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@Merlyn You might not be 25 anymore, but the garden is looking pretty sharp with some extra space between the plantings.

More thoughts from Ben Noll: For anyone curious, In Depth dive by Ben regarding his thoughts on the potential impacts of what lies ahead.. As mentioned, ...and to take the wind out of any hype, right out of the gate.... while the likelyhood of the strongest El Nino on record looks pretty certain, when it comes to weather / WX forecasting, there is never a guarantee in any particular, on- the- ground outcome.. Day to day ..or long range / Seasonal, WX Model thoughts = guidance ..Not Gospel. That said, there isn't a longer range WX model that isn't leaning hard on the idea of a " wet / stormy for CA and the Southwest / rest of the southern U.S. " kind of winter right now. On top of this ...and unlike the non ENSO Teleconnections that led to a dud of a winter ( ...For CA at least ) back in '15 -'16, same non - ENSO teleconnections that had a strong negative influence on winter precip across CA / the Southwest that time around, seem to be lining up w/ the " anticipated, strong / extremely strong El Nino " outcome everyone has been talking about, this time around. Obviously, we won't know what actually happens, until ..it happens ..or doesn't.. For California, ( and quite likely having some deg. of influence further north ) issues tied to El Nino increased sea level height is one thing looks pretty certain / is already occurring atm. Current PENTAD Sea Surface Height chart ( Stormsurf ENSO Powertool data ) ... = a way to measure how much higher or lower the mean surface of the ocean is in X or Y area across an ocean basin at any given time.. + height anomalies = quite obvious along the Equator, indicating a large pool of warm water beneath the ocean surface. ( = El Nino signature ) Increasing + height anomalies along the Cen AM / Mexico / Baja and CA coast = effects of coastally trapped Kelvin Waves working their way north, up the coast of North America ( ..Same idea occurs along the Pacific coast of South America as well ) Warm colors = Sea surface is higher than normal. ( Warm water beneath the ocean surface = causes the surface to rise ) Cool colors = Sea surface is lower than normal. ( Colder than normal water below the ocean surface = Causes that particular area of the ocean to drop below the mean surface height *** Measurements are in centimeters, NOT temperature units. 8th... Low Pressure contour = back in view. Won't be surprised if it expands beyond the mere blip it is atm later. Also, as you can see, appears that from today forward, East Pacific will be under the influence of solid Westerly anomalies ( Red and Orange on the chart ) , ..which could usher in a sizable uptick in tropical activity in this part of the world. FYI: 120W Longitude = right under Pt. Conception ( in CA ) For ref: S.F. / San Jose = 122 W, Los Angeles = 118W, Phoenix = 111W. While he didn't give a specific time yesterday, Daniel Swain did mention he may have another El Nino - focused Youtube live session later this week / this weekend.

Here’s how it’s looking. Documenting this because who knows maybe someone will be in a similar spot as I am today. Spear is firm.

How big were they? I'm not that optimistic either. But mine was in a 36 inch box, took several days to plant. It was a pain in the ass. That's the worst part, if it were just a little 15 gallon I would have yanked it out. At least it wasn't decades old like some of the palms lost in Florida, that would be really sad.

I have also bought various times at www.palms.de Great diversity. Good quality seedlings. nice effort in packaging. THRINAX - Palmengärtnerei und Versand Jörg Schumann Büro: Buchenallee 54, 16341 Panketal Gewächshaus: Triftweg 19a, 16547 Birkenwerder Web: www.palms.de Email: info@palms.de Mobil: ++49 177 4804476

@Harry’s Palms , @Jdash , @kinzyjr and @Chester B thanks for the kind words and encouragement! The last month has been a lesson in humility, i.e. "you are no longer 25 years old." 🤣 I was out in the sauna all day every day for 7 days straight. I disassembled the old agave bed and collected...by hand...all the red lava rock and salt-and-pepper granite and moved it into the new smaller areas. I'd collect 7 gallon pots of rock, move and dump, go back and collect more, rinse and repeat. 30 minutes in the blazing sun, 30 minutes in the A/C in front of a fan, grab a new tshirt and go sweat some more. The washing machine got as much of a workout as I did. After about 5 days straight my hands and forearms and shoulders were so worn out that just doing simple things (like getting a glass of water or brushing my teeth) was difficult and achy. The last straw was picking up the concrete blocks and carrying them two at a time across the yard to redo the center bed's rear arc border: You can see a tall 7g of granite on the left, ready to slooooowly distribute by hand across the front. I also moved most of the white/pink quartz as cosmetic filler. It took 2 full days to redistribute all the rocks. I also had to dig out the front border at the grass, because the blocks had been slowly sinking 2-3 inches down into the sand. It now looks like this with a fresh layer of mulch around it: The original big agave bed on the left got the same treatment, and I now have a big new open area in front of the Bismarck. The ladder is up against a Pygmy Date that has just refused to push new fronds. There's a missing block at the front because I was moving a pair of Chamaerops from the deep shade just to the right of the ladder. You can see the weeds already trying to take over near the Bismarck....grrrrrrrrr..... These two Chamaerops went into the ground back in 2019 and 2020, and were promptly in deep shade from the overhanging Arenga Engleri and Bismarck. So I moved them over to the SE corner: They are super stretched out and scraggly from too much shade. I tried a new tactic on moving them that seems to work. I pulled out the reciprocating saw and a 12" wood-and-nails blade, and just cut a slightly inward-angled circle/oval/oblongish route all the way around them. Then I could just stick the shovel into the cut line and pop them out of the ground in one fell swoop! It took a little bit more setup (extension cord and saw) but the actual dig took only 2-3 minutes and was super easy...in relative terms.

