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A friend pulled this puppy out of a sale and planted it at his nursery!! This palm is 60 years old and stunning! Enjoy.

So I bought 5 Wodyetia last fall that were not the happiest I’ve seen but too good to pass up . I knew at least two would pull through if I gave them a good place to winter down. I was concerned because , as luck would have it , we had an especially wet year. It was more than double our normal rainfall , and Wodyetia don’t like extended wet conditions . I posted in an earlier thread that two are now in the ground and growing fine . The other three were sad and showed no signs of growth. The fronds turned brown but the spears remained green . I checked every time I thought about it and they were dormant . Imagine my surprise when I was working around the garden and saw this . The fronds died weeks ago and I cut them off. The other two ( you can see one in the background ) are just sitting . The spears are green but no growth, I refuse to give up! Harry

I needed a fix of buying a palm it was to much I had to buy one I think a few Australian growers know where I got this one from just buy them if you want them in the collection it’s fun.

I finally picked my little genoformis seeds after about two years of ripening after such a long wait they got planted straight away bottom heating 30 degrees Celsius coco coir perlite mix in a community pot with a plastic bag wrapped around it and some time to wait for germinating.

Dypsis mirabilis. Tim

Welcome , you are amongst frond friends!!If you want mature palms they are expensive. For me , private growers do the best or local information from a person who grows palms , like @Silas_Sancona . This information is the best. I know Mule palms can be beautiful and if these folks say they can handle your area , I would tend to believe it. This forum has people All over the word that are more than happy to help. I can’t because my climate is different than yours . Those queens , most likely , will never look their best in my opinion , tons of water may help . If you see any in your area that look decent , it is because they have been fussed over which is fine if you want to do that . Most folks don’t. HarryIf you pass a yard like this , it’s probably one of us . We come from a different planet , according to my wife😂!

CC in AZ, welcome to the forum, What you're seeing is pretty typical for Queen Palms here.. They just don't stand up to our heat all that well ..unless you want to spend a ton of money on keeping them watered and providing lots of fertilizer. Even then, there is no guarantee they will look good ..more like " decent", at best. Queen X Pindo cross = Mule is your best bet for tolerating our heat better. Washingtonia ..robusta and filifera ( CA. Fan = W. filifera, look much nicer, imo than the standard W. robusta, or hybrids between the two sps. ) Brahea armata, nitida, brandegeei, and some of the Sabal ( Palmetto ) species also do well here ..Sabal uresana, is our closest - native Palmetto sp, and is perfectly adapted to our climate. Two forms, a greener " coastal " form, and the " highland " silvery colored form. Both do fine here. Most of these species are easy enough to track down locally. A few may be rarer, but not too difficult to obtain. King palm, Archontophoenix cunninghamiana ..and all other Archontophoenix sps. are another group of palms that won't handle our heat / dry air ( outside humidity bumps during Monsoon season and the wetter winters ) unless you have a lot of tree canopy that provides shade 8am to sundown. Even then, their fronds will burn up on one of our famous dry / breezy days this time of year. Love a lot of water too. I see one of your Phoenix roebelenii ( Pygmy date palm ) looks like it is struggling behind one of the Queens.. These will do fine here, but need 2-3X a week deep soakings to get through the summer. Stay far away from Moon Valley.. The absolute worst place. Won't even walk into any of their nurseries myself. " wave " at them anytime i pass by the location near the house here. Two best nurseries near you: Desert Horizon, ..and ( even better ) Treeland, over on AZ Ave. Owner has a collection of mature palms planted on -site you can see that handle our heat w/ out much trouble, inc. a large Mule. Hope this helps.

The sweet aroma of Plumeria drew me closer to this. HarryThis came from a chunk that broke off from the parent after a major wind event a few years ago!

Thanks guys, glad to hear it. Dave, I just emptied my Borassus pots a couple days ago and have them in their individual pots now.

Hi Harry I don’t want to be the one to tell you but they are way to close to that wall especially the one near the copper pipes your call but I would remove them asap. Richard

No I didn't dig a trench partway beforehand or anything. I used a all steel type shovel (Wolverine https://pacforest.com/Item/21 ) and dug it out in about 1 hour by digging a narrow trench around and undercutting it. used furniture moving straps to hand pull it over and washed off some clay mud to lighten it. then pulled it out of hole with car after it was apparent that doing it by hand was impossible without about 4 people. Stood it upright and put on a dolly and rolled it over.

