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Just starting a thread for us to show off how our palms have grown over the years! I’m sharing my own photos, grown in partial sun, narrow space, no fertilizer, and just 1km from the sea here in tropical Singapore. Drop your own Before vs Now shots too! Whether your palms exploded with growth or took their sweet time, we’d love to see how different species perform. Bonus points for rare or quirky ones! 😎 Pic 1: Dec 2020 – Bismarckia nobilis, Areca catechu, and Johannesteijsmannia altifrons. Pic 2: Jul 2025 – Same lineup, 5 years later. Pic 3: The Areca got so tall it no longer fits in one shot with Joey! Here’s another angle. Pic 4: Dec 2020 – The Licuala orbicularis pair. The left one was already a decent size, the right one a bit behind. Pic 5: Jul 2025 – Both have grown into handsome plants with nearly perfect round leaves. Worth the wait! Pic 6: (Bonus) Dec 2020 – Trees planted by the government behind my garden, fresh in the ground. Pic 7: Jul 2025 – Trees grow like champs! Nice to have a government that values a green neighborhood. 🌳

A few new summer plantings that just went in the ground this week. Now that I actually have some canopy and protection, I decided to get a couple of Joey palms in the garden: Joey Magnicia on the left and Altifrons on the right. Altifrons planted (above) with my loyal companion Suubi in the background. Magnifica planted below: Then for some sun plantings, up first is a Pritchardia Martii in my Hawaii / Pacific Islands planter: overgrown 1 gallon plant above, planted out below. The last new planting for now is a Lemurophoenix that I’ve had in a pot for years. These seem to hate being in pots (at least for me) so I’m hoping it gets happier in the ground. Sadly this spot only opened up in my Madagascar planter because I recently lost a trunking Chrysalidocarpus Infanadiannae. Some sort of fungus took it out. Hopefully this Lemurophoenix thrives in this corner spot.

Why not a few garden pics on a special day for all!

Hiya. I don't post often (Kyushu Japan here) as I don't have a lot going on palmwise. My queen palms all look bad (but alive) from a cold winter and I moved my arengas to a shadier spot because they were getting too burnt by sun and cold in this planter. Anyway the planter was horribly infested with deep rooted dokudami and horsetails so I completely sifted out all the soil before replanting with some aspidistra, some philodendron selloum (in back, they're still a bit small) and this Rhapis humilis, salvaged from a big clump at an old local house slated for demolition. These are a popular traditional plant in older gardens in Japan and I think they're much prettier than R. excelsa but they're kind of hard to find in garden centers today. Looking forward to it filling in!

The first flower on the inflorescence opened today. The inflorescence has continued going both upright and the branches have extended. If each of those fingers on the hand like appendages will produce a flower, this will be in bloom still for a long time to enjoy.

You gotta do it, part of going away for a true gardener, becoming a plant hunter. You just never know what you will find. What’s rare to one is a diamond to others. And a complete snap up must have. I will say if ever you get the chance to get a Dorothy gordon grevillia plant do so, they are even rare in Australia.such a beautiful grevillia and cool tolerant as well and dry tolerant a must have Australian gem 💎 Richard

Well I’m happy to have leaves on about half ,and a few more just breaking soil loose. I planted the seeds below top about an inch. I’m really surprised how stiff/thick the leaf feels. The ones ground planted in sandy soil haven’t shown anything yet but they were the least developed of the 20.

Pembana. Exactly 3 years from a 2 leaf bare root seedling.

Here is my young Sabal palmetto in central Virginia, I germinated this in 2019/2020 from seed I collected in Virginia Beach and planted it last spring. It’s doing pretty well and survived the winter with some damage, I did not protect it. I put it against the house to try to give it some more winter heat.

