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Recently, I was sorely tempted by colorful plants, Colocasia 'Redemption' and C. 'Pharoah's Mask'. However, my garden is the very most cold microclimate to be classified as USDA zone 10. People have no idea about the lack of daytime warmth my garden suffers. The daily summer high temperature often ranges from 56 to 64 F. At this moment the early morning temperature is 48F. I do grow Alocasia 'Yucatan Princess' well. So, based on my success with the Alocasia... can I also grow the two mentioned Colocasia plants ? Thanks !

Got .33" of unexpected rain last night. otherwise, the map is grim.

Is this more of what everyone had in mind or did I do too much after doing too little before? I did another trimming of the fronds based on the responses. With the fungicide and disease comment, now that I was able to get in and take a closer look I am seeing small white spots coating everything and the new green fronds have big black and brown spots all over them. Can I just go to home depot and get this and then spray it all or do I need something special? I did a search for copper fungice and this was the first thing I saw.

You don't have to cut the petioles all the way to the trunk, for the newer ones you can leave them a foot or 2 long. Trim all diseased stuff off and spray entire palm with copper fungicide.

Post some of the palms on signs and billboards. Driving around Harlingen I see several daily. Here's a few.

Hi Will, you're in the San Carlos hills, right? Not sure, but I think some commenters may think your location is as hot as Livermore, or something.

I couldn't disagree more. Two rain events since October is not enough, and maybe three between then and July. I see dead conifers all over my neighborhood and area, and I haven't stopped watering since late July 2025. And I am not a person that overwaters, I like to toughen up my plants but when your topsoil is like dust and your ground has shrunk many inches you have to keep it up. That 4.5" a couple of weeks ago was a lifesaver, but I know out in Katy it was reported to be only a 0.1 inches. I actually have moisture in the ground when I dig now, its been a long time since I've seen that. Now that I am in my third year here, I'm realizing water hungry plants like I thought I could grow here are off the table. I've been switching over to more Central Texas plants. I can take a screenshot like this every time we get a bad storm and 9/10 it will miss me. They slide on by in NE direction. I can see them, hear them and sometimes smell them and they may come within a mile or so of me, but I've given up on hoping they'll make it to my house.

So when everyone says to remove all the brown I thought I was supposed to leave anything with green, so should I trim more? When I say things are green this is what I mean: From the outside it looks brown but when you get up close and into the fronds themselves you can see green. This is what it looks like from a few feet away. But get in there and this is the green I am talking about On the fronds themselves while all the leaf parts are brown the center stalk still has green coloring So do I keep cutting or leave it? This is my first time trimming one of these so want to make sure I am not cutting off too much, but then with what people are now saying also need to cut off what is not needed so the new fronds can grow properly.

The Archontophoenix purpurea and C. onilahensis will also rot in my opinion, in your wet spot.

Obstruction of the sidewalk is not necessary for mindless vandalism. During my tenure as chair of the Lakeside Palmetum I witnessed adolescent "persons" twisting off fronds with their bare hands, a Juania broken off at ground level, and initials carved into the waxy, white coating on Ceroxylon trunks.

I see both sides of this . I don’t have a sidewalk on our little hillside cul de sac but my garden overhangs a few inches into the street . I try to be respectful and trim whatever encroaches too far . I communicate with both neighbors who happen to love palms . “ If something is too much , let me know and I will trim” …..they let me know and I take care of it immediately. I would be happy if the world was covered in palms but others don’t share my enthusiasm. 🙄 Harry

never thought about using a straw, that’s actually really smart for getting it into the holes that are hard to directly pour into.

As others have said/asked, consider if it blocks the sidewalk and if so how badly. Based on that you can decide whether or not you have a right to be mad. If it doesn’t then i really don’t know why anyone would do that. You live in miami (right?), a lushly landscaped city, so i don’t see why anyone would just decide to mess with random palms at your place specifically.

Yea , I would think something would eat them . We have snakes , hawks , coyotes , and cats but they still exist. I am vegan so no gopher stew for me ! Harry

You have just the place for those to “ winter down” . That new green house is filling up. Harry

Everything looks very nice . I am sure the forest helps keep them insulated from extreme heat or cold . Enjoy all that hard work of planting and maintaining them . This is the reward! Harry

TC Narelle causing a bit of grief around here. its a fascinating system having formed off the Queensland coast, moving right across to the Northern Territory and then continuing into Western Australia and following our coastline heading south. It supposedly will cross the coast around Shark Bay sometime tomorrow and is expected to bring an incredible amount of rain, we're told Perth could receive up to 50mm on both Friday and Saturday, a lot of water for this part of the world.

All of the new plantings and some well established palms are tucked in well after a long hot summer. Another couple of years with this lot and there will be quite a few new palms well established in the garden!

Just a little subrosephylla showing the potential it has to be a garden stunner!

Only a young tree, yet showing some real promise of being a nice exotic Australian native!

A couple of nice chamaedoreas chose to stand out for a moment in the garden.

Back at again buying a few for the garden. heterospathe scitula linospadix minor gardenea tubiferaantrophyum callifoliumAll potted before winter gets here, any new tropicals to the collection won’t get potted up from now on, going into winter it’s not good for them!

That’s a bargain, a lot plant for that many bucks, it’s never too late in the season to plant, unless your in a frost zone!

Las Palmas Norte 🌴🤗

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