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Mine has grown really well throughout our summer despite multiple days of extreme heat. Mine gets filtered light for most of the day; it’s on the south edge of a south facing garden (southern hemisphere) so larger palms in the garden give it a degree of protection but definitely does see at least brief periods of direct sun throughout the day.

I just found one in my neighborhood and knocked on the door to ask permission to take a picture. I ended up leaving with a huge cutting.

Thanks to all! The deed is done. It was still rocking around on those roots a little more than I'd like so I staked it at the base. It gets pretty windy around here in spring. Let the burn begin!

My graminofolia seed came from south America originally twice. The person i got them from has sinced passed away. I was aware of the papers above and the crosses. Many years ago i was sent a Chamaedorea schippi, it has been the slowest chamaedorea i have grown. The C graminifolia in Australia came from the seed i brought in. They do not have rhizomes like rhizomotosa, ,brachypoda or stolonifera. I will take some pictures to show the difference Regards Colin

Recently I visited the Botanical garden of Rome and could observe the Nannorhops ritchiana. I thought it would deserve a video (actually two to get the single whole plant). Enjoy

Not as scary as @peachy rampaging down your driveway with a shovel to dig them out! Lucky escape I say!

Oh, I survived ok... But I did have to get a new dog to guard my Hedy and Lepidorrachis. This breed is probably not as scary as a Pekinese though!

Dale, thanks for the kind comments. This particular plant is well over 10 years old, a one gallon plant via Floribunda. I planted it on a hillside and like many plants, it just wasn’t getting enough water for many years. These plants had a tendency to increase in diameter a little bit without going vertical very much. About a year and a half ago I finally got the drip irrigation and fertilizer regimen all dialed in and most everything on the hillside started looking much better, super green, with really developed root systems. Plus, there’s just a lot of partial canopy going on in the backyard now. This seems to always help from having plants bleach out too much, especially in our low humidity environment. You mentioned the brown crown shaft, I’ve noticed that on mine as well!

This little Ceroxylon amazonicum endured a lot of stress to get to California eventually! I ordered it in 2025 directly from an Ecuadorian nursery. It ended up in Florida quarantine for weeks, then arrived in California bare-root, half-dead and bone-dry! I tented it in plastic and kept it in standing water for weeks. It's now putting out its second leaf. I've not had much success with this species in the past, but I'm trying again. This palm hates heat waves, so I'll probably keep it indoors in a pot for the future. Eventually it may end up at a Bay Area botanical garden like the C. sasaimae seedlings I grew in the past.

Allogoptera caudescens opening a new leaf is such an attractive sight.

Thanks Kim. I tried searching on line and going through my books but couldn't find anything about corneri anywhere. I think I will wait and see which one grows faster and keep the other for an emergency gift when I am caught without one. As for cages, I had to bring 5 more of them out of storage as last spring's batch of baby budgies were all too gorgeous to sell. As for my nighties, I am sure you have one or two stashed away for those long cold lonely winter nights.

As you may have heard the islands have been pounded by one tropical low after another for about a week now. Seems to be finally over today. Here at the house we got about 20" in the past 10 days. That's a record. I've been tracking rain at the house for a long time and have records going back to 2004. Highest MONTHLY total before this month was 18" in March of '06. The average for March the past 21 years has been 3.33". Here is a long video of a walk I took between down pours. My usually DRY stream was flowing for days. Not to bad during the video but you can see from the silitng it was a LOT STRONGER during the down pours. Palms seem to be VERY HAPPY and so am I as I'm saving over $150 this month on my water bill. 20260320_084819.mp4

Here is our latest acquisition, a C. macrocarpa brought from SoCal through the efforts of @Darold Petty and Keith Jaeger (thanks to you both!), in roughly its eventual planting location, full sun much of the day. It's our biggest $75 palm ever and I'm super happy with it. Of course I'm eager to plant it, but normally I would acclimate it in part shade for a month or so. But I'm considering planting it out sooner, for these reasons: It's generally healthy, but it looks like a plant that just endured a 400 mile trip in the back of a U-Haul during our hottest March heat wave in history. It's way overgrown for its 5 gallon pot. During transport, a lot of soil spilled out and the top 3" or so of bare root was exposed. I topped it off and have been watering heavily, but as you can see, there is still a lot of exposed root. Absent a heat wave, the sun isn't that scorching here. It's sunny and 65° today, and it's supposed to stay that way for a while. What does the group think? Plant out now or not? Or, perhaps, transfer it to a bigger container? TIA for all advice.

