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Planted a bunch of Roystonea regia seeds and they all grew. Conan aka Shifferbrains thinks they look tasty.

My Trachy tonight. Growth hasn’t seemed to slow down at all, it has already grown 3 fronds so far this season.

Carlsmithii should do better than dark mealy bug at my location (based on posts I’ve read). My Floribunda “Carl” is actually just a backup for a larger one I bought from a Palmtalk member (yes, I have MORE palms in addition to the Floribunda ones). Here’s my “Big Carl” (which will be getting planted soon)... I also have an amazing “regular” mealy bug palm, so no tears will be shed over the “dark” one (palm on right is my Ravenna sambirinensis... both can also be seen in the “atrium” shot above). Yep, I’m a palm nut for sure * My husband also loves palms so we kinda enable each other. We’re seriously at the end of the “acquiring” phase though (“yeah, they all say that”).

As an ex Floridian, I remember it being quite common,back in the day. I've even adopted it's use in my Arizona garden, as a tribute to my past. Not sure if there is any nutritional benefit for my Cuban palms, but it definitely starts conversations with my customers here in the desert... aztropic Mesa,Arizona

Tree is now in full bloom-and it is spectacular! aztropic Mesa, Arizona

Needs WAY more water than you are giving it... 1 hour of drip time every other day would be more like it. This species LOVES water! aztropic Mesa,Arizona

No need to overthink it. Go to a good nursery and read labels on bagged soil. Find one with a mix of composted organic material and you are good to go. Just as an aside, the best patch of soil I ever used for a palm was where a few years' worth of rabbit droppings had been turned into the native dirt quite a while prior to planting. Healthiest palm in the garden grew in that spot.

Completely normal, congratulations ! The late Dick Douglas had a clump about the size of a Volkswagen mini-bus.

Almost impossible to get a pic of one of them.

Relatively large lot... and majority of grass is being removed next Spring (good riddance). There's enough room... or at least will be soon I'm also being very strategic with my planning in regard to ultimate height/layering (e.g., larger palms in corners, smaller palms in between + alternate palms with other tropical plants). There will be a pathway that goes from the front yard to the back, with all palms being visible as you walk. While I do plan to put a ton of palms in the yard, I also want to ensure there isn't too much frond overlap or visual blocking (other than neighbor views... trying to block neighbors out as much as possible). My plan isn't perfect, but I'm optimistic I can make it look good. Everything is being mapped out in Photoshop first, which helps a lot.

As I have seen others have done I’d like to start a thread to share and follow my own palm growing experience and progress. Hopefully 10 years from now I’ll have a mini jungle to enjoy and be able to look back at the hits and misses here on Palmtalk. Early 2021 was the first year I became aware of my palm obsession and when I started growing and planting palms. I feel like you get a little extra out of the experience if you grow from seed yourself so I try to do that as much as possible however most of the palms I have were already started. So last year I purchased a 5 gal Flamethrower and (2) 5 gal Sylvesters which went into the ground and are doing well. I also picked up 2 Buccaneer palms that went into the ground and are also doing well. In May of last year I discovered Floribunda (through palmtalk) and placed a couple orders. I was so excited when the big boxes of rare palms showed up. So fast forward to last weekend 2/26/22. I was finally able to plant some of the rare goodies I’d been nurturing in pots all these months. 1 - 3 gal Bentinkia condopanna 2 - 3 gal Neovietchia storckii 3 - 1 gal Dypsis carlsmithii 4 - 3 gal Loxococcus rupicola 5 - 3 gal Areca vestiaria red 6 - 3 gal Carpoxylon macrospermum 7 - 2 gal Pinanga speciosa 8 - 2 gal Hyophorbe indica red I know many of these are borderline here for various reasons and I’ve tried to read and absorb as much of PT community knowledge base as possible but sometimes you just have to try. That being said please feel free to chime in with your experience and knowledge on any of these palms. Post pics of your own successes especially if your on the coast here in Central East FL.

