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This looks really promising for palm trees and certain monocots: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2302939-near-impossible-plant-growing-technique-could-revolutionise-farming/

As a lapsed and semi-observant pagan, I try to spend my day in the garden on the solstice and equinox days. Here are images from my garden, all made today. The view to the west with the crown of Cyathea medularis and Ceroxylon quindiuense Lepidorrhachis opening a new frond Bomarea multiflora Dypsis baronii 'Black Stem' from Bill Austin seed, obtained February 18th, 2018 closer image, same palm ground planting achieved this afternoon, D. baronii 'Black Stem' on the right and D. baronii 'Black Petiole' on the left (RPS seed) It was quite pleasant today, scattered light rain showers and temperature of 50F, or 10C.

Found some cool palms today. These ones may be pushing it for 8b but I am on the warm side, maybe even 9a in the south facing all day sun, microclimates I’ve got, and naturally sandy loam soil. But probably gonna stay in pots until outgrow 13’ greenhouse. A couple Santa Catarina Queens that were hand picked seeds in Brazil by the individual who sold them to me so they should be legit. And a 5gal “Parrot Mule” that’s a Wilcox Jubutia F3 x Syag. Schizophylla. Which only around 100 exist? A Good deal and they were a mile from where I work Figured why not.

Some recent shots of these palms and a few others at and near the Breaker’s in Palm Beach, Florida:

My south facing bank in my back yard is my oasis, so to speak. It’s where all my palms are planted...I have no temperature data to back it up but I observed it was always the first place for the snow to melt. We’re here in NOVA, just 8-miles or so from DC so our climates are roughly the same. That southern exposure is essential to longterm cold hardy success...most my palms went in-ground 7-8 years ago and all are doing well. The bank runs the length of the house but my palms only occupy about 2/3rds of it because that’s what’s manageable. The Trachy is very happy and the Brazoria and Needles are right there with it. The Mediterranean Fan palm has done really well, too...giving all less protection starting this year...practically none unless teens and single digits make me... The notion of microclimate is real and your south face situation might just surprise you. If you’re staying put, you may want to get some in the ground this spring...very rewarding hobby.

Very interesting thread. Coconut palms may not be “native” but they are completely harmless in the south Florida landscape. They naturalize exclusively along high tide lines in the dunes or near mangroves on the intracoastal. Most urban beach parks remove seedlings on a regular basis. From northern Palm Beach County through Martin County there are vast swaths of undeveloped coast where this is not an issue. They never form monospecific stands or crowd out native vegetation. In Seabranch State Park, mature coconut palms can be found every 50 yards or so for several miles.... don’t tell the park rangers! The odd hurricane seems to keep populations in check. Here are some in Juno Dunes natural area. Bonus Sabal etonia... very rare in SEFL. By the way, this is the last coastal scrub in all of Florida... all thanks to the invasive ‘Homo sapiens’...

Stacy, when I say generic D. baronii I mean that there is no color reference to the vendor's ID, such as "RPS Dypsis baronii". I have no experience with Black Petiole or Black Stem other than the small ones I showed previously. I did see a true Black Stem at the SoCal garden of our Moderator, Dean Ouer, now managed by his son. However, I don't recall much of this plant from memory. Here are two images, the first is my group of 'generic' D. baronii, these were quite colorful as juveniles, but have matured into just green, but with a faint, but nice blueish tone. (hard to see when wet) I don't know anything about the form from Josh Allen. I believe that these color forms all have originated from tourist collections from the landscaping plants at the Vakona Lodge in Madagascar. The second image shows plants I have grown from seed, "RPS D. baronii" on the left and "Bill Austin D. baronii Black Stem" on the right, pretty similar, right ? The slight difference I observe is that the Black Stem tends to hold the color higher up on the petiole.

Here is one I missed from the first posting of images taken yesterday, this is a Howea forsteriana, it came to me labeled as "Red Kentia". I have two of these, and they are stronger and faster growing than other forms. I would very much like to obtain more of this form.

relocating a large everglade palm clump , paurotis palms are great till they are in the wrong spot

Another great Seattle tropical garden I found on the net. The picture was taken by one of the Seattle members on here.

The best way to not get too political is to simply shut up and not get political at all.

Loxococcus rupicola looking psychedelic this afternoon.

