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A leaf came off my Chrysalidocarpus prestonianus a couple of weeks ago, and I noticed that another is peeling back. Now it is decision time since the leaflets are green, do I leave it? Do I remove it down to the crownshaft so it doesn't destroy something underneath when it crashes down? For now, I'm waiting a little longer but will probably follow the first path since I don't want it to damage plants below. Sometimes what catches our eye can be thought provoking or provide a dilemma.

Planted this one as a bare rooted mail order. From what I read get them in the ground asap and don’t worry about container growing. The original leaves from tropical growth have taken a bit of a hard time but the new growth is substantially healthier. Another 5 years and I will have a nice palm I hope, having survived one winter there is hope for this species to live in my climate.

A nice palm from New Caledonia that’s looking pretty good. Easy to grow, putting on some good growth now it’s past the seedling stage. Cool tolerant down to 2 degrees Celsius. A nice palm well worth growing.

Another licuala in the collection robinsonia. The amount of water licuala need I think a lot of the individual ones I have will remain in a container for a lot of years, perhaps never getting planted in the ground my climate is just to dry at certain times in the drought times. You cannot predict when a drought will happen in Australia until you’re in that drought watering like a maniac with a hose. But a cute looking licuala to have in a container in the collection.

One of my larger Tilandsia is blooming. Very sweet smell to this one. Shown against a Rhapis Excelsia for relevance. Harry I have several of these in different varieties. This is my largest one .

A cute little tree frog hanging out in a Lepidorrachis, and a nice late autumn flush on a Howea f.

some of my hippeastrums in bloom

some of my alstroemeria (lily of Peru) in bloom

Congratulations, before I got my property I was renting, and my whole backyard was full of container plants. When the landlord asked me about them I said I was building a house and that was my future garden. I know how you feel it’s a proud moment well done. Build yourself a nice deck and in 25 years time sit on that deck and be amazed at what you have created.

Norton Sculpture Garden - Had no chance to get away from my group. Will have to return.

My Pinanga blue seed sp certainly has a nice bit of colour to it catching my eye.

A few photos from my brief visit to Gardens by the Bay. Only had a very short time here so quickly went around the domes which are cooled to simulate temperate and cloudforest environments and the Supertree Grove. Itaya amicorum Chelyocarpus chuco Corypha umbraculifera Tahina spectabilis Borassodendron machadonis Livistona endauensis Cloudforest dome tower Trithrinax campetris in the temperate flower dome. Love this species.

C. Nucel and b. Grandiflora

I started these Sabal louisiana in April 2024. They went into these 3" pots and some roots are escaping though drain holes. Makes me wonder if I should plant one out at this stage. Easy to winter protect to size it up quicker. A few have developed a bulbous base while most appear in their typical form. Anyone else with seedling S. louisiana?

Hi all, Thought I’d share some photos I took of the amazing collection at SBG recently. Some very rare species not really seen elsewhere and all grown to perfection. My photos really don’t do the palms justice when you see them in person. Saribus tothur Licuala cordata Licuala fordiana Maxburretia gracilis Maxburretia furtadoana Areca mandacanii Hydriastele flabellata Silver form Hydriastele splendida Licuala malajana var malajana Lanonia sp. not dasyantha. Larger and more mottled Licuala mattanensis Mapu Mauritiella macroclada! Calamus ciliaris Chambeyronia piersoniorum Burretiokentia hapala Caryota mitis variegata Arenga hookeriana interesting split leaf form Syagrus amara Another interesting form of Arenga hookeriana with paddle entire leaves Bactris militaris Arenga undulatifolia dwarf form Iriartea deltoidea Syagrus kellyana Veitchia filifera Sabinaria magnifica grown in sun. Nice compact form Caryota kiriwongensis Syagrus santosii Syagrus inajai Orania trispatha Orania longisquama Pinanga sclerophylla Pinanga tashiroi Dransfieldia micrantha Adonidia zibabaoa! Areca macrocalyx Marie Areca novohibernica Areca rheophytica Chrysalidocarpus titan Johannesteijmannia perakensis. A 50yo monster Borassus madagascariensis Borassodendron borneensis Borassus heineanus Hyphaene coriacea Itaya amicorum Medemia argun Livistona jenkinsoniana Heterospathe cayaganensis Heterospathe califrons Balaka seemannii Carpoxylon macrospermum Manjekia maturbongsii Wallaceodoxa raja-ampat Hydriastele ramsayi

The time has finally come, after years of waiting. Today I planted the first palms (and other plants) in my new garden. Since the local soil was very alkaline, I added two truckloads of highly acidic sand soil (pH 3,8) I bought and then i mixed it with the local soil. Hopefully it will work. There is very little organic matter in it but I put worm castings on top of the soil every time I plant something and I will keep adding compost from my compost maker. So here are my pioneers. I know that some of them will not make it but some may do and I am very excited!

also today we saw the one Trachycarpus fortunei is about to flower.

