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Didn't read all the posts, but I just might be the "old man" of the crew at 82 1/2. Born in May of '43. My self description: Born in the Bronx, Raised in Brooklyn Matured in Waiʻanae (got here at age 20) I wonʻt be held responsible for anything I say or do because of the above facts. LOL I weigh in at 160 lbs, 5ʻ 10". I use to be 6ʻ but w/time bone joints compress. I have Mitral valve prolapse, (is a heart condition where the mitral valve flaps bulge backward into the left atrium when the heart contracts, which may cause the valve to leak. While often asymptomatic, it can cause symptoms like palpitations, chest pain, shortness of breath, and fatigue) I have none of those problems. I can still do a 8 mile round trip hike gaining at least 1000ʻ in elevation w/little problems with a 15lb pack on my back. My only real problem is I canʻt lift much over 30 lbs because of a minor hernia. Been doing palms since 1998. I have about 100 in the ground from some 27 year old big ones to some 1ʻ tall newbeʻs planted just 2 years ago. Not gonna buy new ones until we get this CRB creature under control.

L weddelianum today.

Chrysalidocarpus Lutescens Solitary Form and a dwarf Areca catechu happy with all these recent rain.

Dypsis procera, beautiful smallish palm.

Hello fellow PT folks. For those of us that have Triangle palms , we know how the leaf bases can hang on for years. I haven’t been able to find a way to cut them without threatening damage to the trunk. They will eventually come off with a hard tug but only after a while. I don’t mind the rugged look but I have one out front that had a couple of years of bases stacked up. The rain finally stopped yesterday and now we have brisk, windy conditions and getting time in the garden. I looked up at the Triangle palm and just gave a tug , wow I got about six bases to just pull off . They were water soaked and came off easily exposing about 6” of more trunk. Harry This was during the rain with stacks of leaf bases After finishing the clean up Close up! Harry

Dear diary, lol. Finally added a few Howea f to the LHI garden today, will keep adding more seedlings as the surrounding trees develop.

So nice to see you @Josue Diaz y'all come back, hear? (Keep yer shews on . . . .)

Skippy the bush kangaroo in amongst the palms.

This is the 5th winter in the ground. The " Love Palm" (there's a story there) was purchased as a juvenile at a Home Depot in 2012. It has lived in two apartments, a town house, an office, briefly in a storage unit and in a garage before putting down roots five years ago. On nights below 29 or so it gets the Christmas lights and blankets treatment. Last winter we had snow on the ground for about three days and since the fronds are now way up there and too high for my ladder, I was unable to protect them. It experienced about 80% defoliation. But here we are in November and looking pretty good. The Washingtonia next to it was two feet tall five years ago. I can't protect it because it's so covered with thorns that any fabric would come off in shreds but it's been fine against that south facing wall.

A beautiful little palm the loasensis, and this little one is a good example of a nice seedling. See how this one goes in a few years time as a garden specimen!

I don't agree with creating more sub-forums. Nowadays I feel like there is so much self-segregation "banishment" into the cold hardy forum for example. What happened to the days when everyone whether from India, New York, Croatia, the Philippines, etc were all in the same thread? Cold hardy palms, potted palms, freeze damaged palms...in the end all of this discussion is still centered around palms! A forum imo shouldn't feel like an archive or an encyclopedia meant for "user convenience" in storing and/or extracting information. The priority should be community and active engagement. If you want to search for and/or save certain things, then the search engine and/or bookmarks work fine. Fwiw, I enjoy @happypalms posts. I'm glad there's someone enthusiastic about palms posting tons of pictures of a wide variety of palms keeping palmtalk alive despite forums being ancient history at this point. What's stopping everyone else from posting or bumping threads? Where are the people bumping 10-15 year old threads? Please come back...actually everyone please come back...yes even the lurkers 😆

Late in the year now, after the flower stalks emerged in spring…. The One-armed Bandit’s first 2 stalks produced a heavy bounty of seeds. Like, tons. The 3rd stalk a few. And the 4th stalk aborted. Now the super heavy seeds are kinking the connection, pinching off nutrient supply and yellowing. I imagine they’ll start to get orange-red soon. Drought again to end the year. Charlie brown’s Christmas tree has come a long way… These three amigos are chugging along. The in-ground specimens are all reasonably happy, though this potted guy seems less than thrilled lately.

