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Pritchardia flynnii in center field catches the guava. That caught my eye as I walked by.

Re-direct your letter to the governing US agency because this originated in Alaska USA. 😁

It’s funny I have a jungle rainforest garden yet i have some areas that are desert like places in certain spots so a golden barrel cactus will get planted in the succulent area.

Bellevue area 30F at the moment, it will drop to 16/15F this Saturday. So much for El niño for PNW, we still get hit by the arctic blast 🫣. I hope this will be the only one arctic blast and we will get a super early spring.

Prediction for NTX... Word on the street is 60-75 hours of below freezing (marginally, mid to upper 20's), and some cold temps, albeit these moderated quite a bit. They had us getting 4-6f initially last weekend which has changed substantially. Still much can happen between now and saturday night\sunday morning.. it's cold, and the only three palms I am protecting with much of any effort include Butia x Jubea, Jubea x Butia, and a Butia. They will get a string or two of C9 incandescent lights, with a frost cloth on top. I did this last winter's blast, and they did swimmingly... The Sabals, are ALL up to their own devices. Many will get burned, look crappy for a few months, but a wet spring, and sun will allow them to outgrow their damage. It happened last year too, just wish it didn't happen two dang times in a row. Whatever doesn't make it, will be noted, and replaced with something bulletproof here.

This is one for the record book. Low last night was 25f and high today is about 28f samefor tomorrow but with a low of 16f-17f after that high of 33f. poor Bellingham low was 4f with wind chills of -19f going to be a lot of seriously damaged palms. Oh yeah I have 2” of snow and it rained yesterday so ice underneath. Vortex please go away!!!

I used to live there and am still in touch with my old next-door neighbors, who have a spectacular garden. They're not necessarily zone pushers, but I wonder what the consequences of this precipitous drop will be for them. Here on the Gulf Coast, we had a sudden temperature drop in December of '22 and I had a weird range of damage to plants that had endured lower lows in previous years. The predicted low for here (Tuesday) has now dropped to 17°. I'm sending a strongly-worded letter of complaint to the Canadian Weather Service, demanding that they cut it out. Sheesh.

I drove from Phoenix to El Paso today via 60 then I10. Extremely high winds all day and it was a biting cold. Drove through a lot of areas with snow on the ground and drove through areas of cold rain and ice pellets. Most temps were in the 30's. Tonight in El Paso it was 39F when we arrived and the wind gusts almost knocked me over. Up in areas of high elevation I was still surprised to see a ton of large Washingtonia (both species) and CIDPs.

That sounds like what is being done with Encephalartos woodii, using it's pollen on female Encephalartos natalensis (assumed to be it's closest living relative) and continuing to backcross the female offspring with the E. woodii pollen. It is a slow process given that you have to wait for the F1's to reach reproductive maturity to backcross and produce F2's, and each new successive generation. Given that, you might need to try to freeze the Hyophorbe amaricaulis pollen for a long time for each successive generation if the existing specimen is getting near its terminal age. It does seem like a worthy project to attempt though. On the pollen freezing, I haven't heard of people attempting this for palms but know it isn't too uncommon for Cycad growers to do. Preference is always for using fresh pollen, but for this particular case, that doesn't sound feasible to bet on if it takes a decade or more for the offspring to reach reproductive age.

March will be 7 years. Pic taken in early Jan, Orlando, FL

One of my Loxococcus Rupicola recently opened a new leaf. The picture really doesn’t do the colors justice, but I imagine that’s a common problem. They seem to enjoy our cooler weather than the baking heat of mid summer. Anyone growing these in California?

I planted my beccariophoenix alfredii October 16th 2011. It was a tall one gallon. I wouldn’t call it fast at all but it’s gone from about 1 foot to about 15 feet. Post em if you got em

so i have multiple sabal minors in 24 inch and 36 inch planters because my shared yard is entirely concrete. the planters i assume to be about 10 and 20ish gallons. I also have a few 7g minor in planters and 2 5g. I used to bring them into my garage when temps got below 20f bc I killed at least 4 and 2 needles before learning that plants lose hardinesss in pots by 10f. at least i think thats why they died. My question is would protecting the roots of the minors with burlap, frost cloth and friends prevent them from dying in spring or could it be wind related? in regards to wind, my block is a nearly north-south tunnel of 2 and 3 story townhomes connected from end to end its not expected to get below 22f for the next week id rather be prepared. My thermometers & accuweather put our low the last 2 years @ 7f last pic is sabal louisiana