It honestly makes all the difference. I always say a south facing microclimate is a 1/2 zone warmer than out in the open in the same yard. I would almost say planted against the foundation on the south side of a building might….equate to a full zone difference is some cases

I would say that anything planted up very close to a south facing wall would benefit substantially, particularly for a short cold snap. Short being: going below freezing for the night and warming above freezing during the day. However, in a long duration cold snap: below freezing for 60+ hours it may not matter quite so much. There would be other variable of course such as how moist the ground is, exposure to winds, light vs no light (sunny vs cloudy), any overstory plants, etc. Microclimates can make the difference between life/death for a plant. If you have several thermometers place them around various parts of the property (in a well ventilated enclosure, you don't want the sun hitting the thermometer directly) and see how it differs over some nights. -- Matt

Hmm, well, I actually have two guesses, but it wouldn't be fair so I'll put forth my 1st guess: What is Agave Cerulata ? -- Matt

Here are a few of my palms catching some meager, early winter light this morning. Coconut struggling to make a comeback after getting some sort of crown fungus at the end of last winter, some Dypsis lutescens babies growing from seed thrown on the ground in the ditch behind my house enjoying probably the only scraps of sunlight they will see today, foxtails etc. from different angles. Got down to about 47F last night, it has been awhile since it has been that cool. At least the days are getting a little longer now

-Ding- They look just like my oldest ones. They got better stories I bet. Ryan

Now for the different time zone

Dean's Dypsis.

Love Chambeyronias, partial to the Hookeri’s myself but love them all. Everything looks normal to me as well. -dale

If Josh told me it was the “real deal”, I’d definitely believe him. Stand up dude. -dale

South facing does make a difference, also the proximity to south facing structures that radiate heat from direct solar exposure play a role. Many times my N. Facing part of the yard will be loaded with frost while the south facing has 0 frost accumulation varying in range from the house of course.

Welp Kentias seem to like dying. I'm down to 3. Patio Squad really seems to love high 70s temps in December tho. The outside plants are doing WAY better than the indoor plants. Also *fake surprised face* dracaenas are a lot happier when they get more light. Also also - it turns out that tiny c. Elegans are always going to be overwatered and therefore will always bring fungus gnats. A bunch of them went in the dumpster this week too. I still need to show more pics tho cuz so many of my king seedlings from @palmatiermeg are going pinnate already, my c. Plumosa are growing like crazy, Groot Jr (r. Rivsomething, majesty palm) is going nuts, my Schafer hybrid is going nuts, my Queen palm is taller than me, my $10 livistonia chinesis is going nuts, and so on and so on.

This was taken on a beach sand dune about a mile south of Melbourne Beach.

I would say Jubaea slow growth no spines on the boots a lot greener than my Butias

I have a reasonable collection 6 Sabal minor - 5 McCurtains 10 S palmetto 10 S palmetto “Lisa” 2 S uresana “Highlands” 2 S Louisiana 1 S brazoriensis 2 S “Riverside” 1 S “Birmingham” 1 S “Oregon” 3 S causiarum The S brazoriensis flowers and sets seed I’m hoping my oldest minor will next year.

Ah, I thought you were referring to a "Generic Dypsis baronii black stem", and was wondering what you meant by that. Thanks for clarifying that you were referring to "Generic Dypsis baronii" (makes more sense now). I still think the "generic" baronii are very pretty with that dark/light green contrast. The reason I was curious was because I've read there are several versions of the "black stem" baronii out there. I seem to recall that the the first batch from Rancho Soledad (from the Lodge) was problematic, and the seeds Bill Austin collected (near the Lodge but not in it) were having better results. If so, I'm guessing Josh meant his was a Bill Austin plant? I'll have to ask him whenever I'm picking up palms again. I also wonder where Floribunda got theirs. Yet another thing only palm geeks think about

1 cup sugar to 4 cups water.. Boil the water, add sugar, then let cool before adding to the feeders.. Colors in the glass are reflections from the sky, other things in the background. Have one feeder hanging on the east side of the Ficus out back. Other is under the patio ( faces north ). ***A note for anyone who still might use it, DON'T use the red colored stuff.. Very bad for them.

