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As many on here know, I strong-armed the HOA into allowing me basically anything I wanted. However, I’ve heard some comical other restrictions they placed on one of my neighbors. One neighbor wanted to remove the mandatory live oak out back. The HOA told them it had to be replaced with another canopy tree or “two queen palms.” I laughed because I’m not sure how “two queen palms” is equivalent to an overbearing oak tree. I told them to just put in two royals as the HOA will never know the difference.

This first group may end up being incredibly cool or a disaster. Foxy Lady, Roystonea borinquena, and Wodyetia bifurcata planted together at the same time. Growth rate , luckily, is much different on each. Someday those trunks will be fused together. Nearly all of my Archontophoenix are planted in tight groups. A trio of fat Livistona chinensis trunks. They also have grown at different speeds.

Have posted this palm before, but never seen so many seed on it, and have never seen any seed around it on the ground, or seen any black ripe seed. Rats must be eating it. There are about 7 bunches of seed like this one pictured. A beautiful run up to it on the North Shore, Oahu. The trail literally goes under it. Also, a picture of two Pritchardia above and to the right of the Kahukuensis, but look more like P. marti form. Amazing how two different Pritchardia species are so close to each other in habitat. aloha

One of my Areca Macrocalyx has been declining for awhile and developing a very skinny pencil neck. I decided it was time to pull it out and rework this raised planter area. Here's the Areca Macrocalyx pulled up and ready to go into the compost pile: I then took apart that block wall area because I was never really happy with how it was and decided to rework it. I have much more respect for the guys that work with these rocks and do this for a living or who have done a lot of these in their gardens here on the Big Island! Some of these rocks were extremely heavy and positioning them together is a skill. Not sure I have that skill, but I'm happier with how it is now. This new planter gave me an excuse to go palm shopping. I made a stop at Tim's (realarch) house first to get some inspiration for smaller palms and decided to focus on Calytrocalyx. I ended up planting a Calyptrocalyx micholitzii in the front, 3 - Calyptrocalyx leptostachys behind that and then a Calyptrocalyx hollrungii furthest back. While I'm doing all of this work, I am being supervised by Rocky:

Had a nosy at a coastal subdivision today since the bridge and road in has recently opened to public. Among other things, the developer has put in about 50 native R. Sapida / Nikau. They are probably locally sourced and the land the subdivison sits on would have contained 1000's of them back in the day when in an unmodified state. However, I actually think it is a poor choice. Exposed to full sun, wind and surrounded by hot concrete,they are never going to look good, most were struggling already despite each one been given a bit of a windbreak tunnel. As street side plantings these are going to survive but struggle on for years looking dry and ratty. Planted as a grove in the reserve area, with other trees to provide shelter and canopy, their same investment could have been a real asset in a few years. Don't imagine this is a local problem only, rest of you must see developers spend money on palms and think they did not make ther wisest choice!

Ohh yes.. they can, and often do. Funny as it sounds, the commercial where the Neighborhood Nancy tells the other neighbor " these bushes are too tall, etc,etc" is sadly quite true to life in many instances.. When i lived in Bradenton, there were several neighborhoods located near a nursery i worked for who told their residents they could not grow fruit trees in the ground.. Or is what numerous clients i'd speak with would tell me.. someone i did some work for last year was told by their ---- ( insert your own choice of word/words for HOA ) they had to remove a 20+ft tall Saguaro in their front yard or it would be cut down.. HOA's are the worst " nosy/ busybody neighbor " kind of group that could have been created.. Many were also formed to ..Ahem, help "detur" some groups of people from living in "decent" neighborhoods ( most are "meh" looking, imo ).. Would never live in one, They'd despise me anyway, lol.. Should be outlawed.