A few more going in the ground. All germinated from seed by myself and grown with love and knowledge knowing I will be planting them in the garden. First up ptychosperma sp black seed. A Joey again, lanonia dasyantha, chamaedorea sefritzii, carpoxylon macrospermum, and back up to the greenhouse for a few more kerriodoxas and four Livistona Australis. A nice little batch all being used as pioneer palms then as time goes by I will plant the more exotic varieties in and around over time.

Not sure how I missed posting photos of these either. Highlights everywhere. The gardens now have multiple Tahina and Lodoicea. Tahina spectabilis Lodoicea maldivica Last photo is of the mature male and the gardens also now have a just mature female which is exciting!

Oh and Livistona endauensis deserves some attention. Amazing bright orange petioles. Endangered but now being planted in numbers by SBG, Gardens by the Bay and Singapore Zoo which is great to see.

A few more special ones to sign off. I only had a couple of free hours but I’d recommend making a day of it if you have the time in Singapore. Licuala maculata. Even more stunning in person than I could capture. Pinanga speciosa Pinanga simplicifrons Variegated Carpentaria hybrids. Probably x Veitchia

Soil is fairly heavy clay. It's planted with cactus and agave.... haha. However I do aim the hose at it every now and again. I'm guessing more water = more growth. I'm moving to New England.... so not super "palmy". I'm bringing one hybrid trachycarpus to protect, and some needles to let fend for themselves. The potential buyer I'm under contract with wrote me a letter specifically saying she loves all the plants... so hopefully they survive. I'm making the assumption that everything will be toast, and to never look back. I really should have tried to rehome some of my fancy stuff, like jub and trachy hybrids... I just ran out of time. I have a utility trailer full of plants that can survive and will come with me...

That’s what I did today! Walked in and walked out, I even went back for more!

No nothing yet but licuala take a long time I think I have one popping up but won’t know until I transfer and look at the seed. Simply because I put them in with other seeds in the corner of germination box. But a fantastic palm I did purchase ten the other month for $15 each a bargain for sure. Richard

Must be the time of year , mine is flowering too. Second or third year for mine . Your Trachycarpus looks very well cared for. Harry

A.hookeriana has many interesting forms.

Those are gorgeous. When I see them in Florida, they're usually green-yellow. Probably b/c they're in full sun in a dry spot.

I think they're a bit small yet so I'd say underdeveloped at this point. Here's a pic of some cleaned seeds at normal size:

My largest Encephalartos princeps is flushing again this year too. I thought it might be getting close to coning size, but clearly not yet. That is ok, patience. I don't want it to cone and then after exerting all that energy, skip a year on flushing.

No seeds taken Richard. Not worth the risk to get on the wrong side of customs and honestly there’s not much that was fruiting that is worth me trying to grow down in Melbourne. Weirdly it looks like 2 posts have merged into one. I definitely initially set up a topic just for Singapore Botanic Gardens first which are my first few posts here. The Gardens by the Bay topic was second and those photos are in my last post here now.

Hi everyone. I thought I'd update this thread on watering frequency, as it may be helpful to some. The palms have now been in 15-gal pots for almost two months and doing well. I have been giving them 1 gallon of water every week. Good drainage, some water showed up in saucers after a few minutes. I have decreased the frequency to a gallon every two weeks and they started visibly drooping. I will add that until very recently there had been no rain in South Florida. So I dumped two gallons into each and they visibly perked up after two days. So in my mind, they need at minimum a gallon a week, maybe two if the drainage is good (it is in my case).

Will I regret buying two queen palms maybe… but they were 75% off and have nothing wrong with them lol. Lowe’s for the win #ManvelTx

Here’s an update on the ones planted less than 7 months ago as shown. These live up to their reputation and (in full sun) set the standard for growing fast!

