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Well summer is finally coming to an end and I'm pretty happy with how my in-ground palms (and other plants) recovered from the deep freeze we got here back during December. According to Weather Underground it got down to 5f in my town the night of December 24th. Thankfully the rest of the winter was fairly mild, but that low was by far the worst I've seen since the crazy freeze event of 2018. I protected my Butia thoroughly, but the rest were on their own. It was interesting to see how some palms did better than others of the same species, I guess due to microclimates in my yard and/or genetics. Here are some examples of the damage in mid-February and how they look now in August: Trachycarpus fortunei (1) - cosmetic damage but no spear pull, made a full recovery Sabal louisiana - some damage, full recovery Cycas revoluta - total defoliation, made a full recovery Cycas taitungensis - total defoliation, made a full recovery Sabal brazoria - unfazed Trachycarpus fortunei (2) - severe spear pull and fungal infection, made full recovery after treatment with copper fungicide Trachycarpus fortunei (3) - severe cosmetic damage and spear pull, had to trunk cut sadly but it is making a slow recovery Butia odorata - some spear damage, otherwise undamaged due to protection. Full recovery Washingtonia robusta - total defoliation, making slow recovery after trunk cut to the ground Cordyline australis - died to ground, made full recovery Spanish moss - mostly unfazed Fatsia japonica - cosmetic damage, made a full recovery Pittosporum tobira - surprisingly very little damage, and it more than doubled in size this summer

Arguably one of the slowest growing palms in my Southern California garden but well worth the wait. My double trunked Sp. Beff finally rewarded me with 2 big flowers this summer. Anyone else growing this interesting palm?

Dypsis Beff finally put up a couple flowers. Freaking took long enough.. 😂 I’m guessing this double is around 17 + years old now from seed.

Basselinia pancheri With multiple rings of trunk were finally grounded today in a filtered light area where I hope to see them get big one day .

Okay not a Palm but still cool a Ficus dammaeropsis in Nick’s garden.

My house in Thurston County Washington is on the market and we got the keys to our new townhouse this morning. Going to be quite an adjustment from the space and privacy of 2 acres in the PNW. Fort Liberty (formerly Bragg) NC. Brought half a truck bed full of stuff. Lost a few things, I always expect dome attrition. It was a week on the road and the camper shell gets hotter than ambient. So I cooked a couple things. Mostly Trachycarpus, a handful of Sabals, some chamaedorea, a queen, Lytocaryum, butiagrus, a couple Mahonias, a fig and Olive i had laying around. Probably gonna see how long it takes to kill a Jubaea with humidity. Speaking of humidity.. man. The difference in climate here is staggering. This is my 3rd time living here though wo not unexpected. If you've ever been in the Army, ft Bragg is a wormhole. No matter how far you move away from it, you're always moving right back toward it at the same time. We've had 2 offers on our WA house already but I don't like to count your chick's before they hatch so we'll see how it goes. Breaking the lease here is surprisingly painless so we'll hopefully be getting into a proper house Lord willing. And that means putting plants in the ground. It's nice to see Sabal palmetto and minor, Trachycarpus, Butias, and Cycas in-ground here. Most of the plantings here just seem so forgotten-about. Neglected, overlooked, abandoned. I'll probably document some local palms but I know @ZPalms has documented a good handful already.

The good old reliable chameadorea atrovirens a real easy landscaping palm to work with a true winner in the chameadorea world for proven success I do get a little amount of seeds from them easy to germinate palm

It sounds like you’re in a colder area of NC than Raleigh, but at least in Raleigh, there has been success growing Chamaerops Humilis, particularly the blue variety seems to do well: https://www.plantdelights.com/products/chamaerops-humilis-var-argentea Sabal Birmingham is also hardy to Raleigh since one of our parks has some that were planted in the 1980’s and are quite healthy today. It might be worth a try but they are very slow growing. Sabal palmetto can be hardy in Raleigh depending on provenance and if it was planted at a young age. The botanic gardens here have some that have been around for 20+ years.