Obscenities screamed. Very very loudly!

This palm gets a bit too much sun this time of year and is more exposed to the sea breeze so it doesn’t always look its best. I fertilized it recently and now it’s starting to flower for the first time. Please share photos of yours if you grow this palm.

When this town was incorporated in 1918, crape myrtles were planted along the tree belt throughout the neighborhood. Some of the (presumably) original trees remain, but many have disappeared. Although 'Natchez' didn't become commercially available until 60 years later, (released by The National Arboretum in 1978) I thought it would be a good choice for in front of my house, to shade the sidewalk. These four were only planted a year ago; I'm really pleased with their speed of growth and flower production in such a short time. They're staked because early this spring when they were much more supple and probably not completely rooted in, a windstorm put them at a most unattractive 45° angle. Any suggestions as to when the stakes should come off? I was thinking of waiting until spring.

WOOOOHOOOO!!!! Finally this Encephalartos Ferox flushed actual leaves! I bought this one as a big 15 gallon pot with a nearly-trunking caudex back in the summer of 2021. I planted it in August 2021 and it got sunburned a bit initially. Then the 25ish degree frost in January 2022 burned off half the fronds. And then it coned in the spring of 2022, and I made the apparent mistake of cutting off the cones. I thought it would force a flush, but instead it just sulked and coned again in the spring of 2023! So I just left the cones in place and finally it's pushing 14 new fronds!

About one month germination time in ziplock bag and heat for this species. Here is a germinated sabal Tamaulipas next to a fishtail palm seed that also sprouted.

I planted a 15 gallon brazoriensis in the spring. I’m out of planting spots for the time being. Keeping that one until the greenhouse is finished to plant near it.

Gaussia attenuata at ANSG:

Why is that one not in your yard!!!!!!

I've grown Magnolia virginiana in Connecticut and would call its growth rate robust. There are certainly faster-growing trees but, unfortunately, not as beautiful. I think it's a good choice for your purpose.

A warm day today 23 degrees Celsius for a bright sunny winter day making gardening a bit of fun in the warm air wondering around doing a bit of pruning I just chop up the leaves and use them as mulch creating a natural process of feeding the garden.

@peachy I hope it comes around for you. It can be tedious when weeds are relentless. For me , it is Spring . The last two wet years were pretty bad with the weeds. I would pull every one of them and a week later , more. That is not fun , or if I find any palms that aren’t happy after looking after them all winter. Richard’s garden pictures always make me want to tend to my little garden . I don’t have 5 acres to do so I feel bad when I complain to my wife. Harry

Well I know it's not the best time of year to move this palm but the last 2 years this palm has taken lots more damage in it's spot in the yard. Add that to that it is growing too tall for where it was and I decided to move it by the house. There are a few more reasons including us not being able to see the palm where it was. Now it is more sheltered and going to be in a group of 3 or more going up close to the wall.

It's even more impressive standing next to it! I was in awe! I have never seen a palm that large in person haha.

I have lost two over the years , they can be hit or miss. I had one for several years and it was doing very well….until it wasn’t. The other one died a year after planting. I have learned a lot since then and realize that they like warm , if not hot , place in the garden . Also not too much water . I hand water now so I think with the two in the ground , I can keep them happy . Also the ones I’ve seen that do well were planted close to a wall for warmth. HarryThese have been in the ground for a few weeks and are growing well. This spot gets full sun and reflective heat until about 1 pm. The Rhapis get a bit more shade in the corner as does the Microspadix. I paid $10 each for them. Harry

A few months ago several local Home Depots here got a bunch in. 10 gallon pots. 6 ft tall. Super nice big healthy specimens. $109. So I got two about 2 months ago and planted in the ground. Clay soil but I did some 50/50 amendment a bit around the root ball. The new spears have grown about 12 inches so far and they look fine but not growing as fast as I would have expected. The info tag says 30F+ zone 10

Can you elaborate a bit more about how you dug the hole? Just a (root slayer) shovel? Did you dig a trench beforehand to get underneath it better?

