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From Palm Island in Vacaville CA a few years ago. Was there today, they didn’t have any.

Glad to hear the damage wasn’t near as severe for everyone as I was expecting and really glad the subsequent storm decided to move southward. We were off island during the event, but the tenants stepped up and kept us updated. We have cut down numerous palms and other trees over the years, some with a bit of regret, in preparation for events like this. Not a matter of if, but when. This time it paid off. We can deal with high rainfall, but the wind is terrifying. Tim

Rick, you’ve shrunk! Good lord man, look at that thing…..’Litttle Audrey II’, don’t get too close. Thanks for the info about the garden tour, be nice to revisit. Tracy, thankfully the frond drop on these monsters and others like them, are more infrequent than one would expect, but when they do it requires a bit of work for disposal. It takes a Sawzall to cut the frond into smaller sections with the thinner parts of the rachis and pinnae used as mulch straight away. The pinnae are removed on the thicker sections and again, used as mulch, the cleaned stems are then taken to the green waste dump. The saw makes quick work of the process, (my favorite tool), and they are tossed into the, ‘perpetual state of loading,’ truck bed. The life of an urban palm farmer. Tim

Iam a hobby grower or is it hobby obsessed grower who loves palms. It’s my retirement fund my hobby something to help pay the bills along the way, and if I can make a few extra bucks even better, a lot of what I make now goes back into the hobby. To survive in business nowadays it’s a tough act, you also need to spend money to make money. Sooner or later theres a cut off point with any business it has to pay for itself. Even if I was an accountant I would still be doing this as a hobby at a lose or profit. Time is another factor with palms, grow 30 joeys to sell and by the time you get to sell them for a few decent bucks, you should have been growing them by the hundreds, saying to yourself I wish I had more joeys. You can’t put a cost on your hobby otherwise I stops being a hobby and a business that either goes broke or makes money!

Iam in it for the love of palms and I love palms that’s for sure. As I quoted before I will sell more golden canes than joeys in any given sale day. Iam also in it for a ten year plan and if i havent made a go of it by then iam wasting my time. It’s the passion for plants and gardening that drives my bus. I have a mate he does the markets with all those easy to grow granny plants, we discuss our business ventures together, I know he will sell more of the granny plants than I will sell rare and exotic at the markets, so as you say out come the golden canes from my nursery to the markets or I will miss a sale. But in the other hand I only have to sell 4 rare palms and i equal my mates sales. I know the market iam after, my prices are what I have paid for rare palms in the past and will continue to pay what I think is a reasonable price, the grower deserves what he asks for his plants I should know because iam a grower and understand what it takes to procure and grow such beautiful exotics. Go giving them away and somebody else will profit of my hard work. It’s not easy importing seeds only to get one seed to germinate out of a hundred, or even worse nothing germinated out 300 seeds, better still pay all that for seeds only to have them confiscated at the border. Fairs fair and it’s crazy palm nuts like you and I that are taking the risk, both winning and losing. But look on the bright side I get the best of the best for my garden plus some!

Photo taken Central Australia, Alice Springs Wildlife Park

It certainly does depend on location, the are I live in has some of the highest unemployment in and some of the lowest wages in Australia. Drive 3 to 4 hours north and you can smell the money in the air along with the extravagant lifestyle and spending that goes with it. That extravagant lifestyle is the market iam after. When you factor in the cost of electricity and freight costs, you can buy a $10 dollar plant on eBay and pay $20 postage. It’s the whole economic situation that keeps on driving up the cost of everything while wages stay the same, and at the current rate the way the world economy is going the cost of everything is totally out of control. So if iam spending x amount on things just to produce palms, let alone the cost of seeds and the import fees, add into that you have to make a living, Iam going to go broke real fast. For sure locally sourced seeds and seeds from the garden will reduce the price quite a lot, and market availability like any other bussiness supply and demand sets the prices on thise locally sourced seeds.

The day I purchased the Dicho, Gene was there and welcomed us with a short preview. It was my first time stepping in there even though I had driven by it hundreds of times. My mother happens to live in the neighborhood (pobrecita) so I always drive by and look at the Bismarck palm in front of the nursery. So a couple weeks ago I met his wife and she gave me some good tips on how to get my young Bismarck rolling since it seems to struggle to grow in height. The Ramo I purchased at Bach’s and I’m thinking it’s from a cutting and not from seed. They have them in the large covered greenhouse so I’m sure they live it in there with the heat. So what’s your experience with Chinese elms? The one have I planted about 6 years ago from a 15 gallon. It’s now ruffly about 15 tall with the canopy stretching about 15-20 feet. The spot would be about 8-10 fr away from the trunk. I would hate to yank that thing since it’s producing some nice shade now. Plus, I’ve seen how my neighbors have had their mesquites and paloverdes torn down by the storm winds.

