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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 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 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 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

Some good rains has produced some nice red on the new leaves on the Chambeyronias in the garden.

Will, I just noticed my dulcis start to sucker today and it's pretty young - no character leaves yet but almost! Mine is the blue form.

Tracy, That leaf form seem like its the same as my biggest Lati which is my favorite Cycad as well!

More humidity may have kept it alive, but that heat you get from that desert over there another story. Palms would have to be one the trickiest plants to grow out of habitat with requirements for the right conditions.

When we visited New Caledonia in 2023 before all the trouble started over there we went walking in the forests like Mt Koghi and the great tree fern park and our eyes were just pealed looking for red leaves. They were everywhere and we had to photograph every one. It made for a slow walk, but I just loved looking at small seedlings that popped up with red new leaves. It’s one of the most beautiful places on earth the New Caledonian rainforest.

Yeah we're a solid zone 9a (9b in the city) here and these Rhapis do just fine. Excelsa can look a bit shabby after a cold winter but pull through ok. Altlanta would be a stretch but maybe Savannah? And yeah aspidistra used to be garden standbys throughout the South. I still think they're wonderful and extremely low maintenance.

Came across some pictures of a Chambeyronia I grew indoors under a skylight at my former place years ago. It did very well in a pot with just a few hours of direct, overhead sunlight each day.

Yes,Trachy's.. Would need to dig 3x3x3 for a successful transplant. Can you lift 500 pounds by yourself? 🤔 Probably better off to buy a potted tree and put in the time to grow to that size . 🤷‍♂️ Aztropic Mesa, Arizona

Let's see if others feel this use of "chimera" is appropriate. I have three C. Revolutas with apparent variegation. However, one plant seems to be much different as it gets some size and stability in its coloration. This plant consistently produces creamy yellow-ish leaves only on one half of the plant. They emerge that way and don't change color as they harden off over the month. Sometimes one or two leaves will be half creamy on their whole length including the rachis all the way to the point of insertion into the caudex. But these half cream leaves only occur on the left or right boundary of the distribution of the coloring. This has led me to believe that the color phenomenon is on the meristem itself, or the caudex. I want to call this a chimera trait, but it's hard to feel confident. My other two plants grow new leaves green, then over the month they develop intense yellow marbling/variegation in a Polaroid style. What is a botanical chimera and what is the form of coloration on my plant?

The beautiful colourful town of Nimbin in the far north coast region, nestled in the mountains that form part of the great dividing range, the northern rivers town of Lismore is about a 25 minute drive basically in the hinterland from Byron bay on the coast. A very unique type of people live in this town. One would say the child of the Aquarius festival in the 70s. Some of you know what iam talking about a counter culture of people with idealism and free thoughts in peace loving manner for the planet. And with a movement of leftover hippies from Woodstock. They had the Aquarius festival and never left the quiet countryside of the dairy farmers. And if it wasn’t for these people most of the north rivers region would have been logged for timber. So through the feeling peace love and happiness a great community of true thinkers and artistic believers it’s a wonderful colourful town, oh and also famous for the cannabis culture right down to psychedelic plants for sale in the Main Street!

Not sure if I got the image to load but this is a pure Queen palm in Wilmington,NC. I bought it at HD in 2012. It has lived indoors in various pots and locations until we moved here 4 years ago and planted it outside. It has survived winters on the south side of the house with the usual Christmas lights and wrapping on the coldest ( 19 deg F ) nights. It is impossible to protect the fronds so they burn extensively but come back as the weather warms. It is as high as the top of the roof now and the trunk is huge at the base. I'm posting it because I think it's notable for it's size at this latitude. The other two large plants are an Angel Trumpet and a Robusta that was about 18" tall 3 years ago.

I started this addiction of mine during covid and I'm hooked, still planting away even though I dont have the space so I cut away concrete to make more land. My wife thinks I'm nuts but supports my alot better habit compared to others out there.

That’s a fantastic collection. It’s already amazing, and will only get better. 🥰

It got to 20.2C here today after a min of 9.5C but most of the night sat between 11 to 14C. We had a bit of sun at times but mostly cloudy. It’s 14C and raining at 9.30pm. June rainfall was 110mm which is a little below average.

Thanks! So far so good. I did decide to lower it a bit add some sand and slow release fertilizer. Its been growing a bit..

Been a mild winter so far. No freezing nights, but still got a lot of winter to go. Saturday looks more typical for July down here.

One of my absolute favourites. I even have one growing in wet cold Albany in Western Australia. I miss my big ones in my Perth garden. They were trunking past the gutters and the new owners cut them out. 😔

Dumasii

Beautiful. Just like a genuine New Caledonian experience.

They don’t get any better for size and colour than a big Chambeyronia. The blue sky and the green of the garden combined with the red takes it to another level for colours.

Solid palm that one Harry. You are certainly doing the right thing for your Cham feeding and watering does make a huge difference. A palm will take more sun with increased humidity and your extra watering seems to helping with the burnt leaf tips. Richard