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If you look really close at the palms with the sign you can see they actually have some sabal minor and palmetto rare types! I have never seen a variegated Palmetto In person I thought that was so cool! They also had sabal Brazoria and for example things like blountstown dwarf minor. Again what I loved about Leu gardens is how they take advantage of the live oaks to use as a microclimate to grow palms I thought couldn’t grow in this zone! When you get out of the city areas where they only plant date palms palmettos and queens rarely in the town, seeing how many palms can actually grow in Orlando is crazy. (I thought only sugar palms and other things besides the regular would do well there. Also chamaedora or whatever. Could also tell some things did get damaged in winter I know this winter in Orlando was hard. But everything seemed to pull through!

My customers have been planting large Butia paraguayensis in Destin and Miramar Beach and they are growing well.

I don’t see a specialty nursery as a good source of income . The ones I’ve seen around here have all gone . As a hobby they can be rewarding . As they say …don’t quit your day job! If you spend enough time , I guess it could be a supplement if you were able to maintain your inventory , but the economics are challenging. Harry

Here’s a couple for you @Hu Palmeras in the Aussie bush showing you how it’s done with foxtails, just a master of the garden we create!

I got about 30 nice seedlings just germinated this season, so a few more floating around the nursery.

Ok we mostly have had a pet or two in our lives. And these special little creatures are the love of our lives. They ask for nothing in return, with souls that reach into our hearts beyond the furthest reaches in our mind. The love they offer is like no other. So what’s your favourite palm and pet picture!Sari the Calyptrogyne ghiesbreghtiana!

Sold, Thanks

Locally prolific near Nha Trang

Cz totonacorum

They will always be your best friend no matter what. I lost my 19 year old kitty Kat, she passed away in the wife’s arms I couldn’t take her to the vet.

It may change to green/greener as it gets older, at least this had happened to my onwn specimen. On the other hand it nay also have some genes from Brahea armata.

Put a bar in there for a pit stop with all the top shelf goodies. That’s the plan spring, you gotta see how many new seedlings I have to pot up, I couldn’t do them in winter. Made that mistake before and lost to many.

You could try a few Australian Livistona palms. They’re pretty tough! I can’t grow coconuts due to being ten minutes inland from the ocean, but they can grow them on the coast just ten minutes away, so that’s a great example of zones being totally different. Yet all classed as a subtropical zone. So understanding microclimates is a big advantage that you can only fully understand if you live in that zone’s microclimate. Australia has a lot of beautiful looking tough plants, especially the wildflower small shrubs and trees, while not a country known for having hundreds of unique palms we do have some good ones. I live 3 hours south of the Queensland border and that border region is very rich in microclimates that is pretty well much up there with the other top palm growing areas. My climate suits Madagascar, New Caledonia, South America and the Asia regions. While you can’t grow a lot of the top tropicals, you certainly can grow a lot especially with all the new palms coming into cultivation. With a microclimate that I understand and know it’s one of the advantages of knowing your climate. I don’t go by the books or internet saying it needs this zone to survive, some of the top tropicals from around the globe are in my collection once unthought of growing in a subtropical climate.

Reckon you might need to install a train station halfway down...it's pretty long! Looking like it's going to be ready for spring.

It's Washingtonia??? Looks pretty awful, whatever it is, poor thing.

