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Thank you. How deep will I have to go? Id rather have the destination hole already dug, or at least mostly dug before pulling it so as to minimize the time the roots are exposed, so I need to anticipate the depth too.

Consider building a conservatory.

Nice color on the first new leaf from our little C. ambositrae, purchased from @Darold Petty a couple of months ago

I have been asking myself about that, why so fast? I do remember and its worth mentioning that that hospita was my first experiment using turface MVP instead of organics in the site soil mix. I used a little bit of organics but I used a lot of turface, perhaps 15 lbs of the ammended soil and also another 10-15lbs of dolomite gravel, 1/4" mesh used in fish tanks, not the dolomite from the home and garden large 3/4 to 1" size. This was mixed with the soil already dug from the the planting hole with mulch on top. The smaller gravel size and its much greater surface area will add more calcium and Mg(by dissolving it) as compared with the dolomite 3/4"-1" rock landscapers use. The site drains faster than it would with coarse rock. but stays more moist due to turface and its getting 3x a week from a sprinkler head 6-8 away, maybe a near optimal soil/sun sun site for the hospita. The other two hospitas 1 had been traumatized by root damage due to sloppy handling, and it was very slow recovering while the second was in a smaller pot (7g vs 15g for the big one) so I used less turface and dolomite gravel(~1/2) when ammending. When I dig a hole. I dig it to at least 3x the volume of the pot, then backfill with ammended soil by habit. I have two other palms that got heavy turface ammendment(but no dolomite), two 5 gallon teddy bears and they are like rockets grew 6-7' in height this year. They are also right near a couple sprinkler heads 7-10 feet on each site of the two. This of course leads me to think about the hospita speed with the same treatment though it also had dolomite gravel. My mature bailey and fallaensis got lots of dolomite too so I was previously convinced it was a good thing, verifying what the "copernicia man" Ken Johnson told me" : "tom put down dolomite if you want them to be happy". I have learned to listen very carefully to Kens advice as my treatment of palms these days is just about exactly what he recommended. Many of you may not know Ken, but if you are lucky enough to get advice from him, listen very carefully. I killed a palm (a hospita hybrid, imagine that) by not listening closely enough, not so smart. It was a 90(?) gallon palm and I was not gentle enough putting it in the planting hole. A palm with a heavy rootball is much easier to damage the roots, it just physics. You could say I learned by experience(failure is a great teacher to humble you). His advice I have passed on to others as much as I can and I attribute 90% of my success with copernicias (and several other palms I have bought from him) to his advice.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Kqdoh1SLWs

It's pretty much 55/45, this is just the very bottom of the tote.

Thank you. They are globular. I should take pictures of the fruits from my specimen for comparison.

This was our weekend total...lots more to come beginning tonight.

Mother loureiroi is a very weakly suckering specimen.

I really want to experiment with some tropicals here in zone 6 in NE Ohio but I need some more ideas on want to plant. But first, a little description of my climate: winters here are cold but below zero only happens every other year and if it does get below zero, it only happens for around a day or two, we also have tons of snow (and I mean a ton) which I think is good for insulation. Winter sunburn isn’t really an issue since sunlight is limited in the winter (thanks Lake Erie), it can stay consistently below freezing but only usually in the teens, 20s, and 30s. I’d say we’re a cold 7a and a warm zone 6. Summers here can also get pretty dry at times so drought tolerant options are appreciated. I also live in the woods where there’s tons of leaf litter and wind protection due to lots of trees. Shade tolerant options would also be appreciated. Anyways, here’s my current list of bucket list plants: Sabal minor since they can handle wet soil and shade which happens in the more forested areas of the yard, some sort of illicium species since they can also handle wet soil and shade, Aspidistra elatior since they are shade tolerant and easier to find, Cinnamomum checkiangensis since they are the most cold hardy camphor tree and I absolutely love the leaves and the smell of camphor trees, Yucca rostrata since they basically need zero cold protection here and I can plant them in a pure river rock bed I have. I am open to more suggestions as long as a mini care guide is given alongside it. Thank you for responding.

