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Happy Mothers Day in the US. It’s been a mother of a day here in La Habra; tried to remove an Archontophoenix maxima and it fell the wrong way, and hassles ensued dealing with it. I have other Archontophoenix I want to remove, and I’d like to kill them first, then wait for them to dry out at which point they lose 90-95% of live weight and become MUCH safer to handle. One method suggested is to use a very high salt saline solution funneled into holes drilled in the trunk. Any thoughts, experiences to share?

A place up my way shows stock of Bismarkia. If anyone is looking to throw away a couple hundred dollars on a beautiful blue palm, let me know.

Congratulations! These are beautiful palms and a big investment in time and money.

You're doing exactly as you should ...Keep moist, but not waterlogged.. ..Deep watering, 2x a week right now ..Emphasize deep ..which means putting the hose next to them and letting it trickle for 30+ mins. Morning or evening is better than mid - day. Yellowing you're seeing is perfectly natural right now as well, esp. if these came from a nursery where they were grown under some deg. of shade cloth. .. Kept moist, they'll start pushing out of that / push better looking fronds once we reach Monsoon season and the heat isn't quite as brutal / air holds more humidity ...and they get some natural agua, ..hopefully, lol. Regardless, it takes about a year for new roots to really start digging in. If you have access to any, you can take leaf duff from below Mesquites and pile it around the bases ..staying a few inches clear of the trunk(s). ..Will help keep moisture in the soil, and slowly release nutrients. Other than that?.. Since they don't have established root systems yet, no strong fertilizers. A: they won't utilize any of it, so if you applied any now, it will be wasted effort and $$.. B: salts in non- natural fert sources ..or improperly cured organics like Manure, can burn root tips. Have a sharpie? mark the base of newest spear poking out from the center of the crown and watch how quickly ..or not.. in moves. That will provide good hints regarding how well they're settling in.. Good luck

@Jonathan here’s the ABG specimen back in 2018. I remember ABG being about 30 mins south of Auckland and no body of water close by so makes sense it gets chilly Richard. C lutescens looked terrible there as a point of reference, so I guessed it probably has similar winters to me in Melbourne.

Citrus county haf a single digit reading on a weather station tons of low teens readings 12 13 etc

They certainly see sub-zero. I think the one at ABG would have seen -4 or -5c and many nights below freezing with no ill effects. There's also a nice one getting away in Christchurch. They are some seeding here now.

Syagrus Schizophylla a super tough palm.

Iam in the cant stand the leaves they drop and no more are getting planted in close proximity to the house garden. Some will get planted as pioneer palms on the outer edge of the garden expansion. They are pretty tough so for those hard to grow places they will be used as a microclimate buffer zone. You’re right though the colour of them is variable and you can’t beat them really for that. If they were to be introduced as a new palm into cultivation today they would be in such high demand and be selling for hundreds of dollars. Richard

I have a few strap leaf canariensis that came from palms that survived 3F decades ago. These babies survived 19F this year unharmed. I know of one reclinata on the border of 9a/b in Brunswick, GA. You don't usually see it north of St. Augustine, FL, but it seems about as hardy as robellenii, so look where people are growing pygmy date palms.

Agree with the above. If you can find one, Cyathea australis might be a better fit for your climate. Definitely a whole lot hardier than cooperi...native to the cooler parts of Australia, would see occasional snow in some parts of its range here in Tasmania, but would also probably cope better with muggy heat than something like Dicksonia. Some of the NZ species might be worth looking for too.