Boron deficiency should be pretty transient. Multiple small, stunted leaves in the original post look perhaps more like Manganese deficiency. I’m not sure any deficiency definitely comes to mind with a couple of leaflets stuck together. I’d be thinking something environmental (humidity, watering, air movement). I do like this practical summary of actionable treatments from the Palm Beach Palm and Cycad Society online. Good overall resource. https://www.palmbeachpalmcycadsociety.com/documents/PalmNutritionalDeficiencyCorrectionAndAntagonisticNutritionalRelationships.pdf

I think it helps, especially if it gets the sun early in the morning to warm things up more quickly.

It has to do with cold drains. Basically anywhere that water flows off a mountain, cold air will flow down that same path. If the weather station is reading from inside a cold drain - it will read colder than the surrounding areas. If it is reading from above one - it will read warmer. Interestingly, the historic data from the Boyd deep canyon research station above Palm Desert, CA, actually points to a 10b/11a microclimate, although nobody lives up in that canyon. The point is that these cold drains really change the way the temps work. I have read some pretty convincing work by permaculture types that indicates that careful placement of windbreaks can actually stop this phenomenon from occurring if it effects your garden. As an example, say your house sits midway down a cold drain. There are different schools do thought on this, but some say planting a windbreak “upstream” from your house in the cold drain works, while others say planting it close to your home - but “downstream” is the key. Both of those arguments contend you can actually increase your lows by up to a zone (I.e. 8b becomes 9a). Don’t know how true that is - but I’ll be finding out in the next few years. My house is in a cold drain and I’m planting a windscreen beneath it - not for zone pushing (I don’t do that), but just to block my view of the highway. If I incidentally acquire a warmer microclimate as a result, I won’t be upset. LOL

Red and green perfectly timed for a tropical Christmas. Welfia regia Calptrocalyx micholitzii

Sorry just can’t help myself

Homo sapiens of Nordic ancestry are not native to Florida,

It is plainly obvious to most of us who have lived in southern Florida what constitutes a dangerous, truly invasive species (and I for one heartily agree with those you noted), versus those that are perhaps what one would consider non-endemic, non-indigenous (within whatever random timeframe we might assign), but naturalized, and that in other respects are either neutral in effect or beneficial toward the ecosystem in one way or another. Coconuts of course are one of the most valuable plants in the vegetable kingdom, providing (as noted previously) shoreline soil-binding, as well as shelter, building materials, fiber, food and drink (to humans as well as animals of all stripes), and also providing the immense and trouble-free gift of pollen for honey-bees and other insects. After Irma decimated our section of Big Pine Key, there was one heavily damaged coconut tree in front of our house that had opened an inflorescence, and that lone inflorescence was centrally important to bees, ants, and an anole, a little mini-ecosystem, and I witnessed that all three were sharing that tiny spot because there was little to nothing else to sustain them during those desolate weeks after the destruction occurred. Coconuts are documented growing wild in Florida at least back to the early 19th century, as noted by Audubon's friend, botanical explorer John Loomis Blodgett, who wrote a letter in 1845 about his discoveries in the wilds of far southern Florida: "Of Palmae, Cocos nucifera is certainly a native of Florida. I have found it in many places always near the beach or upon low mangrove shores of Islands." Before that, it is known that coconuts were all around the Caribbean for a good while, and indigenous peoples were no doubt trading them for many years, as it has been established that the species had arrived at the Pacific side of the isthmus sometime around 1200A.D. So the question becomes, when is something native, and why does that judgment have relevance if Mother Nature is always balancing and adjusting her ecosystems? And at this point, with the forests of the world being torched and mowed down, and our planet's carbon sink disappearing, is it ethical to cut down any plant that doesn't represent a real and present danger? As you point out, the Florida platform was well underwater and had no terrestrial plant life until those waters receded. When I get into these discussions with strident folks in the Keys, I usually arrest them by mentioning one true and overwhelming native in the Keys, Acropora cervicornis. I then always have to mention that I'm referring to the staghorn coral that lived on that ground (and still lives just offshore)...and though an animal and not a plant, the main "landscape element," far longer than any of the plants we see today. The whole situation is exasperating and unfortunately it is always the most loud and aggressive, rather than the most knowledgeable or wise, who wind up running the show...and are incapable of seeing the "big picture" that in the end affects the lives of every creature that calls that place home.

Sabal's are hardy in some parts of the PNW/ West Seattle Sabal garden. This is not my photo found on Net. Photo is from 2015 and they are still alive and much bigger now. The palms are Left to Right... Sabal etonia, S. causarium, and S. minor. I have a small S. burmdiana.