My feeling it is,I hope I'm wrong. Theres no more than 20-30% chance or rain for here the next 7 days and mid 90s. I think thats the pattern unless some tropical systems poke around. Its been a bust here for the normal, non-tropical system storms forming. June and July were ridiculous dry at my house and August only got rainy because of that tropical moisture that came in from the Bahamas. If this continues into next summer I will be doing major relandscaping next summer.

Some observations from around Orlando; Lots of Foxtails growing back, quite a few took awhile . But a majority of thinner younger specimens that were planted just 1-2 years ago perished I've noticed more Bottle Palms recovering than Spindles I'm shocked at how many Coconuts are recovering, in the past they have been killed at higher temps Most Adonidia have perished (not surprising) but I see some that are growing back Most Arecas had tall stems killed but I see some sprouting back, but suckers regrowing good I haven't seen any Ptychosperma elegans growing back but for some reason they weren't widely planted around like Adonidia Royals are growing back great, only deaths I have seen were young juvenile specimens less than 6-7ft I'm going to be at the Landscape Show next week at the convention center on I-Drive. Curious to see how the tropical palms down there fared; big Royals at hotel by Sea World, big Royals at convention center entrance, all the Bottles and Adonidia planted by the CC, the big Coconut at that one restaurant. I can see a couple Coconuts at Volcano Bay from I-4 growing back.

@Phoenikakias here is my Alba today: And this is when I planted it in July 2024: Clearly it's bigger now, and took zero damage at 22.5F (-5.3C) in February. But for sure it's been slow. Part of this is because the bamboo behind it (Gigantochloa Luteostriata) shades it until around 2PM.

Triple hybrid. They say it was developed for better edible shoot production. I haven't tried it yet. It does have beautiful coloring for a few years before it fades. Dendrocalamus validus...one of my favorites. 5 inch culms and nearly 50 feet tall!!!

More confidence for a tropical threat within the Hawaiian Islands later this week.. FYI: " Tropical Threat " doesn't = big, cat 4 or 5 " Hurricane of Doom " soon.. Could mean impactful wind / heavy rain / surf concerns however.. Need to see how this disturbance develops over the next 24 -36 hours or so before we'll have a better idea on exactly how significant it's impacts could be.

I bought the pictured Pseudophoenix sargentii from them about a month and half ago. As mentioned, they do ship bare root. The palm came healthy and so far it’s doing well. I’d buy from them again.

Amarcrinum

nice looking garden! Those uresanas sure are happy! Nice mix of desert adaptable palms. How old is this garden?

all the following palms in my yard recovered from the February freeze: royal, foxtail, coconut, adonidia, alfredii, hyophorbe lagenicaulis (bottle), pseudophoenix sargentii (buccaneer). foxtail and adonidia took the longest; royal, coconut, bottle and buccaneers showed life 6-8 weeks post freeze. other plants (mango, copperleaf, croton) recovered as well.

A couple more from down the beach... Rainbow Pitta Whistling Kite Australian Hobby

At the airport last week...always a good spot... And way up overhead, catching the last rays of light for the day

None of them have spines on petioles. Are all Sabal Palmetto, or can they be Sabal Minor, or other?

Do any have spines on the petioles? If not, I agree they're all Sabals.

That’s purely a judgment call. I see your other post and I’m not optimistic about the outcome but only you (or your HOA) can decide. I took out my coconuts pretty soon after because they were recently planted. I knew that it would be several years before they recovered, if at all. I decided to just move on as soon as possible. I had 3 and 1 was clearly dead. 1 was probably going to make it and the 3rd was 50:50. Of course, the one that was dead was not in the middle so the bed would have looked lopsided. I pulled them all and replanted the bed with a mango and ground accents before it got too hot. I think it was @kinzyjr who posted about the frustration of palms that seem to hang on for months only to collapse later. Sometimes they are already dead but don’t show it.

From the photo they all look like sabal, but I could be wrong about photo no. 3

Formerly Peckerwood Garden and Yuccado Nursery. Located in Pine Island, Texas. Brahea dulcis Sabal uresana Brahea berlandieri, Sabal uresana,Nolina nelsonii Serenoa repens Dioon edule, Nolina nelsonii Sabal causiarum Agave ‘Miquihuana Silver’ Brahea berlandieri Brahea berlandieri Brahea moorei Brahea dulcis Agave victoriae-reginae Yucca linearifolia Sabal uresana Nannorhops ritchiana

Yes, but how about the others? Or are all of them sabal? Thanks.

Beautiful, Richard, especially that variegated one's!

A little bit late, but here are a few photo's of my new Cycads!