A toasty, 104 -107F currently < 1:44PM > out there under wall to wall sun. We'll see what we max out at in an hour or so. While tomorrow's currently suggested high backed off a deg to 108F, have a suspicion we'll notch 110, if not 111F if the " actual high seen exceeding the forecast high " trend keeps up.. If that is achieved at Sky Harbor, it will tie ..or break.. a long standing record for the date. Thankfully, still looks like temps will back down to the hot ..but more reasonable.. 98 -101 range mid -week, before wavering in that range as we reach / head past mid - month. ..Other than that.. Standard mid -May forecast look across state 48.. While Hurricane Season will get underway, ...officially... next Friday, models still aren't seeing anything developing just yet.. A tropical wave may enter the Pacific off Costa Rica around the 20th but ..depending on the model run.. development beyond that may struggle. Plenty warm down there, just need to get the atmosphere cranking. Additionally, after Friday, clock will be counting down the remaining 30 days until the " NOAA start " to Monsoon Season 2026.. As most are aware, while the NOAA set up a set start date, season doesn't actually start until we see 3 days ..in a row.. of Dew Point readings reach or exceed 55deg. ..The " Native Arizonian " means of ushering in the season.. How soon that occurs? ..we'll see. ..Has been a lot of chatter over the past few days about how we could trade " dry " heat for wet / humid heat as we kick off the season, ..and progress thru it.. Hopefully that arrives sooner than later this year. May thoughts from the Copernicus seasonal / long range model suites are out and .. for the most part, all individual models used to compile the C3S multi -model ensemble continue their lean into the potential for a reasonably wet summer ahead, esp as we reach Sept.. A few toss around the potential for some dryness in say August, but the potential for a hard lean in that direction still looks pretty low at this point.. Still, ..something to watch.. We'll see what June's update looks like. CPC's seasonal thoughts will be released late this month ..on the 21st, ...so, we'll see what they look like then. CFS Monthly thoughts? ..still hanging tough with the same " solidly wet " look they've has since ..January.. ..A pretty good sign, but one we need to see continue, right up until the season begins. For now, lets complete the trek thru the rest of May ..and Spring, 2026.. and see where we end up when we reach the finish line.

Most Ficus become animals that cannot be tamed. This specimen is a decent size but has not taken over. Any ideas what it may be? Thank you.

Lol. Always good to keep the punters entertained! Question: is this blue 'decipiens' a highland species like the true decipiens or just another tropical gem to be admired but not acquired? @richnorm is there any info regarding cold tolerance from NZ?

It would be good to have a list of topics started by me somewhere in my profile info...currently it's not easy to find them unless I've been recently active in them. Unless I'm missing something obvious, which is always pretty likely!

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Today I received a superlative 1 gallon, magnificently grown by the incomparable @Darold Petty Best Mother’s Day present ever😂

Been MIA from here for a while (you know life got busy), but I'm really excited for my Brahea Aramata to be blooming for the first time ever. I bought it almost 20 years ago as a tiny plant from Lowe's and I know how dramatic the flowering can get on these. Finally I see some flower stalks forming. Not as exciting to my friends and family so I thought I'd share with fellow palm enthusiasts 😆

I’m honestly not sure. Just my experiences with them. Maybe get a small one; if it croaks at least you won’t lose a lot of money.

🌴🌴🌴🦜🦜

Light rain and drizzle predicted here in the short term. Will be interesting to see how your theory pans out over the summer.

The Sabal palmetto Bridgeport palm survived but lost 2/3 of its fronds looks good for a unheated palm who survived one of the worst winter seasons in a long time with only a mummy wrap Resembling a palm in Florida which has a hurricane cut and was transplanted we will post a photo when it warms up and recovers from the winter damage No spear pull Bridgeport being on the coast ,warms up slowly this time of year hopefully , as itv warms we will get 6-10 new fronds this spring summer fall 2026 so we are feeding her now and hope for the best soon come DtZ naturally

Agree with the ID. These have come on strong in the last few years as a good choice for many areas. They are considered to be a SFL native and grow well in full sun. I have a triple that survived the brutal winter although they were almost completely defoliated. They are pushing out new growth including inflorescences which I am removing to allow all the energy for the leaves. My volunteers (1-3 years old) under them all look fine with only some minor cold damage which implies that the wind really was the problem. Well, obviously the cold was the problem too but the wind was crazy. This is a great palm but it does better if protected from the wind. The petioles can be quite long and have a tendency to tear in even modest wind.