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A nice little hidden valley far away from the hustle and bustle of the city. A few bangalows in habitat by the river along with a few linospadix monostachya. Nothing like getting away from it all!

A nice Licuala, which has gotten larger than I expected. Been in the ground for around a dozen years now and has quite a presence. One identifying features is the large central leaflet. Tim

Charles visited me at home and i stayed with him in Portugal some years ago. He grew the most silver chamaerops volcano i have ever seen before or since seeing his. He was a great host Regards Colin

I noticed that the smaller trunk on my larger specimen put out a new leaf which has a hint of blue. I don't think my phone captures the hue precisely but you can see a difference between it and the older adjacent leaves.

An Eucalyptus gunni close by. Probably the most northern large one in the world here at 62 degrees north. About 7-8m. There are several large ones a few km south. My largest Butia eriospatha.

Chamaedorea Benezeii, Chamaedorea Adescendens, and a buuuuunch of Kentias. I normally just use a splash of hydrogen peroxide in with the water, but since these Kentia seeds were obviously super fresh, and they sat in an envelope in transit for 3 weeks, they're a little funky so they got a little extra. All the way from the land of Kylie Minogue and Yahoo Serious @happypalms I typically soak for a day, stir to get most of the fruit off, change the water, repeat for 3 days then into germinating medium and onto the heat mat. I've never sprouted Kentia, but I've been told no bottom heat for them, and they're slow to sprout - so I'm thinking I just put them in some Tupperware someplace and set a reminder on my phone to check them next year.

A fairly common palm. But I don’t see many on palm talk. Surely there not that forgotten for there beautiful crownshaft. This one in my garden is the orange form. And iam still trying to remove a sucker no luck yet. One could call them the cold climate renda!

Some Howea belmoreana seeds germinated for me even after three years. They were given to me by Charles Wychgel, an extraordinary person. Every year he gave me seeds, even rare species. Unfortunately, he passed away. My only regret is that I lost everything he gave me

I have ordered several seeds from Philippe last Sunday and I already received them yesterday. Philippe was very kind and answered all my questions. The package was packed perfectly and 5 extra hybrid seeds were added to my order. I can only recommend ordering from Philippe!

Nice palm as usual in Hawaii, I don’t feel to bad knowing now I have 200 seeds coming in the mail. And iam sure I have one or two floating around in the greenhouse somewhere!

When I germinated mine, I put them in a cup with moist soil and turned the heat mat on to keep them at 90F+ at all times. December 2018 - 2 months after seeds were procured The seedlings grow pretty well in the right conditions, so hopefully the growth on the seedlings you have will match or exceed these. April 2025 - Adding Trunk

Try Dypsis decipiens, very slow to start, but can take sun and some frost. There are others on this forum closer to you who can offer better advice.

888; Welcome to Palmtalk ! "The nights here go really low to 60-70 in the summer. " This is warmer than my daytime high temperatures. Ceroxylon requires a sharp differential between the day/night temperatures. Low temperature tolerance of 17 F is plainly, just wrong. Cloud forest conditions in Colombia and Ecuador are mild daytime and lower nighttime temps with always high humidity but never actual frost. This is not the case with Lancaster. I would never suggest Ceroxylon in California unless the site is close enough to the ocean to experience the marine influence. However, no one will learn anything new by sticking with the conventional wisdom, so give it a try and keep us informed.

Two palm species that have managed to live through two winters in the greenhouse, so time to plant them in the ground. The chelyocarpus is an interesting palm that’s for sure, I will be happy to see this one grow, and the iguanura, I had to remove a clivia for a piece of real estate for it to go in, but a good substitute I think an iguanura for a clivia a fair swap indeed. Both will be in need of some regular summer waterings that’s for sure.

I received 10 B. witeckii and some bonus hydrid seeds as shown above. All arrived fast and in great condition. All spent 2 nights soaking and are now in baggies for germination. All sank immediately. I am very happy with the seeds I received and Phillipe's quick response to requests and questions. Will definitely consider Phillipe for future seed purchases.

Yea but you wouldn’t be there to share with the rest of us . Just kidding , I get your point! Just offshore here we have a pretty good sized island that is co-owned by the National Parks and the Nature Conservancy. The Nature Conservancy owns most of the island and they are slowly returning it to natural habitat . It has been used by many for centuries . The Chumash , Spanish , and eventually the rest of us. The Spanish brought wild pigs and in the early 1900’s it was ranched and fished by the Santa Barbara folks . Interesting history on Santa Cruz Island but nice to see a non profit care enough to bring it back to nature. You can go out there by boat and hike to see what California would look like without us . I spent a good part of my twenties and thirties out at Santa Cruz exploring when we lived on our sail boat. We found some interesting artifacts, like a WW II landing craft on the backside , buried in the sand on a remote beach . I guess we were keeping an eye on the Japanese . We have over half a dozen islands off our shore , some pretty much wild but accessible by boat. Just have to navigate the channel which can be a bit rough at times . I had my Fanny whipped more than once!! Harry

Thanks. The Butia eriospatha is probably my favourite too. Trachys has little problems here at the western coast, which is very influenced by the Gulf Stream. It is starting to be a lot of gardens with them, and they don’t need protection close to the coast, where 14 Fahrenheit and -10 Celsius is record cold since 1982. Jubaea also do well as long as kept dry during winter with a roof, it seems. Hoping for the same for the Butias. No heating, but Butias will get a wool blanket around the trunk on cold days.

