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The dioon you have is a spectacular example of one. They do get a little spiky and even when dry on the ground as mulch they still spike you. Shade or sun they are both equally as good. But I prefer the shade growing ones. And I just love my gardening it’s that simple for me when iam in my garden, it’s my dream land! Richard

I'm glad we see the situation the same way. You took emergency measures in a timely manner, but a comprehensive approach is needed to fully defeat the infection and save your facility in Florida.

Beautiful!

Hi all, been on a here for a few months now just quietly observing and learning from the wealth of knowledge. Thought I'd make an introduction with my garden and make a bit of a log of progress as I go. I'm based in a southern suburb of Perth, Western Australia which from what I understand has a bit of unique temperate/mediterranean climate of hot/dry summers and cold/wet winters. Frost is possible but very rare in my area really only getting to lows of 2°c/35°f Perth is known to have some of the worst sandy nutrient deficient soils in Australia however we are quite lucky in my area to have a bit of a mix of sandy topsoil and moist clay subsoil. We purchased our modest 900sqm/9687sqf property 8 years ago without a single tree or garden other than a just starting to trunk, Syagrus romanzoffiana. For a few years we didn't have much of a garden other than a few randomly placed frangipani trees and native grasses whilst we focused on renovating inside the house. (I have never been much of green thumb or even cared all much about gardens till recently.) Most of my time and money went on modifying and drift racing cars but all that changed when I inherited a 30 year old severely stunted A. cunninghamiana and asked on the facebook group for identification where @tim_brissy_13 replied that it was infact a native palm to Australia and that peaked my interest (Before then in my eyes all palms were messy cocos/queen or washingtonia palms) It was all downhill from there when I started to hyperfocus and research all about different species of palms and botanical nomenclature which sort of itched something with my autism and love of new knowledge. Fast forward to just over a year back I decided to hand dig out cubic tonnes of sand and grass to create gardens whilst collecting as many palms I could get my hands on. We have quite strict biolaws here and are not able to bring live plants over the border quite easily from the eastern states so its quite limited to seeds only or buying from the limited palm specialist nurseries. I have made a fair few mistakes resulting in sun and wind burnt palms, placing stuff in wrong locations and also over crowding stuff a bit too much but will hopefully all be worth it one day. For now it's just creating the canopy which i'm hoping the mass planted Archontophoenix will provide. Very happy to have criticism or advice with my work in progress. Anyhow my current list of species is as follows: Adonidia merrillii Areca catechu Archontophoenix alexandrae Archontophoenix alexandrae × cunninghamiana Archontophoenix cunninghamiana Archontophoenix maxima Archontophoenix myolensis Archontophoenix purpurea Archontophoenix tuckeri Bismarckia nobilis Carpentaria acuminata Caryota albertii Caryota mitis Chamaedorea atrovirens Chamaedorea elegans Chamaedorea elatior Chamaedorea klotzschiana Chamaedorea radicalis Chamaedorea seifrizii Chamaedorea tepejilote Chamaerops humilis var. cerifera Chambeyronia macrocarpa var. flavopicta Chambeyronia macrocarpa var. hookeri Chrysalidocarpus decaryi Chrysalidocarpus lastelliana Chrysalidocarpus leptocheilos Chrysalidocarpus madagascariensis Chrysalidocarpus pembanus Chrysalidocarpus lutescens Howea forsteriana Hyophorbe lagenicaulis Hyophorbe verschaffeltii Livistona decora Phoenix roebelenii Pinanga coronata var. kuhlii Ptychosperma elegans Ptychosperma nicolai Ptychosperma propinquum var. macarthurii Ravenea rivularis Rhapis excelsa Roystonea regia Syagrus romanzoffiana Trithrinax acanthocoma Wodyetia bifurcata House when we bought it, nothing but dead grass. South facing patio garden, quite shady. Have A. purpurea, A. cunninghamiana, Howea forsteriana, Pinanga kuhlii, Rhapis excelsa, and Chamaedorea sp scattered. Hoping one day the bigger palms will emerge and make the canopy to replace the shade cloth. 3x Wodyetia biffurcata for the newly installed pool area. We are in the middle of winter right now so everything looks a bit ratty. This area has alot squished in here however they are all very young specimens and hard to make out. There is about 20x young Archontophoenix sp planted along the rear fence line to make the canopy one day and a mix of Wodyetia, Carpentaria, C. madagascariensis, lutescens, pembanus, Bismarkia and two Areca catechu. Little garden leading to my wifes veggie area. 3x double planted Archontophoenix sp, Chambeyronia watermelon and a hookeri, C. leptocheilos (Not doing too well) and a Wodyetia to the left. Work in progress area, have some small fish and frogs down here. Just a Chamaedorea elatior and a tepejilote amongst other plants and my small potted seedlings. This side has the Archontophoenix albang hybrids multiplanted, Roystonea regia, Ptychosperma macarthurii, Carpentaria acuminata, Hyophorbe lagenicaulis and verschaffeltii, Chysalidocarpus lastelliana. Other side of the front more Archontophoenix sp multiplanted, Wodyetia biffurcata, Adonidia merrilli, Carpentaria acuminata, Ravenea rivularis, Ptychosperma elegans, Roystonea regia, C. lutescens and a solitary pembanus, Chamaedorea radicalis. Thanks for reading my ramblings. Jayce.

