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I met Walt briefly at a Fairchild Gardens palm sale over twenty-five years ago. Shortly thereafter, he began posting on the Forum. I always greatly enjoyed his posts. They were deep and thorough, especially after a cold event. The Lake Placid area is beautiful. It is atypical of Florida in. it's rolling hills and numerous lakes. Walt identified with clinical precision the nature of his climate together with microclimates located nearby. At the Fairchild Gardens sale, Walt was not just looking around, but was actively purchasing many many palms. while I am certain that he experienced many disappointments, he was always willing to test the edges. I can remember one time after a freeze in Lake Placid, he could only ponder how is neighbor only miles away, but on the lease side of the lake, did not lose that voluptuous Coco nucifera. Well, he learned and planted under the large oak canopy and tamed the beast. I loved his YouTube presentations. So laid-back, articulate and cool. My heart goes out to his wife, Cathy. I am certain that she is a very special person. God bless her and Walt.

Tis season I guess…

Been pleasantly surprised by my one and only to sprout from a small seed batch last year. Hasn’t been fully exposed to the elements yet but has coped with the cool. Suchan interesting and colourful little seedling. Very rewarding from seed.

Here’s a nice container grown Bismarckia I spotted while travelling in India!

I'll see how it goes, I'm literally doing the Pepsi Challenge on bulbs vs starters right now. Right now I'm team bulb. But yeah, the shipping.... I bought from sellers that advertised "climate controlled shipping" last month and - yeah. eBay sided with me on the refund so it's all gravy.

I will be as soon as I can get these three in the ground, but for now they are quite fast growing and have cool tolerance, another year of growing them and see how I go planting them in the garden.

Do you still have the cycads? If so witch ones?

Almost time for another update. 🤞I have faith that it performed flawlessly through your winter freezes. 😄👍🌴 aztropic Mesa, Arizona

Hello Cathy, Condolences on Walt's passing. The forum members posted a memorial thread for him here: https://www.palmtalk.org/forum/topic/93162-rip-walt-in-lake-placid/

Came out true...I just had one seed I left sprouted to see if it would come true and it did. Picture attached...

Three proven winners in ease of growing and exotic ornamental look a must have! Richard

Iam now amending soil, never did in the past. Now simply just to give them a head a start otherwise the established garden eats them up, and even then I have to maintain new plantings, just to much competition from the mature garden. Interesting you noticed the nutrient factors. I dont fertilise my garden just let the garden mulch itself, I guess I could be doing more but wait for those big wet events and use irrigation as my main helping hand!

There’s always room for one more palm (somewhere) Iam tucking them in anywhere I can!

Yes chrysaslidocarpus Pauleenemsis var cali Harry?

Now all I have to do is convince you to climb up that ladder and get those Hedyscepe seeds 🤣 Richard

Once again thank you for such a lovely gift. It’s a nice thing having a story with a plant, to the general public they would have no idea about the growers background or where they came from. But for people in the plant world it’s recognition of a grower and a great remembrance of a great grower or gardener. A great legacy to have Richard

Not enough water gyuseppe my one survives my summer in the ground!

Nice collection you have there. I think that the types that are super happy vary from climate to climate. You see consistent variations on the local collectors pages from region to region. Luckily there are so many different types to fit most conditions. I have a good feel for what does well in my yard at this point.

Lc. Irene Finney ' Springs Best' AM/AOS; 1964 (Lc. Bruno Alberts x Catt. J.A. Carbone). I love this variety, so reliable blooming every spring and not fussy at all in care. The most regal of my catts. And cattleyas taking over my kitchen table, can’t wait to kick them all outdoors when our night time temps finally get above 50 degrees F in May….

Gotta keep an eye on you, with such fine imported seeds. We can call it quality assurance control if you like 🤣

Looking great @Looking Glass...I'm only just getting started with broms really, but they're dangerously addictive! My climate is less benign than yours, so they’re mostly under cover at the moment until I can get enough pups to see who can survive outside here. A few Tills and various others in the laboratory:

Should be a consideration after all the seeds those palms have produced . I was told by Terry’s son that well over half of the C. Decipiens in North America are somehow connected to those palms . Many before me have distributed them , mostly through Palm Talk….gotta love it! Such a great network of folks. Harry

@Butch Those look fantastic, approx. how tall would you way yours are? They look very tall!

Hmmm...I think I know who you're referring to, and you're correct. No germination yet, had them on 26C heat mat, but have backed the temperature off a few degrees now. The seeds still seem fine, so hopefully something happens soon. Thanks again Richard and @Harry’s Palms.

Jonathan, You are correct! It was Tassie/Troy! We are very fortunate to have this Forum, allowing all of us internationally to correspond about a mutual interest. We may have not spoken on the phone but we are buds!