Nah... I'm mostly just pointing out how silly it is that a discussion about plants escalated to the level it did. There is no official "audience" - nor "mediator". In full disclosure, I have a tiny connection to @aztropic in that he helped me obtain some "old men" palms a year ago. I also think he generally gives good advice on the forum. But that of course doesn't mean he knows everything about everything. Plant-related debates happen all the time... they're very welcome in fact! I'm not totally sure what your intention was with your original 'Please don't think I'm trying to "call you out" as being a liar...' comment - but that appears to be where things went sideways. It's very possible you didn't mean to give offense, but it was obviously interpreted as implying Scott doesn't have much palm knowledge... which would be a silly assertion considering he's on the "Top Members" section of this forum, and respected by many. Did he overreact and retaliate? I think so... he was obviously hurt by the possible slight (intended or not) and said some things back to you that were not very nice. I'm a mom of three (from college to elementary) and if I was in Arizona I would sit you BOTH down in the "simmer down chairs" until you apologize. 🪑🪑 The ironic part is that I was in your exact spot not all that long ago. At risk of bringing up a still somewhat-sore memory... I made what I thought was an innocent comment on this forum a year ago, and was absolutely SMASHED for it. I remember feeling so much regret for saying what I said, and my attempts to backtrack just made it worse. I recall thinking "Guess that's it... no more Palmtalk for me", which honestly made me want to cry. But the good news is that a year later the very same people who thought I was a total idiot (including a not-to-be-named-on-this-thread member) are people I now consider to be "PalmTalk friends". I just had to let the hurt feelings go... and in retrospect my comment was pretty stupid. 🤔 Once in a while my husband and I will look at each other and say "Well that was a silly argument - want to just forget that ever happened?" And that's sometimes the best solution of all. I don't think either of you are going to "apologize" - and that's ok. But if you agree that it's probably better to just "let it go" at this point, consider giving this post a "Like" (meaning you're ready to "let it go"). Perhaps you guys might even "like" each other's posts someday, as a "we're good" symbol. It's like kids in the playground (the boys more than the girls)... one day they look like they want to kill each other, but once one says "Hey, wanna play ball?" it's over. Or you can keep arguing, and we'll just ignore the standoff ala "The Zax". * Credit (on both photos): Jubaea illustration from the booklet posted by @AzulPalmsAZ above. Underlying photos from Dr. Seuss illustrations. The first illustration turned out the best (and worked amazingly well with the Jubaea illustration!)... but this one is pretty funny as well. Photoshop is fun. 🙃

A couple of years ago I went big with the seeds germinating around 4000 on mass Johannesteijsmannia kerriodoxa lanonia and many other varieties bottom heating 30 degrees Celsius coco peat perlite mix styrofoam box’s lined with plastic so the roots didn’t through the styrofoam iam still using the heat mats today only on a smaller scale (that is most likely going to grow into a science project out of control again) I had a pretty good high germination rate all round using this technique had a little trouble with the plastic tubs drying out on the bottom mostly in the middle due to 3 months of constantly 30 degrees so iam not going to use plastic tubs again only styrofoam box’s it’s fun germinating palm seeds and any other stuff I can propagate like my sonerila and anthuriums but definitely a cheap (maybe slow) way to a lot of plants in the greenhouse and garden 🪴

Bought a 1 gal pot from FB back in June of 2020. It's growing nicely but slow. Second photo last month.

There's a Bismark there somewhere!

Thanks, I love posts like these. Surprised the fatsia lived, though it does appear to be in a favorable microclimate. I will be experimenting with variegated forms which are reportedly hardier. Pittosporum are tough but I have more trouble getting them through a hot summer. For the rest, I have had similar experiences with all these plants with the exception of my Robusta that did not make it.

Here’s a couple from my home office window. Chambeyronia hookeri, one of them watermelon type.

Pretty much all planted in 2005. First picture is 2010 and the second today 2023. Sorry slightly different angle and ya can't see the Butia in today's shot.

I Added another unique Dypsis hybrid to the garden collection. Dypsis cabadae x lutescens made its way between to Variegated Agave ‘Super Nova’s’ I grew this from a tiny seedling and waited until I made sure it was the real McCoy. Now it’s in its forever home

Some photo's of my palms. Summer was pretty bad here in contrast to the mediterranean where they had heatwave after heatwave. Chamaerops Vulcano Chamaerops Cerifera Trachycarpus Fortunei Chamaeops Humilis

Show us your Pinanga coronata, one of my favorite's. This winter has been kind to it as there's no cold damage to it. First time ever!