More light

Another planter enlarged to take out a bit of grass and ad a couple more palms: Here's the overall area after grass is torn our, rocks dug up, etc... Just a small area. And here's the revised version: New palms include Pinanga Declinata: Cyphokentia Macrostachya: And another overall shot of the backyard that includes this new planter area:

Some more new plantings: A small Hedyscepe Canterburyana, you don't see many of these here on the Big Island so I'm hoping that it does well: Created a new, narrow planter that connected some previous plantings (Carpoxylon and Burretiokentia). Filled it in mostly with various Coleus clippings so that this would become a colorful hedge along our road. But planted a couple of palms as well. Overall pic of new planter: Coccothrinax Macroglossa: Pinanga Sp Maroon: And in the backyard, planted a small Pinanga Sierramadreana:

This dypsis ovobontsira Is the one that was the metallic SP. anyway it’s starting try and flower. Doesn’t seem to know how many it wants to make.

Here, this depends on time of year. All of mine seem to like to open up around Christmas. Given our highs in December and January are only around 60, they stay red much longer. I had a red frond on my largest hookerii for over 2 months this year. It's pretty sweet that they stay red that long!

Looks like Areca Vestiaria red form. Not worth $660 though. Maybe $20-30.

Yes, it's a worldwide phenomenon. A few cases here: Adonidia merrillii out in the open - exposed to radiational freezes and a lot of wind. Constant chill and a few frosts usually takes them to the mulch pile. Then they replace them with... another triple planting! If they planted them in a more sheltered area, they'd look nice longer and give us some nice red fruit at Christmas time. Hyophorbe lagenicaulis - similar issue as above Armed palms along walkways Desert plants on lots with standing water without building the area up to give better drainage That said, equally bothersome are over-restrictive HOAs. Everyone has the same 3 palms in the yard with the same 5 accent and foliage plants.

You’re on the Canary Islands. There are so many great exotic palm species to choose from so why the common Queen palm? If not trimmed regularly some will drop their fronds when they yellow. A couple of my big ones do and the fronds weight up to 40 pounds. Tons of messy fruit too as well as flower boots that are like hardwood. Twice a year professional pruning will alleviate that though.

You trying to tell me that Bam Bam and Fred My Double Regia Aren’t gonna play Nice when they grow up Dave? They growing up so Fast since I brought them home from the Water Buffalos’ Lodge! You my friend have the Grand Poobah

Dypsis Prestoniana Hybrid, just started trunking. I love everything about this palm, the coloring, leaflets. It's so fast that I feel like this is the perfect height to enjoy it, very soon it will be towering up above the yard. (check out the Hookeri photo bombing with a new red leaf) opposite angle: And that's it for now. Rocky is tired and has called it a day!

Rocky can't believe I found a Dypsis Leucomalla at this size for sale, I can't either! Dypsis Rosea new leaf Zingiber flowers with an Orange Cyrtostachys: Dypsis Robusta Hybrid (left), Dypsis Nauseosa (center), Dypsis Ambositrae 'Stiff leaf' (far right) Dypsis Robusta Hybrid pushing it's first flower:

Got 10 washingtonia robusta as a "free gift". After 2 weeks, every single one germinated. I ordered some phoenix theophrasti seeds from another vendor. What arrived looked more like dactylifera, with the elongated seeds ~2cm with pointy edges. I decided to keep them and get theophrasti seed from another source. So far, 5 of them have germinated and are sending up their first leaf. I picked a few sabal minor seeds from a blue plant at a botanical garden, and one of the seeds has just broke the ground. Enjoy!

Yesterday we returned home from our annual two-week stay at our timeshare on Fort Myers Beach. I took the following photos of the view outside our apt. at sunset on our last night on the beach. Silhouetted against the glowing sky are a coconut and a couple Washingtonias. May everyone's view be as glorious as this. Sunset at Ft. Myers Beach, 8-6-2020

'Creeping Death' was what we used to call the long arduous trek to the bathroom after consuming copious quantities of those refreshing beverages; Colt 45 Malt Liquor and Mickeys Bigmouth.