The fruit will turn dark red when it ripens. I have had good germination rates with fresh Arenga seed previously.

I'm at the point that I think they don't know, they won't ever know. It could be really cold, and yet again in Year 4 here I'm hoping for an average winter. All 3 have been one half to one full growing zone colder. We're in maybe week 3 of 100F degree temps, and I can't even remember when we were below 90, let alone 95F. Its been a hot year. I have many badly burnt and dead plants, fortunately all the palms aside from Trachycarpus are thriving.

Here is my 5 gallon Attlelea cohune from FB that went in the ground in 2015. Still no trunk despite heavy fertilizer over the years. I almost never cut off an old frond. Not sure how that works. The specimen that Tim showed above will get another visit by the Hawaii Island Palm Society in two months. We will tour Davis Dalbok's beautiful Mahonu Garden in Opihikao assuming they didn't suffer any serious hurricane damage. I'm guessing 13 years growth will have produced an even more impressive specimen.

Yes @Silas_Sancona is right 112 today on my thermometer but I like the heat much much better than cold I hate cold and what we have here most people wouldn’t think it was cold but I hate it!!!!! And I find it amazing at how tuff plants are with the heat my greenhouse was 125 when I got home a few days ago the belt had broken on the cooler so I don’t know how hot it was in the middle of the day probably around 140 or so and yes plants did have a lot of damage but I think almost all will survive!!!

It’s loaded with two visible brackets of seed . Not sure what they look like ripe . This Arenga did not even burn after the 2022 Christmas freeze when Galveston dipped below 20° there are even fruiting Everglades palms on the property finally getting some size after being killed to the ground in 2021.

@LowDesertBoil Your plants look great with the backdrop of all of the deep green! Hope your tiling job went well. That's a blue collar job that is more of an art form. A lot is happening in the garden to get it ready for a few planned Fall showings. The weeds have been out of control this year, so there are currently three large piles waiting for their return to the earth... from a single garden bed that is not yet finished. That said, negativity is bad for a person, so here is one of the piles from my driveway bed, flanked by plants with some new borders. The bamboo has used this year to start annexing property. The clump has gotten wider than expected. Some of the new shoots are oval-ed in red. Even in a bad year, you get some kind of harvest. This year, we got our first pineapple. It's good to have friends in high places. This December will mark ten years of me and @DoomsDave trading seeds, stories, mistakes, dreams and aspirations. One of the seed batches Dave sent included Chrysalidocarpus plumosus. All of them that I haven't sold spent the entire winter outside. None took damage, including this one that has been in the ground for a while and put out its first pinnate frond earlier this month. 24oF and not a scratch. Often regarded as an impossible palm here due to our extreme heat and humidity combined with copious amounts of nematodes, Chrysalidocarpus decipiens from @Fishinsteeg234 went in the ground last June as a 2-leaf seedling is still going strong through its second summer, come 24oF or 101oF. I did lose the companions I bought for it, but that doesn't mean more are out of the question. This photo shows the first split-leaf, a new occurrence since the last photo in May. After seeing the performance of the Zombia antillarum at Lake Hollingsworth, I decided to start adding a few in some of the spots that opened up in the yard. This is one of a couple I plan on adding. The one just got a small layer of cut-up pine bark nugget mulch today. My host gift plant for the Fall 2022 CFPACS Meeting was an Encephalartos ferox. It has started to cone. Since two of my large coconuts survived the big freeze, two more were added. On the left is an Atlantic Tall seedling from @redant 's large 2010 survivor. On the right is a Panama Tall I got from @Plantking165 .

@Robert Cade Ross It would be great to get some fruit off the Arenga when it fully ripens. I don't know of any up in Houston that are fruiting or even close to that size.

Galveston this week. Found another 2021 survivor Bismarck and checked up on a few others around town . Other pics are from moody gardens .

Nice finds How is ol' Gene doing? Need to stop in and pick his brain about some rarer trees. Intrigued by your ramo. Seems it's leaves are longer than most i've seen in nurseries / gardens / used to sell. Regardless, looks great. Finding that size of a Dicho. is a bonus. Since they're prone to loosing branches in storms, not sure i would plant it under the elm ( ..Would yank & replace it w/ something more regionally appropriate ) Leucophyllum ( TX. Sage / Ranger ...whatever... ...Avoid use of common names as much as possible myself ) can survive transplanting, but have to be monitored carefully thru the process.. ....Take to small of a rootball when moving, they may die.. Too much water, ..until they show obvious signs that they're putting on a new root system, they'll croak as well. Now that we're headed into fall ..which will hopefully be mild and on the wetter side, = perfect time to move it. FYI, in case you hadn't heard: in honor of their 50 year anniversary, Aridlands is offering 50% off -everything- to walk- in customers this Saturday.. Offer does not apply to any wholesale / mail ordered plants.