Dear Grandmasters and Palm Enthusiasts, I am erupting once again with pure botanical joy! Today, March 23th, 2026, I can confirm an absolute vertical wonder on my Balkon-Fortress in Arbon/Stachen (Lake Constance, Switzerland). Our Dypsis lutescens, situated on the 4th floor at 443 meters above sea level, is showing an incredible vitality eruption. After winter, almost all fronds were completely brown and dry. I pruned all dead material back to the base, and now I see a fresh, green spear emerging from the center! The trunk is firm. It seems the apical meristem survived under these specific conditions and the palm is pushing new life. The Exposure: Despite being in the shade at 443m, my Intertronic station in shadow recorded today a local heat pocket of 18.1°C, while the surrounding region was significantly cooler at 11-14 C. The Micro-Climate: This 4th-floor micro-climate proves that elevation and vertical positioning can create unique survival pockets for species often considered too tender for Zone 8a. The Dypsis lutescens on the 4th floor lives! The Arbon/Stachen-Sog of vertical life is unstoppable! Best regards from Lake Constance Mazat

I planted something. This means it's gonna snow next week. My bad! And yeah I made sure to dig deep, amended the hole with my bokashi compost and some gravel mixed with the clay and dug a few drainage trenches that'll eventually tie into the French drains where my Thai Giant colocasias are gonna go. An hour of work and I'm ready to die. Anyway don't put your flannel sheets away and this is all my fault. Also those are not weeds, those are native plants 😂

Good news , for sure . Hopefully the new growth continues. Harry

Gibraltar range one trust me!

Whack it in the ground, they take all sorts of conditions just add water. I just planted a group of three in very harsh conditions, I didn’t even water them no soil amendment just heeled them in. Give them 3 years and they’ll be looking good. But I assume you will tending your newly acquired Chambeyronia, so give it all the love it will take, amend the soil, water it in and locate it in 50/50 sun shade. There easy to grow up there with Bangalow palms but most of all dont fuss over it treat it like any other palm you have.

A nice Joey, followed by a iguanura sanderianum, and a iguanura broad leaf. All three got my attention in the greenhouse.

Paul I see what appears to be a giant bird of paradise in the background. They provide shade but can get messy. Instead, I used banana plants for quick growing shade west of my juvenile palms when planting my garden. They can be removed easier than the bird of paradise when the time comes but still provides some shade and wind break. I don't know how they will perform up there but thought it worthwhile for you to evaluate. Good luck with the Chambeyronia.

And all along you thought the wife had instructed you to clean up that part of the garden, not so it was the garden itself saying you need to clean up this mess I can’t grow like this with all this untidy clutter! But all in all a dam pretty good job done, very rewarding when you walk back through there now I bet! But I do see room for a row of chamaedorea adscendens in there alongside that pebble river ? Richard

Only like 9 more to go lol. I'm gonna keep 2 in the buckets to bring back in when it gets cold to see if I can get them to fruit. I know I've said this 8 times already but they seem so much smaller when there's not a ceiling for them to hit.

Dioon spinulosum cone

@Fusca I'm sorry I killed your washies. But I still need to figure out which crape myrtle is the white one and get some seedlings for you when they start to bloom again.

@Phoenikakias, here’s my Rubrum in SoCal. It was planted out 4yrs ago as a 20G from Bluebell and had 4 lines of trunk. Maybe 5ft total height. It’s grown substantially and rings are getting nice and wide. Always produces a super unique brown crown. It’s very hard to photo due to the Triangle behind it so I took a few. Pritchardia is growing out of a shock phase. -dale Bret, I think you’ve got the best looking one in SoCal. Hardly ever see these in gardens. Impossible to capture the beauty of the Florida grown plants here but yours looks how it’s supposed to look. 👍🏻

Indeed he did.