I have a nice large 15 gal Copernicia ekmanii for sale for $250. For pickup in the Deerfield Beach, Florida area. If interested, please PM or email at greengenes301@gmail.com. -Jonathan Kuhlman

I know it's been hot in Texas and even the Midwest but here there has been a pesky Low pressure system off the Southeast coast that's been hanging around for the better part of the week . Well that Low is moving on and I'm going to get in on some summer like weather . Sabals love 80'sF-90'sF with lows in the 60's . Sabal Birmingham on the left and Palmetto on the right . My HC palmetto might bloom this summer but it should next summer . Hopefully I will have a lot of seed on my Birmingham that has been lacking a lot of seed for 3 years now for some reason . ( Possibly it needed to recover fully from 2018 when I had a record eight day below 32F period ? It has fully recovered so we'll see how many inflorescences it gets . Hopefully at least 3 that are full of seed ) I'll keep everyone updated on the Birmingham and this year's seed production . Will

Was just walking the jungle and noticed the nannorrhops branching is that normal?

@Looking Glass I don't really have canopy yet, but there are a couple of shady spots around the yard. Almost all of my "understory" palms are in the nursery area. It's cheaper to buy them at 4" and grow them for a year or two. At that point hopefully I can plant a few. Here's a group shot of the others, the Lastelliana are stepped up from 1g to 2g on the back left. The 4" Pinnatifrons are in the back right:

Weekly update: The tree is still growing at about 1/4/-1/2” a day and I’m up to just over 4” of spear growth since planting 4-5 weeks Ago. The entire tree except the top is brown but maybe this is the result of the sun. The trunk continues to shed like a smaller palm which I didn’t think would continue to happen at this height….I don’t know if this is normal. It’s been in the 90s and sunny and I’ve increased watering to 30 gallons every other day - still adding more mulch every week. Continuing to watch and hope for those palm gods to look down kindly upon me.

My experience agrees with scott, blue ones are showing blue as strap leaf palms, an they get more intense as leaves divide. I bought (3) from redlands nursery, all showed blue as strap leafers and are are more blue now. Blues ones were fairly common, 4-5 years ago but it seems no so much any more. I havent seen them at redlands list of available palms for the last couple years. These are very slow as strap leaf palms, and they are fussy/slow in containers. Of the (3) I have, all were the same size 4+ years ago and the one has not had a setback has doubled the size of the other two. Need to be very cafeful planting these into the ground. They like high drainage wet soil with a slight alkalinity. Like bismarckia the genetics seem to control wax production so genes are luck of the draw with blue color. First pic is a strap leafer throwing its first divided leaf in a 4x4x14 nursery pot, secon shows my the most and least blue ones in sun with green palms for contast.

Pool almost done filling. Irrigation is in! So happy to not have to hand water daily for two hours.

A seed unexpectedly germinated after more than 2 years of sitting atop my refrigerator. Providing it survives to produce leaves, this fun little palm will be growing in Southern California. I wonder if anyone has grown Acrocomia intumescens successfully in SoCal? Being a spiny-trunked species, it’s not wildly popular as far as I know. Are any of you collectors growing it anywhere?

At least one suffers from post greenhouse transplant shock (sulcking) and you irrigate way to sparingly. An Archy would only laugh at 10 C. 10 min daily is the minimum those plants would want.

Floribundance. Way to go. Hahaha ha. Palm Party!

I purchased a couple Sabal Lisa seedlings from a reputable grower. They matured with split leafs so they were not Lisa. Clearly it was pollinated by a standard Sabal so only a percentage of seed may be Lisa. Wait until you can see the mature leafs before investing time and money into something that may not be true to the parent.

I have one currently, but had a few others that never recovered from the winter (TX 7b) down to 16F in frost cloth. I've had the Marvel variety for a year now, but always like the soft caress better.

Here's a 7-gal blue hospita I recently bought. It should be put in the ground, but I'm waiting for a cycad to either flush or die, so it's going to stay in its pot for a while even though roots are peeping out the drainage holes . . . .

I have just noticed this threat - your first order is already very impressive, definitely a great choice! Some of them will take longer, others might be a failure - but I guess many of them are going to provide you and your husband many years of joy! I really wish you all the best with them - and please keep us posted! best regards Lars

I generally go with a custom mix of coarse sand, perlite, pine bark, and peat. The place that blends it always adds some dolomite to make up the ph from the peat and pine bark. For the copernicias, I haven't had to add limestone rock like I do with some other species. I haven't tested my water but generally south florida has alkaline water as far as i know. While I do use a well drained mix, some copernicias like gigas and fallaensis appreciate more water. I believe they grow in seasonally flooded areas in Cuba.

