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While I don’t really have anything super “rare”, I do have a bunch of coveted palms listed below I think many might like to have in the garden. One palm that is probably my favorite and most unique was purchased as Dypsis Heteromorpha but it surely seems like a hybrid of some type. I’ve posted this palm many times so people are probably tired of seeing it but it never gets old to me and is continuing to grow at a rapid rate. Planted out as a small 5G stick in Feb 2021 if you can believe it. Crazy….. -Dypsis Mananjarensis (Mealy Bug) -Dypsis Dark Mealy -Dypsis Black Stem -Dypsis Ampasindavae -Dypsis Mayotte -Dypsis Marojejyi (MadFox) -Kentiopsis Piersoniorum -Licuala Ramsayi

Another one of my favourites in the chamaedorea collection!

Lots of nice palms here. Thanks to those responding and I look forward to more. Taking out the barely hanging on palms which fit better in the finicky palms topic and the seedlings not yet proven to survive, I narrowed it down to two palms. First Calyotrocalyx doxanthus from Floribunda years ago. And Pinanga aristata, a little more fussy and never holding many leaves, but dear to my heart after seeing many in Borneo on IPS travel. Also from Floribunda. Below is one of many photos I took in Borneo on epic IPS travel showing Pinanga aristata really happy. Still trying for that, but glad no leeches in Puerto Rico. For those who have insomnia and/or want to see more photos of this palm in habitat go here:

Oh I forgot one which probably won’t survive but seems pretty unique. I have two Sommieria leucophylla in the ground, slow but OK from RPS seeds years ago. Here’s the larger of the two: Then I was gifted some seeds from HI a couple of years ago which germinated and are growing well but one has yellow to almost white leaves. Maybe it will have enough chlorophyll to survive, but if not you can at least see it here among its very deep green siblings.

My rarest palm tree would prob be a tie between my Cyrtostachys renda Variegated and Chrysalidocarpus 'Votovavy Blue'

Thought I should share a couple pics. First is a 10 yo P. viscosa; next was purchased as P. aylmer-robinsonii, later rolled into “remota” by Don Hodel.

While not my rarest, Hemithrinax ekmaniana has proven itself a winner for the Arizona desert. Takes our full sun, extreme heat to 120F, and winter chills into the upper 20'sF without a scratch. One of my favorite palms due to it's compact nature, and relatively fast growth speed. (compared to most Coccothrinax species) I have already grown a few batches from seed to help preserve this rare palm from extinction. aztropic Mesa, Arizona

The palm of darkness , no sun please! Actually mine take a bit of sun and no matter how I place the pot , the stem leans out from the porch to get a peak at the sun. Hardly ever see them for sale anymore . Even back in the nineties they were hard to find but there if you looked hard enough. It seems they have vanished from the nurseries along with most of the smaller nurseries I used to go to . I used to make the rounds looking for odd stuff , that’s when I ran into my metalica’s . They were at the back of the nursery , I think getting ready for transplant as they were about 3’ ( 1 meter ) tall in a small pot . Three plants to a pot . I bought all three pots . The woman who ran the nursery said they had some but not much interest so she gave me a deal to take all of them. I gave one pot away and still have the others. One of the pots sprouted a baby about 4-5 years ago . I guess that means I have both male and female. Occasionally I will get a couple of seeds but they don’t sprout in the garden like the other Chamaedorea . Harry I have posted these before but here’s a rerun! The pot on the left has the volunteers. This was a while ago but they are still going strong . Gotta be over 35 years old! …….nothing else matters…….

This story is old news, but I have posted it for the great images. I have visited about 40 countries, and this is the most special place! During my visit, before the baiting, the proposal was controversial among the residents. My guide, Jack Schick, was firmly in the camp for baiting. https://www.bbc.com/reel/video/p09b5f3c/saving-an-australian-paradise-s-cloud-forest

mealy bug, sounds kind of funny 🤭

Yes a rhapis as @Harry’s Palms suggested. Now you’re next challenge is to get a variegated one.