Snapped some pics of the 7 jubaeas yesterday. 2 look dead and there is a lot of damage from the last 2 winters. Unfortunately one of the larger ones is continuing to tip farther. It looks like most are recovering but it’s a bummer to see how hard they’ve been hit. At least this winter was a lot milder. Hopefully they get a good bounce back year.

Here’s another Pritchardia whose ID I’m not sure of. I thought it was P. beccariana, which I guess it could be, but not sure. A nice layer of lepidia on the abaxial side and stiff deeply divided leaves. Tim

C metallica had it's most fruitful flowering. Another infructescence with similar seed set. Usually just a few...

I just visited the park to see the Jubaeas. They are getting much bigger than the last time I went there. I wish mine were that big already.

Ah ok sorry, that’s really promising!

If it were me I'd probably give it another month and if there is no sign of growth I'd remove it. I'm not sure what your temps are like but if the soil is warm it should start to think about growing if its alive.

Tom here are grown outside, they don't die in winter, they don't even lose their leaves

What is the tall palm in the top left hand corner on the first picture. looks like a coconut?

I wonder if the palmettos get wrapped for the winter?

Another spring and another set of brown leaves emerging on my Copernicia baileyana x hospita hybrid. I lost one and removed it in the front yard after experiencing this same issue. This plant has also experienced this more than once and took years to partly recover. At some point in time, it isn't worth the battle to just keep something alive that doesn't look even decent. Knowing that these are also susceptible to the South American Palm Weevil which has been the scourge of my neighborhood, doesn't motivate me to continue the fight either. I'm ready to bail on this baileyana hybrid.

Hmmm Brad, we’re going to have to see if we can ID them. Latania loddigesii, a young one, looking rather stellar lately. Tim

Well Kasos HNMS station reigns as its expected. Closely followed of course by Kastellorizo, Psari Forada, Rhodes Port and Gavdos (even though the mean abs. min in Gavdos should be considerably lower than the 6.33C presented on the table below since we don't have data from the epic 2022 and 2021 cold snaps). The data below come from official public stations in Greece and for their entire time series, with the exceptions of Kasos and Karpathos HNMS stations for which I used a full 30 year POR (data for Kasos HNMS available from 1989 and for Karpathos HNMS from 1990). Also both of these stations are the only Stevenson Screen stations on the list. All the rest are Davis fan aspirated stations. Note Hydra island with the northernmost 11a zone in the Med sea as its located at 37.2 N latitude. I haven't found any other 11a in the Med so far north for the corresponding period. If you know of any station that might be N of Hydra and still manage an 11a zone please let me know to research it!Also note that 2 more stations from HNMS, namely Gavdos HNMS and Paleochora HNMS almost certainly are also 11a but I haven't had time to take confirmation from HNMS and that's why they are not on the list.

Not in North Carolina But I had to show you guys this amazing house in Danville, Virginia https://www.google.com/maps/@36.5925539,-79.3807934,3a,48.9y,235.78h,95.73t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sCtOMtl0iaAGYaTD8Wh5Uyw!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fcb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile%26w%3D900%26h%3D600%26pitch%3D-5.732221420549521%26panoid%3DCtOMtl0iaAGYaTD8Wh5Uyw%26yaw%3D235.7823407195356!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDQxNi4xIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D

Seems like if they brought back the extirpated animals, primarily the predators these grass/brush fires just wouldn't be happening. All those deer both native and introduced are a much bigger problem than most people realize. I can hear the farmers whining already... Even though most of us in other parts of the world grew up with Apex predators and the local farmers too. Dogs kill more livestock than any other animal.

I feel for you gysuppe I too have battled a condition for the last 4 years and 4 operations one every year takes its toll on you. My garden and palms saved me it is a struggle daily but life goes on I manage my pain daily. We must stand proud of ourselves and rise above it all and put that journey of our lives behind us and move forward into the next stage of our lives. I live for my garden and my garden lives for me. 🌱

I grew this one from seed that was collected at a garden in Hilo and was labeled filaris. This thing has been a rocket and it has been close to 7 years from seed. It is taller not but can’t find a good picture of it recently and it is poring rain right now but one of my favorite palms

Have a Needle about 8 miles south west of DC...it’s been in the ground for about 7 years...does great! Hoping the Trachy is of a genetic variety that will keep it happy for many years...been in ground about 7 years as well...