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wowzers! your yards all look amazing! I live in a pretty dense neighborhood so my front yard is pretty tiny. The view out my front door is basically clear across to my neighbor's front door. I think that in 5 years though, the park strip will have grown in to block my view from the street altogether. Here's mi casa today (affectionately: Casa Del Mar, for the street i live on).

Came across this on my stroll this morning. Not out my front door but so cool I had to share it. Calyptrocalyx albertisianus, the most brilliant red leaf of all my red leaf species and this one seemed a bit more stunning than usual.

Palm alley behind house. I think my trees are probably worth more than the 1957 mobile home that they surround. I know they cost more!

Side door

And Teddy Bears!

Back door

Front door

Dave, great view! Love the Archy trunks especially. Here’s a look through my front door windows and a couple of shots from front porch at different times of day.

When I look at those palms all I see is the Alien Facehugger

9B Scottsdale, AZ Cocos Nucifera in the ground in the Phoenix area for 3 years now. I use a PVC frame with clear plastic on the top and the two south facing sides I used clear shower curtains so I can open on warm days. The back two walls are up against the house so no sun would come thru so I used a tarp for those sides. The frame is 7 feet tall and 5 feet wide. The Palm is about 6 feet tall. I use a 250w halogen on a timer and it’s worked well so far! This winter was a breeze!

I collect rare specimens of the variable Sabal minor, esp. those that are dwarfs or uber dwarfs. I got many of those from Plant Delights Nursery, which offers Sabal palms sporadically, sometimes as one-off sales. When they have one I want, I know to order quickly because it may never be offered again. Such is the case for two different Sabal minors I pounced upon nearly two years ago and haven't seen since. I have them in my garden lot where they have gone pinnate. Today I took photos of them. They are quite distinct. Sabal minor 'Welfare', Texas aka the "Poor Scrub" palmetto This palm occurs as a population in grasslands near the ghost town of Welfare in Kendall County, TX. Some plants will grow trunks up to 8' tall. The juvenile I have is approx. 2' tall x 2' wide. Check out the link to PDN below: https://www.plantdelights.com/products/sabal-minor-welfare Sabal minor 'High Springs', FL This dwarf Sabal minor comes from the town of High Springs in Alachua County, FL. It is distinctive for being very short, 2' tall, and wide, 4' wide. Leaf pinnae are notably narrow. Flower stalks reach 7' tall. See link to PDN catalog below: https://www.plantdelights.com/products/sabal-minor-high-springs

I remember back in the day ( late 1980's ) when Triangle Palms were THE exotic / must have palm of choice for Darwin gardeners. ( this was before Foxtails took over that mantle ). Ruthlessly marketed by local nurserys and box stores. I bought in to the hype and planted a row on my verge. I thought they looked ok..... but of course with the passage of time ( and the dreaded wilt ) they've died off, still a few left that seem to thrive on neglect and not much care. I don't think in reality that they are entirely happy in my climate and I have seen nicer specimens at 32*S rather than my 12*S. Mine produce viable seed ( irregularly ) and are 30 years old.

Twist height and more Archontophoenix

Stepped out a few steps turned left and Cocothrinax species

Just now... Front door view... Back door view...

From my front door in my highland home. Tropical exuberance.

The ones I’ve seen down there look ok, but a little stressed. Here’s a couple from my dream 15 acre plot down in RGV. The house isn’t perfect but I love the lot. What other part of the U.S. can you get this for $385k? : https://www.har.com/homedetail/18413-landrum-park-rd-san-benito-tx-78586_gallery/6912485 I’ll have to take a picture of the one in the local greenhouse, to me it’s spectacular.

Lol. Maybe I just like it because it’s not even supposed to be planted here!

Queens are much worse IMO.

The main entryway that we use is in the back because of the location of our garage and driveway coming in from the side street in back. So the view from the back entry onto the deck. The "front entry" is down a walkway along the side of the house, so the view is mostly our neighbor's house from the actual "front" door.

Made another trip to the riverwalk this weekend and took some palmy pics. Sun occasionally made an appearance but in general did not cooperate. This Jubaea chilensis was supposedly planted for the 1968 HemisFair. So far it has not yet flowered. Trachycarpus fortunei: Washingtonia filifera: Chamaedorea sp: Rhapis excelsa Phoenix roebelenii:

I had hoped to trade some seeds but I can’t seem to post on the trade section. I am looking for Arch. Cunninghamiana, Howea Forsteriana, Dictyosperma Album, Dypsis Leptocheilos, Cham. Macrocarpa. I will also be glad to send seeds for free in the continental US. Disclaimer - I have never attempted to germinate seeds from this plant. I have no idea how they will do. The mother is approximately 15-18 years old and has what I consider to be a wide base with a pronounced taper. It has shrugged off several category 2 and 3 hurricanes without losing a single frond. Thanks John

Howdy all kinda gloating over equipment upgrade. CLASS, here’s the assignment: Stand or sit as close to your front door and take pictures of what’s there, morning, noon, evening or night. Or afternoon. And post here! Here’s mine: ( For now!)

