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We're staying at an Airbnb down here, thought I'd share the views. At 1500+ meters (5000+ ft) above sea level.

I found this thing looking like trash in a grow yard in South Phoenix two summers ago and bought it for $150. Amazing what ground and water will do to these in two seasons in AZ. July, 2020: Today, May of 2022:

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

Archontophoenix are impossible to overwater but very easy to under water. They will grow happily even in standing stagnant water. Poor drainage is actually a good thing with this genus. They often grow in swamps and in waterways in their natural habitats. Yours is getting way too little water.

Trichocereus X " June Noon " Trichocereus X " Apricot Glow " Shaded.. W/ a touch of sun peaking through.. Echinopsis subdunada ..narrower - petaled specimen

Since I first posted I've started four more unknown ficus species I found growing in various palms. I still know of one more ficus seedling growing up in a queen palm. I plan to just let that one stay and do it's thing. The ficus on the right in my photo is growing very fast (much faster than the other three) to where it was falling over, so I had to tie it to my trailer ramp. I plan on planting it soon, and I will stake it up when I do. In fact, this ficus is growing even faster than the first one I discovered and planted in the ground last year.

I ordered in March and received my seeds in April, took about 4 weeks. I used the PPQ-587 - "plants for propagating" permit and provided the green/yellow USDA shipping labels. One common mistake is providing RPS with your shipping address when ordering. The seeds have to be shipped directly to one of the USDA plant inspection stations. You cannot have your shipping address on the outside of the package along with the green/yellow USDA labels.

Not a characteristic with Archontophonix. I have groves of mature ones and some growing happily in stagnant water 365 days a year. They are semi-aquatic palms and root rot is not a worry with them unless perhaps they are being grown in a climate that’s way too cold for them at which point, there would be other problems with them. In mild climates, there’s no such thing as too much water.

Echinocereus enneacanthus Opuntia sp.Not 100% certain on what form of Lobivia, possibly chrysochete, or minutiflora. unfortunately caught the flower closing at dusk:

Often my Manihot grahamii plants dies back to the ground and comes back the next spring , but I've had 3 mild winters in a row with the lowest temperature for those 3 years being 16F . Evidently Manihot grahamii trunks are hardy at 16F . Much of the more tender thinner trunk sections do die back some , but the thicker trunk parts of the plant have survived , getting bigger every year . In the picture it is just starting to grow fast for the season . It will get huge fast . I do prune it some to keep it from sharing my Sabal Birmingham to the right and that Trachy behind it . Will Mekong Giants huge too .

Feeling so fortunate to have had the opportunity to visit this island!

If you ever get the chance to visit Floribunda it's well worth it. I was lucky enough to this March while visiting my sister who lives close by. But...make sure you touch base with Jeff and Suchin first as it's by appointment and you'll need specific directions to get to their place as it can be a bit tricky. GPS gets you close..but not exactly.

An interesting test of long term viability of some seed.. Clitoria ternata ( Blue Butterfly Pea ) Seed collected in 2010. Peltophorum dubium ( or P. pterocarpum ..Collected off both ..though mostly off dubium specimens around St. Pete ) Collected seed in both 2011 and 2015. Yucca / Yellow Morning Glory Vine, Merremia ** Now Dismake ** aurea. Seed collected in 2018 Delonix regia, seed collected off this specimen, Bird Key, Sarasota FL. 2014 Delonix regia, seed collected from a 25gal tree at a nursery i worked for in FL. Collected in 2015. Erythrina sandwicensis, Wiliwili / Hawaiian Coral Tree. Seed purchased in 2017. Also decided to try a couple seeds of Erythrina velutina i've had, which someone had sent me back in ..2012, or 2013. One is up, another germinating. Original plant did fine until something ate the roots. A valuable lesson to always remember to put screens over the drain holes of long term, potted things. Non- Legume seed: Carissa macrocarpa.. Cleaned seeds from a couple fruit i collected and completely forgot about the seed for over a month.. Not a big deal if placed in a container perhaps, but left these in a cleaning tray in a dresser drawer. Knowing some plants in the Oleander family can have short- lived seed, potted up ..just to see if they'd do anything. Good so far. Cuttings i tried didn't do a thing.. Wood may have been too young, or, just not able to keep them moist enough. No worries. Good to know it appears that these can withstand at least a month or two of being stored in less than ideal conditions.

My Opuntia is about to pop with flowers .The picture below was a few years ago .