Iam starting to pot my Kerriodoxa elegans up I dig them up with a large BBQ grill fork I love the look of them almost like a spaceship very alien looking my soil is a mixture of composting pine bark of various size grades and composting levels river sand perlite coco coir pellets of animal manure that have a few trace elements the bigger seedlings will go into six inch pots the smaller ones into deep forest tubes the runts will go into 3 inch tubes there another easy palm to germinate no bottom heating in the hothouse in styrofoam boxes with lids it has been a hot summer so far wich has helped with the germination not requiring bottom heating I have germinated some before with bottom heating 30 degrees Celsius but have found no need for the extra heating iam sure if i got my seeds in winter I would use bottom heating though so far so good with the Kerriodoxa project time will tell how successful it’s going to be iam hoping with this batch of seeds and previous other Kerriodoxa projects that I end up with around 1000 plants that will certainly keep me busy

Hi all, Thanks for your reply. Germination started with nearly 100% so seeds seem to be fresh. I hope to keep them alive on a south facing window. Soil is a mix I also use for my yuccas. I'm not really sure if they can survive my winter climate. Since a few days we have permanent frost down to -8°C / 16°F during night and -2°C / 28°F during day. Currently it's really dry but normally we have a lot of humidity. During stronger winters temps can drop down to -15°C / 5°F. My minimum temp was -18,7°C / -1,7°F in 2002. But maybe I will give one survivor a trial next winter. I'll keep you updated. Eckhard

Yes, Sacramento would be comparable to parts of Greece away from the sea. However, the humidity is quite low in the summer and the summer nights cool down to 15C (when humidity recovers to some degree) except during major heat waves, when they can stay warm. In my limited experience (two weeks one recent September), the summer nights on the Aegean are much warmer than most of California's. The ocean off San Francisco stays between 10C and 16C all year. Even the warmest ocean temps, off San Diego, rarely exceed 25C. Meryta sinclairi in San Francisco does well except during our rare heat waves, when humidity drops to 20% and temperatures exceed 28C, and leaves sunburn. Occasional cold outbreaks (-4C) have killed puka trees in the SF Botanical Garden, which is one of the coldest locations in the city, often 5 degrees colder than most of the rest of the city.

Than, I must thank Silas Sancona for the temperature explanation. The USDA zone category is a very crude tool. San Francisco is listed as the same zone as south Florida. I have actually had Europeans ask me if I grow coconuts ! In reality, due to my alway cool and humid microclimate palms under-perform here. For example Howea in southern California will typically grow 4-6 fronds per year, while mine will grow only 2 fronds. Also, palms of various genera will flower but fail to make seed. I have an Archontophoenix cunninghamiana that has produced a heavy seed crop only twice in more than 20 years even thought the palm is more than six meters tall.

We were both wrong, made to 82😃

This tree is getting pretty big . Flowered but flower was pretty small and never developed first time it’s flowered . The keel in these is rediculous with the curly leaflets at the tip

Bottomed out at 9F this morning! It’s only 14F and sunny at 11am here in Metro Vancouver. Another brutal night down to 10F. Pretty sure some plants will get destroyed before we send the vortex packing south to Texas!

Frost ..of any magnitude, is rare in S.F. That said, If you look at the area's overall climatology, S.F. is also one of the coolest ( ...or coming in at least within the top 10-15 places globally ) zone 10 areas on the planet.. While it may be 100 / 100+F in a hotter part of town in San Jose on a " hot " day in July, Aug, or September, ..More often than not, it is only in the 70s- 80s -at most- during a " heat wave " out there, 95% of the time, at the same time in S.F. Lows up there often cool off into the 50s / lowest 60s at night on " hot " days as well, and humidity levels are rarely all that low, due in part to the persistent influence of the Marine layer that rolls into town almost nightly a fair amount of time during the warmer months. There's a local / regional, weather- related saying that .." When you spend a day up there, ..or at many of the beaches nearby, it might be ' Shorts and T-shirt weather ' during the day.. But, once you start to see the fog roll in, you better have a Sweatshirt ( ..and / or a pair of Pants ) with you ..You'll regret not bringing one. Even if you'll be taking it off once halfway home ( if " Home " is some place like San Jose, or a city further inland from S.F. Bay, away from the local, " Cool Ocean " - influenced weather ) " Temps exceeding the upper 90s / over 100 are about as rare as anything below 32F ..though they're becoming a touch more common -slowly- overtime as even San Francisco warms a bit in a warming climate. Great place for anything tender that enjoys a moderate climate, but tougher for plants that like heat. In some cases, some of the plants that are grown there can suffer damage if it gets too hot. Ironically, S.F. ..and some nearby areas across the Bay / south along the coast, ..and in parts of S. Cal, closer to the coast, are great for Some of the " Tropical " Rhododendrons, AKA those in the Vireya group. Fantastic place for growing Fuchsias. Tougher further inland ( Too hot / dry )

