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Showing content with the highest reputation on 11/25/2021 in all areas

  1. Wishing you all a fun and safe Thanksgiving holiday. We're in full transition to winter in Fresno, 50s/60s throughout the day, with fog cover most days. 70s and sunny if the stars align (which sounds like a San Francisco summer ) . Lots of annuals are holding on to color, but they'll soon start getting powdery mildew and will need to be cut out. For now, palms seem to be loving the increase in humidity and some cloudforest plants are loving it too.
    13 points
  2. Pretty amazing if you ask me. Jupiter is the most northern part of palm beach county, I'm actually in Martin county. When I planted this I thought maybe I'd get a year or 2 out of it, it's been 9. I hope they fully ripen over the winter.
    8 points
  3. End of fall update! So this is how the little Theophrasti will go into this year's winter here in Texas (fingers crossed, so far so good...). As you can see, the palm has been growing slowly but steadily. I've ignored it somewhat this fall since much of my scarce free time has been occupied by the (still ongoing) creation of new planting beds, an outdoor gym, as well as a medium-sized crevice garden. The companion plants may have the most interesting story. I removed the sun=protection from the Mexican groundsel that has finally established itself. If it gets through this winter, I'll be sure to get some nice flowers come spring. Deer have really left it alone! I wish I could say the same for the hibiscus on the right as I had to upgrade the deer protection for it instead. Next to netting, you may notice I planted a copper canyon daisy in front of it (they have a very lemony smell when brushing against it and the deer don't seem to like it). I can't wait for the hibiscus to grow taller and the Theophrasti to start sticking out its deadly spines to help protect it!
    8 points
  4. When we move here last year there were a bunch of small Sabal palmettos and then I found these two back in the corner and one hidden up front, all nice mature specimens albeit not well looked after. These two I am clearing vines away and will trim any truly dead fronds. These are in a wet part of the yard so obviously like water.
    5 points
  5. A beautiful Acanthophoenix rouselii and a recently trimmed “California coconut”
    4 points
  6. I was on a walk today and found this gem hiding next to a hotel. Excellent microchip late (canopy, concrete, beach nearby). Gorgeous white crownshaft!
    3 points
  7. I got down to 24F the night before last , and it will be well above that for the next few weeks , it looks like , so I should finally be able to find out if my Washy is hardy at 24F or if damage starts , etc. I always thought it was frond hardy to 23F , and now I will have a perfect opportunity to at least take 24F off of the damage question about its hardiness . If it handles 24F well it might look decent well into December or into January . I'll watch it over the next few weeks and see what 24F does to it .
    3 points
  8. Hey Y'all. I had a very large Dypsis heteromorpha die from a fungal infection, leaving this Licuala exposed to full midday to afternoon sun. I thought for sure it was gonna fry after growing up in the filtered light of the Dypsis above, but it made it through the second half of summer completely perfect. My question is: Do you think I should plant another taller clumping Dypsis (D. lafazamanga) next to it to give it some filtered light again, or do you think that this Licuala can take this much sun? I'm in SoCal about 9 miles from the coast. Something to consider is that the stumps of the dead Dypsis is buried under that mulch, so I'm not sure if that would be smart to replant in that spot so soon without the old stumps rotting away first. Any ideas would be welcomed. Thanks.
    3 points
  9. The first mass flowering event of the season....44 blooms over two nights ! Epiphyllum oxypetalum ( Midnight Cactus )
    3 points
  10. Hopefully I get this in the correct order: Dypsis manajarensis crown and Rhopalostylis cheesemanii trying to break through neighbors canopy:
    3 points
  11. Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Nice plants.
    3 points
  12. I tried but didn't get a call back from them. This was Premier Tree Experts. One guy climbed and chainsawed leaves and passed them down. They were done in under an hour.
    3 points
  13. A short visit to Villa Thuret in Antibes (INRAE). It's a garden where many species of plants are acclimatized, including palms. Here is Chamaedorea radicalis arborescent form.
    3 points
  14. I get this from time to time. I just woke up from a dream where I was collecting Thrinax radiata seeds, some unknown plant species, and I saw stand of Pinus clausa and I saw Ptychosperma elegans naturalizing. I will have dreams about specific plants as I either look out the window from somewhere or walking through woods.
    2 points
  15. Any place near a house like that will moderate cold air , but I typically think of a microclimate as on the sunny south side of a house or building . Here's my best microclimate which is in a sunny southern exposure near the house . That Butia is draping way over the walkway ; I guess that's just part of living in the tropics .