So, I posted a while back “Summer Recovery” and got a couple responses that made me think I’ve been living a lie…😂 First the Brazoria. There was a question about its authenticity based on the height of the seed stalks. Oddly enough, I had no idea that seed stalk height that exceeds frond height is an indication that the palm is not a Brazoria. My face sagged and my heart fell and I’ve been watching those seed stalks like a prison guard ever since. So far, seeds are forming and stalk height is almost exactly frond height. I’ll send pics later. Then I got a post regarding my accidental Butia and I’ll bore you with the details because it’s quite a story that I’ve told before but in my zone, we’re very limited so palms and stories tend to repeat themselves…and age plays a part, too. Anyway, it was early summer and I thought I would try sprouting some seeds so I ordered some Brazoria seeds. My germination method of choice was to use moist sphagnum moss as the medium in a plastic bag. Things seemed normal for a few days then suddenly I had a bag full of hairy mold. So I took all the seeds out to dry on my garden bench outside. I no sooner turned my back and all 12 seeds were gone. The thief was a squirrel no doubt as I have at least a dozen of the chronically obese critters in my microclimate, backyard zone. I feed them, along with the birds. It’s my own fault. Anyway, I thought that was it for the experiment and I moved on. Well, spring rolled around and about mid spring I noticed a 6” thin strap leaf growing right off my ground level deck. I was shocked. That seed wintered, unprotected in ground in an area that gets no sun in the winter. Anyway, I dug it up and transplanted it to a sunnier spot in my microclimate backyard. And here’s where my heart not only sank…it imploded. There was an observation from my post that it probably is a Sabal of some sort. Don’t get me wrong, I love Sabals but in terms of what I have to talk about, they dominate and they’re palmate. This Butia was going to be my only pinnate, protected, of course, until it was too big to protect. Thus becoming another sad Palm Talk casualty but at least something new to talk about! So, it’s a wait and see. I still have hope as there were zero Sabal seeds here unless someone sold me a bag of Sabal seeds but I was real “Palm Talk” studious to make sure the seeds I ordered looked like Butia Odorata seeds, and they did., I’ll give it to fall to see if my beloved accidental Butia is a Sabal… Have a great rest of your summer growing season. I’ll be posting pics by fall to vindicate my palms! 😂

A few nice genoformis in the garden. All are 23 years old. They do produce seed but only if I hand pollinate them, which brings me to another question with a different answer as the male pollen was chamaedorea adscendens. And with a discussion about them with Colin Wilson it’s not meant to happen in that boy girl department. The last picture is the offspring from that so called arranged marriage. With some discussion with Mr Wilson it will be established that I shall keep a very close eye on this little palm in question. Time will tell what happens. One seed was ready to pick so it shall be sown and a close eye will be placed on tis one.

A gift from another grower of rare exotics, this anthurium noid is performing exceptionally well in my climate. It’s surprising how tough some of the rare anthuriums are, and cool tolerant as well.

A short two hour drive north to the town of Lismore for a weekend getaway. And well as we all know you have to visit the nurseries. A lovely nursery with a beautiful garden centre. A great assortment of plants with some common and some rare plants down to a great selection of exotics. So a hoffmania plant along with a sandra Gordon grevillia, plus a couple of rainforest trees later iam out of there one happy gardener. A great nursery clean and tidy along with no weeds. And as usual being a nursery man myself you get into that race about plants that can go on for hours or a yarn as we would say in Australia. Oh and I did mention I had a few exotic palms for sale, wherever I see a nursery I always stop in and do a sales pitch. And nine times out of ten I get a sale. An old sales trick you basically sell yourself with the product after we all have a bit of sales rep in us.

My "Queretero blue" edule is flushing and it looks nice in the morning sun, especially backlit!

Some nice old baronii in the garden doing well. The new golden cane is my sales push on this palm far more attractive to me than lutescens, but each to there own on that one. I do get the odd seed or two from them.

A lot of palms from Madagascar grow perfectly in my climate!

Everyone who can, should grow a baronii or a dozen of them.

True, about the hybrid possibility. I only have bauerii flowering at present and it will be a long time before I get mainland sapida to flower. I’m going to have to keep an eye on that.

Love it the white background, standout material! And indoors you got the green thumb for growing!

I have seen an anthurium go for $5000 on e bay. In the COVID pandemic they got into a bidding war and thought the world was going to end and they could take it with them as the world ended!

Sorry, I guess I wasn't clear. The crape myrtle is new. The Sabal minor have been there for a few years. This is the area left behind after a giant live oak came down over the course of a couple of years. It's a nice opportunity to try some new plants but in this climate it's nicer still to have shade. The white hibiscus with the red eye is H. syriacus, Rose of Sharon, which is notorious for producing seedlings. This one hasn't yet.