We had an unusual rainfall yesterday, apparently 0.19" which has smashed our August averages! Last week well into the mid to upper 90's and now with the cold push of air from the Ocean we are currently sitting at 74F at 1:40 pm. All the native Portlanders have been loving the 80ish weather we're on track to get, most people around here don't like it hot. For my heat loving palms you can literally see the growth with a week of very hot days and nights, now they'll probably take a break again for the next week.

Med fan palm seeds go from shiny green,to shiny yellow,to a dull orange brown when they are ripe. About half of these in my picture could be picked and planted right now,although I wait for the entire bunch to turn brown before harvesting. aztropic Mesa,Arizona

Chambeyronia macrocarpa

Well since doubles are okay here’s my double Chambeyronia macrocarpa. The taller is about 18 feet 6M tall overall.

You can also take two - 1 gal pots, cut bottom out of one and stack them to make 1 tall pot. Seeds germinate quickly this time of year. Then when ready, dump pots and plant up into one of them. You can see in photo, where top pot is removed.

4 years later in Amsterdam, my filifera’s are doing fine. No issues with winter humidity whatsoever.

These are all great pics and ideas ! Got my mind wondering so many different things you can do. Im thinking about maybe trying to grow a Fast Growing King or Vietchia with like 4-5 Chamadorea Plumosa surrounding it. Most Chamadorea are Clumpers but plumosa grows singles. I don’t have much experience w Chamadores except Tepijalote, Radacalis and Plumosa. This is all Giving me a Great Exscuse to buy more palms as if I ever truly needed one haha Pulled a Bottle Palm I planted long ago today and Put one of my Double Chambeys today.

I could handle doing that. Those racks are now full of Ptychosperma elegans, Wodyetia bifurcata, and Delonix regia sprouts.

Looks like you cleaned up after a Toby Keith concert . . . .

Fair enough

Dypsis Decipiens Hybrid Dypsis Sp Ambanja (left) Cyphophoenix Alba (right) Pinanga Coronata hedge on left. Dypsis sp Ambanja on left. Cyphophoenix Alba behind that. On the right is Orania Longisquama: A couple Veitchia Joannis with Dypsis Sp Dark Mealy Bug in front: Dypsis Nauseosa in center, Dypsis Robusta on right

More front yard additions, sorry for the poor photo. Tall palm on the left is Hydriastele Macrospadix and small one is Ceroxylon quindiuense. And this is a Dypsis Paludosa Hybrid, most likely crossed with Rosea. This was from Bill Austin and he has an older version of this same palm and it has almost a Mad Fox look to it when older. Showing the red coloring: Ceroxylon planted. I planted it on a cool and rainy day with hopes that I can trick it into thinking that it's actually in high elevation Colombia! Dypsis Paludosa Hybrid in the ground in the middle and on the right is the Hydriastele Macrospadix. This is another planter that was enlarged to include these new additions.

I sure misread the title of this thread.

I bought this as a small 4" Dypsis Robusta Hybrid on one of my first trips to Floribunda when we moved here, almost 3 years ago. Now that it was rooted into a 5 gallon pot, I decided to plant it. i was waiting to see it grow up a bit to try to get an idea of what it might end up looking like as an older palm. Big and stocky like a Robusta? Or something else. It's starting to take on the characteristics of a mid size Dypsis, possibly Lanceolata as I've seen flowering Lanceolata not too far away from the flowering Robusta at Floribunda. Closer look: Planted in the ground: This planting was from back in April and since then it has now pushed out a small sucker, reinforcing my idea that this could be crossed with Lanceolata.

Some progress shots.. Hesperaloe parviflora - I was excited when I saw one. Yellow is not nearly as common as red around here.

