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Lastly, and a bit off-topic, Randall told me several months ago that he was relocating some palms in his backyard so that he could make a tiki hut. I’m thinking of something like maybe an outdoor barbecue/ bar area, open air, with a thatched roof. Ah no.. His attention to detail was absolutely unbelievable. Beyond words, enjoy..

Next, the best Trachycarpus princeps I’ve ever seen. Interestingly, they won’t grow very well here near the coast. But a slam dunk in the dryer air where he lives. Followed by a canopy view with a Livistona decora poking its head out. As his canopy has expanded, but used to be impossible for him to grow, he is no longer out of the question. Case in point, Becarriophoenix alfredii.

It is a bit of work, more so the constant monitoring and watering. You can always pot up when you have she me free time, which is never. And that doesnt include the personal house collection and another big greenhouse I have, anyone looking for a job🤣

There’s always coconuts washed up on the beach.

Next up is a nice stout Brahea armata, followed by a great Phoenix rupicola & finally Dr. Randall explaining the characteristics of a Cycas hybrid.

Theres more growing around but only right on the coastal towns, most are pretty well on the beach or headlands.

The lantzeana would have to be one of my favourite little dypsis species around. Cool tolerant a little dry tolerant and absolutely beautiful. A nice rosey red colour to the new leaf. And it makes a great little container palm. You gotta love the lantzeana.

Hey all, Got invited up to Beaumont to see fellow palm geeks Randall (inland palms) & Eric (Beaumont tropics), along with Bill (Cardiff palms). Beaumont is about 2,800 feet in elevation (I believe) and we had great weather. Both have wonderful gardens. We started at Randall’s. Yes, there is a house back there. He must have 150 palms and cycads packed in there. First up, the nerds congregate. Followed by a nice, fast growing Nanorropes richiana, and an awesome Phoenix rupicola.

Non event here apart from 40mm of rain at a low steady rate. Some coastal areas getting hit inline with expectations.

That’s good to hear. I’m not a fan of those really but we each have our tastes. To me they seem like really finicky species. Even in Miami i’d see like 7 foot tall ones and down the street there’d be one actively dying, like even in optimal climate. Lucky for me I didn’t have to do any cutting this time around. Which is nice because I didn’t sacrifice any large fronds.

You can probably forget anything south of Port Macquarie at 31 degrees. Yamba at 29 degrees is probably the comfortable limit. It's a bit untested, though.

I tested any dark areas of the trunks on mine and didn't find any spots that pushed in yet. If you remove the rotten spot, I've heard of people using all kinds of stuff to seal the wound, but you'll want to take your time sterilizing the wound. How far does it push in?

Those are beautiful coconuts. I have New South Wales at 32° latitude south. Can they grow further south in Australia? Best

@TropicsEnjoyer I (so far) have hard good luck with trunk cutting Bottles and Spindles and just soaking them with hydrogen peroxide. And 32oz bottles are something like $2 per pair at Sam's Club...

Sabinara magnifica, nenga banaensis and a Calyptrocalyx hollrungii, looking pretty for a subtropical climate.

Thanks. I always wondered if any were around that area.

I could have included these photos in that ‘moss on palm trunks’ topic. Quite the eco-system from bottom to top. Tim

A rather fast growing majestic Syagrus with stiff dark green leaves. Ripe fruit is yellow and the size of golf balls. These have got to be in the 30 foot range. (10m) Always loaded with seed. Tim

A nice looking palm the dwarf variety. They will never flower, the only way of propagating them is by cutting them up. This one you would get 4 clumps if you attacked it with a reciprocal saw. I might have to do just that!

That is some kind of beautiful! Tim

@pj_orlando_z9b I haven't seen growth on clusia or seagrapes yet either. If I recall correctly they didn't sprout from the ground until it started getting hot again, so maybe near the end of the month? @ruskinPalms I've basically given up on C. Macrocarpa. They seem very susceptible to bud rot. I've lost about 6 or 7 of them over the past ~8 years, after frosts from 24.4 to even the upper 20s. Before the February freeze I had 3 small ones (2-3ft tall), a trunking Watermelon (8-10ft tall) and a trunking Hookeri (6+ ft tall). Two of the three small ones turned to mush, the third has a solid spear and has a chance. The big Watermelon spear pulled and was super stinky, so low chances of recovery. The bigger Hookeri seems to have a solid spear but no motion yet. On good news, I have new spears opening on three Attalea Brejinhoensis, one of three Arenga Pinnata (hard to tell on the others), my Triangle spears are opening but burnt at the ends...and the tiny Arenga Westerhoutii just opened up a new leaf. The trunk cut Bottles seem to be growing a new frond...the non-cut ones are all D-E-D. Along my bike route two homeowners cut out a group of 4 Christmas palms and replaced them with 2 Sylvesters. The other cut down 4 Foxtails. Next door there are still 4 bedraggled Foxtails. And 2 doors down two tall Royals just opened up 2 short but decent looking fronds.

There’s a few planted around Woolgoolga,Mullaway and Red rock. I tried to grow them only 10 minutes drive away further north inland but no luck. Definitely a coastal palm for this area!

Yup. I've noticed that some around here are pushing new growth now, including the ones in Altamonte Springs I posted in this thread. There's a luxurious home a couple of miles away from me that had some mature foxtails and royals transplanted to their yard within the past 2-3 years (it's a new-ish home) that I will be monitoring this year to see how they recover from the freeze damage. I noticed that their royals still have a green frond or two remaining. I don't think anyone should necessarily be afraid to plant foxtails or royals in even the northern suburbs of Orlando going forward, as long as they understand that they will fare better if they can get some good size to them before another big freeze hits. I suspect freeze-damaged palms that benefit from irrigation or hand-watering owners will fare better in the coming months. Meanwhile, the Norfolk pine in my backyard seems to be slowly dying - it clearly sustained more damage in the freeze than was initially apparent.

Got it: Specifically, the presence of thermophilic and desert taxa, such as the African Ziziphus lotus, the Saharo-Arabian grass Lygeum spartum and Periploca angustifolia, acts as an undeniable bio-indicator of extreme xerothermic conditions (Turland et al., 1993; Rackham & Moody, 1996). The prevalence of such adaptations certifies the timeless stress of the ecosystem from the precipitation deficit (Eig, 1931), vertically differentiating the microclimate from the typical Mediterranean environment of the rest of Crete. This study provides, to our knowledge, the first quantitative evidence for a persistent rain-shadow desert microclimate in Greece.

@SeanK They look great! Edit: Google maps shows them still there in 2008. Wow!