The only real shaded spots I've got around the house are under those giant crepe myrtles and I'm putting minors there when my seeds pop.

Bumping this thread since I noticed mine starting to open a new leaf today. I'm surprised at how well this plant has done here in SF, it grows about the same speed as my Chambeyronia hookeri but is way more sun tolerant as a young plant. Mine gets several hours of direct sun and doesn't burn at all, in the ground for almost 2 years now.

From the Kota Kinabalu waterfront with a guiness in hand.

@JohnAndSancho I've seen this on lots of listings. When an eBay seller runs out of stock (or is on vacation), instead of deleting the listing they just change the price to something completely absurd so no one buys it. That way when they are back in stock (or selling again) they can just change the price back to normal. This keeps the sell record and avoids the hassle of delisting and remaking a listing. It was really common years ago when eBay refused to allow "vacation mode" unless you were some premium seller, and they charged big bucks to list new items.

I used to think that my Sabal Louisiana had shorter inflorescences than Minors but after fertilizing the Louisiana they are about the same height . What I have noticed is how compact the inflorescences are on my Louisianas and how the Minors have more sprawling inflorescences . Another difference is that the Louisianas inflorescences seem to be maturing faster . They are a darker color than the whiter less mature flowers in the Minors . Sprawling Minor inflorescences below : The more compact and as of today more mature looking Sabal Louisiana below ( These pictures were taken over a week ago and the Louisiana inflorescences look to be more mature today ) :

Cleaned off some boots from the pembana

Earlier today I took a trip to the national zoo in Washington DC and here are some of the pictures of plants and stuff I found

Some new plants in the ground that will benefit from our rainy season (SW Florida zone 10b) Vonitra dransfeldii Veitchia simulans in a newly-cleaned out bed thanks to my wifey. It's a Fijian palm so i hope it makes it. Dypsis procera And the always-popular lanai palm Ravenea rivularis. $16 from Lowes. On sale. Couldn't resist!

Hello Tim i love hybrid! I made some hybrids, even if they produced few seeds I made chamaedorea radicalis x microspadix the reverse hybrid microspadix x radicalis phoenix roebelenii x reclinata, phoenix roebelenii x dactylifera cycas revoluta x panzhihuaensis so when you have seed of some hybrid,please remember me,thanks!

MASSIVE "cardboard" cycads (Zamia furfuracea) that I've had for many years now (in full sun). 15 gallon "squat pots" (not sure) - Ready for DIRT $200 ea OBO... or $300 for BOTH Pickup in Carlsbad, CA (North San Diego County). No shipping. Caudex measurement...

My grandparents had Aspidistra, now nobody makes them here anymore

These are trachy fortuneis, right? There's a dead one between these 2 with a for sale sign on it. If I were opportunistic, what time of year would I look for seeds? If I were stupid enough to call the number and ask about the trees, how hard are these to transplant? Like am I gonna need to dig a 10x10 foot hole? The orange box store sells 1g online 2 for ~$60ish but these are just a smidge bigger. Like easy 10ft.

Yea , with transplanting palms that size you would need at least two people and a lot of work. Depending on your age , you can grow one that age and watch it grow. Harry

Since I've moved to this house 2017 I've been taking branches with seeds on them from my Sabal minor (across the back of the property) to try to extend their range along both property lines on the left and right. I'm happy to say it has been successful. Here's a shot of crape myrtle 'Sioux', which I just planted last year along the driveway (a fragment of which is visible in lower left hand corner of photo) with naturalized sabals below. It will eventually get to the point where I have too many and will have to begin pulling them, but I haven't reached that point yet. In fact, I'm thrilled with the results. Having Sabal minor as filler gives the landscaping a graceful, tropical appearance. And I have hibiscus (syriacus) too!

20250704_211533.mp4

If it is fertile the baby should be attractive. Nice single trunk !! Peachy

When you’re obsessed with palms, short on space, and totally ignore the ‘space them out’ rule… Fast forward a few years, and boom!