...Their Bismarck was quite the " growing well in Tucson " surprise when i made my first visit there after the move here back in '16. May have asked Gene about it but, ..it's been awhile, lol. I visited to get info on some rarer, regionally native tree sps some people i'd known from Desert Survivors had mentioned Gene might be growing. ..and to pick up some other stuff. My pair of Cyrtocarpa edulis, a very rare ( ..for now.. ) .. and really neat tree from southern Baja came from his place. Anyway, I'd wanted to meet / talk with his other half but never seemed to cross paths with her whenever i was in town. Yeah, that's the thing about Bach's ..Visited once, enjoyed the visit / picked up a couple things but, their nursery seemed a bit more " standard fare " than say the trips to Aridlands. If it was grown in one of the greenhouses / under shade, that may explain why the leaves are a bit long, compared to other specimens i've seen. When you go to Tohono Chul ..and /or make a trip to Aridlands, you might get a better idea of how " pure " it may ..or may not.. be. Bob, over at Aridlands, is the go to guru when it comes to African succulents, having traveled all over South Africa. Imagine if you showed him a couple shots of the plant, he'd be able to tell if there's something mixed in w/ it's genetics, or if it's just stretched out a little. Regarding Chinese Elms, I will say they aren't nearly as bad ( ...of a non -native, temperate tree option ) as Siberian Elm, which are horrible and do look similar.. That said, there have been reports from various areas of these invading highly irrigated areas outside of cultivated settings, even here in AZ. They are also susceptible to random, sudden die back as well, like a lot of non natives that are better suited to consistently moister areas ( Elms are typically found near streams ). Being a " Riparian habitat " - type tree, they can have lots of thirsty surface roots, vs. desert trees that produce deep, anchoring taproots and a smaller degree of near surface lateral roots. There is an Apartment complex w/ several Chinese / Lacebark Elms lining a portion of the property and they do look good / are maintained well, but i've seen sizable pieces sheered off of a few of them after some of our bigger storms, and some die back on others. Have seen them drop dead as soon as regular irrigation is cut off in other areas. Since it is bigger than it looks in the background of the picture w/ a view of your yard, i'd probably just let it be and see what happens. 10ft away from it will probably be alright, just remember the Aloe will require much less water than the Elm. As far as Mesquite and Palo Verde go, ...for the most part, majority of those you and i see blow down / sheer off in large sections after storms are the non - native Mesquite ( Pure species and cultivars involving the South American species, IE: Argentine / Chilean ..and what many refer to as " Swamp -'Squites, which are all the rando hybrids between those two, and /or a couple of our local native sps most of the nurseries sell ) Spadefoot Nursery did a good write up on the subject awhile back. Part of the reason they ...and the hybrid Palo Verde.. ( IE: Desert Museum ) collapse, ...or fully uproot in storms... is due to 3 reasons, 1: extremely fast growth, which often = weak / weak -er wood. 2: How they are maintained, Palo Verde esp. " Lion Tailing " = trimming technique guaranteed to lead to storm damage. See that occur every year, w/ out fail up here... 3: Providing WAYYYYYYY......... too much water in cultivated settings. #3 leads to 1, and is made worse by #2. Of the species, Blue ( Parkinsonia florida ) and Palo Brea ( Parkinsonia praecox ) like -some- moisture since they do grow close to larger streams out in the desert. That said, what moisture they get in habitat is far less than what is provided in many parks / commercial landscapes, so their overall growth rate is moderate/ steady compared to cultivated specimens. Honestly, while i like them all, Ft. Hill / Little - Leaf Palo Verde, Parkinsonia microphylla, is the only P.V. i'd plant, since it is the toughest / needs the least amount of water after establishment. These are the Palo Verde you'll see growing alongside Saguaros in the driest areas out in the desert. Honestly, after 11 years of observation, of all the " desert " trees i've seen daily since moving here, Ironwood ( Olneya tesota ) and TX. Ebony are the two trees i rarely see suffer damage in storms. Last big storm we had a week or so ago was bad enough that it damaged several roofs pretty badly in the neighborhood and took down one of the big traffic signal poles ( Multi - signal, Mast - Arm type ) near the hospital. TX Ebony and Ironwood planted on the same corner? not a branch stripped off of them. By contrast? good sized section of a Palo Verde managed to sheer off one of several planted across the street, and blow into the front yard at the old house, after crossing a 6 lane road with a 12ft wide island in the center. Pretty wild. I've watched limbs get ripped off of others / entire specimens get ripped out of the ground over there over the years during storms as well. When i'd examine those ripped out of the ground? ground was always wet / roots rotting. Neighbor's South American Mesquites? While the top of one looks like it came down recently, i'm surprised all 3 haven't been torn to shreds this year. Since moving here, those trees have suffered major damage 4 times. Massive Mesquite at the old house, which sits just across the alley from our neighbors? Have sat and watched it during some of the worst storms we've had. Only thing it has ever dropped? really old, really dead small branches. Pretty sure its a species from central Mexico ( Neltuma laevigata ).

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.