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I was out back looking at frogs with my daughter and I turned around and super silver flashed me. The flashlight really shows off why it’s called super silver.

the transitional leaf stage of this Loxococcus rupicola

Here is my attempt at growing coconuts in inland California zone 10a He’s a green Malayan dwarf. Planted him about a week ago, it arrived with a small fat root on his butt. he already anchored himself in the second he felt soil, no movement when I move the pot very firm. It arrived a bit white and the seller said to put it in the shade, But hell I just stuck it in the full blazing sun and he took two 100+ days already without damage and the white has turned into a healthy green. I will plant him in the ground once the winter passes. And he’ll get a few new friends in February. And those will be direct sowed into the ground instead.

It is with great sadness and heavy heart to inform palm talkers that Merc passed away today from a shark attack whist surfing at Dee Why beach. He loved his surfing and his palms. He was a generous, humorous person with a kind heart, and we all in shock at his passing He will very sadly missed. All our thoughts are with his family regards Colin

Coccothrinax Clinostigma gronophyllum

A short article for for non-Aussies. https://greekherald.com.au/news/greek-australian-surfer-mercury-psillakis-killed-in-shark-attack-at-dee-wh/

You GO @rockinrickyfox! Orthodoxy says you can’t but there’s a coconut in Corona also part of the IE.

Still can’t wrap my head around it being Merc in the news reports. I honestly don’t know what to say, but just wanted to pay my respects. He was a good bloke, clearly loved by his family, friends, and the wider palm community. You’ll be missed Merc.

Time to free the mind and soul and wonder in life! Richard The seeds of life 🌱

thank you SouthernCATropicals inspired me to try. if he can do it in san diego then i can probably take a good crack at it too! and yes it's certainly got fighting genes. honestly got surprised he liked it because even some cacti i have would get burned from such a move. seems to have grown a tiny bit already since arriving, i assume they grow super fast at the start from eating the nut. i hope to make many more updates in the future. 🙂

Most Washies are mutts. There's a famous one in LA that's literally growing out of a storm sewer and it's huge. This thing is literally fertilized with motor oil runoff and hobo pee and look at it.

Here is an updated pic of the Clinostigma savoryanum at the San Diego Zoo. This pic was taken on September 2, 2025. I believe this palm is more than 25 ft, maybe closer to 30 ft tall.

I found this house in Dickinson, ND in a old street view image (2011) that has palm trees. I was searching Palm Trees in North Dakota on google and found an interesting very old article that had someone cultivating palms back in 2010.

Getting into the potting up with winter finally finished. Quite a few seedlings to pot up so time to get them growing up, this will give the rats something to think about. But if I catch them they will be thinking twice about it that’s for sure! The guagra are from rps and the heterospathe where a gift and will be muched loved!

Wow, this is so sad. Someone sent me a news report on this and at first I thought it was one of those fake AI deaths as it seemed to crazy to believe. I never met him personally but communicated a lot online and of course sent him seed, or received his seed, over the years. RIP.

This large, tall Pheonix Rupicola in a neighbor's front yard. It may be a hybrid of some sort, but it certainly has mostly rupicola genes if that is the case. Regardless a gorgeous not commonly seen palm in my area.

So sorry to read this . My thoughts and prayers for the family . Harry

This is a horrible shock. Merc was always so easy to deal with and always mentioned if he had something special he thought I would like. My deepest sympathy to his family. It's just too sad. Vale Mercury. Peachy

Such a great man I have many of his seedlings in my nursery. I first got in contact with Merc during COVID. He was fantastic to deal with and had such great palms unheard of in Australia. I often commented to him that he was the germinater and could germinate a rock. I just recently sent him two kerriodoxa elegans, I will miss him I would always send him a message saying what’s new at mad Mercs nursery this week. We both had a lot in common with our palms. The palm community will miss him. RIP Mr psillakis the germinater! Richard and Jodie

One of my more robust queens produces fruits as big as small apricots occasionally. Squirrels usually get them however.

I’m not a big fan of Miracle grow products . Palmgain is much better , but I don’t think a Washingtonia needs any of that in Lancaster . Just water it and try not to get water down in the growth point, where the new spear is , in hot weather . You may want to mulch a bit but honestly these grow along the freeways and in open fields with no care at all and look great. Harry

With regular water these should be fine with no fertilizer at all . These are tough palms that normally do well in your arid climate. What fertilizer did you use and how much? If over fertilized , yes you should remove what you can but if it is the problem , it already has reached the root ball. Harry

Yes it is S romanzoffiana, of this I am certain. There are so many planted around here that they are now a declared weed and no longer legal to buy or plant. The photographed specimen has not been well fertilised during it's life time. When well fed and watered the foliage is dense, long and curving, with a thick trunk and can be a magnificent looking palm which explains their popularity for so many decades. Peachy

Daryl O'Connor and I spent a few days in Kiama with Colin Wilson back in late 2022. We arranged to meet Merc at Sydney's Royal Botanic Gardens. Here he is standing against a Caryota kiriwortgensis. Rest easy Merc, hopefully see you up there someday (save me some of your best seedlings as you used to do down here).

A couple more go in the ground, some rare ones in this lot. They both will give the garden a great tropical feeling, just the place to sit and relax and contemplate life and the values of being on this planet!

Borassodendron machadonis

Very sad news Merc was a great bloke and master germinating palms 🌴

I moved here after Palmageddon in 2022 and it got down to 22°F here and 24°F in Brownsville. I noticed a handful of queens died in new subdivisions but they were newly planted and likely not watered well. Same thing with newly planted royal palms. Many royals didn't survive 2021 but most did. All royals saw at least some leaf damage the past 3 winters at 27°F but aside from 2021 27°F is the lowest temperature recorded here since 1989. I planted this royal in 2022 and it hasn't been protected the last 2 winters. When they're damaged they look pretty well recovered by the end of summer. It's about 14' tall today but fit in my car when I bought it!

