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Sept. 10th 2023 update...

I recently announced my candidacy for City of Deltona, FL Commission. Let’s Make Deltona Palmy Again 😁

Mine has done well for me, somewhat exposed to the elements as far as sun and cold (at least the sun & cold I get in OC coastal) and it doesn't seem to be bothered by much.

I am delighted to announce that the long-awaited book Palms of New Guinea is now available to pre-order! The book is scheduled to be published in February 2024, but you can already purchase it via Kew's online shop: https://shop.kew.org/palms-of-new-guinea Members of the IPS can receive a 20% discount on pre-orders - we are glad to extend this offer to members of Palmtalk too. Just quote the code "PALM" at checkout and your discount will be applied. The book is authored by an international team comprising William J. Baker, Anders S. Barfod, Rodrigo Camara-Leret, John L. Dowe, Charlie D. Heatubun, Peter Petoe, Jessica H. Turner, Scott Zona and John Dransfield. Every species is illustrated with botanical artwork by award-winning botanical artist Lucy T. Smith and with over 600 photographs. Further details: • Comprehensive guide to all 250 palm species in New Guinea • Includes 91 ‘new-to-science’ species described during the production of this book • Maps, habitat information, scientific naming and description for each species • Unprecedented compendium of local names and uses • Companion publication to Trees of New Guinea (Kew Publishing, 2022) Follow the link for a sneak peak at the content. Note that, later in 2024, the book will become available via our distributors (including in the US). Pre-publication orders will be shipped from the UK.

Just moved from the PNW to NC, and Lord willing, I plan to purchase a home within the next month or so, and if numbers run the way I anticipate, I will be able to drop some money on landscaping. In stark contrast from my last "jungle garden", the focus this time is "Residential Landscape". I am trying to get ideas, and looking for pictures of design concepts. Please drop some pictures here if you have ideas, themes, groupings of companion plants, borders, feature specimen installs, etc. They don't need to be zone or region specific. Here is a home I am considering purchasing, before and after some photoshop. This is a quick generic idea that I haven't really spent much time developing, just drag and drop to get something on proverbial paper. Here are a couple other ideas, to get the wheels turning... Please post more ideas if you have them! Thank you in advance.

What ?? That old thing, why... it was just in the back corner, and I moved it to a better spot !!

Here you go TJ.

You silly old sausage ! Just buy seeds they are much easier to hide. Peachy

Anyone else plant out their B lallementia x queen? I put this in the ground in February as a small strap leaf. It’s grown extremely fast.

Haha.. just kidding.. I love this tree.. I hope it sets viable seeds soon!

Seedling Cycas debaoensis starting to push nice leaves.

I love the natural look of these palms when there's a gradient from green and new to brown and dried up at the bottom. I like the way the skirts look too. It's a shame this practice is so common.

I found my new favorite urban parking lot.

I think these are phoenix canariensis, in Mexico City. My sister is there for a month, and sent me these and I just felt like sharing. If anyone else has any canariensis, I would love to see them.

The heatwave has sort of come to an end. I am only reading 27.2C / 80F here at 2pm today, after 7 consecutive days above 30C / 85F and 4 consecutive days above 32C / 90F. Some very, very warm nights too. Lows only dropping down to 23-24C at street level in central London on Friday night. Saturday night was pretty similar. These are the 1-2am temps on Friday night… The heat peaked on Saturday with 33.2C / 93F being recorded at Kew Gardens in London. This was also the hottest day of the year, which shows how poorly July and August did this year. Max of 32.5C / 93F in Cambridge yesterday. Heathrow and Kew Gardens also reached 32C / 90F. That was the 7th consecutive day over 30C / 85F in the UK, which also included 4 consecutive days of 32C / 90F or greater. St James Park in London now has an average September max of 29.3C across the first 10 days of September. This is more akin to the first 10 days of January in Perth, WA @Tyrone @sandgroper I was in London yesterday and the heat and humidity was unbearable, especially when it clouded over. No rain however. Battersea park was looking very, very dry. For me here, I haven’t recorded a drop of rain this month and only 1.9mm / 0.07 inches since mid-August now. Still looking fairly warm and dry moving forward. Potentially a return to 30C+ temps again towards the end of the month.