Thank you! Mostly fallaensis in the photo but I do have a few hospita, gigas, and baileyana as well.

Jesus Christ - be careful!!! I had a chainsaw rented for the first time in my life three months ago to chop down some palms - one second without being focussed on that thing can ruin everything! Glad to know it was just a scratch! Lars

I have a Pelagodoxa henryana doing well in Golden Beach, FL. ( Zone 10B-11). I have learned a few things by trial and error. First, I put my potted Pelagodoxa henryana in full sun and it seemed to burn the palm fronds. I moved it to partial shade and it is thriving. Second, it likes lots and lots of water. I have it growing next to my lipstick palm which also loves frequent watering. I also learned that strong winds will tear the beautiful palm fronds to pieces. Finally, I was surprised to learn that my Pelagodoxa henryana is much more cold tolerant than I expected. It easily tolerated a temperature of 41 degrees F without any damage. By Gregg L. Friedman MD

It was a hot one here today, recorded 73 in the garden. 97 in the greenhouse! When it's above 50 with afternoon sun, the indoor temperature raises, it got up to 77 inside today. Good for the indoor plants and seeds. 2020 was the year I started "exotic gardening". It was pretty cool that year as well, seemed like it took forever for my bananas and Trachycarpus to do much of anything. Seems like the first half of the summer, it was always 55-60f.

Another day working on the lower terrace. Just a little more junk to bag up. Truck is pretty much ready for a trip to the dump. Oh, btw, almost wiped out my left knee cap w/the chain saw. About 1 second or less after the chain stopped rotating I banged it into my knee. Right in the middle. Just cut the skin. Poured Hydrogen Peroxide over the cut, wrapped it up and went back to work. Like THE FORCE DUCT TAPE HOLDS THE UNIVERSE TOGETHER.

So here are all of my current palm trees in my collection. There are only a few new ones, but I decided I'd just post them all. Some I don't have a picture of, because they are too small. 2 Phoenix sylvestris 1 Trachycarpus fortunei 2 Syagrus romanzoffiana 1 Washingtonia robusta Many small Washingtonia filibusta 1 unknown Butia (labeled as capitata, most likely odorata) 1 Hyophorbe lagenicaulis 1 Sabal palmetto 1 Wodyetia bifurcata Many small Phoenix dactylifera

I got one from Matt in SD a few years ago, which I think originated from Floribuda. I is slow, but has been a sturdy little palm (maybe a foot tall) and is already getting that waxy blue color. It's got some sharp armor on the petiole as well. Easy peasy so far!

My orchids ( mostly cattleyas) have been kicked outdoors for the summer. They are happier and we finally got some room back in our house. My palms have also gone outside. I wait until the Japanese red maple and huge sycamore tree are leafing out to provide the right mix of dappled sunlight. They get good air movement when the afternoon seabreeze kicks in from the Bay. Photos of the some of the orchids and the shade trees where they take cover for the summer.

I got one ; Manihot grahamii . One of mine has been growing from the same trunk for 3 years . If I had severe cold ( below 10F ? ) it would come up from the ground and that trunk would die . I've never had one grow this long on a single trunk . It's really a small tree now . It's just getting going good and will fill out and get a lot taller too .

I agree soft caress. Great plants and very palmy looking. They are especially impressive when mass planted.

I don't have a greenhouse... mantra for my yard is "Shelter the Casualties and Propagate the Survivors!" Approx 5 of last years' Floribunda purchases have been planted so far. A lot will go in the ground Spring of 2023 (at 2 year mark for most of them). In the meantime, I have them in pots with drip irrigation. Here are a few of their hiding spots (most are under a group of Phoenix roebelenii which some of them will eventually replace)... We do have a few areas indoors where we could bring in the most tender plants during a freeze, but the one week we did it this winter, we left the majority of our Floribunda babies outside. Here's what my Atrium looked like during that week (the two big palms came inside this time since they were recently living in a greenhouse... but they'll have to stay out next winter). Ours is a relatively large lot (by California standards), so a lot of the plants will find their forever homes in my yard. The rest will be sold (at some point) to help justify the money I've invested in my hobby so far. I believe it was someone on Palmtalk who said they sell so they can buy (though this will likely be several years in the future). For now they're all just "hanging out" in various places in the yard.