Just turned 30. Best thing about palms is I can enjoy this slow burn of a hobby for the next 50 years

I had never heard of this palm until a year ago, was gifted one and planted it out at the beginning of this year. Not particularly remarkable, but we’ll see how it grows. Leaves are uniformly pinnate which is kind of unusual for Areca. Glad to hear about its hardiness to different climate extremes. Tim

I apologize for the long post, kind of got carried away LOL. I find facebook a totally different environment. If your posts are more of the "hey check this out" and the goal is to get dozens of likes and wows and loves, FB is the place for that. If you want a discussion, the PT forum is much better for a meaningful discussion. There are some overlaps of course, such as "can anyone ID this?" can go in either, and in FB or Reddit this may have a wider reach of people, while on PT there is a deeper reach of expertise. There is no need to follow any topics on FB, because it's a short live flash than it dies. I still can't figure out what the magic logic FB uses to decide showing only some comments as "Relevant" and how this relevance is even determined, not sure FB themselves know. As for PT, there are some I would consider "weedy threads". I would say the issue is not the number of posts, but the number of threads. I would prefer to have the threads a bit more organized, there is no need to have one thread, there can be multiple threads as there are different ways to slice and dice anything and people will never agree. I do think the forum of "PALMS IN POTS" underused. I think topics about seeds, up potting, unboxing...when you are discussing or showcasing your stuff in a green house, that ought to go into that subforum instead of using DISCUSSION PALM TREES WORLDWIDE for everything. https://www.palmtalk.org/forum/forum/45-palms-in-pots/ I personally find threads that are cumulative very attractive because one can see the progression and even revisit older posts in the same thread. The orchid thread in the Tropical Plant thread is a good example of that...I go back to look at that thread weekly, seeing new posts added and sometimes scrolling back on older posts. The thread showing Len Geiger's garden is another example that is fascinating to read and follow over the years. The What Caught Your Eyes thread is also a very nice way to group together otherwise might feel very weedy posts showing what impressed someone on a particular day. So is the color thread. I find these threads with hundreds and thousands of replies (replies! not just views!) great holding places for housing what otherwise would be very weedy threads scattered all over. I also think these get way more views than a one off thread that's buried after a few days never to be seen again. Speaking of weeds, what one may consider a weed may be another person's treasure, so it's very subjective thus the diverse opinion on this subject matter. On the positive side, I am glad we can afford to have discussions about "too many threads or too many posts" because this is a luxury! Today many online forums are getting phased out due to low participation very little traffic, they beg for new threads any thread even threads like "what's the weather today where you are" or "Let me show you what I bought from the grocery store today - grocery unbagging". I personally do not like limiting posts or threads, or using ignore features as those can be two edge swords and have unintended results. Finally, I know this is a palm forum, but it has a tropical plant subforum, I wonder why it doesn't have an aquatic plant subforum? Is it so specialized if one existed I would be the only one posting there or is it not palm related enough?

I try not to let the old lady in, but the chart at the top of the page is pushing on the door.