I'm doing about 25 different varieties this year. I was pretty late to get my seeds germinated this year though due to the pandemic and national lockdown here in the UK. As all the stores were closed, I had to order my seeds online and they took 6 weeks to arrive due to the sheer volume of seed orders being placed (everyone was ordering online). Consequently, I wasn't able to germinate my seeds until the first week of May, as opposed to the second week of April, as I have done in recent years. Despite the late start and the first half of summer also being cooler than average, I have had a few corkers and now have tomatoes coming out of my ears... My favourite and best tasting has to be the Sungold, which is also the earliest to crop here for me... Black Russian, harvested yesterday (second favourite)... Pink Brandywine, probably about 2-3 days away from harvest... Ananas, also a couple of days away from harvest... Really impressed with the Crimson Blush as well this year. A good producing beefsteak and blight resistant, however I am yet to see any blight in general this year. Harvested 6 Crimson Blush's already from two separate plants... The Gourmandia have impressed me as well... (excuse the state of my lawn)... Here's the 'cream de la creme'... Cherokee Purple. Still green and someway off being ripe though. Probably needs another fortnight at least. I could post a bunch more of the tomato types that I have harvested already, but I don't want to clog this thread up. I will however give a shout out to Black Opal which has proven very tasty this year. A cherry type, it has a kind of sweet, smoky like taste. Very good. As others have mentioned, I have also had issues with the green tomatoes just sitting there and not ripening, or taking ages to. I think it's a combination of the cooler first half of summer here and me using too much nitrogen in the soil and plant feed, as opposed to using high potassium feeds. Also the tomatoes in the greenhouse have been crap this year compared to the ones outside. I don't know why that is. Lots of the flowers have dropped on the greenhouse tomatoes (maybe due to excessive heat) and yields are lower, as is quality, so I'm probably going to do all my tomatoes outside next year, and start them off earlier obviously. One thing I haven't done this year is use wire metal mesh like @SailorBold has done to support and hold his plants up. I've just gone with some flimsy bamboo sticks lol. Not ideal. I'll be taking a leaf out of his book for next season. No diseases or anything yet this year (touch wood).

The best spot in my yard has been reserved for tomatoes for the past 17 years. Hodgepodge of soils from old pots and fertilizer high in PK give us about 35 jars of marinara and plenty of fresh. They have to grow amidst a ton of tillandsias but don't seem to mind. One of today's picks; Grandaddy Bush - 13.2 oz. Reimer seeds has super quality.

congrats. Being a plam nut I give you a year before you fill your "small" yard up

That's because it appears to be in heavy shade. These need full sun, especially in your latitude or will stretch out like that.

https://florida.plantatlas.usf.edu/plant.aspx?id=613 I have not seen this before.

'Creeping Death', a great name for a punk band !

+1 The Canary Islands are a great place for palms, I definitely wouldn't waste any soil on a queen there.

I cant wait to see how this is going to look in a couple years... outstanding. What is going to be your aggregate choice?

My triple Chambeyronia planting I created: My triple A myolensis I created: The myolensis were all the same size to start. The Chambeyronia were: 15 gal/5 gal/1 gal

Update to this thread... I found them on google maps. Will be making a trip out there this weekend with the wife and kids. Looks like it's about a 42 mile trek through the desert from my house.

5 weeks of winter left here in Perth, we are 2/3rds of the way through and although we've had some very cold days and nights the worst should be behind us now. The coconuts, particularly the big one, look a bit rough but fingers crossed it looks like they'll get through winter in reasonable condition considering it's the first time they've gone through completely unprotected in any way. They don't look as good as they do in Broome or Coral Bay etc... but for Jandakot they look great, I'm very pleased with them, here's hoping they can see out the next 5 - 7 weeks then I'll rest easy.

My needle seems to love its situation, full sun in the winter and part shade in the summer due to the Musa Basjoos around it. The summer shade prevents it from becoming super compact.

Update! Trunks are getting bigger..still going strong... after being knocked back last winter..

A new addition to the family - phoenix reclinata x (your best guess): For a look at the parent plant: https://www.google.com/maps/@28.0217398,-81.9523128,3a,34.6y,46.66h,85.2t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1swJtBn97HriV1_mv3NHXiOA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656