Anthurium pseudospectabile (4"): Not a palm, but we were very happy with last year's group, so ordered 2 more. Surprisingly the new ones are as large as the now 1-year old ones. Areca vestaria (1g); I know!!! (covers ears)... But I saw photos of a living one in SoCal in the forum, and just have to try. This plus the red version are the "zone pushing" experiments for this order. Areca vestaria "red" (1g); Most likely to be buried next to the other Areca. Dypsis sp "Bef" (4"): Dypsis sp "Bejouf" (seedling) + Dypsis leucomalla (seedling): Dypsis carlsmithii (1g): Dypsis hovomantsina (4"): Dypsis mananjarensis (seedlings): Dypsis prestoniana (1g): Dypsis robusta (4"): Dypsis rosea (1g): Dypsis sp "Orange Crush" (4"): Dypsis sp "Maroantsetra" (4"): Hyophorbe indica "red" (1g): Kerriodoxa elegans (seedling): Lanonia dasyantha (4"): Enjoy!!! * If quoting, please include just the plant you're commenting on (if possible). Hoping to use this thread to track my Floribunda babies' growth over the next couple years, while possibly helping a fellow palm collector. My collection is particularly Dypsis-heavy (obviously my favorite genus).

You are my kind of palm lover. Keep up the good work and post here often. I, too, fear what will happen to our 0.61 acre palm gardens when my husband and I are no longer here. My two sons will inherit our property and neither has any interests in palms or the work to maintain them. My dream is that another palm lover will buy and take over Cape Coral’s most diverse palm garden and maintain it. Not bloody likely. What is likely is that some philistine will buy the property, hack down the palms, subdivide the land and build a rental house next to our current home. A pox on him.

Here are photos from this Spring's order. Individual plant photos in the next post (shot at night again, just to be different). Measuring stick is in 2" spacing this time, measured from top of dirt (not bottom of pot). But first a group photo + list of plants ordered in this round... I'm planning to also give a one-year update on my original (huge) 2021 order later this Summer... but gonna try to get as close to 1 year growth time as possible, to give an accurate record of 1 year growth in SoCal. But for now, on to the new recruits (in Alphabetical order)!!!

Correction…..I planted this double in Feb 2021 so it’s only been a little over 1yr. Note the rings of trunk and happy spacing between now vs then. I seem to be doing something correctly. Dumb luck I guess! Ginger Ale for scale of course. -dale

Crinum lilies? Many of them look quite tropical and in a hard freeze bounce back quickly in spring from the giant underground bulbs. The green variety of shell ginger is much hardier and faster growing than the variegated and can take a freeze better. There are also other species that are more tolerant.

Found my answer, Soft Caress Mahonia. Very cool looking and down to zone 7. Gets to about 3ft high 3ft wide. I’ll leave this up in case anyone else finds useful or likes this one, Good under palms plant! And flowers in the winter a bonus.

Added a few over the last couple of weeks. Hyophorbe indica red Cyphophoenix nucele Vietchia spiralis Satakentia Liukiuensis I’m torturing Roystonia regia - from seed about 15 months old. Phoenix canariensis - from seed about 16 months old. Planted in the ground as a single strap about a year ago. Dypsis lanceolata Gaussia gomez-pompae Normanbya normanbyi with a little bit of trunk showing?

Thank you for going and posting these. I'm glad my Delonix isn't the only one in Phoenix without blooms.

Oops, forgot the box photos... FIVE boxes in total: All packed expertly.: Go big or go home, right? Thanks again to Jeff and Suchin for making these amazing palms accessible in large quantities (to those of us patient enough to grow them out). Looking forward to furthering my palm adventures (I bought several "big boy" palms previously).

It’s never overkill no matter what my wife says.

Photos attached are from a specimen in the ultra tropical greenhouse of Fairchild Royal Botanical Garden during my Jan 2016 trip. The pictures do not do this palm justice...it's simply stunning in real life.

Hi Meg... I have one that was planted out a year ago. From soil to top of the new spear it's 10' tall. I purchased it from Mike Evans who kept it in a pot on his pool deck.