    2 points
  16. 2 points
  17. Finally, someone helping himself to Butia fruit as I post.. Thanks for looking!
    2 points
  18. Image taken with a 50mm diameter lens at f/4. Ed in Houston
    2 points
  19. Well grown and happy. That parent could be the beginning of a cold-tolerant strain of Betel Nuts. Broad internodes, a lot of speedy growth; he is very happy there. Record it if you do... for academic reasons.. Ryan
    2 points
  20. Chew them all now….. or maybe save one for later.
    2 points
  21. I finally found this Ficus socotrana which has been lumped in with Ficus vasta I understand, but since it was labeled as socotrana, I'll stick with it. I fell in love with the one at Quail Botanical Garden now San Diego Botanical Garden about a decade ago or perhaps even longer. I never started looking for it until about that time. They had one large specimen for sale at a nursery in Rancho Santa Fe, but when I inquired about purchasing it, was advised it wasn't for sale and would only be used for propagation, and that I should call back the following spring. I did follow up that following spring and a few more, but there were never any available. We just removed a parking space along our driveway which opened up a new planting area this week. We went to Quail Botanical... I mean San Diego Botanical on Saturday for inspirations, and again walked by their Ficus socotrana. My wife likes the tree as well and I commented that I would plant one in a heartbeat if I could find it. Yesterday, I suggested we go to a local nursery we can walk to for fun, and lo and behold they had 3 of these in 1 gallon pots. It didn't take me much time to get home, and plant it out along with a couple of other things I had in pots that were waiting for a home. It could be a mistake planting it near our paver back driveway, with the roots these can develop, but I love the trunk color and the low canopy they tend to grow. I have no idea how slow from a 1 gallon this will grow, but have obviously watched the one at Quail for a long time, so have seen that it hasn't grown out of control large. I remember Gary Levine has one at his garden in Escondido, and I recall someone else growing this species or the mainland version that the Socotran fig has been lumped in with, Ficus vasta. Please share if you have experience with either the sub-group of Ficus vasta from Socotran island or Ficus vasta.
    1 point
  22. Placing a marker here to document this seasons Jubaea germination method. A few hundred seeds mixed with wet Hydroton in a styrofoam cooler. I'm putting the cooler on top of my water heater. My previous method of cracking the seeds open to remove the shell would have been too much work for this many seeds.
    1 point
  23. Cycas dianannensis --- female and male by my bed room window --- dropped seeds from a pollination 2 years ago
    1 point
  24. Slowly pushing roots. Keeping them between 50F and 60F for the most part. The majority of the germination was 70F night, 85F day. A half dozen seeds rotted so I pulled the whole container out of the incubator and just sat them in an unheated room in my basement. They started germinating within a week of cooler temperatures. Opposite of what I have read.
    1 point
  25. I used to have this issue at my last house. The only thing that worked permanently was applying Bayer Tree & Shrub which is a systemic insecticide. I don’t use it on anything that flowers or is likely to flower within the next year. While I try to stay away from poisons like that, it did the job.
    1 point
  26. Hope you have a Happy Thanksgiving @Josue Diaz! Thank you for the eye candy as well!
    1 point
  27. Amazingly, 9 months after the big freeze this Washington filifera literally just this week pushed up green ! This was near Coupland TX on November 22
    1 point
  28. Dropped a leaf sheath this morning…’ INCOMING’! Not nearly as colorful as the first sheath and not sure why. Time of year maybe? Anyway, it’s growing pretty dang fast since it started trunking. The sheath alone weighs a ton, not easy dragging that thing to the truck. Tim
    1 point
  29. @kinzyjr Thanks for posting those as it gives a general insight into trends and microclimate estimates/zones for different areas. One thing I notice is that 1964 has a low of 2F at Hampstead, yet Heathrow only dropped down to 19F, which is a difference of 17F between the two stations. They are 10 miles apart as the crow flies. Also Heathrow is further inland out in the western suburbs, so in theory should be colder than Hampstead which is in north central London. Unless one station had cloud cover on a particular night? I also notice that Heathrow went down to 9F in 1962 when Hampstead only went down to 18F. Again they aren't too far apart. It does seem a bit fishy. Maybe the data wasn't as accurate or reliable back then perhaps? Either way looking at those stats there is a definite warming trend in London, especially post 1990. Hampstead hasn't dropped below 20F since 1991. That isn't anywhere near the warmest part of London either and is probably only 9a at best there. Same with Heathrow and Kew Gardens. Central and eastern London on the other hand is clearly 9b now, given that Robusta's don't really get damaged and there is 30 foot Bougainillea in full bloom. However we could just be overdue a big freeze here, since it hasn't dropped below 20F in central London for 30 years and it looks like we have to go back ot the 60's for single digits anywhere in London. It would be interesting to see another central London station to see how it compares with these ones and London City airport. Is there any chance you can get the data up for St James Park in central London as that is the traditional central London station that is used by the Met Office. Cheers. Also Kew Gardens is another major station as well that I wouldn't mind seeing. Here is Dave Brown's Robusta / hybrid on the outskirts of London in 8b/9a. He doesn't really benefit from any of London's UHI where he is and that washie has probably seen as low as 13-14F before. Possibly even 12F. It's been there for about 20 years and given its size now it would surely take single digits to knock it out at this point, if 13-14F didn't kill it in 2018. I suppose it could get to single digits again where he is, outside of the UHI. However I think central London will never drop below about 15F now due to the sheer extent of the UHI nowadays, combined with climate change. I don't think central London has really dropped below 20F since 1987. It would be interesting to see what St James Park's lowest temps are in the series...? Almost certainly warmer than the other stations. With Kew Garden's, I'm not sure whether that is 8b or 9a there. It won't be as warm as St James Park or London City Airport. A guy called Josh posted this photo of a Kentia at Regents Park in central London. I don't know how long it has been there for...? There may be more than one. This video appears to show a decent sized Kentia at Regent’s Park, central London. At least I think it is a Kentia, in which case it is bigger than the other I posted.