You absolutely right. I just did not hav3 enough time to act in the proper way. Plastic bags will surely cost me too may of otherwise pollinated flowers. I will be lucky if I get a handful of pollinated fruits.

One of my Brahea dulcis

I just spent the last few days driving around Southern California and photographed the Newport Beach Hyatt Regency palms, the South Coast Plaza Mall palms, and the LA Arboretum up in Arcadia, CA! Click here for the complete album with labels Clinostigma savoryanum - Newport Beach Veitchia arecina - Newport Beach Coconut in Long Beach, CA Coconut in Santa Ana, CA Chrysalidocarpus lutescens - they are common, but I love them Flawless Roystonea regia Coccothrinax crinita - LA Arboretum Thrinax radiata LA Arboretum allegedly has some of the tallest Washingtonia robusta in the world Ravenea xerophila Livistona lanuginosa Calamus caryotoides

After many years in the ground from a strap leaf seedling, my Copernicia rigida is finally starting to impress. Still no trunk, but at least the fronds look good. Closely related to both Copernicia cowellii and macroglossa, all 3 do very well growing up in the Arizona desert. As a side note, be very careful while near all 3 of these as they are lined with saw teeth on the edges of every frond. Yes, they will grab you and cut you. Ask me how I know...🤦 aztropic Mesa, Arizona

Bismarkia

Fishtail new frond

Please, my friend: don't sell them. They are absolutely beautiful. I ordered my sprouted seeds from RPS Germany; I hope they manage to reach Chile. They are sending them via Bolivia. They are stunning; don't sell them.

I think that’s the same problem with my Sabal (blurry photo but the new leaves are smaller than the older ones)

That will last for a while . It is amazing , to me , how fast they fill in again. My favorite time is about half way to trim time. We have our very tall W. Robusta trimmed about once a year. Some like the skirted look , I do not. I have very specific instructions for the trimming , about like you have done there. Harry

Congrats , Jim! That’s a nice palm . It is interesting to me that as fast as the Syagrus Romanzoffiana grows , that other species in this genera are nice and slow . For me , that is a bonus. 👍 Harry

I’m really liking the various species of Chrysalidiocarpus and Dypsis . Some grow very well in Southern California collections in tight areas with filtered light from other palms . I have never heard of this one . Harry

Thanks for the feedback! I think I will give it a small stake for stability and let it lean as is.

If it is not close to a pathway where it would be a problem , I think it would be kind of cool with a curve. I’ve seen this done , as Jim says , to give interest and effect . Most times the palm will start growing straight up from the lean , creating a curve near the base. Harry

Lovely tour , thank you for sharing! Harry

I’d leave it just add it is. It will have a nice gentle curve in its trunk similar to how many coconut palms grow. I’ve purposely planted some palms this way to get that effect.

It recently finally got described as Chrysalidocarpus comptus. Good news for a palm that has been known without a formal name for so long.

It’s been a long wait for a first inflorescence since planting a tiny strap leaf Syagrus matafome in the ground twenty years ago. Today, this recently popped open one surprised me. Will be interesting if it produces any fruit.

Would love to find one for my California garden but, alas, they are exceptionally rare.

A palm with an interesting past, particularly name wise. Haven’t heard mention of it in quite awhile. Handsome and well grown Malagasy specimen. Definitely worth the post. Tim

Yes, butias in habitat are normally host of a lot of epiphitic plants like bromeliads, orchids, ferns....

Maybe .010" in the next 7 days? Lucky me.