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Happy Easter to all!! Here you can see a nice " variation" ( probably a hybrid) of Vulcano,( I have shared seeds of this beauty with many of you) and a new selected variation called "Etna star", that should be on the market soon. Best M@x

Hi, some pics of vulcano:

vulcano x humilis...

This thread reminds me of the time Scott Zona asked me what an example of one of my favorite palms was. I told him that Chamaerops humilis var. Vulcano was high on the list. I was able to get ahold of one about 3 years ago, and it is still loving it. It does not like overhead water, and can get small leaf syndrome from this. Here is a picture of mine today, flowering! It has small spines, I don't know if there is a spiny and spineless form, but what I have shows all the other traits of this variation.

hi... the left one is vulcano...the rihgt one my guess it is a vulcano x humilis... sergi.

I have been writing and visiting this website for 10 years now and would like to share some advice and my mistakes for newbies. Step one: Look for a style and design your garden on paper (or equivalent). (Crowded gardens don´t really look all that nice but, if you go for the jungle look you can fit more in). Examples are meditaranian, tropical balinese, rainforest, desert, japanese. Stick to your theme! Let your plan be clear to you before you start gardening. Nice themes could be just palms of Brazil or Lord Howe Island Palms or Oceania Palms. Imagine a garden with groves of only one or two types of palms (LHI has only 4 species of palms but it is breathtakingly beutifull). What do you actually want to get from your garden? Peace? Style? Recreation? Oxygen? Nutrition? Step two: Write everything down and decide what kind of palm you really like example: tall, thin pinnate or big, thick palms, mixtures, colour, structure. (If you don´t know your taste well enough you will end up buying this and that because other people have it (not mentioning any names)). Look at all species of palms and choose yours. It might take time to get them but believe me they will eventually pop up somewhere and you will buy them then even if your garden is allready perfect (this is the beginning of the end because you will have to move your house just because of these palms you always wanted but only bought now and have no room for them, those palms you always wanted!). Step three: Which of the palms in step 2 fit into your step 1? Step four: Mix your palms with other plants/structures. Palms also look fantastic when mixed with common trees (as opposed to palm trees) as a canopy or stone statues. Step five: When you have the plans figured out and most of the palms have arrived plant out. If you are waiting for that special palm then leave the space empty for it. It should take less than a year to find it. Try to be patient. Step six: Don´t forget your family´s and pet´s needs (how about a meditation pagoda between palms or a tropical style stilt house for the kids). Remember that your dogs have patroling paths and they don´t stop for palms that were planted in the way. General indications: - plant some larger palms that are really hardy in your zone (maybe even a zone lower). This way your garden will look like something in a short time and even after bad frosts it will continue looking good. When your garden looks bad or empty you will tend to buy too many more palms. - ideally all of your palms should be adequate for your climate (cold, heat, drought hardiness) but lets say 80% hardy and 20% trying to be hardy (trying hard) would be good. I´d guess that most people here have about 20% hardy palms in their gardens. The rest die every few years and the garden looks bad again and the cycle starts over. You can achieve your look with hardy palms! - to have a gourgeous garden you don´t have to have one of every palm that exists nor be the envy of most of us here at palmtalk. Most people that visit your garden don´t care if you have a coconut grove or a grove of howeas, archontos or even washingtonias. They just think the palms look nice. Hope this helps. Any more suggestions from the veterans?

Not sure which brom it is, but Gonzer said it was kinda common. (I got it at Jungle Music at the last sale at Shon's advice.) Gonzer did say it was a BIG one whatever it is... It sure is RED.

No palms on the property yet, but there is plenty of room. The land is at 690' in altitude so there should be a good variety of palms that can be grown there. The 100 inches of rain a year will help. There's also a nice house on the property. Its in the Orchidland sub division. There are some good property deals to be had on the Big Island right now. Come on over and have a look! Here's some photos. Most of the land is behind the house in the first photo. View from lanai

- 9:31AM: As the tour was moving, I kept skipping ahead to see what was up around the next corner. I saw part of a leaf and wondered what plant it was attached to. This Ravenea hildebrandtii was in full flower and caught a few "Ooohs" from the crowd. - 9:32AM: Jeff Searle had signaled me over to an area we had passed to a palm I had almost over looked. Does it look familiar, but different? This is Satranala decussilvae, the elusive 'Forest Bismarckia' from Madagascar and most likely the largest specimen in Florida. - 9:33AM: Jeff Block and the tour had reached the R. hildebrandtii and he went on to describe it and other plants in the bed around it. - This Giant Staghorn Fern was one of the larger of the Platycerium genus. This specimen was a fraction of how much larger it will become. Ryan

- 9:30AM: I had to almost break my neck to take this shot. This was clearly one of the tallest Kentiopsis oliviformis that I had ever seen. I had to zoom in to see the crown. That rounded Staghorn Fern, Platycerium sp. seemed quite happy mounted high up there. - In the left of the photo, there were select rare fruit trees planted in different beds, including everything from citrus to mango trees. As the tour continued, Jeff would talk about his yard and pointed out features he was most fond of. He would provide identification for those who asked. - Not far from the front of the house was this large clump of Zombie Palm, Zombia antillarum. It had some very tall stems and some sharp, interwoven spines. - 9:31AM: One would only need to move an inch to see the next plant of interest in Jeff's yard. Mounds of Bromeliads found residence in various shaded pockets. There was no shortage of color. Ryan

Flashback...

Oh, we can always have a huge PRA party. Bring the bodies, I'll bring the booze . . . And leave the pygmies at home I mean somebody elses home:D.

I'm a boat Capt. on the side, full time job is marine mechanic. Here's a couple pics from last Labor day. Myself and 1st place Blue Marlin 527 lbs I'm all the way to the right, 3rd place tuna at 153 lbs Fishing soothes the sole. P.s. 99% of all billfish I catch are tagged and released unharmed. Semper Fi Don

Hi John, is it enough?

Hi, I'm growing Chamaerops humilis and the varieties cerifera and vulcano for years without any problems over here. The winter before last one was hard but last winter was even colder with the snow, and that was the first time I saw damage on my Chamaerops palms. The vulcano lost his spear and give it a treath, let's hope it will recover but they are good recovers have I heard from other people living over here. Here it was last summer, lovely palms and in "normal" winters like I used to palms without any problems over here. Robbin

My advice regarding landscape design ? don't listen to advice. In the words of the masters apprentices, do what you want to do, be what you want to be..................yeah.

Hey! another Motorsports nut!! Cool! I have these pix someone took of me driving/instructing at our local autocross years ago. I've been lucky enough to do A LOT more... backed off a ton once I started the house and palms.. Then I went here to look around several years back.... When we were done I let this guy drive my Tuscan... Oh yeah, I ran a shifter cart at the SD stadium and almost beat the owner.. it was fun!!

This guy was planted one week ago!

How about a "Stumpy" Top Ten! The Monkees (Last Train to Stumpsville) The Beach Boys (Had To Stump Ya) The Who (Won't Get Stumped Again) The Osmonds (Stump Me For a Reason) Shania Twain (Man! I Feel Like A Stumphead!) Simon and Garfunkel (Still Stumped After All These Years) The Beatles (Stump Me Do) Van Halen (Stump!) Jerry Lee Lewis (Whole Lotta Stumpin' Goin' On) The Commodores (Three Times A Stumphead)

Have someone else mix it for you... Ryan