@Tracy well I guess it’s a 3fer for this year, just saw this out in my garden. It’s on the bigger plant like the one you mentioned at your house. It definitely has a bigger stalk pushing.

A couple of photos of my Chrysalidocarpus sp. bef from this spring. It started picking up the pace as it has formed it's first trunk. I got this from you Josh, back in 2015 or 16 and planted it out from a tall one gallon. Slow, but not my slowest by any means.

I have fatsia growing here in the high desert that survived -10f in 2011. Meaning some wood and actual leaves. Way harder than reported. Also very drought tolerant too(it has gone multiple years without additional irrigation). Completely shaded in my locale. It cannot tolerate any direct sun here. I think the OP report of 5f and this pic says volumes about it's cold hardiness!

A couple more pictures

Enjoy the extra beauty in flowers when in the garden it never ends walking into another part of the garden with colour all over the place

On loan from Foster Botanical Garden.

I would suggest Jubaea hybrids and or Butia hybrids...

Sand can be fine or coarse. If coarse, it should be OK. To be safe, pumice is usually a safer bet. Be sure to keep it in a warmer place. Sun is not as important at that age. Hi 106˚, Lo 78˚

One year and three months later.

Well check my sig except the mule and butia

Hit 115 here. September can't come soon enough. Rain predicts have mostly missed the last few months... but hoping for a half inch to mark the change-of-month. The monsoon total here this year is roughly 1 inch.

Looks like you are correct that it's a female dactylifera or dactylifera hybrid. Those seeds are not viable - most likely because there's not a male Phoenix nearby.

37c currently. We hit 40c today. I guess around 2pm pst

The dry season (southern winter) is our fire season. Our last rain was a slight sprinkle early May. Since then it's just been hot, sunny and dry. Windy periods are our dangerous times, which is what we've been going through recently. Conditions were rated "Catastrophic". The centre of Noonamah is just a roadhouse, tavern and the rodeo grounds (usually 4 rodeos per year) plus outlying properties. Rodeo time is also one of the dangerous times and that was last weekend. People camp out near the grounds and often have campfires which they somehow forget to put out. But we overcame that problem a while back by carrying out controlled burns before rodeo time. We also have tourists come up for the dry season (escaping the winter down south). They don't want to pay camping fees in Darwin so they camp out bush. And what's camping out bush without a campfire? So we try to control burn around those areas as best we can. For the most part this works really well. But (and there's always a "but") in rural areas there's ride-on lawn mowers, tractor slashers, grinders and welders always being used. These are probably the biggest causes of fires these days. End of the dry season there are storms and lightning strikes become an issue. When the wet season (summer) sets in there's torrential rain and waterlogged ground. However, down south that when they start to dry out, with their denser forests of far more flammable Eucalypts than ours. And so the cycle goes round.

Not exactly thru window as this is from my screened in deck. Looking west into the setting moon the other night.

Sago palm- the planting space is too small. The trunks will become (16-24")nearly the size of the mailbox support structure. I like the idea of them near the masonry structure. As far as the sagos and Carlsbad, most, but not all years, the leaves will brown and die in winter(below ~20f). They should be trunk hardy tho. I have seen a couple here in ABQ survive and grow most winters up to about zero. The med palm should do good except during the big (cold)events. For long term success, plant next to a structure(house, large boulder, foundation) and you will probably survive the worst Carlsbad can throw it. One other advice is let it gain mass(multiple trunk). Leaf hardy for me is about 5-10f, meaning, 5f all leaves lost, 10f damage starts. Shield both from the N and NE winter winds. I have not forgotten about the Phoenix C. . Working on a good answer.

I got the flushing Dioon below as Dioon rzedowskii as a 2 leaf seedling and trusted the id. As it got bigger I always questioned the id, but am now starting to warm to the potential that the id was correct. When younger it did have some small teeth, which have pretty much gone away over the years. The leaflets still seem a little narrow though, which leads me to struggle with the decision. I don't recall it having coned, but it could have in that I don't live in that I don't always get to this part of the yard when the house is occupied by tenants. Some color too on Ceratozamias in the garden that are flushing, one of which has a nice big cone.