Sunrise in my garden right now is at 8.45am and sunset at 4.20pm. My day is too short while the wet night is long.. dunno. My climate is very humid; humidity at night is 90% and dew forms everywhere. In the morning everything is wet. Do you reckon I don't need to cover it if it goes down to -1 C ? I put it in a black pot so the plastic absorbs some heat from the sun during the day. Otherwise I haven't protected yet because it hasn't been too cold. The coldest so far was 3,5 C one night.

Pinkerton was the only one to die without any reason. I'll buy another one next Spring, and plant it in a big pot. You shouldn't have any issue in growing them in a 9B zone. I know some in the surroundings, alive and kicking and setting fruit like mad. I forgot to mention that I am also growing in the ground a Pura Vida variety. I was sent a seed from Nicaragua 2 years ago, and it is growing happily outdoors. I will have to wait some years to see if it sets fruit, which are huge, about 1 kilogram or more, and long shaped.

Here is my Phoenix loureiroi x roebelenii grown from seed provided by @Phoenikakias. I'm wondering if it will eventually sucker since I don't know if the loureiroi is solitary but I hope that it remains solitary! 😊

Maybe it was my fault not to water the ones in the greenhouse well enough. You are right about the minimum temperatures being higher because of cloudy skies at night. And I would also say, because of higher temperatures in the Cantabrian Sea all year round. 13⁰C in winter and 21/22⁰C in Summer. Foehn effect also plays a role on that , specially in winter.

And you added some additional color to your garden at the same time! 😆 Hope you get a decent amount of rain for the plants but no mudslides.

Wow impressive 😍

Here they are @Phoenikakias

Chrysalidocarpus basilongus developing spathe. Tim

We wish everyone a Merry Christmas 🤗

Mine is a seedling, in the garden, in alkaline clay, lots of rain, and is producing a new leaf right now. No protection. Yet I bet it won't make it through the winter but I have come to terms with that.

Must be very easy for an imported species to become invasive in Hawaii

Thanks Harry!

W. robusta is a great choice for a first because it will grow very fast and carefree as long as you remember to water it. Most palms really hate root disturbance and there's just no way you can dig all of them but Washingtonia can survive rough handling. Here's a similar size robusta. The roots reach for water from the very beginning! If it survives the transplant it should do well in your 7" pot for a year and then either need root pruning or an upsize. I opted to slow one down with a smaller pot and severely root pruned it in late October '24 so it lost most of its fronds and looked unhappy for a while but by mid-April it was ready to open the 1st or 2nd new frond. I think if I kept the roots pruned for the smaller pot from the start it would have skipped the months of sulking. These things are tough! Soil and fertilizer selection is not a big deal with Washingtonia. Any potting soil will work fine. No need to spend much.

I hate to tell you but Phoenix palms have massive root systems ! It can be done , you may need help . They survive transplant well but it is the wrong time of year , at least around here. In theory , the roots reach out equal distant to the size of the crown. That means a large hole with a lot of digging. If done with care , it will survive. I would start at least 2-3’ out from base of trunk , you will probably cut through some roots . Try to keep it minimal. Harry

It sure feels good , it looks like Mother Nature is going to soak our gardens . It has been quite the dry spell here since the deluge in November. I have been holding off on watering the last few days because the weather calls for a lot of rain to fall in our area. The last rain event delivered about 10” of rain over 3-4 days . The palms and flowers looked so happy. Then it turned dry and warm with high pressure dominating our weather. THAT is about to change. In my area it should start late afternoon . Los Angeles and south to San Diego will see rain by evening 🤞. Our Northern California neighbors have had flooding inland , unfortunately , and the burn areas down here may be evacuated . So with a watchful eye , I am embracing the chance of rain. Harry This is what we woke up to ! No rain yet but my sailor instincts ( and old bones) tell me it is imminent. Got me a new rain gage , I retired my hillbilly gage( empty cat food container)😂. Harry