Glad I helped with the clue, LOL ! I just repotted my ssp Cerulata two weeks ago. This is one very attractive species with leaves that are nearly silver. Enjoy that plant ! -- Matt

Queen palms. Don't get me wrong, a healthy queen with a FULL crown is a beautiful sight to behold but I have seen way too many malnourished queens in public areas with yellowing fronds and half a crown. Also any wet cold below 20 they will either die or they will come back and then fall over a year later due to trunk rot. If they all looked like the first pic I'd have no issue

Well we were listening to Christmas songs last night and that one (one of my favorites) did play. LOL!

Pictures? I've only seen video of a couple of those I believe.

I meant northwest

And not as slow as some would think. My S. minor put out close to 5 fronds this year and my S. palmetto almost 3 (first year in the ground). These are two palms I will not even worry about protecting in the upcoming cold blast. I just got some S. causarium seeds in the mail today, very excited about this one!

The blanket are good idea for two reason. They protect your palms from cold Radiation freezes. RF is clear skies and cold air. The blanket on top help trap the warmer air that is raising. Thats why it also good idea to put a blanket or carboard or ( 6" of mulch) on the ground before it get cold. It also acts as a canopy protection. You might have less spotting with a blanket. (11:30 am 50F.)

By "generic" do you mean the ones from Floribunda? I personally have... - Dypsis baronii Black Stem "The Real Deal" from Josh at Fairview (one of my more expensive purchases... not sure what he meant by "The Real Deal") - Dypsis baronii Black Stem seedlings from Floribunda (five seedlings @ $8 each) Photos below (larger is the more expensive one). Assuming Josh did indeed sell me "The Real Deal" ... is the expectation that the more expensive one is likely to have the black stem, but the seedlings will eventually have a green stem? I'll enjoy them either way, but the answer would influence where I place them in the yard. Looking forward to seeing your comparison photos.

relocating a couple large ponytails to accommodate clean up

The highest mean min Jan T in Greece is currently in Kasos with around 12C. That's the best Greece (and geographical Europe for that matter) can do. Maybe a well sheltered area in Kasos, provided there is frequent watering since the climate in Kasos is semi-arid, could do the trick when it comes to cocos.

Humans have a problem in that they tend to look at history in the space of at most a few lifetimes...a blip in terms of the history of our world, and even our relatively recent species. I was told by a "master gardener" type at the Key West Botanical Garden (I was buying "native" plants from her) that a native is anything that was in the Keys before the arrival of the English. I didn't want to get into a meaty argument with her (she being the type of snowbird that relocates permanently and suddenly and unbendingly knows all about their new home), but I had to shake my head at this attitude, which also bleeds into ongoing government attitudes about the arguably native/non-native green iguanas, which, like coconuts, have a very blurry origin in the Keys. One odd thing I have noticed in the Keys, where there is a really obsessive attitude in government about the control over planting and removal of plants...as an example, the silver buttonwood is a highly touted native in that it occurs naturally only in one tiny population, I believe in the Long Beach area of Big Pine Key or somewhere adjacent...and though of course this is a popular ornamental used for hedging and other purposes on a vast scale in South Florida due to man's intervention via the nursery industry, if I go to the nursery and purchase one, and plant it on my land, I am required to seek (and pay for) a permit to remove that "native" plant should I desire to do so in the future, even though I bought it, planted it, and it has never grown naturally on my area of Big Pine Key. There is such hysteria over plant removal permitting that the result now is counterproductive: when homeowners see a native plant sprouting or growing as a young plant or sapling, even in an area they might desire such a plant, they invariably rip them out before they are a few feet tall, with the logic that they would rather go to the nursery and buy something non-native, as they will never have to get a permit to remove something that is an "invasive exotic" (those two words apparently now permanently fused in Florida). As regards the destroyed coconut trees, I think a call to the Miami Herald along with those photos might be a step in the right direction. People by and large love coconuts and they are a defining element in south Florida. I remember that at least one city (might have been Miami) was going to ban all coconuts from municipal plantings due to the current hysteria, but a public campaign put a stop to the policy. A newspaper can make a big difference in alerting the public to such activities.