One of Australia’s most beautiful flower the state emblem for New South Wales easy to germinate can be a bit tricky to grow sometimes you need a very specific soil from my experience but a real stunning flower worthy of any garden situation I did collect 6 seeds this season 3 have come up so far

I have two, both about 20 something. One was planted in the center of three Sabal mexicana. It's just about invisable. It's as tall as the Sabals but they totally hid it. The second planted on the bank of my dry stream bed. Because of the scrub trees still waiting to be removed it too is hard to see. I really only have photos of it. First was taken in the stream bed kinda looking up, the second high on the western slope of my valley and you can see it poking it's head up above the scrubs.

Bentinkia C. looking perfect in Nicks garden. Come see for your self on the 16th

An upstairs bedroom view and family room view at my old home in Carlsbad.

Just A few amazing morsels to drool over before seeing them in person at Nick’s Garden. Before the September 16th PSSC meeting. Look how big the Ovo. is to the left. Not to mention that crazy Dypsis albofarinosa lurking in the back

Update: I got a tiny Aloe suzannae about five months ago. It's doing ok, but so far not growing any faster than the old leaves senesce. Healthy but very slow. Aloidendron ramosissimum growing great, though dormant right now. Aloe vaombe also growing well. As is Aloe isaloensis.

A thunderstorm is brewing …

When I planted this Dypsis hybrid ‘White Triangle’ ( Cabadae x decaryi ) it wasn’t that big. Now it’s almost 18’ tall with monster sized trunks. It towers in the garden rather nicely making it an excellent canopy tree

Just wanted to share some pics of palms from my recent trip to Jekyll island cool date palm really tall sago Queen palm with a nice blue pindo with even taller queen palms in the background best pic I could snap of the background queens without trespassing I think this is a CIDP but I’m not 100%, also these clustering fan palms are pretty cool pygmy date palms? mule palm in need of some love wasnt sure if this was just a butia or a mule palm, the trunk looks a little skinny to me but what y’all think? Last but not least this slender fan palm is nice and seems like it could be tucked into a small place I have at my home garden but I’m not sure what it is. anywho hope everyone’s having a good weekend

Dave, I can only imagine your challenges. The squirrels and rats here like my C. lutescens seeds and spread them around and the pop up in all kinds of interesting places. And, the grow like grass under the parents without being spread by critters. For the most part I just mow them and weed whack them but sometimes I do pot up a few here and there to give to family and friends. In time I expect several other palms in my yard to become weedy too like my Adonidia that is flowering for the first time this year. I’ve seen plenty of young Adonidia seedlings under others in my neighborhood so I know what’s coming. Again, I’ll probably pot some up and give them away.

UUMPH! Out they come! These are going to be potted and put outside my bedroom window and watered every day in the hot weather we’re having; they should root in pretty fast in about a week. Gonna check for sure and see! What do you do with yours? Not all mavericks are equal of course.

Even before she is here I'm up to .75 inches these last two days and who knows what idalia will bring. Lost my other data on the system from a reset but we are close to normal now for the month already. Crossing my fingers something impedes what's looking like yet another nasty one.

That’s cool, thanks for saying that! I’m a big proponent of moving palms further north, or getting more people north of Florida interested in growing palms. I lived in Tennessee for 37 years, so I was always trying to find out what I could grow after I became interested in palms. So I have always wanted to find the most northern provenance of certain palm species, like Sabal minor ‘Cherokee’, Rhapidophyllum hystrix (Chambers County), and Serenoa repens ‘GA Silver’. I didn’t discover them, but I have helped make seeds available. Provenance matters, IMHO. Some say it doesn’t with palms, but I don’t buy it for a minute. Anyway, thanks again, and happy growing! Don’t expect those to grow much at all, lol. There’s a post here on PalmTalk somewhere (I can’t find it, maybe someone else can help??) that someone posted of a 11-12 year old Serenoa ‘GA Silver’ from the original RPS offering, and it was still strap-leaf. They truly are somewhat of a mystery, and probably a genetic dwarf. The landowner’s wife doesn’t like them though, so their days could be numbered. Hopefully enough people will have some success growing them so they aren’t lost forever.

Guarantee for Key West; record low there is a balmy 41 degrees.