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Admittedly I have been woefully absent on this forum for a while. But I was walking around downtown Oceanside today with an old friend that bought me ice cream for my Birthday today. We opted to walk some of it off after and opted to walk by some of the old city of Oceanside buildings where they had some Rhopalostylis palms... I was very surprised to see a TWO-HEADED one! It looks very much like a sapida I think? Forgive if posted before... but I was thinking it may be the first "rareish" palm I've seen with 2 heads!!

these two small howeas were in the gardener's compost this morning. Sabine took them and I planted them. it's amazing what gets thrown away 🤔

An update. I arrived today at Brisbane International Airport. I declared seeds to import and had Phyto and invoice as per import requirements. Seeds released to me and out the door within 20 minutes. Fresh seeds now soaking.

Triplets on an Encephalartos arenarius blue form × and a pair of eyes on another Encephalartos arenarius × . I see some face or s pair of eyes, but it is much.like what the mind does when looking at clouds; always trying to impose anthromorpic order.

Well here we go. I got 2 foxtails and 1 bottle. All 3g plants which I transplanted into what I’m calling a 7g pot. I used 75% all purpose potting soil mixed with 25% perlite and a layer of white river rock on top for looks. They have a lot of growing to do before they give much shade but hoping they’ll be happy in their spots. here’s the 3 of them together: foxtail #1: foxtail #2: and finally the bottle:

One of the easiest Pinanga to the coronata. Propagated these ones from my own palm in the garden super easy to grow and germinate. About 24 years back I asked Rich trapnell of rosebud farm do you have any recommendations for a palm to grow that would be a big seller, he sent me ten coronata seedlings as a trial and these are the new varietie to be growing, well that was back then, now there are so many new varieties available it’s hard to keep up with them. Easy on the eye and a lot going for it, it’s just that the buying public have there eyes on golden canes for me this one is a much better choice! If you want a relatively fast growing palm if given attention to screen out the neighbour this is a good choice quite sun tolerant and shade tolerant, a good all round palm!

To import seeds into Australia you need a phytosanitary certificate. The exporting company provides that from whatever department is involved in the country of origin. If all goes well and the seeds successfully land in the country. Customs Australia will send you a letter explaining that the seeds need inspection regardless of having a certificate. They will still want to inspect the seeds without it your seeds have very little chance of entering the country. After you request an inspection at the importers exspense they proceed with the inspection. If all goes well again the seeds will be released to you with a bill. If all goes wrong they destroy the seeds or return them to the exporting company and you get a bill for the seeds along with no seeds. It can take quite a few phone calls and emails if it starts to go wrong for various reasons. It’s worth the time to import seeds you just need patience. It’s quite simple you just have to remember your dealing with a government department who hold the key to do whatever they feel like at your exspense.

Bulbs I could understand with soil, in Australia live plants are forbidden to import, yes you can do it but beyond my bank account and a logistical nightmare. One wrong word or sentence on a phytosanitry certificate and you risk the shipment being thrown in the bin. A recent example I had is one lot of seeds was not on the certificate a honest paperwork mistake I risked losing the whole shipment of seeds. Quite a few emails and phone calls later along with time I managed to get my shipment through minus the seeds left off by accident. And when you are dealing with a living seed time is critical for success in the germination process.

There is one palm that’s a leader in the pack so to speak. Pretty well much a staple in the palm industry, most likely grown by the millions all around the globe where it will live, colourful, tough, predictable growth patterns and the biggest question I get asked having a nursery, and this the good old golden cane. For obvious reasons it’s a popular palm that’s for sure. A landscapers Lamborghini paid off in golden canes or that new pool in the landscapers new home.There just so popular, myself I won’t be planting any in a hurry but each to there own!

Slightly closer view..

Starting to pot up my Joey tube stocks. I have about 600 more joeys to pot up into 140mm containers from deep forest tubes. Might as well start now there tough enough. It will give more incentive to finish off the new greenhouse as iam running out of space not surprisingly!

This one set first set seeds seven years ago and the other one I posted the green trunk of started flowering at twelve years from planting out of a 2 liter pot. When they’re happy, they can start flowering long before reaching 25.

They really only burn in extreme dry hot heat and if newly planted from the greenhouse. Your one should be fine.

They may be considered a weed palm here in CA but a very beautiful towering “weed” for sure. Virtually no maintenance either except collecting occasional fallen old fronds. These are all the same palm from different vantage points.

I had one but it got eaten by locusts, 😆

This one gets lots of afternoon sun and has endured some pretty nasty heat waves over the years (100°F plus) with little stress. It started out in bright but full shade and grew into the open sky. Howea forsteriana are pretty durable with time. This one’s approximately 25 years old.

Cattleya forbesii

That’s the go fly and get them and declare them see how much fun you have then with customs on the spot to stuff em up.