Welcome to PalmTalk! Your Sabals look great! If those Sabals were in place during Feb. 2021, then they already have survived a nearly worst-case cold event.

I've been a few times to Houston. A 60+ foot robusta next to a brick ranch on less than 1/2 an acre looks ridiculous. I would do like you and start from scratch. A few Sabals, a couple Mediterranean fans, Butia or CIDP, and the right BLEs. In the back you could put roebellinis that you cover w/o neighbors knowing.

I use weather channel app , AccuWeather and the phone's weather app . All of them have different reading where AccuWeather predicts colder temperatures. The other one range between 17 and 18 degrees at its lowest. We're still a couple of days away from it so it might change up or down for all of us. Let's hope for the best. I won't protect my Queens this time they'll be goners . My washies I will protect since they're fairly young . Better be save than sorry.

Either palmetto or mexicana, but it seems that the few palm nurseries around tend to have palmettos. Seed size should be a good indicator of species. Regardless the previous owners were very smart people planting Sabals instead of Washingtonia. I looked at a number of homes in Houston and they all had Washingtonia or CIDP. I ended up getting a house with no palms, sadly.

Arizona haircut Free the beard! Let the natives be!

Started both generators today, so I'll have some power if things go wrong.

That’s reaaaly cold for Salt Springs island for sure. Hopefully Joe has his bananas and tender palms protected. Never even heard of that kind of frigid cold during the daytime around here. In fact you have to go back to the early 80’s to see that much cold. Thank goodness this isn’t a long cold spell!

My gosh, that sounds absolutely brutal for Bellingham. I imagine there will be at least a few casualties in that general region. There are definitely growers who like to push in that region. I'm currently showing a high of 15 and low of 9 for Bellingham for Friday. It sounds devastating really. Even a general forecast for Salt Spring Island in Canada is showing a high of 14 and low of 13. Some serious Arctic Outflow.

Definitely Sabals. I think they're Mexicana, but Texas growers will have a better eye. At that size, you're safe at least down to 10°F.

I'd bring them inside (at least into an unheated garage if possible) if temps drop below 20f. That's what I'm currently doing with my 7 gal potted Sabal minors and needles. If you can't do that, placing them up against the foundation of the house will help a little. As far as insulating with some kind of cloth, it can help but no one can say how much. The prevailing theory is that every little bit helps. Unless it doesn't. This may not be helpful but thermodynamics is all about heat exchange, which takes time. If, at night, ambient air temperature drops to any given degree, your palms' growth point (the most critical part), insulated by dirt and vegetative material, would take several hours to lose enough heat to reach air temp. Anything you can do to slow that process is beneficial to some degree. Throwing a blanket over the top is beneficial, especially if the blanket covers a footprint larger than the palm and includes some ground heat. If you can throw a tarp over the top of the blanket, even better. Frost also settles directly downward, so any kind of overhead protection is generally helpful from keeping frost crystals from forming and freezing down inbetween tiny crevices, destroying living tissue.

30/19F predicted for Mobile on Tuesday. A daytime high below freezing is unusual here. This will turn the dieback perennials, which have endured until now, to slime. Otherwise above freezing.

I also misread your first post so now I'm interested in what happens too. The station nearest me tends to show one reading and then is changed in historical views later on. It seems odd to need to adjust the readings if the station is done correctly and accurate but maybe the station owner or operator knows.

Temps been dropping throughout the afternoon along with a westerly breeze. Currently 31°F at 15:30 hrs and heading for a predicted low of 10°F !!! I suppose I'll know for sure just how cold it will get by tomorrow morning. That's at the bottom end of our zone 8 climate. Yikes.