(The following is by Moyna Prince and credit to http://www.bssf-miami.org) Late in 2006, I sat down with Nat DeLeon, one of the founding members of the Bromeliad Society of South Florida. I was curious about the early years, when these exotic plants were first arriving from Latin America and sometimes from Europe. And I also wanted to hear about the beginnings of Bromeliad Society of South Florida and the people who got it started. Like most people in South Florida, Nat came from elsewhere. I asked him what brought him to Miami. He told me that he got out of the Navy following WWII service and wanted to go to college, but all the colleges around Pennsylvania were already filled. "I sent letters all over the state and wasn't able to hook up with anything. Then I had a friend who played quarterback for our high school. He came down to UM to play quarterback, then transferred to West Point. He always raved about the climate in Miami. So in 1947 I sent a letter and got information about enrolling in the University of Miami and that's where I went. I didn't want any more of the northern cold and I thought going to a warmer clime would be just right for me. Even before I enrolled I knew this was the place I was going to stay after I graduated. "After I graduated I took a job at the Miami Daily News in advertising but I wound up in circulation. Circulation meant having a lot of spare time. And I met a fellow who was doing a lawn business on the side so I went to work with him building up a clientele. After a year or so - he was not the working type - he intimated to me that he was thinking of getting out. I said, 'I'll buy you out.' And I did. I quit the newspaper and decided to do this full time. "I felt I needed to learn about these plants. I went to Fairchild Tropical Garden a couple of times a week. I also sent away for all kinds of catalogues. In those days some of the better nurseries had catalogues and sold a lot of things besides orchids. I did a lot of self-studying. There were no societies at that point." "I met my wife Eileen at University of Miami when we were in a marketing class together. I think by that time I knew a fair amount and there was an opening at Parrot Jungle. It may have been a long courtship because at that time Parrot Jungle was at the end of the world and whenever I had a date with her I made sure my tires were in good shape, because it would have been a long walk to go anywhere else - probably in the dark." "Parrot Jungle was at the point of expansion and they needed somebody and I dove into tropical plants, even more so because I didn't want anyone saying I got the job because I married the boss's daughter. There was plenty of room to make the grounds of Parrot Jungle as interesting as the birds. It was at the time when there was a boom in tourism and that put Parrot Jungle on the map. What they had there were mostly birds. The grounds were waiting to be worked on." I asked Nat how he got started in bromeliads. He replied that he wanted Parrot Jungle to have interesting plants. "Most of the other tourist attractions used annuals and I wanted something different. I wanted people to stop in their tracks and say, 'Gee, what's that? That's beautiful.' The first bromeliad I found was Aechmea fasciata, and it lasted so long and was so easy to grow. I said 'Gee, I've got to get into this group of plants.' "Then I heard about Mulford Foster and some of the other people who were collecting bromeliads. I used to get up at daybreak and drive up to Orlando and be with Mulford by 9 o'clock and listen to him talking for most of the day. Finally when it was starting to get dark I'd say I'd come up there to get some plants! He knew that the plants I'd get from him would be used in a landscape setting and that would help popularize bromeliads. I think we were the first to use bromeliads in the landscape. However, I couldn't get a lot of plants from him. He was in the process of moving from Orlando where he had a rather small place to the larger place he had in the country. But I would bring plants back. Julian Nally grew Vriesea mariae, which at that time was hot, but he said he wouldn't sell more than a couple until he had 50 thousand. He wanted to grow Vr. mariae as a cut flower. He was interested in other bromeliads that I was able to buy. So Mulford's was the center. He was the guy who did all the hybridizing. Hardly anyone else I knew did hybridizing at that time, with the exception of Ralph Davis and myself." "Ralph came to the Jungle one time because he'd heard I was using bromeliads in the landscape, and we had a pretty good friendship. Ralph was more interested in staghorn ferns and crotons. But when he got the bromeliad bug, crotons took a back seat. He had a lot of oak trees up in North Miami and had enough room for his bromeliad benches. He and I started to do some joint ventures, importing from South America, mostly Brazil. We tried not to duplicate. If I did something, he would do something different. I would go up to his place at least once a month. We both started hybridizing. What I wanted to do was have masses of bromeliads. Not onesies and twosies. To do that it would be almost impossible unless you grew a lot of your own. Bromeliads were pretty scarce. Bob and Catherine Wilson's Fantastic Gardens nursery was only five minutes away and anything