My first visit to the gardens since the new plantings have gone in. Pleased to report most are doing well. Only one of the 3 Chamaedorea woodsoniana looks like it’s been beat up but all others look to be settling in nicely. Some of the older established specimens are looking great too. Chamaedorea woodsoniana Syagrus schizophylla Lepidorrhachis mooreana Oraniopsis appendiculata Chamaedorea brachypoda in the background Chamaedorea costaricana Linospadix apetiolatus Chambeyronia macrocarpa Rhopalostylis sapida Archontophoenix maxima Hedyscepe canterburyana Bismarckia nobilis Parajubaea cocoides Caryota obtusa Hedyscepe canterburyana Chamaedorea sp (maybe potchutlensis) Ravenea glauca (Isalo form) Rhapis humilis Howea belmoreana Livistona saribus Linospadix minor Chamaedorea elatior Jubaea chilensis Brahea Super Silver Brahea armata Livistona fulva Livistona nitida Chamaedorea costaricana Chambeyronia macrocarpa var hookeri Beccariophoenix alfredii

I germinated my first palm in 89 when I was 16. A phoenix canariensis and it’s a big palm at my dad’s place with about 3.5m of clear trunk. I decided to start collecting palms in 99 when I bought my first house. The palm bug bit hard and I’ve been on Palmtalk in its various forms for 25 years back when Robert Lee Riffle was here on the forum. I’m so infected by the palm bug it’s well and truly in my blood now. No cure, and I don’t want to be cured either.

Growing in Davie, FL. Beautiful palm

Also added a few Rhopalostylis baueri in the next garden down which I guess is trending towards Norfolk Island...they had these mysterious labels. Any thoughts @Darold Petty? I've also got a few R baueri cheesemanii to go in this area soon if I can get my act together.

My 1.5yr old Borneo Giant has flowered! Never really found any of the Alocasia flowers impressive imo.

Since then, I got another. Pretty sure I got the right one this time!

So about 10 years ago, I got a small plant. After watching it grow for a few years I noticed it hadn’t developed the armor I’d read about. To this day I don’t really know what it is. Possible hybrid? Another Syagrus entirely? Super flat leaves, which is kind of unusual for this genus. Flowering at a fairly small stature as well. Pretty nonetheless!

Brassocattleya Gulfshore's Beauty 'Green Gem' I usually like the big, 1950s-era classic, floofy, corsage-type cattleyas. But, the color contrast on this smaller one temporarily pushed me into modern times. 😆 First time blooming for me and have been anticipating since purchasing a year ago. Slightly fragrant.

I'm actually a little relieved to see some younger blood. @PalmatierMeg sent me a care package a while ago with a really nice note telling me that I was part of the next generation of palm enthusiasts, and I took it as a great compliment but I'm so used to working with people in their 20s so it's nice to know that there's still at least a few people here who won't get my pop culture references. And I can tell them their music is trash. And I can tell them to get off my lawn. I still don't pull my pants up to my armpits though, I still wear baggy jorts and t shirts like it's still the 1990s. Anyway, it's crazy that my insane plant journey and everything that I'm doing now all started with a $12 big box plant because I thought my apartment looked like an institution, and I ended up here looking for help with it. Words on a screen or not, I consider a lot of you to be friends and whether it was kind words, advice, jokes, or boxes full of plants and seeds y'all have gotten me through some really dark 💩 and continue to do so. I hope my babbling and my continuous eff ups provide some knowledge the way others have shared their knowledge with me. Ok rant over..

I made my first palm trees from seed in 1986, nothing rare, the seeds I found in my city, then in the 90s I started to wander around the botanical gardens, finally at the beginning of 2000, thanks to the internet I discovered rarepalmseeds, I remember that when I made my first order, after paying I said how stupid I was, they took the money and didn't send me anything, after 25 years I'm still buying seeds from RPS

I am older than dirt, and have walked the Earth with dinosaurs.

I've been away for a couple of weeks to a place with lots of palms and a lot of desert but uneven internet connections.

Still here and just posting less frequently. That's partially due to "finishing" my yard and moving on to other big tasks, and partially because a certain member keeps "spamming the board" with 20 or so new and yet somehow highly repetitive topics per day.

Once the Hedyscepe starts to trunk they speed up a fair bit.

