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Encephalartos Trispinosus was looking bad! It has since greened up and getting hints of its former blue self again. It also has sterted to flush. The exciting thing us for several years the flushes have came out yellow or orange. This flush is coming out normal so should turn blue again.

It’s been crazy hot and sunny here, but the atmosphere has finally gotten unstable enough, with late afternoon clouding up, hyperlocal showers. A few miles being the difference between a sprinkle, or brief torrential downpour, depending on where you are. Been lucky at the house the past week. Kind of a classic wet-season pattern finally emerging the last week in July. The lawn and palms perked up right away. The next two months are the wettest of the year normally. June is always a disappointment and July is oddly dry most years. Typical afternoon rains, plus the arriving tropical systems, normally drive up the precipitation totals. At least buckets o’ bromeliads are easy to keep happy.

This Horwood x Arewood “bride of frankenstein” was starting to yellow out so I dosed it with the chelated iron and not only did it green up but it is flushing for the 3rd time this year!

So I had a handfull of other yellow Cycads to experiment with and even faster results! As an added bonus most if these Cycads flushed again even if they had already flushed this year. I wish I had taken before and after picks of these Cycads but you will just have to take my word for it. This Lehmannii was very yellow and looked like it might not make it. The yellow leaves turned blue and I noticed today when I was watering its starting to flush!

And here is a pic of it today! While not as green as my others yet it is getting greener by the day!

YES!!!! First if all I have to thank Gene at Az.! I had a handfull of Cycads that had yellowed out and I threw everything and the kitchen sink at them to no avail. I posted a pick of one of my favorite plants an Encephalartos “trappes valley” Latifrons that was stubbornly yellow and looking worse by the day! As I said I had tried every fertilizer chemical and organic you could think of except chelated iron. When Gene recommended I try it I was thinking what do I have to lose so I picked some up and gave it a try. WOW😳This stuff is unreal! Here is a pic of said E. Latifrons before chelated iron. It had looked like this for a couple years.

Tim, One defining feature between the two in my observation, is that hillibrandii has the green leaf undersides, while arecina has more gold, similar to martii and viscosa. Tracy, i’ve got a hillibrandii coming into flower for the first time, I’ll see how those develop! Bret

Anyone out there have one for sale? Thanks, Aaron

What is the tree in the center of the photo? I think I planted this White Sapote in the spring of 2025, at about 8’ tall - it’s probably double that, now. I get little black speckles on the back of the leaves, that are wash off. I haven’t fertilized it. Any thoughts on that? I’m over in City Heights. Steve

This is the only Chamaedorea in my garden that is growing faster than my Tree Form Radicalis. I got one from @DoomsDave a couple years ago. It had one frond and was nice and green . It is now almost 6’ tall! I wish I had more . Harry Adoption day about two years ago , soaking my new palms after a long trip home! This afternoon , the tip of the last frond almost even with a 6’ fence with a few “rings”. I could easily squeeze on or two more next to it . I will if I run across any small ones.

They will work if you are brave!

That is a beauty , @Tracy . Seeing it in that narrow strip makes me feel good about how I plant palms along the side of my house. It is a strip of great growing location for medium or smaller palms. I planted a couple of Dypsis varieties there and may add one or two more! Harry

Definitely a thread worth reviving. Aechmea comata. One of my favourite Aechmeas. Under some canopy (Heliconias and native honeysuckle) but endured three nights of Z9a temps in January with only minor damage. I don't think it gets enough sun to flower here though, but it is slowly spreading out. I would love to see some more photos of cold hardy bromeliads people are having success with. Or some more unusual Rhapis species... @Alicehunter2000

Another Bump

I sent a private message. Thanks for offering these!

Hey Tracy, does Pritchardia arecina or East Maui Loulu ring any bells? Not easy to key out from photos in Hodel’s book, but by process of elimination, it looks similar. P. hillebrandii crown looked to be more dense and less open than what you posted. Just an observation. Tim

Generally speaking, are the blue joeys (Johannesteijsmannia magnifica) known to be more stout in form as seedlings/immature plants than the green joeys (Johannesteijsmannia altifrons ) ? I’ve only been growing this one seedling magnifica (from 1st seedling leaf stage) and noticed it doesn’t develop those long-strap like immature leaves like the altifrons I have raised. I grow indoors. Because the magnifica is much smaller than my altifrons, I have grown it along with my higher light orchids. The altifrons are well over 3’ so I can’t get them under the orchid lights. I noticed from photos that the mature magnificas look like the altifrons in form, possibly broader; the blue underside of the magnificas being the obvious difference. Although, perhaps any of these form differences in photos can be due to stretching in lower light vs more stout in stressful high light levels. I just want to be aware if I’m possibly light-stressing my magnifica. Pictured below, magnifica on left is younger than the altifrons on right.