😂😂😂 Fixing to go throw a couple of your Giants where the dead washies are. It's also funny how plants look so much smaller when there isn't a ceiling for them to butt up against.

Closer up on that thing!

Can anyone advise what this is?

Phoenicophorium flowers must be somewhat appealing to the bees… IMG_4722.mov

This should be a good time to plant one . I don’t have the experience with them like Jim does but mine grows year round down here. They do burn a bit in full sun but lots of water helps . Mine is in full sun and it can get very warm here , about 20 miles inland . Since being on this forum and learning from the folks who grow them , mine doesn’t burn near as bad as it used to. Harry

First blooms on my Greyia sutherlandii. It was purchased a few year ago from a Bay Area nursery. Tends to drop all its leaves each winter where I live. Hope it will attract hummingbirds.

Paul, I’d get it in the ground right away. These palms grow continuously here during the coolest part of winter so should do well for you there. Of my twelve flamethrower palms, six of them produced new red fronds between December and February. If your new one has been in sun or partial sun since before your purchase, it should be fine in the spot you’ve chosen. If you want to play it safe, you can drape some shade cloth over the palm while it’s settling in.

Microcarpa stay green and are ripe when they naturally drop off the tree Cocoides turn a purple plum colour and are ripe when they drop

Follow up: As much as I would have enjoyed watching the development of a hybrid, sparing the time to locate and retrieve one is probably unwise, living in a half-finished house restoration project. So off I went to Murray’s Nursery in Moss Point, MS, and picked up ($125/15 gallon) this “ordinary” Butia capitata, with a pretty girthy trunk beginning to form. It replaces the windmill that couldn’t handle last summer’s heat and drought (according to a landscaper’s diagnosis). Despite their ubiquity, I like the toughness, and in particular, the drought tolerance of the species. Wilburn Goff, at Murray’s, agreed with everyone here that you can’t tell the eventual color at this stage. This little beauty also followed me home: I don’t have a spot for it, but couldn’t resist. (Chionathus virginicus).

Can’t tell you the amount of times I’ve been worried about Ganoderma only to have a closer look and find it’s my ‘dog’. He’s ok though, comes in handy as a mop and a doormat. Thanks for the offer Peachy, but one Prkingese is more than enough. Actually it’s probably too many 😜

A lovely rare palm and a lovely rare poochie too. (and you live Bayside Melbourne) Some people have it all ! BTW it is World Siblings Week and I can get a little brother on the plane by monday Peachy

Doesn't resemble either of my known pritchardia Pacifica but I've been wrong before. Pacifica is a total cold wimp - worthless palm. Every year I regret not cutting it down the year before.

I never had problems with Dithene 45 and both lipsticks survived for years before they outgrew the lanai