My FloraBunda order should be here next week. Nine palms. Been working for two weeks to clear a 20 year old terrace that I've not taken care of for a while. The pictures are not exactly from same spot but you get the idea. Cleaning so far created one 8'bed F150 load and about 13 twenty gallon trash bags to the dump. Still have a bunch of scrub trees that grew into the terraces that I'll cut out tomorrow. I believe it's looking good, even if I have to say so myself. LOL That "ditch" in the foreground is some of my "dry" stream bed.

How bout tonight's Lunar Eclipse?.. Share if you were able to capture your own shots tonight. Fought a tripod that decided to shed a leg ( Clasp that holds the leg in place when you extend it to x length has been on it's way out for awhile ) , some clouds, ...and forgetting to charge the battery earlier.. Had to take a couple breaks from filming to charge the battery just enough to photograph the entire event. Kind of screwed w/ being able to focus correctly at times. On a side note ..a touch envious.. Would have loved to been down in Tucson tonight. Smashing Pumpkins was playing at an open air Amphitheater on the southwest side of town, well away from most city- generated light pollution.. What a show that must have been.. Start to finish.. A couple late night bonus shots..

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

Thats a good point. I suppose for edible varieties I would agree. I use the MG on basjoos - obviously not eating those things. The namwah I have I use compost, manure, and feed with seaweed, molasses, fish emulsion, plant tone, and fox farm marine cuisine etc.....

Floribundas 1gallons are usually pretty good sized.

Me myself, if the salt based %'age is higher than the organic portion of a fertilizer, not sure i'd use it on anything i'd consume.. MG could use organic components in their stuff, but highly suspect just how much ..compared to the chemical stuff. To be safe, stick w/ organics.. even if they'll cost a little more in the beginning. Again, just my thoughts..

It's a good time to start some Texas natives such as Homalocephala, Ancistrocactus, Hamatocactus ... etc. Hi 105˚, Lo 61˚

I've lost a lot of nice hybrid seedlings, most of my Washingtonia seedlings, a lot of spear pull on trachycarpus, spear pull on two good sized Jubaea X Butia hybrids. Rotting Jubaea strap leaf seedlings. Spear pull on my Frankenbraheas and Brahea armatas. Zero new growth on my larger Jubaeas or Butias. And the squirrels are digging up anything left alive. Basically a slaughter out there. The only bright side is that my largest fortunei is flowering for the first time this year. It's a male. Was hoping for female, but I have a neighbor I can share the pollen with.

Today I took on another big job, removing the 2.25 year old clump of Bambusa Maligensis aka "Seabreeze." It was getting too big, too fast. As I posted over in the Bamboo Thread, I planted 1 culm in February 2020. It put out a whopping 40 culms by the end of fall last year, and already was pushing another 24 culms this spring. If these were 1" diameter and 10-20' tall that would be fine...but these are already 30' tall and 2.5" or bigger! I ended up with two Miata-sized piles of brush and a stack of canes: Here's the 6' diameter clump, with the oblong outline sorta circled in red: My favorite oak stump removing Diablo 3TPI carbide pruning blade kept getting stuck in the fibers, but the Milwaukee "AX" 5tpi works really well. I'm using a battery-powered reciprocating saw, which works reasonably well but eats the batteries really fast. The clump removal will have to wait until later in the week...

Gorgeous!!! Mine is beautiful, so full, but no buds, I guess no blooms for me this year.

I should have some seedlings of this one if you want any.

Happy to chat about local conditions anytime! I'm on the border of Carlsbad/Encinitas (La Costa Valley) so not far from you. PM me if you'd like to come see my work in progress, aka yard I'm going to keep this thread specific to my Floribunda-purchased plants, but just posted my Chambey experiences in your "Macrocarpa vs Hookeri" thread.

I know weather follows no rhyme or reason to some extent, but a mild spring/summer may be followed by a mild winter. The winter of 20/21, my lowest temp was 24F. I'd love another zone 9 winter after last year's beat-down. I'm also hoping my grass will stay nicer, longer this summer.

They will probably take full sun as soon as they are acclimated to it. Now for the disappointment... It has been my experience that if Copernicia species are going to be blue,they will show it from the very first sprouted leaf. I've grown hospita from seed I picked myself off of very blue parents up to 3 gallon size,and all were a very healthy dark green - but never showed any sign of blue. Probably hybridized...Sold them all as green hospita without ever planting one in my yard. On a habitat seed collecting trip to Cuba,I only found 3 good seeds of blue Copernicia yarey,(basically a smaller version of hospita). All 3 sprouted in Arizona,and all 3 were blue from the very first sprout same as a Bismarck. Here is one that I planted in my own yard,now 7 years old from seed... aztropic Mesa, Arizona

Yup this spring SUCKS, brought all my smaller stuff back into the greenhouse couple weeks ago cuz they look like sh!t, All Alive but soggy, cold, and showing it. Although seeing who holds up best cuz this is the reality of PNW. Butia X Sunkha is probably handling it best, almost no spotting or yellowing, pushing growth green and fast!