Heliconia update. July in Houston has all of my H. latispatha in flower. We had three consecutive nights in late January of -4/-5 C (24/23 f) and these are all reliably 6 months freeze-to-flower. H. latispatha 'dwarf peach' (my name just to differentiate it). Smallest cultivar. This one was protected but froze back to the base. It is the most cold sensitive of the four. H. latispatha 'Red-Yellow'. Large robust plant. Tightly clumping, not invasive. H. latispatha 'Red'. Large plant. Runs but not invasive. All of these are in a fair amount of shade and would probably flower more in sun. H. latispatha 'distans type'. This is an invasive weedy plant with a small underwhelming flower. Other Heliconia. H. x 'Mexican Gold', H. x 'Coral Surprise', and H. lingulata 'Yellow Fan' all getting large and will likely flower Oct-Nov. All reliable single season flowers and I would recommend them for the gulf south. H. acuminata 'Super Chieri'. Seems to favour making offsets over rapid growth of stems. Will probably flower this year. Flowers aborted last year before opening. H. x 'Siberia Lemon', H. x 'Rauliniana', and mislabeled large plant (maybe a stricta?). All large and vigourous. Not clear any of these can flower in a year though. H. champneiana 'Maya Gold'. Survived winter freeze but getting shaded out by others. The various H. champneiana cultivars all seem to be slower growing plants that need to be given their own space. I'm losing these to crowding not cold. H. champneiana 'Maya Blood', H. x 'Bleeding Heart', H. x 'German's Luck', H. rostrata 'Thai'. H. lingulata 'Red Tip Fan', and H. vaginalis might make it into the ground this year. Still trying to find some of the dwarf H. rostrata cultivars.

Its pouring now, I wouldnt drive in it as visibility is pretty low. I love rain, but my palms love it more. These "hard rain periods" are often short but we also got a few tenths(0.2?) this morning between 1 and 4. After being in this drought and seeing all the dry tipping on my palms, it seems things have shifted. Water restrictions last to oct1st. The rain falling on the roof is music to my ears!

I agree that its simply a matter of no drainage. I am feeling the anger a bit that no drainage test was done on a 2k project. If that was mine I'd need medication. BA are not difficult I have t6wo in part clay, one in foundation clay that doesnt drain but I dug punched a hole in the bottom of the clay to get it to drain. Its 22' tall and carries lots of leaves. Hurricane milton smashed my(currently) smallest one. It was grown in a sandy site and grew more slowly till the roots extended into nearby clay. `Everything but the spear was knocked down in 110mph max milton. I hate seeing these photos less with time, initially I stopped taking photos of my palms after milton, it was ugly In time the bent leaves, which had longitudinal fractures in the petioles, just lay lower the stems no longer having the strength to keep the leaf above horizontal. As you can see, all but 2 leaves were shoved over the fence and were green so I didnt cut them off. I am getting ready to trim off the dead ones, its just been hot/humid and I had been a little sick. This morning I took a pic of the leaves that were bent down across the fence that bounds my yard. I didnt know if the palm would make it or ever be the same. I do know more leaves is better for photosynthesis. The palm 22 months after being flattened grew a number of new leaves and is currently very happy. The crown is about half recovered, an adult carries ~18-20 leaves for me here. I Ive also seen some nice ones on palmtalk that were grown in So CAL. No question you can grow them there with drainage and 2-3 x a week deep irrigation. IF the soil drains fast less time is needed to go deep. IF the soil is moderately draining, it would be ideal as that means moisture not water retention. When we talk about bullet proof palms these alfredii are in that category. They really are an easy grow, I don't dote on them. I do mulch them every 2 years, and fertilize 2x a year by throwing some prills around. The do get a consistent irrigation drip(at least till this past april when they limited our irrigation to 1x a week. they are drought resistant we have been in a severe drought 10 months(?). Ken I'd encourage you to consider another BA and start the grow with digging out the hole as deep as it needs to be to get drainage of the hole in 24 hrs and add 1/3rd organics garden soil when you plant. The garden soil is just to ensure roots get a good start, it will be consumed by microbes in a few years as the roots are established. I would not water every day after the first 3-4 weeks in the ground go every other day for a longer period.

Hey Charlene, with your touch, doesn’t surprise me a bit! Glad they’re going for you. Should be a little hardier to the occasional cold spell, although I’m not sure much of anything could’ve lived through what you guys went through last winter. 😩

Seeds are ripe on my super silver med fan palm. Flowers were hand pollinated, and wrapped for isolation. Parents are the pics. Super silver offspring! 25 seeds picked fresh off the tree with fruit,(to contain freshness) shipped continental USA for $20 total. Takes full, blasting, Arizona all day sun, and freezes to at least 25F with zero damage. VERY hardy fan palm with exceptional silver color. aztropic Mesa, Arizona

I noticed something similar in size to a weevil on the inflorescence among all the bees this morning. Fortunately I caught a flash of green, so it was not a SAPW but is a June bug (Cotinus ?). On closer examination, I saw a few among the bees. Only one is visible in this photo.

Thank you! We have been concerned about the irrigation since the water seems to run off, away from the base. We are looking into a way to fix that, and keep the water from escaping. We will also look into getting some palm fertilizer.

Aloe marlothii actually has more spines than does Aloe ferox. Once they bloom they are very easy to distinguish. Aloe marlothii has an inflorescence which will branch out horizontally as opposed to the vertical inflorescence of Aloe ferox. Photos of my ferox and marlothii in flower are at the end of the thread.