Ditto Charlene! And the Borassus aethiopum are rippin too. 5 of 6 sent out the monster tap roots already. Waiting on #6. Fast, wow.

Had to get onto my roof today so i took a few pics while i was up there. A perspective i don't get too often.

In addition to leaflet stacking with Encephalartos latifrons hybrids I want to see that wide leaflet trait. The ratio of leaflet length to width biased to width. My favorite latifrons hybrid is this one which is with arenarius then backcrossed with latifrons pollen in the next generation. Super stcked leaflets which are chubby too.

Licuala ramsayi to the right of a cluster of Areca vestiara at Four Arts:

Nicely trunked and somewhat tall Licuala grandis specimens at ANSG:

Here are mine: First the double headed purported C miraguama Then the tiny baby crinita And last the purported C argentea growing still in pot in my cold frame All pictures have been shot today, which is very instructive, because this time of the year is in my climate exactly the entry to new growth season and all induced winter damage is revealed.

Your Queen palms will always struggle with your intense dry heat. Mule palms would do MUCH better for you. Not sure what Moon Nursery is referring to in their ad about Piru King palm because they show King palms. (Archontophoenix cunninghamiana) but refer to them and Syagrus romanzoffiana (Queen) x Butia (Pindo). Makes no sense and true King palms would positively roast in full sun in your area. Mule palms, which are a cross between Queen palm and Pindo palm would likely do well in your area provided they get plenty of water.

Time to pot up this gem of a Brazoriensis. Roots pushed out most of the soil in the pot and split it. You know it’s overdue when you have to cut the pot off lol Theres that underground “onion” that’s what you need to be careful not to damage when digging up sabals. Put it in a 7 gallon pot and it looks like it’s ready to go in a 15 gallon already!

I think you should be fine. It will likely need the usual protection a younger tree needs when it's first planted, but if your winters rarely go below freezing then the only thing you will need to worry about is watering. For the last 5-10 years we don't get much snow in the winter, but we do get nasty polar vortexes that make it sub-freezing for days and days at a time. I've never seen a magnolia die from them. Right now some trees are defoliating from our lack of rain but not the magnolias! Here they grow full shade to full sun year round. I was walking on a trail the other day and noticed some species of magnolia creeping along the ground under a dark canopy of oaks, poplars, and ash trees. Its main trunk had been cut off or broken off and the new growth was radiating out from the ground. October should be fine if the ground isn't going to freeze.

All the magnolia species around here take our summer heat waves in stride. In Maryland, we've had a particularly dry summer as well. Drought conditions in some parts of the state and abnormally dry in the rest of it. That being said, I don't know how common these are the further south you go, compared to other magnolias. For a hardwood tree, 20 inches growth in height per year seems fairly reasonable to me. You have to figure it's growing about 20 inches wider as well each year.

Good point. We can only base predictive analytics on known factors.

I wouldn’t claim to be able to give a positive ID from a picture from distance, but I would say that they do look like they are within the maxima complex. I believe urens are generally a bit chunkier. Of course growing conditions could be a factor too.

I'll let you know once I ask.

Allen, since midsummer is somewhat of a slow down period for trachies in warm summer climates, now may be the "right" time. Good luck/nice palm!

THE frond on this Royal opened the other day and it looks good. Hope the poison is working. I now have a total of 4 of the traps hanging and have caught a total of 13 in a month and a half. Not seeing any new damage so maybe they working.

Another one of @DoomsDave Dypsis . Happy in its new home. This one a Dypsis Lanceolata , already showing growth. I spear marked it to the next petiole to show growth. That is about 3 weeks ago. HarryThe petiole on the right has a black line where the new spear was when I planted it.It looks like this one may clump by the way the base looks.

I have a Coccothrinax (not sure which one) in Southern California and it is very slow growing . Twenty five years to get 3-4’ tall . It is in full sun and tends to get brown spots on the fronds after the rainy season. Harry

That one was a roll of the dice purchase. I had a washy on backorder and the nursery offered me that Phoenix in its place. 4 years later here we are 🤙

Those are all getting big!!!!!!!