The Albany Airport site which is the closest official site to me says a record max of 22.5C in July. We have a forecast max of 20C today. It is quite uncommon to make 20C in July much less forecast a 20C day. We reached 19.5C yesterday. The office at work never had the heater put on after the 14C min we had. By the arvo it was quite warm from the sun. The avg max in July is 16.6C so this has been a warm start for July. The next two weeks is statistically the coldest and if you are going to get frost your most likely to get it in these two weeks. Looking at the projected weather patterns and the minimums and cloud cover I doubt we will see frost in the next 2 weeks which has me relieved.

A new discovery I found recently with the help of a lady online lol . Here is a queen that’s still alive today after the 2021 freeze over in league city along the bayside

So far nothing below about 3C here and some days have been 20, 21C during the day. My second Gold finger banana is pushing a flower. Many palms are opening spears as it’s been very moist in the garden. No need to irrigate that’s for sure. Today we are getting a proper wintry blast. Max of about 13C with around 25mm forecast, possibly severe thunderstorms this arvo and small hail. That should make my lake system start to flow into the nearby river.

It continues to push upward and the little hand like appendages are emerging.

The last 3 mornings in a row have been -0.4C, 1.1C and 0.9C. That’s close to as bad a 3 night stretch as we get any winter let alone in May before it has begun.

Was just reading yesterday (I wish I could find the article) that sea surface temps are very high in the Australia region-(this would include NZ too) that they felt winter would be a mild event and short again this year and possibly the new normal. It has other dire consequences like reduced rainfall in southern parts of Australia. However with increased sst you get higher humidity so when the atmosphere lines up for wet events you get heavier rainfall than usual. That seems to be already happening in my area. 130mm in 2hrs back in mid March. It was possibly the warmest and most humid growing season ever. We didn’t get one low humidity event at all. Those gold fingers look like a big banana. I’m growing 9 different banana types now. Will see how they compare over time. Had a cool night with a min of 6.7C. Forecast was for 12C. Not real close. Forecast is for 28C then back to 22,23 for the rest of the week. BTW that Moana project is really detailed. New Zealanders really take their weather seriously. Some good resources over there.

Yes winter is just around the corner. Have had the fire going on and off in the house for a few weeks. We get some warm weather, then cool, then back to warm. The last few days have managed to crack the 20C zone but today is forecast 26, then tomorrow 28C then back to low to mid twenties which is actually quite mild for my area. The days are way short now. 5.15pm and the sun has set. No time to do much after work. Looking at sea surface temps and in the Australian zone they’re higher than average everywhere. Also the run up to winter has been very mild. Could we manage another mild frost free winter this year. I hope so. In regards to bananas I’ve had two large bunches ripen up over summer. The last one was a flower that formed and opened in July mid winter. It opened up on a 3C night which surprised me. I’ve got my first Goldfinger banana flowering now. I planted it about 18months ago as a 5L container and it’s now got a main stem 30cm across at the base and roughly 5m tall. Will see how it goes.

Yes even talking to a plant and acknowledging it I have plants flower in response to attention. We think plants don’t have feelings we are wrong they are a living being, a little attention goes a long way. Richard

Beautiful . Mine has a very large spear right now . It hasn’t had a display since the end of October . We are in Spring right now so it should pick back up now . I started feeding it over a year ago and stepped up the watering and that has really helped the look . In full sun they really need a little extra here . We tend to have arid conditions and very warm afternoons by August through November . The fronds really get large on these! Mine only stay red for 3-4 days . Harry ‘The last frond , sorry already green . About a week after opening . The trunk is a little over 5’ where it meets the crown shaft. I’ve been giving it an organic fertilizer , powdery stuff , ( magic bat guano dust?) that I mix in the top layer of soil . The stuff only has a light odor but it has helped a few of my palms that were looking a bit lean. It gets a good soaking frequently . This is by far the largest frond it has thrown . The burning of the leaves has been greatly reduced since my change of treatment of this palm. Right now i am watching a huge spear for signs of opening🤞. Harry

This next one is a bit of a mystery. When Floribunda has a “?” on the tag, then you know you have a mystery. It kind of has a Chrysalidocarpus “sp Bef” meets Ambositrae meets “Black stem (without black on the stem)” type feel to it. First picture is 2 years ago: And these next pictures were taken this evening:

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