they had I got, within reason. But they still didn't want to sell in any quantity either." Nat is famous for his hybrids, and it took a farsighted person to realize what the future could hold for a commercial grower, with an attraction like Parrot Jungle requiring a constant supply of colorful, showy plants. Nat told me he spotted blooming xNeophytum Lymanii on a visit to Mulford Foster. Nat could see there was a wide variation in the colors, ranging from red to green and everything in between. But Mulford wouldn't sell those hybrids. However, he did part with an Orthophytum navioides, one of the parents of xNeophytum Lymanii. Driving home Nat was puzzling over what he could hybridize the Orthophytum with, and Neoregelia carolinae was the plant he came up with. "It wasn't that long before the Orthophytum showed signs of coming into bloom and I had to find something that was also in bloom. Luckily Ralph Davis had several Neo. carolinaes that were also coming into bloom and I told him what I wanted to do. He said 'Come on up. It's yours.' I brought some home and hybridized and got lots of plants and gave some to Ralph. Because of our partnership and because I got the carolinaes from him I named Neophytum 'Ralph Davis' after him. I made Neophytum 'Gary Hendrix' too and several other Neophytum hybrids." On a 1959 visit to Fantastic Gardens, the famous nursery run by Bob and Catherine Wilson, Nat encountered Alex Hawkes who had just returned from a bromeliad society meeting in St. Petersburg. As the three men talked, they wondered if there was enough interest in the Miami area to form their own society. Said Nat, "We each called some people and set up the first meeting at Fantastic Gardens. There probably weren't more than a dozen people at that first meeting but we started a society. We grew too big for meeting in each other's homes and started meeting in South Miami Savings and Loan." Alex Hawkes became the temporary chairman of the board and in 1960 Nat was named the first president, a position he also held in 1978-79 and 1986-87. In 1970 the BSSF put on a show at Fairchild Tropical Garden. The November - December 1970 issue of The Bromeliad Society Bulletin describes it: "The entire auditorium was filled with mulch and arranged into islands illuminated by overhead spots. A thousand or more bromeliads were shown in the beds, including the hybrids of Nat Deleon and a spectacular blooming Vriesea [now Alcantarea] imperialis lent them by Tom Mentelos of Fantastic Gardens." This show was followed by annual events at Fairchild which have always featured dozens of Nat's spectacular blooming and variegated Vrieseas and Guzmanias. Education was emphasized, with card tables set up in the show room, each featuring a different bromeliad genus. Nat had always been interested in palms, which to him denoted the tropics. He describes those early years: "Whenever I thought about the tropics I thought about palms. Whenever I went to Fairchild, so I could speak intelligently to the people I was working for, I memorized the labels on the palms. I used to write different people. There were maybe three different nurserymen in Belgium I used to correspond with. One was interested in palm seeds and in return I wanted Neo. carolinae tricolor. Mulford Foster had said it would be a couple of years before he had any to sell." He became acquainted with Georges DeMeyer, a well-known Belgian bromeliad grower. They sent seedlings back and forth while they were evaluated for commercial qualities depending on their different growing conditions. But the DeMeyers were strictly commercial, while Nat was looking for showy landscaping plants. He also started corresponding with people in the tropics and the only way he could get their names was through the orchid journals. "I wrote to an orchid man in Cali, Colombia, and we corresponded and even traded certain plants. And then I thought, if I'm going to do a really nice job at Parrot Jungle, it would be nice if I could go into the jungle and see what it was all about. I asked the Colombian about meeting him and the two of us going on a collecting trip. I brought back some heliconias and other plants from Colombia. In some ways my first trip was a disaster, but it was a learning experience. I actually went on three collecting trips to Colombia. I learned that altitude was critical so I always went to the lower areas. I collected in Colombia, Costa Rica, Venezuela, Panama and Ecuador. I was more interested in Guzmanias, anything that looked really colorful. Parrot Jungle had plenty of shade and Guzmanias needed plenty of shade. "By that time I'd moved from a small house in South Miami to Old Cutler Road, where I had an acre and a half. I did not have real facilities at Parrot Jungle but I was able to use my own place for hybridizing." Hardiness also had to be considered. Nat persuaded Parrot Jungle to build a couple of Quonset type shade houses for protection of ornamental but cold-tender plants - not only bromeliads. These would be displayed in the grounds while they bloomed, pot and all, and returned to the protective huts when they finished flowering. Nat made the acquaintance of California growers and swapped plants back and forth. He started acquiring orchids from Fred Fuchs, a Homestead orchid grower who was making frequent collecting trips to Latin