My current collection is around 400 palms, and most would be considered "rare" by a non-enthusiast. But the majority of them are ones familiar to many (most?) PTers. Some of the rare ones are Patrick hybrids like BxJ, JxB, and BxLytoWed. The most unusual are probably a Sabal "Lisa" and an Elaeis Guineensis "Whole Leaf." They are probably only known to palm wackos like all of us here...

I purchased a Phoenix Roebelenii at Menards for a huge discount 2 months ago. It was sick and dying. The middle spear was disintegrating and had a severe fungal disease. My girlfriend thought I was out of my mind purchasing it. I told her not to worry because I am a professional. I got it home and cut off all the dead branches to see what I was working with. I then took a pair a shears and cut out the middle rotten spears. I poured hydrogen peroxide 3% down where the spears used to be. I repotted the tree with my unique blend of "soil" and then isolated the tree. I kept the receipt for the tree as I was giving it a 50/50 chance of survival. I then waited to see the results...... It has been 2 months and here are the results. This is proof that you should never give up on treatment. Below are 2 months of pictures showing the potted palm throughout it's journey. ENJOY!!!

This is one of my happiest anthuriums and now in bloom. Nothing to show size in this photo but those who grow it know it is big and in my jungle care free. Please post yours whether growing inside or outside.

A recent pacsoa purchase the ptychosperma, it made it through winter so plant it in the ground to get it growing, and another pinnatafrons goes in simply because there so beautiful and another one won’t hurt the tropical look iam sure!

"Oh it'll be super cool to put a bunch of Sabal Louisiana seeds in this 16 oz New Orleans Saints cup for their community pot!" I don't think they've even been in there a month and I think they need a bigger container. This isn't even all of them in the cup. I learned from my sideways growing deformed Mexicana and put these in pots as soon as I saw roots. There's 2 more community pots of these and I even found a handful that I set down intending to grab another pot for them, but I needed to take my pills. I hope these things keep growing this fast. They're not Washies but I am seeing noticable growth every single day with these.

I am hoping that the biologists can eventually re-introduce the stick insect, salvaged from Ball's Pyramid.

From the ground up it all begins once you push that seed in!

Ive seen what they can do in nursery those damm rodents, heaven forbid on remote island, with some of the most unique flora and fauna that rival the Galápagos Islands, a true environmental disaster those rats!

The last time I saw them for sale here, it was $63 for a 6" pot. Things are crowded right now, and I really want to invest in a Bokashi composting "soil factory" - and some more yard tools. And some lumber to build a compost bin. And I need to build.some grow light stands and buy some more lights. And I need to make friends with an arborist or get Santa Claus to rent me a wood chipper. And and and and and

All mine precious!

Master of puppets oh great one who follows Metallica!

I will have one of these one day. "It will be mine. Oh yes, it will be mine." - Wayne Campbell, Wayne's World

Compared to the climate and latitude we find ourselves in, everything is exotic and rare, and some of it will certainly be best cared for indoors. The Carludovica palmata is certainly one of the rarest exotic plants here in our small collection... But we won't let that get us down and will try to plant everything we can, no matter how big the challenge. Like Asterix and Obelix, we won't let the Romans drive us away or dissuade us from our plans... 🤣

@realarch you didn’t think I would just take it lying down like @Jonathan did no way, while not as glorious as the one you have, I had to represent Australia and it’s wonderful palm growers. Seeing as @Harry’s Palms is sleeping as well, so here’s my small contribution from down under , when I plant it iam just going to sit and stare at it that way it will grow faster! Richard

I guess I'll go dig some holes when it cools off a little more. Mark them with bricks because the grass is definitely going to tower over them lol..

They're easy to protect if this winter is a bad one. If you put a bucket over them and they should be fine. That's not too much effort for the first 3-5 years until they are fully embedded and ready to fly solo.

