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Florida doesn't really rely on palms as much for its landscape, from what I've seen, as there's a certain charm and appeal even to just the type of foliage you see around Ocala or Jacksonville, where it's mostly mature live oaks, old sabals (some of which look more like a wild shrub at times than a palm), etc. Granted, very little of that is visible from the interstates, where a lot of the planting choices have been poor. You have to drive through the local roads to see the old growth. The more exotic/majestic palms will always be centered around the coasts and wealthier areas I'd say. And Florida was a pretty cheap place to live/retire before the COVID mass migration, so California probably has had more money dumped into such things in general.

Update from Belle Isle. Dewpoint continues to rise. Up to 35F. I drenched areas of the yard today but the light westerly winds are likely helping from Lake Conway. I see a station on a boat dock has a dewpoint of 40F while areas a few miles N and E have dewpoints in the 20s. Lake is 75F water. Not sure if a warm lake helps that much but I sure hope so.

This is a few pics from our self guided tour . You could easily have a @happypalms self guided tour . I can’t remember what the fee was but it was well worth it . It wasn’t crowded but there were enough people going through to pay for the cost of the upkeep and a bit of income for the owners. Harry The pathways had plenty of shade in the tropical sun . The plants were well maintained A jingle of tropical plants much like yours. ‘Not just palms. “ C’mon Dad , we aren’t even half way yet! 😊 “My daughter actually liked the Koi pond and was patient throughout the day as I took my time to see as much as possible. I could see this for you as a way to share your love of your garden and help fund your obsession! Harry

Local news showed a highlight (lowlight?) of a triple play that the Giants turned against the Cubs in the first inning of their game. It's the only baseball that I've seen so far this season! Probably not an omen of things to come though...

Yes, the fluctuations are brutal. I do feel this should be the end of freezing worries based on long range forecasts. Anything is possible anymore though! I soaked the soil today around the coconut but am not planning any protection.

Charlene, did you ever get any germinations? I just got a couple of seeds and might try Kurt's method also.

Nice spot for the Joey . That little protection spot will hopefully keep it safe from these winds. You’ve done a good job of sheltering it . Harry

Very mild here tonight. Now up to +13C / 55F at midnight here. Heathrow is reporting 13C / 55F. Inner-city London is closer to 14C / 57F. Sums up this winter really - mild, cloudy, wet. In fact this is my wettest start to a year on record after having my wettest January on record that saw 12.3 inches of rain! Now up to 16 inches already for 2026 which is pretty much unprecedented here. Last nighttime frost was over 5 weeks ago now on 14th January. I think for central London the last nighttime frost was 10th January. Apart from some semi-cold in early January, it has been a very mild and snowless winter. Anyway, expecting up to 18C / 64F on Wednesday…

Rhopalastylis Baueri getting the ring. Planted out as a small 15G in the winter of 2020 it’s grown way more than my other Rhopalastylis. This one is happy. -dale

Definitely more " mid - April / start of May - " like weather this week / start of next week < -at least- > than is typical for right now, even some of the warmer years.. March can definitely swing back and forth at times though some years, whatever general direction it wants to go will stand out over any deviations seen at times along the way.. We've also had " Chilly " days in April ( and even a couple in May ) but yes, generally speaking, once April arrives, it's nuthin but heat until .....mid September ( ..or later.. ) Me myself, i'll take the heat kicking in now so the plants gets used to it, over what occurred a few years ago when it stayed ..rather mild, right through most of June, before flipping to extreme nuke fest a day or two later.. VERY rough on ...everything.

Great to see the Lafazamanga moved without any stress. Looks good! Your Mananjarensis is also looking great. That’s a nice size one for California!

Palms here are killed by lightning a lot, hence no tall washingtonias even in dry soil areas like spring Hill. Then there is the summer heat and humidity and diseases, you can't add more "dry" during heavy rain periods, whearas you can add more water when there is a drought. Many homes are newer, hurricanes, etc. There are a lot of potential reasons for less impressive palms than other places, but cold is a major one for sure. I am leaving out natives of course.

Bing / Edge = steamy, slime covered piles of hot garbage to be avoided at al costs.. Overall, agree, definitely annoying that one now has to carefully weave thru techno trash piles to get to desired info / content but, ..it's out there, if you avoid AI ( = Am Idiot ) generated trash and aren't afraid of buckling down and doing actual research ..the only kind that matters ... and takes time / determination, and sharp as a tack critical thinking skills. Emphasize the Critical part. As much as sitting and reading thru a book might drive me nuts at times, glad to have them as back up info sources for specific stuff, if needed. Side note thought, ...Would hate to be a teacher atm.. Me? ..if i found -any- of my students using Am Idiot for completing any of their assigned course work, i wouldn't hesitate to call them out, by name, escorting them out of class, in front of everyone else, with a big " I Failed ..Completely " sign slung around their necks as they' reach the outside side of the door.