    1 point
  30. Ants ..but can't remember what species.. ( Florida has a gazillion sp. ) " White stuff " is likely Mealy Bugs ..or the remnants of them. Ants will " Farm " these ..and things like Aphids for a sugary " Honey Dew " they produce.. Pretty typical and typically harmless to find both hanging out in the crevices of old / dead fronds.. Only need controlling when attacking live fronds / leaflets. Would use something organic to target the Mealys. Once they're gone, Ants will usually move on, though many ants do aide in the decomposition process of organic material, such as this.
    1 point
  31. JDawgs.: Which species of King Palm is your Archontophoenix, Cunninghamiana or Alexandrae, and how did your 27 deg. temps affect it?
    1 point
  32. I’m from the Worcester area. Pictured is my needle left, Trachy right, and Musa basjoo far left. Palms have been in the ground for 3 years now. For the needle I put a box over it and fill it with leaves. Seems to be thriving this year. First year was slow to adapt.
    1 point
  33. Botryphora and amara are my favorite the pic is amara from Hilo zoo
    1 point
  34. Here is the ficus at Palomar. This guy is growing fast.
    1 point
  35. I flew in and out of Sanford Intl. Airport recently (so much easier and better than OIA). The front of the terminal faces south and there are some nice protected alcoves with some fruiting Adonidia and Caryota mitis. Quite a few seedlings under some of the Adonidia. (There is also a nice Phoenix X Cocos ).
    1 point
  36. Nice PRA ... always gotta get a few seeds to commemorate the trip. ...... Thanks for the pics.
    1 point
  37. Step 1: Cut down tree This actually went quite smoothly. I had an electric chainsaw and just received a new and razor-sharp chain from Santa. The tree was already leaning a bit towards the creek so this was done within 15 minutes. Step 2: Remove trunk I have no pics of this moment but I guess you can imagine the problem. The tree fell it formed a perfect bridge across the creek (towards my neighbor's property). The trunk was too heavy to move so I had to cut it close to the edge of my side of the creek (in a V-shape cut and with the help of some support logs and my trusted hand axe). Not easy but I was able to push it into the creek. Decided to leave it there. Doesn't look bad and it will probably look even more interesting in a year or two. Step 3: Remove roots I got a reciprocating saw from Santa and I figured it would come in handy with removing the roots. I first dug a hole around the roots with my trusted slayer spade (awesome tool) but quickly realized that I was hitting hard clay when I got deeper. My power tool was practically useless in that situation as it couldn't get good movement between the roots (not to mention it ran out of power very fast). So, manual labor it was. I'll be honest in saying I thought about giving up twice. I did most of the work with a hand axe (and that includes removing the clay!!). It took patience and the thought that it would eventually fall if I just kept chipping away at it for hours (podcasts are great). And hours it took (6-ish in total). My arms still hurt as I am typing this! I think that this was the toughest stump removal I ever did (well, perhaps a tie with the one where I hit a large nest of red ants and discovered it way too late in all the fervor). Very satisfying when it finally came out. Greatly loosened up the clay in the area too.
    1 point
  38. Thanks for sharing that and welcome to the forums!
    1 point
  39. You have to remember that Pal Meir is growing in a greenhouse or inside a house during winter on top of that the palms is in a pot. that will make the growth a ton slower. Maybe the Livestona he grew in 8 years would take 4-5 being planted outside. ( rough estimate)
    1 point
  40. new load of grafted adeniums
    1 point
  41. wrangling a bunch of mules .
    1 point
  42. Well, I checked out a couple small Mexican markets yesterday and did not have any luck. One store had coconuts already drained of the water in bags by the register and the other hardly had any produce on the shelves at all. Fortunately, there was a Bravo Supermarkets nearby, so I checked it out and they had a large bin full of coconuts. The paper sign attached said "Product of the USA", so there is no telling where they are from. I am not aware of any commercial coconut production in the US, maybe Puerto Rico? Since I was there, I bought one that was full of water and starting to germinate. I soaked it overnight and put it in a large Ziploc bag.
    1 point
  43. Growing storebought coconuts is a fun experiment, and you get a beautiful palm! Mine isn't even a year old yet and it looks pretty good to me. Mine is one from the Dominican Republic.
    1 point
  44. These palms look like the mystery palms in the Hillsdale, shopping center in San Mateo, CA. (2nd picture in first post)
    1 point
  45. Six weeks on from germination.. Here you can see the plumule 'splitting' open the button. The process is very slow, having taken a week to get this far since first emerging. (The seed anchored down to minimise disturbance!)
    1 point
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