Anudder day = Coast 2 Coast records ..galore.. 75F and a touch sultry as some thick Cirrus move overhead, after reaching 103 ..even with the clouds around earlier this afternoon.. A stranger things twist to today here in the desert? ..running errands only to find the store i went to bare of milk < ..weird enough.. > High cloudiness passing thru the desert today had a distinctly summery look.. ..If these two shots were snapped in July or August, a similar looking afternoon skyline might be the first hint of a big storm working it's way off the rim, towards the valley ...and me rushing home to get set up for an evening of chasing bolts. In this case, convection responsible for producing this blob of thick and crispy outlined, Thunderstorm Anvil - type Cirrus that passed through town was confined to a layer of the atmosphere an altitude somewhere above 15-18K+ ft. ..A hint of what might lie ahead in a couple months? perhaps???.. 🤔 ..We're getting closer to some thoughts on that. ..Anyway.. Record breaking heat will continue ..here at least.. as we start the final week of the month.. Looking at both of these graphs, it's pretty clear we're going to break a record, every day, most ..if not all.. of next week.. Crazy we may exceed the SINGLE 100 deg March day recorded here by 1 -3 degs on the 26th, ..At least if the current forecast thinking holds.... ..After next Saturday? ..I'll defer to a before mentioned thought.. That said, ...for now... it seems most of the model runs today are seeing ...something.. as we reach and enter April.. What could that result in? ..You already know what i'm going to say. An ." .that's interesting ".. twist to the forecast at that time? A brief break in the heat as April arrives may actually result in the first whiff of something sorta monsoon-y in the air since the atmospheric set up at that time could arrange itself in a way that manages to grab onto and pull some moisture north out of Mexico, into parts of AZ, esp. the eastern side of the state.. Will that result in any rain?.. We'll see what things look like by next weekend.. That said, April showers can happen, even here.. This same set up, should it occur, could also offer up the season's first " keep an eye on this " kind of outcome from a wildfire start scenario too ..so.. Regardless, Dew Points may get lifted just enough to add a little muggy-ness to the air for a day or two if that scenario plays out.. Heat will also pull back to a more reasonable ..if not still still above average for the start of April level. Regardless.. any break we might see at the start of next month probably won't hang around long.. Daniel Swain will be back tomorrow for more thoughts on that ..and everything else.. As if the weather end of the month has been ..weird.. I have no doubt many paying attention to their college basketball brackets ..or just the games themselves.. have been pulling hair this weekend.. Quite surprised to see KU axed ...already.. ..Can we go back to the late 90s again please.. ..That said, ..I know another team that brought their " A " game ..in spades.. this year.. Will it last??? ..We'll see. ...At least they'll be roaring into the homeland, ..well, 15mins. up the road in Downtown San Jose.. Too bad i can't be there to represent ..both ( ..and maybe plant the idea of Los Gatos adopting the best of UofA 's logo in someone's mind ). ..Fingers crossed the road doesn't end there... Bear Down, ..and stay hydrated out there this week..

Again doesn’t look like Borrasodendron machadonis to me. Again I’d say it looks like either Corypha or more likely one of the African Borrasus sp which I struggle to tell apart. When I see Borrasodendron machadonis I find it distinctive based on its very dark green fronds with deeply divided leaflets and much narrower petioles than Corypha and Borassus.

After Tracy's recent posts/pix on Puyas, I checked on my Puya venusta which is still in the same pot and place as four years ago, and discovered it's got two blooming spikes developing! Nice! I'll need to wear a Kevlar hazmat suit if I ever foolishly decide to divide it up and repot it! 😬

Your palms look very happy. What you are doing is obviously working well. However, it looks like you are cutting the oldest fronds off while still green. I would recommend not doing that until they are brown. I see that you have a walkway and that is a valid reason for cutting. Maybe just cut that side? The less you cut, the more the palm will appreciate it. As for the width of the base, I planted 3 of the same germination batch and each one was a different size. One was huge compared to the other two so that’s just the variety of nature.

Yep, that's an embryo!

Here are some of mine. They all look remarkably decent for coming out of winter, though the winter was pretty warm. If I get the order here correct, the first one is the standard form, seed collected from Hawaii, probably seven years ago. The second one is var rubrum, which is really beginning to look pretty darn nice. It’s about head high. The last one is a small conjugatum/furfuraceum which is slower than slow, but pretty darn tough too. Never cold spots. Definitely seems to be the most attractive of an already attractive genus when it gets bigger. Beautiful palms, especially in the tropics.

I don't have any seeds right now, but should have plenty in July. Just get in touch then.

Not you as well Tim. To be honest I had to look twice...I thought it was a fungal growth at first!

I can’t help Peachy but just for @Jonathan’s benefit, here’s a rare combination: Pekingese + Oraniopsis.

Cute little guy. I hope it grows huge in the coming years! You have a really nice Ceroxylon collection!

I have a male Nainital and the Green Form Princeps that I'm hoping is a female . That might possibly make for a really pretty palm with good hardiness . I'm just waiting to see if my Princeps is a female . Should be evident next year or the next as big as it's getting . Will My Green Form Princeps below : The male Nainital is right behind the Princeps