Sept. 10 Update

Some more shots.. didn't get any up close...

In a prior forum post the growth rate of a Jubaea Chilensis was discussed by many and is highly recommended. https://www.palmtalk.org/forum/topic/19995-the-explosive-growth-ofjubaea-chilensis/?&page=4#comments In 1989 I planted two Jubaea Chilensis that were 5 and 7 years old. The following 6 pictures and graph shows growth rate of one of those palms, with the first picture taken in 2006. I could not find earlier pictures between 1989 and 2006 as they are packed away someplace in the pre-digital age. The first 20+ years a Jubaea palms growth is slow with each new frond or leaf emerging slowly and just slightly bigger but holding on and staying green for many years. After about 20 years the Jubaea begins to change by rapidly increasing its leaf sizes while pulling nutrients out of its childhood leaves turning them brown and dead. This second stage of the Jubaea’s grow is pre-adult (teenager), where each new leaf gets increasingly larger and bigger and the base of the plant begins to swell sometimes lifting itself up exposing roots. If roots begin to show at this stage, soil can be placed around the base of the trunk to bury the roots as Jubaea tolerate fill up to a foot deep unlike other palms. Growth at this stage begins to increase significantly at perhaps twice the rate before. At about 33 years the Jubaea begins to grow an expanding trunk with increasing circumference causing the oldest leafs to break the fibers attached to the trunk allowing them to detach and fall away. This leaves a smooth trunk with leaf scars and numerous stretch marks as the Jubaea increases its growth rate again by a factor of two. The graph at the end shows a growth rate during the 40+ years of the Jubaea’s growth. The palm shown is now over 40 years old and adds about 18 inches of vertical trunk each year with expanding canopy. Observing the two Jubaea I have over the years, the bigger and faster the leaves and canopy grow, the bigger the Palm will be. Soil, fertilizer, watering and site conditions have considerable influence on the size of the Palm. The Jubaea has not yet produced fruit or nuts, but has been flowering for the last 9 years. The growth rate as shown on the graph is close to exponential and should begin to slow down during which it will taper its trunk. It is reported that a Jubaea will not fruit until it is 40, 50 or more years old and or begins a tapering trunk. If someone wants to grow a fast growing Jubaea, they are best to get one that is over 20 years old shortly before the palm starts its explosive growth and trunk.

She finally sent up her first offshoot after being here for over a year No, its not the cactus lol.

Just sharing some pics just took. Waggy x Fortunei about 70 of them. Next S. Minor, 3rd phoenix Reclinata 4th phoenix dactylifera medjoll. Just did a few phoenix for fun. Waggie x Princeps last mystery Trachycarpus thought to be possibly a t. Latisectus x waggie hybrid x waggie.

Thanks @tinman10101for sharing that great story! I never had the honor to meet George but have a few plants from him or that someone got from him. I was just told by a friend that everytime they talk to George, everything that comes from his mouth educating. I'm sure he was really knowledgeable for growing all that he has grown. Thanks also Tin for the tour of your garden! All the palms and cycads I collect have background of who I get them from and most of where they got them from. Ravenea Julietiae Some weird leaf Zamia Furfuracea. Does anyone know what causes this? Ravenea Lakatra

Malaga is the only area I’ve been that resembled Florida. Plenty of other areas can support tropical palms, but the Costa del Sol and Costa Tropical may be the only places where they’re in abundance. Malta, for example, should have a good climate for tropical palms and I understand there are a few, but when I visited there was very little interesting there. Same story with Sicily, Barcelona, Lisbon, Rhodes, etc.