Is there just one pot of 10 available? Or 3?

I wanted to share these pictures I took on my way home from work today when the outside temps were close to 108 here in Tucson. If someone new to this forum is from Tucson or the surrounding areas and are thinking about an A. Hercules planted in our weather, this might make you feel better about it. These Hercules have been in the ground since around 2015 when they were planted as small specimen maybe 2-3 ft tall from what I could tell on Google Map pictures. There are a few W. Robustas growing close by that could have shaded them somewhat although I doubt they had any impact. They are all exposed to the westward sun. The taller Hercules are just about as tall as the Robustas and their trunk is actually thicker! So this means they’ve been exposed to ours hottest days and our coldest nights. Since they happen to be in a Chipotle parking lot I doubt much care has ever been given to them besides maybe some irrigation water. They are located at the chipotle off of Cortaro rd and Silverbell rd.- close I-10. IMG_8186.dngIMG_8189.dngIMG_8190.dngIMG_8187.dng

As others have said lots of water. Archontophoenix in multiples are less sun tolerant than singles as they compete for water and nutrients. Cunninghamiana is the least sun and heat tolerant of the genus save Purpurea. Coming from San Diego they haven’t seen real heat down there so your days are probably 20 degrees hotter than where your palms just came from so it will take some time to acclimate but with lots of water they will get there.

As a fellow grower at an elevation of 5273' in Rio Rancho, NM, large rocks/boulders at the base are most beneficial in my climate. The heavier the better for thermal mass. I actually seed mine directly in the ground, do not protect other than the rocks, and maybe dry leaves. Do not water past mid October. Nice palms

Pretty much warm afternoon sun . The courtyard is sort of boxed in a bit so it gets warm but sees morning and late afternoon shade . Full sun from about 1-3 in the afternoon. Harry

A Yucky... Gross.... Disgusting...... 112 -118F Trial by Blast Furnace out there at 3:29PM around town on your final Hump Day of August ....and Summer... 2026 Under some clouds passing thru your back yard atm? = you might be hanging at the lower end of the Yuck factor ( 112 -114F ) More sun in your particular 'hood? ...extra yucky 115 - 115+'s Thankfully,........ Just a day or two left to go before relief arrives via a trough anticipated to set up over the Pac. N.W. this weekend, which will shove the " stubbornly stuck over AZ " portion of the 4C High to ....somewhere... over Southern TX / the Gulf Coast region, which will help bring our temps down to ...reasonable.. levels for the end of Aug / Start of September and Meto. Autumn. At the same time? Still looking like moisture returns to a wide portion of the state ...perhaps solidly... by Saturday, ...if not noticeably on Friday. If so, that may keep temps from reaching above 110, and / or temper the suggested high of 107F for Saturday. Depending on how things evolve, Sunday ..and / or Monday and Tuesday... could be quite active for the lower deserts. Upper level flow under the trough over the Pac. N.W., + some tropical moisture streaming in from Baja / Mexico, + a good set up for inducing -at least- a couple deep Gulf surges, = something to keep a close eye on ...If you want more than just dust and sprinkles. Guaranteed outcome? Uhhh, No. ...There is no such thing. Beyond Tuesday? ..just have to keep an eye on the forecasts.. Could dry out a little bit, ...or maybe it stays active well into next week. Continued activity in the E. Pac., right off Mexico, and what happens across the Pac. N.W. = the biggest things to watch. ...Ain't much of a storm but Iselle still looking pretty on Satellite atm. Moisture being sheared off of it is helping to generate some scattered storms over Baja Norte and parts of far S.E.'rn CA/ Yuma area here in AZ. If you ask really nicely, maybe a brief shower or two tries to sneak west of the mountains in San Diego thru the afternoon / evening or tomorrow. One thing does look pretty certain as the first week of Autumn 2026 gets going ....Temps., locally at least, next week, won't be like this week, ...even if they do end up ticking up a hair by the end of next week. We'll see whether or not tomorrow ( and / or Friday ) marks the end of 110F readings for the rest of 2026. Dehydrated fingers crossed, lol.

Here’s my youngster.

They are just going across the state . Thank you