I had to add a couple more photos because I saw a nice little green anole using my papaya as a hunting ground today:

This never gets old

Some awesome palms I’ve never heard of in this thread. Most of my palms are rare for central Florida while not rare in other places, but rarest is most likely my Coccothrinax Macroglossa “Azul”

NOTE - scroll to last post to read about latest seed release! ———— Due to the amount of time it takes, I have stopped selling seed directly from here. I moved to eBay and have a lot of rare palms setting seed right now. I will update this thread as it comes online. Right now I uploaded C. baronii “Black Stem” and a few other gems. https://ebay.us/m/k9Bs23

Such a nifty little palm from peninsular Malaysia. Been in the ground for about 10 years now from a small seedling. Blooms continuously, but never sets seed. Interesting color, bluish green with a matte sheen. A well behaved garden gem. Tim

Hopefully the eradication results in more of these little guys...L mooreana ready to hit the ground this spring!

These three are from that handful of volunteer seeds I got four years ago. Seeds are slow to ripen and germinate, and then the seedlings had a lot of fungal issues, but once they get past the delicate early stages they pick up steam fast. Not bad considering it's barely over three years since they were germinated and they're now contributing with a few seeds of their own.

You know what's funny is I actually have been seriously thinking about digging a giant L shaped trench in the yard and sheet mulching around it for bananas and palms and filling it all in with compost and grass clippings and leaves and branches and crap to build the soil up. I've gone DEEP into the Reddit and YouTube composting world the last week or so. Never in my life did I think I'd spend hours watching YouTube videos of dudes playing with worms and cow poop and reading endless threads of people saving their urine for their compost piles and brewing up stinky rotten compost and fertilizer but I'm a good week into doing just that.

It all begins with a seed!

60 that’s some good numbers to have, if you still had those plants you would be producing seeds for sure.

Richard, I had about 60 Chamaedorea metallica, I don't have even one left, please save some seeds for me, (no rush) very thanks

Spring is upon the southern hemisphere so time to pot up! And today it was with some of the personal collection. Starting with a Calyptrogyne ghiesbreghtiana, Dypsis clbs, Geonoma atrovirens, Calyptrocalyx benga dawn, actinorhytis calapparia, Zamia encephalartoides, licuala poonsakii, Pinanga disticha entire leaf form, and a chamaedorea deckeriana. Definitely some stuff in there worth having in the garden, it will be fun planting them out next spring they made it through winter not a problem so grow them on a bit and I will see what happens next spring!

That’s the way to go admire them and they grow faster. A little praise goes a long way. And at least it’s a true Dypsis variety, I might call it dypsis harry sp, at least I will remember it that way and be able to spell it.

I decided to go ahead and plant my seed grown sabal palms into the palm garden. I hope they make it. There were too many palm seedlings so I ended up putting some back into the ziplock bag and potted up a palmetto along with some seeds.

Might as well find a good spot for them in the ground and put mesh over them to keep the critters out.

I usually just say Obi Island, but here's the full Latin on it. I had to find it from eBay. Lol Darold, if I sound like I know what I'm talking about on here, it's going to harm my reputation as the resident idiot.

Think I woke up under that palm after my mind blew for the third time while exploring your garden Tim! What a cracker.

Mine is not rare anywhere but in Phoenix (hell) just opened a new frond in our 110-115 comfortable wheather!! Chrysalidocarpus leptocheilos!!

Tough call in Australia a lot of stuff is extremely rare. Especially in my subtropical climate. You’re up against the palm mafia to get anything rare. licuala egregia licuala triphylia var stenophylla Geonoma atrovirens Sabinara magnifica And I know there’s more rare ones in there somewhere in the collection. I only know them when I see them!

And this Syagrus sancona

Interesting about the cold! Curious to know how much and for how long.

The big HUGE thing is that they don’t take moving well even when small. Soon as they send a root out our EACH sprouting seed into its own liner, and don’t set on the ground to root in.

@BayAndroid I've had good luck with sprouting them in bags with moist potting soil on a heat mat and directly in small pots on a heat mat. As long as the seeds are fresh and they get the heat they need, they sprout reliably in 4-8 weeks.