That’s an ambitious undertaking. Based on the climate chart below, you’re in a very hot summer desert-like climate area. I’m afraid way too hot and dry for any of the Ceroxylon species since they prefer a cool coastal climate. San Francisco is ideal. I’m in a warmer valley to the south of SF but well within the tolerances of Ceroxylon since summer highs are mostly 70s-80s with nights in the upper 50s and my three Ceroxylon have done well for years. Humidity levels are high here too. 88% right now at 12:45 am. Ceroxylon need some humidity since they are cloud forest palms. Jubaeopsis caffra will handle a lot of heat. Young ones cannot handle repeated freezing weather though. Even large nature ones can only handle freezing down to the lower to mid 20s if it happens just once in any winter. Their very slow growth means freeze damaged fronds won’t be replaced no one growing season. Have you researched other palm species better suited to your climate? There are many. Brahea armata, B. edulis, Chamaerops humilis, Butia odorata, and the Phoenix genus for starters.

Very nice , it looks like it can handle a bit of sun. Harry

They should handle locations like @sonoranfans's pretty well. We have no issues growing them here, complete with viable offspring:

👀👀👀 Nice! I especially love the Butia. Never thought I'd see palm trees growing in Norway.

I was overly optimistic to think they stood a chance here. They germinate well in winter in ambient outdoor temps, but despite anything I tried to keep them cool in summer it was an absolute failure. The averages for my place were not far different than habitat, but it gets way hotter here than habitat. I will stick to subtropical palms. They do much better.

Good stuff, you got lucky on the benzei they came from @palmtreesforpleasure a man who knows his palm stuff well and quite a character too! The Howea you don’t need to soak or remove the husk, just whack em in, the adscendens are standard chamaedorea seed treatment. And good luck it brings me great joy knowing seeds from my garden will be in good hands ( of course there will be a follow just to see you don’t kill them from the happypalms bio security inspector 🤣) But I hope they bring you joy and happiness like they have done for me enjoy John and sancho. Richard

Escúchame, amigo. Quiero que clones esta palmera. Es Jubaea Chilensis x Butia Odorata. ¿Puedes? Quiero tener esta forma única y majestuosa de esta gran palmera. Es un lujo.

Philippe, thank you so much. You're a great gentleman and friend. The 10 Chambeyronia Macrocarpa watermelon seeds germinated on the heating mat. There's a certain Alex García in Spain who created a botanical world of palm trees. And he clones many of them. Congratulations! You've been an excellent seed provider for all of us. I don't know what you'll encounter along the way, but something will come out of your hard work, and those palm trees will express an even greater life of their own. Hugo Aravena

This thread is great as I can see what I’m in for growth wise. The seedlings I plucked ( with permission ) from Sullivans garden are a year or so from planting in the ground . As volunteers , I have hope for success for at least half of the 10 I gathered . I will also plant a few seeds in the garden just for fun. Harry These are the best of the ten , one week from potting

Now that 7 additional years have passed since I posted this, and the name changed, it seemed appropriate to update the post. The former Dypsis, now Chrysalidocarpus decipiens in my garden have continued their slow progress. The one that I posted above in the citrus pot in 2013 just got its first ring. The older one is still a multi trunk plant far away from any of the trunks showing a ring.

Yes definitely the valley floor and cold and wet in there at this time of the year in winter!

There a beautiful palm, there is a red form as well that’s even more stunning. Richard

There’s actually quite a lot of them to collect and some very rare ones as well in isolated locations. So if you’re wanting to collect all of them it will be a challenge!

@HillizardHi unfortunately I can’t refund the ceroxylon palm seeds 😞 but I’m gonna try in full shade once they sprout or bring them in summer and put them out in winter hopefully they can somehow adapt

I've learned that if I actually put things in soil once they sprout they do better 😂 but maybe I'll switch it up once I run out of coir. I was looking up other weather data and learned that our average annual humidity here is only 90%, so I dunno if that qualifies though. I've seen people call Filibusta a rare hybrid. I had no idea just how prolific of seeders the Radicalis was though. Now that I know how cold hardy they are I'll take them by the boatload. @DoomsDave was sending these all over the world not so very long ago.