The trouble with tissue culture and palms is that you have to get material from the growing bud deep inside the palm. To do that you kill the main plant. That’s not an issue if you have many many of that species still around. In this case we have one and if you get it wrong…………. Im of the opinion that this one last palm may have been remnant wild vegetation. Unlike its neighbour Reunion island which has mountain peaks in the 2500m plus range, Mauritius although mountainous is older geographically and doesn’t have a peak as high as 900m. Curepipe is in the 600-700m altitude range. Hyophorbe amaricaulis was first described in the 1770s from further north around a mountain called Peter Bothe (I need to check spelling). If you’ve been to Mauritius you will recall a fairly prominent mountain that sticks out quite dramatically in the landscape. It’s in the mid 800m range from memory. No remnant forest exists there any more and probably hasn’t for 200 years. It’s basically bare with cane fields and grassland now. This was the type locality for Hyophorbe amaricaulis and it was reportedly abundant there. (One can only imagine what that forest and in fact all of Mauritius would have looked like in 1770, with most of its old growth forests still intact and untouched.) So I think the one last one in Curepipe is in it’s correct climactic area to fruit. It does flower regularly if you see it from pics on the web and does fruit too. Just germination is near impossible without heroic efforts, and the growing them on has been the sticking point so far. We are almost there though. If we can just figure out how to keep the seedlings alive. I know from growing H indica, that although they germinate well, if something doesn’t suit them at that young age (too wet, too hot etc) they can almost die instantly. Once older they are fine. We shouldn’t be giving up, we are almost there.

This plant grows very well in San Francisco, California.

They dropped like flies this summer from the heat and drought. Entire rows of them...so much for being "native" 😂. Never seen so many dead magnolias in my life

@Swolte When I was in Houston I was surprised to see all the dead and damaged Southern Magnolias. Just need some of these. unfortunately no seeds. This is Goodyear, AZ.

Update before the big freeze:

This had no trunk a year ago… It has been hit by two hard freezes. it gets supplemental irrigation. Its 2 sisters aren’t as robust…but again…considering being completely defoliated twice, pretty impressive.

Here in SWFL Roystonea regia is a 9b palm and takes down to the mid-20s. They will be damaged but generally not killed if the palm is healthy and the cold temps are short lived. But throw in cold winter rain and the odds aren't as good for them. Keep the rain off them. They should survive 30-32F with frond damage. My royals look a bit shabby post-winter even when lows don't fall below 40F. Cold, nutrient deficiencies take their toll.

I have a pretty good timeline on one that I’m growing from a batch of seeds I “planter poached” back in late 2020. The seeds germinated sometime around Christmas and I do remember a slow period once the first strap leaf was all the way open. Once the 3rd strap leaf came out it took off like a rocket. Probably the fastest palm in the yard. I’ll date the pics. April 2021 March 2022 April 2022 January 5 2024 - this is 3 years from germination, crazy.

One of my favorites. Sorry for the poor photography. Planted March 2012 as a tiny thing (lower left in lawn): And now putting on some girth and 15-20ft height (ignore the weed lawn as I am sneaking it away with canopy!): Close-up Has anyone seen a trunking Alrfedii in California yet??

Nice alfrediis gents! I planted 2 of them not quite two years ago, and have been impressed with their growth. Faster than B.fenestralis and much faster than B.madagascariensis. This is the faster of my two...the oldest three leaves were the largest leaves when I planted them....they just pump them out! It will be interesting to see how big they are after this coming summer...hopefully we get some good rain and heat. Dec 2017 October 2019

My largest was a little under 3' overall(palm on right, up close) and had divided leaves in sept 2011 (view towards street). Today (view from the street) a little over 8 years later it is ~25' overall with adirondack chair under it for scale. It is in high drainage sandy soil and gets ~60" rain a year and irrigation 2x a week when it isnt the rainy season. I fertilize with florikan palm special 2-3 times a year. I have 3 from 15-25', all the same age but lowest to highest sun exposure is what makes them grow differently.

SOLD!!! Thank you for looking

This is a follow up to one Dave posted some time ago but unable to locate it. So started another one. Cheers

I love my Licuala elegans, not in the best of places for it to really be appreciated but when I get a new leaf, I make sure it stands out.

Leaf of the Kerriodoxa elegans

My garden is not your usual home garden, I like to call it my jungle. To the right is the trunk of the Black Bean tree and the left Royal Poinciana.