I'll play, late afternoon on the front porch.

50f now, have a 2 to 3 days bellow january averages coming up but mostly 50s. Hopefully it stays mild from here on out but I doubt it cause I'm seeing seeing a little damage on my tiny cerifera and that's it for unprotected palms! They never really stopped growing, albeit slow the past 2 months lol.

I had it in 5a, no protection and survived the coldest winter I ever experienced.

Awesome. I’ve said it before. If Decaryi were super rare, it would be one of the most desirable palms around. Well grown ones are gorgeous and nothing else looks like them.

Cant say Ive ever "hated" a palm. D.decaryi is a nice palm when grown well and it has given us so many very cool hybrids. The only palms that I can say look bad are usually not the fault of the palm itself but more the fault of the grower.

I have a Decaryi here growing in Phoenix, is it my favorite? No, miles from it. But it looks perfect, takes the cold and heat, not a water hog. Different. In a sea of fan palms, Queens, cactus, rocks and brown, it’s a unique palm for the garden. Much akin to people’s home choices, car preference, residence local etc, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Man. Lonely guy out there all by himself

Crikey, I can't believe it, you guys are just asking for it. I have been hammered here for expressing a less than favorably opinion on one palm or another, in the past. I'm almost too scared to now. How do some people get away with it? Oh yeah, I see, Canadian, everyone likes Canadians.

Nothing is uglier than a Washingtonia or Sabal or any fan palm. I’ll take Dracaryi any day over a fan palm. licualata is the only exception lol.

And make sure you don't pick any "young"/asian cocos (These are preferred for their water, however they are not mature and will only mold). These will usually be whitish/light colored.

Here's a mistake I made with a HD-purchased Malayan Dwarf. It only had two decent-sized leaves growing out of the top of the coconut, and I didn't realize that the growing point was planted about 4 inches up in the air. Over the winter the outer coconut shell started rotting away, revealing the high root initiation zone being held up in the air by the inner 4" diameter nut! You can see the outer husk on the bottom left, the inner nut on the left, and the growing pint and air roots on the right. I put a shovel in around where the 4" nut is located, and pulled out a few inches of dirt from down deep. It's now planted at the right depth...so don't do this with your new coconuts!

Chambeyronia macrocarpa, and hyophorbe verschaffeltii. And I’m planning on buying another a. cunninghamiana or two.

Phoenix dactylifera: More Chamaedorea spp:

Nice group of mule palms: Silver Serenoa repens: Sabal palmettos: Washingtonia robusta and filibusta:

Chamaerops and Sabal mexicana: Livistona chinensis: Livistona decora: Bismarckia nobilis and Arenga engleri planted too close to each other:

It's not my front door but it is my backdoor.

Ignore the rope haha

I would like an identification of this beauty I just trimmed it’s rusty bottom leaves. Looks rather primitive.

I have had both queens and D decaryi, now I have neither. Queens need lots of water and fertilier and even when grown well, get more ratty looking with age. I grew them very well in arizona, big effort copious fertilizer and even a manganese treatment(frizzletop) was necessary, but clay soil helped a lot. Most needly palms I ever had. Here in my area of florida they look like crap due to sandy soil, just awful. When planted alongside royals or foxtails they look starved, chlorotic, and emaciated. If you want a queen, buy a mule and you wont regret it! triangles look better in the dry environment but they also get notbly uglier with age. I had a young 10 gallon one, saw a bunch of ~20 year old ones at the tampa zoo and promptly gave it away.

It certainly looks like a cooler period for Florida in the next couple weeks. However, longer days and a higher sun angle should temper any bite. In a few weeks, this area should be reasonably free of any damaging cold threats....I hope... I have been getting used to the 80's, so I wish this is the last rattle for chill. I was up in Wisconsin for a few days last week, -20°F preceded by heavy snow. It was OK for a few days, but I enjoyed driving back to spring, and then summer.

That said the uglier a palm the tougher it is. Not big fan of Queen Palms because they are not self cleaning and they are a dime a dozen here in the inland empire. Every house in Rancho Cucamonga or Upland has 4 or 5 queen palms. And for good reason, they are tough, cold hardy, grow faster than King Palms and don’t turn into desiccated pieces of poo like Royal Palms once the Santa Anna’s pick. Shocking a palm from Brazil could be so tough here in the desert.

Caryota look like single trunk types be careful where you plant

Still showing a cool down in the SE later this month,

In Le Parc des Palmiers in LeTampon, with my wife Jatmi on my favourite palm-themed seat