I happen to have a Wallichia across from some Wettinias close to my house. I am guessing many PT readers have at least one palm whose genus begins with the letter W. I will begin posting mine, but I am counting on you to help fill in the rest. Wettinia hirsuta is first. Here’s my only Wallichia marianniae. I do have other Wallichia and Wettinia spp as yet to be recently photographed so stay tuned. Next is my only Welfia regia whose new red leaf is beautiful, but fades to green quickly. I do wish I had more of these. Too dark for more photos today, but I’ll add them as I can and look forward to seeing yours!

Outside the front door of my veterinarian's practice on Mobile is this small palm. Is it Trachycarpus fortunei? It looks dwarf to me. That might have something to do with the fact that it's a vertical pole outside the front door of a vet. It must get christened a dozen times a day.

Sadly my big coconut palms grown 2 inches in a month and a half. The littler coconut has a weird small frawn the big coconut gets full sunlight in the morning and scattered sunlight throughout the day. I fertilized it with fertilizer and saltwater.

They are a bit slow to reach maturity, but a nice medium paced palm with noticeable growth as juveniles. And tough so even what we would call John proof. 🌱

thank you very much, John 🤗

I love it. Rescue pets and rescue plants.

grows steadily and faster than expected, even trunk 🤗

With you being an indoor grower, it will challenge you pushing your grow skills to the max. And most likely it cheap either.

No it’s not, that’s just what it used to be called, now it’s chrysalidocarpus lutescens. They went back its original name.

I got two planted in the wrong spot getting shaded out, one is breaking through the canopy the other is still growing saying one day dam you shade I will break free!

Yeah, I couldn't resist...someone has to be that guy!

It does give Trachy vibes but I'm hardly the expert. I've got Sancho well trained not to pee on any palms though.

Merry Birthmas homey! Awesome palm too, I wish they had any chance at all of surviving here.

A final update, seedling became independent of the seed and by the time this happened it was potted up in very free draining medium. Since transplant it has started pushing a second leaf. FYI original pot, where seed germinated and seedling sprouted is 21 cm tall. Lifted part of hypocotyl is around 18 cm, so if you do not want to disturb seed by lifting up, you will need a pot of around 40 cm deep. I did the experiment with Hyphaena coriacea seeds two times and in both cases a deep pot had worked.

Just a couple of washers planted 24 years ago in a die hard part of the garden, not a lot of attention has gone there way, you pretty well dont have to give them any. Seeds collected from fuel station on the old highway just for something to do and a bit of palm learning on germinating seeds it all pays off those years of experience.

So sad.

Bigger pots, outside in shade, water each day

And the best bit is no customs fees!

This Trappes Valley Latifrons I bought last year while only throwing one leaf flushes at least each leaf is bigger than the last. I think its almost to that two leaf flush stage.

That’s about the time it takes for them to set seeds 25 years or more, height doesn’t determine when they become fully mature. I have seen 8 feet of trunk and seeds setting, there the easy ones to collect!

They are an age thing in growth,sun or shade dappled light. It doesn’t matter they are slow regardless. They will burn if the humidity is low in full, the higher the humidity the more sun a palm will tolerate!

I opened this thread just to see if anyone would mention locusts! 😆

If plumerias arent your thing I also have 5 gal Butia Capitatas free for customers.

Thank you

You certainly have quite an impressive knowledge base. At the Summer Meeting in St. Augustine, you could definitely hold your own with anyone.

On the subject of Howea in the sun, this little juvenile transitions to greater exposure under a quick and dirty shade structure extended from the fence. It's an open weave, maybe 30%. This palm is already acclimated to some direct sun, so my wish is to give it just enough coverage to adjust without trauma. (@Darold Petty This is one of the Millbrae courtyard seedlings. It got "musical chaired" around a bit and was living in a container before landing in this spot after your last visit.) Buried in wire. I avoid leaving anything precious for the pocket gophers to decide. Wire everywhere. My wife may have cast a sidelong glance at some plants that have appeared in the garden, but never at a kentia.

Pretty long Sean...our trip back was four flights. Hilo - Honolulu 1 hour, Honolulu to Auckland 8 hours, Auckland- Melbourne 4 hours, Melbourne- Hobart 1 hour! Bit of an ordeal but we'll worth it.

A little spotty guy, and a view from the verandah.

Planted a 1 gal plant from FB in June of 21. Looking good 4 years later. It's in shade of a Jacaranda most of the day. Gonna be a problem when it reaches the lowest branches.

One of the fastest seedlings from collected seeds 😊. Noticable orange traits on petioles.

I've had good luck with most Licuala in reasonably dense organics and wet (but not mucky) soil. The ones I've manage to kill have been in loose sandy soil with not enough water, or too much sun, or when a nursery sprayer got clogged and they dried out for several weeks. I found that Sumawongii can't take full sun here in Central Florida, but are totally fine with a couple of hours of AM sun. All the ones I tried with significant PM sun died. The fastest growing one is about 1 meter downhill from a roof downspout...I think that's not a coincidence!

Yep those seedlings will be exspensive to buy from me! And the 3 packs of seeds that gave me the trouble where worth only $80 bucks go figure. Iam not in a hurry for the seeds to germinate they will you need patience to grow palms.