In very bright light they tend to be lighter green. In full shade they should be very deep green. So, not knowing the lighting conditions where your sapida is planted, makes the pale green leaves hard to diagnose.

Harry, that one has some size to it. Triangles here in Hilo have a limited life span because of the constant moisture accumulation in the leaf bases. The palms actually look pretty good but then the crown just snaps off because of the rot. A bunch of headless horsemen hanging out. Tim

Your palms look beautiful as always but the infructescence stalk seems elongated. I haven’t seen that before. Here’s mine for comparison.

https://blogs.ifas.ufl.edu/news/2025/11/13/innovative-tool-offers-palm-owners-growers-new-line-of-defense-against-trunk-rot-protecting-iconic-trees/ Looks like a quicker way of identifying the fungus.

Hi Andy; I withdrew from participation at the Lakeside Palmetum after 38 years. I haven't been there in a few years now. However, a new group of locals has taken over and apparently is doing a good job. I miss Garrin a lot.

I don’t know what really killed my Butia, perhaps a nutrient deficiency, but either way it’s dead now.

I will continue with this project as long as I can! Richard

I vividly remember the day school I went to at about age 5. Whenever we played outdoors, I was fascinated to pick up fallen coconuts (Miami) and bring home one or two. Even then, I was drawn to palms and fascinated by them. In those days, the cities in Florida hadn't started removing coconuts from trees and the streets were lined with tall Jamaican coconut palms full of fruit. (Cities realized that coconuts become flying missiles in hurricanes and began removing them sometime in the late 60s or early 70s). Interest in palms is a life long obsession....and a good one. Glad to see young peoples' interest!

A coconut palm doing well in my 9b suburb of Orlando:

I was doing some trimming this weekend and thought I would share my variegated parajubaea. It’s tall enough that I don’t get to really see it that much until I take a leaf down. Here’s a few pics.

Wait until I get some of my personal collection in there. I hope the future generations get the full benefit of it. Iam sure the seeds in the years to come will be a welcome gift! Richard

Such a shame your local botanic gardens is not interested in rare palms. If it was a zoo they would be interested in anything rare to bring in the public. I guess rare palms in a public display dont make money, but a rare animal we can make money off. Richard

The next in line which opened this morning were the Laelia anceps barkeriana type. It is exceedingly unusual to have all my Laelias open flowers before Thanksgiving arrives.

I think we need a qualitative study on WHO responded vs who didn't lol. If you attend any of the society meetings, you'll see the average age is much higher - and wealthier. And they do participate here, but perhaps not as often as the younger folks. Same typically goes for other societies too. In my area at least, the orchid societies, cacti & succulent society, etc. I mean, it does take time and money to accumulate a big collection. I was collecting palms as young as 15 or 16, but as you might imagine, I had no property of my own, and very little money of my own. fast forward 20 years and I've got better means and better conditions for collecting palms. My only regret is not buying a specimen Pseudophoenix sargentii when I was 15! It would be so big and grown by now lol

In my own case, still pushing down on the grass instead of up. Between work, my own garden, the gym, CFPACS, and once in a while, sleep, time is at a premium nowadays. Some of the folks on here that were frequent fliers went to other platforms like Facebook, Twitter/X, WhatsApp, etc., with several citing the reasons similar to @Merlyn's.

H rheophytica twas today.

Yeah. It turned silver on top when it Al was about 3-4 feet tall. I between the pleats it stays a little greenish. I’m hoping it will flower soon. It seems to be about the size I’ve seen them flower in habitat (I’ve seen photos only. Not in person). I can only get a good pic of the top now when I’m on the roof. I blew it I guess because I was up there this weekend hanging Christmas lights. Here’s a few shots from tonight. You can see the tops a bit from this angle.

im baaaaaack and have some fun photos for you all night photography is an amazing way to make a palm pop out of the background so we can focus on a specimen. many more photos to come, but i thought i would share these first. thanks as always to the legendary Jeff and Suchin Marcus