it's sun exposure, starving it of sunshine until I dug it and moved it to Leucadia.

I have read that if you cut the top off then it will tend to branch out. Are some growers actually doing this successfully? As for pricing this grower is being very fair especially offering free shipping. The local nurseries here are in short supply or no supply at all. I think fall/spring is when some end up at the HD and maybe other nurseries pick some up as well. I could also take a field trip up to your area and shop around up there’s. Seems like if you can’t find it in Tucson you’ll find it in the Valley

I have two satakentias from ken johnsons farm, planted out in early 2019 with 2-3' trunk. I also have a smaller one I grew from a 4" seedling in 2021 that was planted in early 2025 is now 6-7' overall. They are great palms and the trunks are pretty thick. I will quote ken " ythey are emergent palms so they like shade when young but with size they take the sun well. The trunk at the crownshaft is about 8-9" caliper, definitely more than my archies and all my other crownshafted palms except for the royals. They hate frost with a couple upper leaves burning a couple years ago. They do look a lot more colorful in sunlight after shedding a leaf. Here is one of mine, they trunks/crownshafts glow in the distance in sun. No sign of inflorescences yet. closeup of the same palm to see the crownshaft color a week or so after a new leaf was dropped Easily my prettiest crownshafted palm. I checked the trunk measurements, 8 1/2' clear trunk as of today.

Tall ones, like the specimen pictured, would tend to keep moving up before branching, unless the top somehow got knocked off. Shorter one in your first post might form a few initial branches at an earlier age, but would still move up before adding a majority of the rest, like the specimen at Tohono Chul, or these i'd found at a local nursery this past spring. Is the typical habit of the plant, vs. any outside variable having a major influence on that factor < ..Location, watering, etc, etc.. >

M amicarum seems to be building some momentum…

They sent me a picture of this one which I think they did for comparison. The only thing I worry about in getting a single head plant is that from the only examples of locally grown Hercules that I’ve seen in person are the ones in the shopping center by Cortaro rd and I-10. They were put in there as very small specimen and they all seem to have started branching out at around 9-12 ft. There’s about 7-8 of them an neither branched out sooner. I’m wondering if maybe it was that particular batch? Maybe how they were watered? Soil? Tucson weather? I know getting a branched out young one might come with some problems as well like possibility of branch splitting or monsoon winds knocking it over.

Fausto now a Cat #2 and headed west, Genevieve now on the board, and expected to become the basin's first significant hurricane of the year ..possibly reaching Cat 4 status per current forecast thoughts. As for Fausto, while it is supposed to diminish to Tropical Storm status in the next couple days, track takes it to somewhere near / in the Hawaiian Islands sometime this week.. Current, Key message from the Hurricane center regarding what to watch for out there.. It and Genevieve will continue to send rounds of 4 -7' swell to -at least- Southern CA beaches this week. On another note, Blob of activity on the T.C. Sat. view this morning in the south central Gulf ( of CA ) = what remains of Bertha. Moisture from it will need to be watched closely as the potential exists that some of it rotates northward toward Southern CA over the next couple days. Result would be a round of mainly dry thunderstorm activity if that occurs. Some moisture from it being drawn into an inverted trough currently over west central New Mexico / far eastern AZ may be what helps break the weekend heatwave here.