America. Nat attached the orchids to tree limbs, and placed portable signs that said "Orchids [or bromeliads] in bloom" with an arrow pointing straight up. By then it was obvious that many visitors went there because of the beautiful gardens. In recognition of his landscaping work, Parrot Jungle renamed the garden "Parrot Jungle and Gardens." I asked Nat about his involvement with the BSI. He told me, "I became a member of the BSI about the time I became interested in bromeliads. I guess the involvement had more to do with expanding my interest. "There were a number of growers in California, among them David Barry. He was very wealthy and would go over to Europe. He was interested in many plants, not only bromeliads, and it was another way of getting new things. We corresponded some. He was also interested in palms and cycads. I think my first trip to California was to accept the presidency of the Palm Society." "I was the fifth president of that society from 1964-1966, and David Barry was the second president. So I went out to California and spent a week or so there. That's when I met Bill Paylen and Victoria Padilla. Slowly but surely people were finding out what was happening here. Don't forget, the BSI was almost all California at that time, but I joined because I was interested in the bromeliads. I became a director. Florida was becoming a big bromeliad-growing area. There was an upheaval and the BSI president was forced to resign, and the other directors asked me to be president. I was president just one term. There was a lot of controversy over shows and show schedules. There were more societies in Texas and New Orleans that were on the wane. That seems to be happening in Florida now. I think it's due to the changing of the times, with computers becoming more common and the mass information age. A lot of societies are having difficulties. I worry about these societies that are combining bromeliads with other plant groups." Nat told me the Florida Council of Bromeliad Societies was formed following a meeting with Carol Johnson, a nursery owner in central Florida. Carol was concerned about having accepted the 1980 World Conference and getting enough involvement from other societies. Nat's position was that all societies needed to help each other. By then he felt the societies were getting a little rusty and needed ideas from other people and places. At about this time, Nat started his famous nursery. He told me he started DeLeon's Bromeliads in 1979 for his sons. "At first we were a retail and mail order nursery. Then we learned about chemicals to induce blooming, and tissue culture was just coming into being. Before that, we used to order plants from the Bak Nursery in Belgium and they would send us the plants in flower, which we'd pot up and sell. Having a retail nursery and mail order business is not the easiest thing, because we'd have people come in and spend an awful lot of time and not an awful lot of money. We knew who the big buyers were. For instance, when we got in Aechmea 'Samurai,' my sons got on the phone and had ready buyers. It still was a tough deal. Eileen and I spent a lot of time feeding our kids because they weren't making a lot of money. So when tissue culture and the chemicals to induce flowering came in, I talked my sons into going wholesale. We bought a five-acre nursery at the present site on 216th Street which is a main road and very accessible. We had a one-acre shade house to start with, which has expanded to 28 acres presently." I asked Nat which of his hybrids is his favorite. He told me, "One of my favorite bromeliads is Vrieslandsia 'Ultima.' Unfortunately it's not the best plant for Florida because it likes it cool. But I'm not sure I really have a favorite bromeliad. The most sold individual bromeliad would be Aechmea fasciata, and in general Guzmanias are probably the most important genus commercially. Aec. fasciata will probably always be the best seller because it has such a long-lasting inflorescence, and Guzmanias are important because they do well indoors. Part of the early problem was educating people in caring for bromeliads and not over-watering them." Over the years Nat has seen a lot of changes for the bromeliad hobbyist. He pointed out that while there used to be more nurseries, they were more like back-yard growers. Now we have the Home Depots and K-Marts, but unless you get to the store when the plants are first put out, you may buy something that's been neglected. Finally, Nat said: "While the Journal has been the voice of bromeliads for so many years, I have to mention the everyday voice of bromeliads that has been available for some time now, and that is the Florida Council of Bromeliad Society's web site, http://fcbs.org/ Michael Andreas and his wife Karen have done a tremendous job. The web site covers just about every facet of bromeliads and includes the most up to date photos of hybrids made by bromeliad lovers from all over the world. It is truly a work of art!" This article was originally published in the BromilAdvisory, November 2008, the newsletter of the Bromeliad Society of South Florida.

OK, I have some seeds to compare it to now. Sabal etonia top row, possible S. etonia x palmetto 2nd row, S. palmetto 3rd row, and for fun I threw in S. miamiensis in the last row. The possible hybrid seeds are intermediate!