I did not want to click on this, but my hand, unbidden, was compelled to move the mouse and my finger twitched and clicked. Oh the sorrow and anger I could have saved myself if I had just kept scrolling! Such ugly mutilation, a mockery of what was beautiful!

Needle palms can indeed be vicious. They're called "needle" for a reason; they make even some cacti look tame! I'm not sure whether they're juglone tolerant anyways, though.

Fifteen feet?! That's much deeper than even I thought! Yes, when they bear seeds, they do tend to be eaten up quickly and lead to more growing out of control. I doubt "invasive" is quite the right word in Delmarva nor Tennessee, though. They are native not too far away in a climatic, ecological and geological sense; most of the things we have in the wild grow somewhere that dwarf palmettos are native. It's not like they have the potential to seriously wreck the ecosystem like truly foreign plants like tree of heaven, Bermuda grass and kudzu can. I'd put them somewhere around the level of filament yuccas and eastern prickly pears, both of which are common in the wild here, able to reproduce extremely easily and nearly impossible to eradicate. I'd see dwarf palmettos spreading downhill as a good thing if anything - they may prevent a kudzu patch from growing where an empty understory exists now and feed wildlife, and (which I asked about) stabilize the lower parts of the downstream side of the dam too. I think bald cypresses would backfire. Conifers have nearly identical wood to dicot trees, so that'd undermine the dam. I also am unsure whether they're juglone tolerant anyways, which I know dwarf palmettos are.

El sur de murcia (Cartagena,Águilas ...) tiene una temperatura envidiable ,de ahí para abajo asta el sur de cadiz

Agree with @Fishinsteeg234. Research each species individually.

I usually bring my sensitive seedlings inside a temp controlled greenhouse, garage or other covering around 40 degrees F. I recommend researching each species to know when damage can start to occur.

@Billeb & @Palmiz, this photo above of the V. Joannis is only 1 year 2 months from germinating. Compare this to the update post for Dyp. Decaryi which are 3 1/2 years old. I am responsible for the burnt bi-leaves in my brutal climate. That spear I believe is NEW now that it is in your beach climate, might never see another burn.

If that's what it is, I guess I'm not accustomed to seeing them without mealy bugs and necrosis everywhere.... worst houseplants ever.

On the SW side I planted my first "Mast Tree" (Polyalthia Longifolia v. Pendula) as a hardiness experiment: I'll probably plant another one in the front yard for a hardiness comparison. In the center backyard I had a double Encephalartos Transvenosus that really didn't like being in full sun. Maybe it would do better when it gets older. But I moved it to the East side pathway near an Elaeis Guineensis seedling: And I replaced it with another Encephalartos Gratus x Laurentianus. I bought 5 of these from Neil in Cocoa Beach. He made the hybrids from plants in his yard, and they've been very hardy to sun, heat, cold and frost. Hopefully this will make a good focal point in front of the Beccariophoenix Alfredii Triple of DOOM!!!

One year I had 20 lbs or sabal minor seed that I decided to spread out in a 1-ft by 12-ft border. All the seed germinated in July and grew as thick as a lawn. They've started producing fans now so the crowded conditions haven't phased them any. I've started digging up clumps this past few weekends as I can't have them growing any larger in the current bed. Got a couple that are now thigh high and definitely need to be moved. The whole bed is a solid thick mass of leaves.

OK @ruskinPalms, I have to humble myself to admit that I can't identify this, but what on earth is the giant trunked thing that looks like a peeled Jubaea x Butia? Gorgeous yard. Someday I plan on being down in the sunshine state growing a lot of what you've got there. Thanks for the photo. That's what I was really hoping this thread would be about.