I am deeply shocked. I have been planning to cross and back by swim the bay today, but after those terrible news and because of some very apparent analogies I'd better postpone it...

How sad, friends, to hear the news of his passing. And I've noticed that many members of PalmTalk have passed away. Imagine how sad it is. We're just passing through this world.

This is just terrible news. What a huge loss to the palm world especially in Australia. My thoughts are with his friends and family.

Oh my god Colin I just heard the news and I can’t believe it. I never met Merc in person but I’m still so shook up it shows the contribution he had to the palms community in Australia and even globally. Your title is apt, he’s the best germination of seed I’ve come across, just seemed to be able to get anything to sprout and was an amazing grower from that point on. I’ll post some of the palms he gave me as remembrance but that no doubt won’t nearly be fitting for such a great guy beyond his palm community contribution. He was always very generous and happy to chat palms anytime he’ll be missed. I can’t even imagine what those closer to him than I must be feeling.

Dave, unfortunately some fool decided to cut down the one in Corona. It was becoming fantastic too. They must have decided it was too close to the house.

@ZPalms had one for a little bit and @Philly J has one in Canada. Sure, it lives inside a bag with a humidifier for 10 months but he has a coconut palm in like I think zone 2. He's just south of Santa's village.

Yes , I agree . A Queen Palm from what I can tell. I don’t fertilize my S. Romanzoffiana, just copious amounts of water . They are variable and can look different even in the same yard with the same treatment. Southern California is home to bunches of these in just about every corner. Most are very healthy and full . The arching fronds are typical from what I’ve seen. Harry

Be patient. Keep it well watered during the hot season. Inspect the spear and crown in the meantime.

Ok I shipped off a package today. I normally go to my local library to print off my UPS labels, but I didn't know they're closed on Friday. I already had to head to the next town south to pick up Sancho's meds and my insulin and drop the package off, so I went to their library and I saw something I thought was freaking awesome. They have a seed library. They used the old card catalog drawer for seeds given away for free. It's a two part thing, they want to get kids involved and help the needy grow food. I talked to the librarian for a few minutes while we struggled to get my phone to connect to their printer and told her I grow palm trees, and that's actually what's in this box. She gives me a funny look and says "You're in Mississippi and you're sending palm trees TO Florida?" Yes ma'am I am. I dunno if this is something that anybody would want to donate extra seed to, maybe stuff that's really fast and easy to germinate and cold hardy like Washies? I know kids (and most normal adults) don't have the patience to stare at a baggie of dirt for 8 or 9 months to watch a blade of grass take 10 years to turn into something. But we aren't normal. I know there was a thread in the IPS forum about trying to get younger people involved. Maybe get someone graphically inclined with a print shop buddy to print little cards with instructions and stuff on it? Or maybe a QR code? It's all run off of donations. I wouldn't even know who to ask on here about setting this up. @Cindy Adair? This is in the Wayne County library in Mississippi. They had a nice little display talking about how gardening is a great stress reliever and books on farming and cookbooks for fresh vegetables and stuff all right there. I just don't find carrots and lettuce very exciting because I'm not a rabbit.

People here have little street libraries outside their houses. It is all organised and lists of locations are easily available. Many of them have seeds as well as books. The scheme has been running for a few years now with apparent success. I get a lot of seeds from my flowering annuals so it is a good way for me to share them around instead of throwing them out. Peachy

Male chamaedorea plumosa flowers!

My Dad's side of the family is from North Dakota. It's really cold there, would have to be a Herculean effort to make it . I haven't been back there in a long time, but I remember the winters were savage. Seemed like it snowed every day, but it was just the wind blowing snow,if you looked up the sky was blue.

If the average daily temps are still in the 70ish range, microbial activity hasn't really slowed down yet. So in the summer the soil temp might be 30C = 86F, maybe a little more or less. On the left chart below is the microbial activity vs temp. 30C is pretty close to 1 = 100%. The 50% point is around 10C = 50F average temp. Even then fertilizer still works well. It has to be REALLY cold for microbial activity to drop far enough for fertilizer to be wasteful. That soesn't happen at all in Central Florida, but probably does in SC. Where is the point where it makes no sense? Dunno.

Ok the more I think about it, palms are probably a terrible idea for all but maybe a few people around here. It looks like I've already missed the Farmers Markets and stuff but maybe once my sprouts get bigger I can find a plant swap or something. I just really don't want to have to go on *shudders* *acid reflux* Facebook *gags* to try and drum up interest.

Yeah. Even Washies languish for a year or 2 before they take shape, then it takes them another year or 2 to get big.

Beautiful aching, to bad it's so much pruned. I bet there's some Butia genetic there

I don't know how we survived, but we did.

One thing is certain, they are very variable, some have a thin trunk, some a thicker trunk, as well as the leaves, some more plumed, some smoother.

If it quacks like a duck and looks like a duck, then it’s a duck!

A difficult one to capture in pictures, with them being so tall in the mid canopy blending in with the rest of the foliage, but a few recognisable pictures. With a small one I was able to get some pictures of the male flowers, and with a tap on the flower a nice dispersal of pollen. A great palm that takes all sorts of growing conditions. These ones are about 25 years old, with a height of at 6 meters. An easy palm to grow and if you can look up you get to see them.

Sancho inspecting my Trachy planting. I think he says it's in a good spot with afternoon sun so hopefully it turns into a fat chunky one instead of a hairy Washy looking one.

Not at all. I always fertilize in March, June and September. Go ahead, it’s still plenty warm enough.