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

Opuntia Basilaris Echinocereus reichenbachii

in 2010, 16F radiational event killed one large Mule at San Antonio Botanic Garden. The following year 19F with advective conditions killed the one next to it. They may have been taken out prematurely, but I don't know. Whoever is in charge now seems to hate palms. Here is picture of 2010 between the back to back rough winters with one left. Honestly the first mule crosses were not as nice as the ones that came out later. I forgot who they were crossed by. Seemed like an older couple. Maybe they still sell them, they shipped them overseas. I had one that looked more like a butia and burned at around 19F. It was slow. I heavily wrapped it in 2021 but it still died.

I also tried to import tissue culture Medjool palms and wanted around 200 and applied at the USDA for the import permit and was denied. I called the case worker and he said in like in 2017 the US banded any Phoenix family import do the Palm Weevil and fusarium wilt. Ended up finding another company in the USA a few miles from my home - https://www.phoenixagrotech.com/lab/

The house his family lived in was not on the large piece of property where his nursery was. I was under the impression his brother lived there. I’ve definitely come to appreciate what he offered, maybe others haven’t. I can’t even find reliable seed to a number of species he offered at affordable prices.

I don't mind synthetic fertilizers on ornamental plants, but miracle grow specifically just doesn't sound good or healthy in produce or for soil life and I remember seeing a video or something about it that I wish I could find, but I agree with organics for things I plan to consume and I really want to try the orinoco bananas if I can get a healthy bunch of them.

About 3 inches of rain this year and high 90's to 100 every day. It's not as bad as Arizona, but the dry part is the bigger issue. I was thinking about salvias and I'll see if the rain lily seed is viable.

I don't see anything in the ingredients list that would suggest otherwise. You can always email MG and ask. Its derived from kelp, bone meal, feather meal, etc... some salt based fertilizers and poly coated urea. @Silas_Sancona what are your thoughts?

Palmgain does work quite well. I also use MG flowering tree and shrub feed granules (Product Link is HERE) that seems to work perfectly well. I do also use compost all around the base, and throw all my clippings below it (hibiscus flowers, coffee grounds, some grass, leaves etc...).

Well I got it in the ground. Not where I was originally planning on putting it, but this is a better protected location. Now I will just wait, watch and enjoy it while I have it. Hopefully that will be awhile.

Good question. There are two fungi that eat the inside of palms, Ganoderma and Thielaviopsis. I'll link the two UFL descriptions below. Ganoderma tends to eat the lower part of the palm, and degrades the lignin in the palm starting from the center and going outwards. You end up with a dead center, similar to your photos. Thielaviopsis eats the non-lignified fibers (the soft ones) so you end up with a mushy/squishy trunk that only has the small number of rigid fibers inside. Because of this, it can randomly collapse. Thielaviopsis goes from the outside (where the infection started) towards the inside. Ganoderma is probably the disease on your palm, and you might see conks on the side. The conks sometimes only show up on the North side, and might not show up until the palm is nearly dead. https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/PP100 https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/PP143

In my opinion it's more likely a result of different growing conditions than it is you were mistakenly sold a vastly more rare species. The larger palms have more compact growth and possibly due to wind or other conditions the leaflets look more randomly distributed, but fundamentally I'm sure the structure of the leaf is the same as yours. Yours may look like that when they are more mature, or maybe they won't, as I'm assuming the first photo is from Florida not California. Either way, it's more than likely your palms are R. regia.

Here's a spring 22 update. Sadly the ice storm killed the mother plant however the offshoot made it through and is putting on some size.

I do grow lights indoors. I dunno if you've watched my YouTube vids but I think I've got a lot for a studio apartment. Indoors I get virtually zero light since my only windows are in the French doors. Thanks for giving me a lot to watch this weekend!

I'm definitely gonna do this, Thanks!

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?

It's really none of my business how he conducts his business. I can either trade with him and accept his idiosyncrasies, or not.

To everyone across the Galaxy, ..May the 4th ..be with you. More interstellar fun later..

N°1603 today 6 yr old and showing 4th inflorescence:

These images are spectacular! I definitely enjoyed ALL of them! It must have been an extraordinary experience to see the Lodoicea Maldivica inhabitat... Thank you so much for sharing! Lars