@Alex Zone 5 Thank you 😃 at least 8 foot tall i would say. Trust me, i'm impressed myself

I have had two houses now that I have tried my best to landscape going for a tropical look. The first house, which I don’t have any pictures of other than what you might be able to dig out of old posts on here from the mid 2000s, I went for the full on dense jungle look which had mixed results as it was just maybe a touch colder at my old house compared to where I am now so a lot of damage happened each winter making for a maintenance headache. Both zones where I’ve had houses are technically 9B. I’ve always done more of the island thing because you can get stuff started easier in small islands, like big slow palms etc. and then expand the islands as the garden evolves. My garden is not static and even my best laid plans fail from time to time which has overall made for a more organic, random garden (don’t even think about a stately even height palm row lol) which is more atheistically pleasing in the long run. I do like to preserve some open sky so no full on jungle for me these days. My islands tend to border the edges of my little property but I don’t put them right in the edge of the properly line because I like to have full access to all sides of my landscape beds. I too have made beds to block the neighbors houses, but still left room to have a 2 or 3 feet of access between the bed and the fence. For my house these are drainage channels too and no way I should mess these channels up as hurricanes don’t play and can dump a ton of rain… anyway, here are some quick pics snapped this evening of my back yard. I’m always thinking about what to do next but I’m trying not to overdo things as it really is nice to see big palms in their full glory without them all being smashed together too much. Sorry for the rambling post lol

Yea iam waiting for the day when I hear the words you make a decision me or them 😭

Hm, why not have some fun? I signed up with "Deep Dream Generator" with zero knowledge. This is result #1. 🤣 One difficulty for me was a question of artists to choose from; I was pretty sure I didn't want Picasso, but many I didn't know. Chose Michelangelo. Hey, what could go wrong? 😄

Congratulations on the clean slate! Photoshop is such a useful tool, and you did a great job on your simulation! I also use Photoshop and could make your yard look amazing with all of my favorite tropical plants, but the “zone” of course needs to be considered. Can you list your intended gardening zone, and any plant names you already know you like? There are several members on this forum who can recommend cooler climate plants that could work for your location… everything I would recommend would likely die immediately. ☠️ Design-wise, my initial impression is that you need more color. Palms are awesome but stand out even more when alternated with colorful shrubs (dark purple shrubs are a favorite of mine). I also would avoid repeating palms in a formal way. That also prevents the potential problem of a row of identical plants that were supposed to look the same but grew at different rates. Strive for natural-looking groupings with plants of different heights. 🌴 🌺 🌱 im curious about the continuous lawn between you and your neighbor on the right. Does a single landscaper mow both lawns as a continuous unit? If not, I would be tempted to plant things on the right side border to hide the neighbor house on the right. 🏠 As for the planting beds, I personally prefer large continuous planting beds along the borders over planting “islands” but either can look nice. My favorite “islands” are ones that we’re added to make a “pathway”. Hard to describe, but picture the remaining grassy areas as your “negative space” and see if you can make a “pathway” of some sort with them. Grassy pathways leading to the front door or gate to the backyard can look amazing. 🥰 Hope something in there was helpful!

Foxylady

Jubaea’s full sun a little less sun and pretty shaded in that order

Iam hooked I need help but I love it just can’t help myself big chain stores have put small or larger nurseries out of the industry just like a lot of other small businesses it’s only true plant collectors and hobbyists that are supplying the small nurseries with anything rare and exotic and even then you still have to look hard to find the good stuff

Here is a pic of me and my kids (the oldest of whom is now 21!) many years ago in CA hugging a nice specimen (in the Ruth Bancroft Gardens, I believe):

These trunks are impressive! Pics from this morning.

Here’s my other palms + the new one in the front hope you guy enjoy IMG_3178.mov IMG_3180.mov

Geonoma pohliana a few years old. New leaf currently just opening.

Dictyocaryum and a Calyptrocalyx leptostachys showing some color this morning. Tim

Is it okay to grow two or more sabal in the same container or pot? I guess one will eventually steal all nutriments and outgrow the other one! Thanks

Those are native from Sandia Pueblo to Santo Domingo. Our little secret.