Collectors wont touch them here, most of our family run nurseries are closed due to the chain stores killing them off such a shame. And if you do find one they don’t want to buy from you, or if they do they only want to give you nothing for your plants. They will take a Joey for ten bucks but who are they kidding just so they can put $120 on each palm, no thanks!

Peat moss is the answer, get one of those 2 to 3 cubic foot bags from Lowes or Tractor Supply. It's the only way to go if you are in a humid climate and will save you many a heartache.

Oh the only complaint I have is I should have planted more 30 years ago🤣

Give it to me baby ahah!

I have killed every single one I've bought. Probably due to the separation process even though I've always been super gentle. I killed a pot of pygmy dates and a pot of chamaedorea elegans doing this too. So I absolutely will not be community potting these at all 😂

Howea take a while . About a year in the garden and they sprout . Easy growing house plant . Harry

Now I have to go listen to The Offspring...

You gotta keep em seperated!

First two photos were the Dypsis species "Bef" in 2016. It was just a little plant and had not split into multiple trunks yet. Fast forward 9 years and it has a few trunks and rings. It looks a bit different than solitary ones, like my friend Bill''s aka BSMan. What about other's specimens of this Chrysalidocarpus?

Difficult to get these in the US. All the tender Chamaedoreas are a dime a dozen. C.microspadix is not too hard to find. C.radicalis is the most cold- hardy and not seen in most nurseries. I think Jungle Music carries them.

The nights here go really low to 60-70 in the summer then in the day it goes to 100s but unfortunately I don’t think I can refund the seeds 😞 so I’m gonna experiment

Encephalartos sclavoi flush now showing it's color as it progresses.

The only people that I know of that might be growing Ceroxylon are @Darold Petty and @Jim in Los Altos but I don't know if they have experience growing them from seed. Ceroxylon do best with cool night temperatures and they wouldn't stand a chance in this part of the world, unfortunately.

We welcome everything here. I sprouted some from @DoomsDave a while ago but they damped off, probably due to me using the same damp coco coir I germinated them in to pot them in.

We had a freak popup hailstorm in January a few years ago, and my palms were ok but it did $10k in damage to my car. The insurance company wanted to total it out, but all that means is they'd pay my loan off and then I have to apply for another loan and come up with another down payment. I'm pretty sure it started the slow demise of my Queen, the wind cracked the stem on it. It was too tall to bring it under cover.

Update on this one. It loves the rainy season here, and is working its way up to a top 5 favorite in my yard. Hurricane milton did no damage as its a bit shielded and its is a hurricane palm after all. If it tolerates winter 10' from the house and under 4 other palms, I will be ecstatic. Its put several new leaves out the last 3 months and has a nice spear bundle just waiting to pop more. Its a very nice dark green and it doesn't grow fast. Should it survive, I will be able to see into the crown a long time, hurray! My fingers are crossed on this one.

It sounds like an exciting palm for the garden. I never really took any notice of them being sidetracked with the understory iam working on. But also going for a second palm garden in my existing garden and doubling the size of it at the same time, so iam in for another 25 years of planting. By that time my Titan shall be worthy off and garden, might qualify for an IPS garden visit. Hopefully most of what Iam growing will get planted over those years. But I love seeing the gardens on palm talk it’s great inspiration when I see gardens like yours and others, but oh those lucky Hawaii growers 🌱

@Bkue I've been on the forum since about 2006. Back then there was a big Southern California contingent as well as many experts from Florida and Hawaii, plus a sprinkling of significantly knowledgeable Australians. It has shifted "main characters" considerably over the years. If you think about it, there is a common trajectory for palm enthusiasts: first fascination and first garden collection, followed by a more broadly educated appreciation, and then a maturing of the garden which can result in less or more posting, varying by the individual. In the meantime, a lot of discussion has migrated to the various social media centers, with specialized palm pages, sometimes worldwide, sometimes regional. That has splintered as well -- I couldn't possibly tell you how many sources of discussion there are on, for example, Facebook. From my perspective, PalmTalk still has a lot of Florida participation, and quite a lot of it is coming from experienced and well-informed growers. A person can get good advice here specific to your location, which is pretty awesome. As far as "reasonably known palms" I feel like there are a lot of questions about those, and lots of good feedback from those who have gone through the phases, trials, and tribulations of growing commonly available palms. If you feel like something is missing, post your questions. Honestly, the more you post, the more involved you will become in the community. One added feature of the international aspect -- I have had the very great pleasure of meeting so many fantastic palm people from all over the US and the world in person, whether with the IPS biennial travels or travels on my own. Palmtalk will take you wherever it is you want to go on your palm journey, whether sticking close to home or finding yourself deep in the jungles of Asia or Madagascar.