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In my opinion always irrigate. If you don’t need it you can turn it off. Here in WA the usual is if you want a garden that’s not dead, irrigate. Although here on the south coast it’s more like the eastern states where often you can get away without irrigating. Some of my garden I no lonnger need to irrigate, but up in Perth I’ve seen natives in Kings Park and the bush curl up and die in dry times.

My suggestion is adonidia.

Three easy growing palms. That get attention Chambeyronia macrocarpa linospadix monostachya Livistona rotundifolia

It’s getting dry and the difference is pretty obvious. Brown or green that’s about it.

Being Australian any excuse is a good excuse for a party, so happy birthday IPS!

This just in from IPS President Andy Hurwitz! Help Celebrate 70 years of the International Palm Society

Maybe a diluted hydrochloric acid bath for a certain amount of time would do the trick to weaken the seed coating

I would lean towards a cassowary eating the seeds, having that certain enzyme that the seed need to germinate. Or bats but they dispers the seed not eat it, it could even be ph related. Gosh knows but there have been many experts in the field of rainforest species try to germinate them.

Lucospernum wonders in my memory bank. But it has never flowered, the only way I have kept it alive is by planting it in the sandstone rocks in one of the driest places in my garden and even then I threw rocks into the planting hole. It came from a lady friend who got given 4 of them and this is the only surviving one left.

I have visited quite a few private gardens and even those gardens didn’t have them. They are more common in suburban yards, not really gardens but planted as palm for a house. There was a large Howea nursery in my area many years ago and I see those bellmoreana that got sold from that nursery in suburbia. So it’s somewhat of a rare palm available but only with specialty nursery growers! If you can find them.

That’s the way it is, the government recently strengthened border security injecting millions of dollars to keep there jobs, now we are paying for that, to keep them in a job!

Don’t worry us Australians know what you’re talking about, it goes with being an Australian. We are renowned for a bit of humour along with a bit fun!

Thanks, it’s clearly hardy enough but the fronds did sustain quite a lot of damage. I noticed a widespread -5C in large parts of London this winter.

Couldn't you plant it out? Imagine it would do rather well in southern Greece

For heaven's sake, follow please my advice given elsewhere in the general forum. Use a deep container, even a waste bin if necessary with exclusively pumice as fill in. It has worked perfectly for me.

No, the garden is just a bit messy, I think what you're referring to is just a sheet of poly carbonate behind the trunk. The only protection I ever gave was to tie the fronds up, as I learnt that snow melting into the crown can cause a spear pull

Very nice to see a parajubaea in London. Is the trunk protected with fleece in this picture?

It is indeed growing very slowly and the medium takes 3-4 days to dry so I decided to leave it for now. Thank you guys, great advice!

Mine too. Very neat looking palm.

Likewise, mine seems to grow at pretty much the same rate as a typical forestiana, which is not fast, but nor is it anywhere near the slowest palm I've grown. I don't know about germination rate, but forestiana does naturally grow in big stands, such that the seedlings are very well adapted to and tolerant of low light (and will grow steadily in it for decades), and hence make good houseplants. I don't think belmoreana grows in dense stands like this, so it won't fair so well in low light and hence the reputation for being slower.

Apologies if my attempts at humour weren't coming through. I am indeed aware of P sargentiis reputation of growing at snails pace.

that is insanity. & I thought the US tariffs that dumb dumb recently imposed was bad...

A nice dypsis plumosa in the sandstone countryside and a Areca vestria not wanting to miss out on any attention!

These are rheophytes that grow along the margin of the Mekong river. If it's hot they need a lot of water. It's also possible that the root masses have become so dense that when you water them it doesn't permeate the inside. This is a peril of keeping something extremely pot-bound. Sitting the pots in trays of water might help.

How quickly does it dry out? That is another consideration. They are quite slow at that stage. How firm they feel in the pot is also a useful indicator, as happypalms said. However, when they're that size they're also quite forgiving if you repot and the rootball collapses. I potted up several small madagascariensis seedlings a short while ago where several collapsed but most of them are feeling pretty firmly rooted into the new pots already (a month or so). When my alfredii was that size it was in a slightly bigger pot but not a super deep one. It was only once it got closer to the almost-pinnate stage that root growth seemed to increase exponentially. If the rootball does collapse, it might also be a sign that the medium is not ideal for the conditions (usually too wet/anoxic), and repotting into something better draining will cause a spurt of root growth (bear in mind how media will hold/shed water will vary with pot size too).