Currently 83F in the east valley with a high of 84F and low of 56F. Feels more like April than late-February here. Regardless, I'm not complaining, especially with the blizzard back where I came from. In my limited experience here, March seems to have an identity crisis. It's not unusual to have hot weather with temps well into the 90s but at the same time, I've also experienced more than a few chilly days with highs struggling to reach 60 with or without rain. April is typically when any chance of cool weather seems to disappear and that real dry desert heat starts building.

Okay - @PNWPalmSeeker I mean @NWpalms@206 and @Las Palmas Norte and @jwitt I sent *a letter* to the residential address where these palms are located on Vashon Island. A couple of weeks later, I got a phone call from the palm-grower hisself! So - some interesting and *naturally* sad news about these Washies. a) So, the palm-planter is a fan of palm trees from their time spent in Mexico and Costa Rica. When he saw some Mexican fan palms for sale at the Home Depot or Lowe's about 20 years ago, he bought a dozen of them. They were about 2 to 2.5 feet high (less than 1 meter) and he planted them along the lower part of the property. b) sometime about 2 years ago - so, about 6 months after you took the photo, @NWpalms@206, the palm-planter and owner reports that all these palms seemed to come down with some kind of disease or infection. I will say that we had a pretty significant cold snap before this disease outbreak, so those things could be related. The cold itself, though, did not seem to damage the palms (down to 14 F). c) the palm-planter is pretty bummed out about the whole affair but seemed to be hopeful that Washies will be for sale again at cheap prices at the area Home Depot or Lowe's this spring, or following spring... he still seems excited about palms. So! Maybe you'll bump into him down at the area big box hardware store some time 😜

I envy your liberal government, Australia has way too many rules and regulations! 🤣

That’s part of my wish a mini botanical garden, I will collect any plant so long as it doesn’t have a big weed potential. And no certificate for my plants I couldn’t handle the government bureaucracy ruling me it’s bad enough importing seeds. One day I will make a few bucks! Richard

60°F / 15.5°C. That is all.

Yeah, in the past few months more and more of the Big Search engines just point directly - and almost solely - to AI-generated (i.e., stolen) content and 'slime.' Getting to the root of the information is still kinda possible on Google, but Bing is completely borked for trying to get good info that isn't a) one link to Wikipedia and b) 20 links to AI-stolen content. Then you can't even dig deeper!

Not really gyuseppe i could do with a holiday home in Italy, spend my winter in Italy and summer in Australia I could see an arrangement happening 🤣

It’s my love of palms and gardening that creates my garden oh and my love for Mother Nature!

Since i'm sure many are hearing about it, ..and it's about time to take a look at what is going on, a nice, PHAT reality check to all the current hype surrounding a possible transition toward El Nino, ..from the best person keeping things real as we all look toward what may ..or may not... occur this year.. **** As always, For the non- interested, skip on past the " Surf Forecast " section, to the " Long Term Forecast Discussion " for all the important, ENSO -related " deets " **** One thing Mark didn't discuss, that we'll look at later, should we need to, ..how the prevailing, very obvious, general warmth across the N. Pacific atm could help ..or hinder.. any " typical " effects from an ENSO positive pattern come next winter.

In the same boat with @pj_orlando_z9b + @Eric in Orlando. The large coconuts are recovering thus far, but not optimistic if we keep getting heat flashes at or above 90F followed by drops to near freezing. Hope the best for you both over there.

The weather stations here at the ranch recorded 43F and some extra tenths in some spots. The hourly records at KLAL were only slightly lower. The forecast tonight sits at 32oF (NWS)- 34oF (TWC) after briefly dropping down a degree or two. Interior and lakeside Orlando should dodge a freeze, but the rest of the I-4 corridor will likely hit freezing and/or see frost. We'll see how it goes the next couple of days.

With extensive Cirrus passing thru the area atm, wavering between a top out high of 86 and backing down a deg or two when thicker cloud cover passes overhead at 3:09PM ..Pretty darn nice out regardless. Some local / T- Town neighborhood level readings around town right now: Even w/ the clouds, some 90s scattered around town. Final 5 days of the month and winter underway?, HEAT is all that is written across the forecast board.. Aside from seeing our earliest 90F reading, recorded on Feb. 17th, back in 2016, next " earliest " 90 day falls on Wednesday. Cloud cover dependent of course but, the currently forecast 87 /88 could end up reaching 90 if whatever clouds are around at that time stay thin and don't inhibit insolation. Beyond Wednesday, ..That is one toasty looking forecast for the end of February ..and " Winter " ..Will be interesting to see if the weekend forecast for lower 90s ticks up a deg or two by the time we reach the finish line. Interesting too will be seeing how many neighborhood spots reach ..or top.. 100F, esp. if the forecast highs tick up any higher. Start of March included, we could be looking at a 7 day stretch in the 90s ..7 day at /above 90?, before April? = Quite unusual, even by low desert standards, if it occurs.. Monday PV check: = End of the road, ....for this winter, ....arrives, ..shortly??.