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Still going strong, thanks to our mild winter. I'm curious to see how it does above the roof!

Thought I’d ‘bump’ this topic and add a few recent progression photos. This Lemur has really grown in the last few years and is such a magnificent palm. In one of the overall shots there is a shovel with an orange handle for scale. Tim

I just noticed a spathe tip poking out from below an old boot on my Burretiokentia koghiensis. The two oldest boots were easily removed and I could see another spathe that was previously hidden beneath a boot. They didn't get an opportunity to fully open since the boots never dropped on their own. These are the first spathes on this specimen.

A flash of red getting around the place!areca vestria dypsis lantzeana dypsis louvelli

A vigorous push on one of my Encephalartos ituriensis.

Blue bayou, (Linda ronstadt)

Best of luck with them Richard! Thanks to Richard for making the seeds available! I recently germinated a bunch (maybe 80+%) in comm pot and baggie using vermiculite and bottom heat. I've already potted up several with more to do!

Spring is entering gradually and new growth starts appearing on Bismarckia and Nannorrhops. Which one is more blue in your opinion?

Yesterday was a great day, PRA with Justin, Jason, and Billeb. Toured Jason’s and my garden which gave me a photo op opportunity with Jason for an update. Powering on! Tim

I've had some luck with this notoriously cold sensitive palm. I got a batch of seeds from Dypsis DeanO about 6 years ago and only 1 survived in the community pot after the first winter in my greenhouse. So after a couple years I planted it out as a small seedling. It's survived 3 winters so far and despite my lack of attention to fertilizing it, it's growing steadily. If it makes it through this next winter I'll start fertilizing and see if it'll grow up to be a real palm someday. Anyone else have luck growing this palm in less than tropical conditions?

Spines do deter. I'm on a busy sidewalk and have had fronds messed with before the palms got taller. Some were cut off with a machete, others were bent at the petiole. I put up a surveillance sign once when I thought it would happen again with newly planted stuff. I figured it was pedestrians angry at being touched by a palm. When working in the yard, I have been yelled at by people travelling down the sidewalk... 'Cut these leaves!' ... answered promptly with "No." Ryan

How about a silver / blue Brahea ? Gopher ate my Bizzy ! Harry ‘Brahea Armata , actually more silver/green like my Butia. Oh well…. Butia Oderata No blue in these two but plenty of silver!

At it again with a few more intresting varieties. This lot should keep me busy for a day or two.

What got planted today. A couple of nice palms. A. Ive pacsoa purchase of a vonitra dransfeildia, a nice home grown licuala triphylla followed by a Merc psillakis cyphophoenix elegans. This should give the garden a bit more of a tropical look! Vonitra dransfeildia cyphophoenix elegans licuala triphylla

Both are beautiful palms . It would be hard for me to make a call on that. Harry

I'd give the edge to the Nanorrhops.

Nice one Harry, you get excited with just one try having 2 dozen of them throughout the garden, pure ecstasy. Richard

I only have one Chambeyronia so I really get excited when a new frond opens. This time it didn’t mess around, the spear showed no signs of opening Sunday when I was watering . Yesterday afternoon it opened . Within 3 days it will be green , it is in full sun. Harry

I’d say in your location the two main challenges will be hot and dry in summer, and cold and wet in winter. Similar to the issues in my climate. As you say, A cunninghamiana is probably well suited, however I’d guess that winter damp soil may be a big challenge for C leptocheilos and B condapanna. Even Chambeyronia macrocarpa would want to have good drainage in winter ideally and also won’t love hot and dry for too long unless you can irrigate. They are pretty tough though so that’s your best from the palms you have. Here’s some other palms I’d think would be suited to the conditions: Archontophoenix purpurea, maxima, myolensis Chrysalicarpus baronii Chrysalidocarpus ambositrae, onilahensis (might need soil ammendment for drainage) Rhapis humilis Livistona australis, decora Chamaedorea radicalis, plumosa

SW Houston today just outside 610, in person this thing is nearly glistening in the morning light. No burn in sight, but it's a warm area (the young queens are green, the split leaf philodendrons and giant bird of paradise have living aerial crowns, pristine citrus, etc). It was installed in 2021 to replace a big queen palm. Met this guy who is REALLY into zone pushing (he even has a lipstick palm). Becarriophoenix and foxtail pictured. For hardier stuff he also has Bismarckia and hardy Chamaedorea spp.

Here's an older pic of mine that I tried to skin 😂 It just ended up looking like a trachy at the end. I might just keep doing it just to see what it looks like.

Never a dull moment in the garden with a dypsis louvelli and a Chambeyronia hookerii for a touch of colour.

An amazing palm . I didn’t know anything about them until I saw one in the glass house at The Huntington in Pasadena , California. Yours is splendid! Harry

Some garden eye candy, caught my eye today!

Another flower forming on the dypsis saintlucei!

after the freezes, we saw many cold nights and 21 ° and 22 ° F lows---palm doesnt look bothered at all

There are never enough palms

It was a great trip, we saw some very nice palms, especially the Lanonia's. And really fun catching up with old friends and then meeting a few new ones. Jeff

Nice update and bump. Thank you for sharing your jungle. Harry

Holy bump Batman now that’s a palm, lucky Hawaii growers!

My 4 year old S Lisa. What do we think? Evidence that it will be true to form or still have to wait a bit longer? Older fronds are slightly cupped. Newest one strongly cupped.

Ouch!! A well armed palm . Harry

^ Second This.. I'd also add that who grows " the good stuff.. " will vary by location and... in some cases, they only ship smaller things.. In other cases, take X or Y palm specialty nursery in FL. they may not be able to ship plants to say California. Nursery business is always in flux too, so a list made today, might not be accurate in 5 or 10 years. In the .....12+ years i've been here, i've seen that change -A -LOT in a pretty short amount of time. Best bet at finding stuff ..Palms, or pretty much anything else.. is: ..and has always been... * Doing your homework / research.. * Making connections while attending local or regional plant sales, and looking beyond what nurseries might exist in your back yard for what plant /plants you might desire, ...that might not be available in your immediate area. * If you can't find something, somewhere local, it's time for a road trip. * If the only option out there is starting off w/ something smaller than you'd have envisioned, ..or from seed.. that's life.. Pull the trigger and be patient, ..or move on.. * As far as " what grows where " info? Go visit some local Botanical Gardens.. You're next door to 2 of the best in the area ..Huntington and L.A. Arboretum ...and close enough to several other notable gardens ..Lotusland, Fullerton, South Coast, ...in Palos Verdes, ...BOTH zoo locations in San Diego ..and Balboa Park, ....and San Diego Botanical ( Formally Quail Botanical ) ( No doubt i'm probably missing others ) Absolute no shortage of places to see a variety of palms to look over ..most of which should work in your location. ** As always , if you ask, i'm sure there are plenty of S. Cal members who would happily welcome a visit. As i'm sure you might have noted over on Palmpedia, a former member put together a pretty good list of palms that work in CA.. Yes, it has been several years and there are likely other palms that could be added but, it is the starting point anyone in CA should begin their palm - related journey from. *** In the end, esp. if in pursuit of -anything- that might be rare in your particular area, sometimes, you have to simply roll the dice / be the person who proved it could grow there.

Color change shown on these two flowers of a Bc. Sunny Delight × Bc. Richard Muller. Old flower is now predominantly yellow.

Horse poo is no good, unless it’s going to be a hybrid mix, and we all know you guys like hybrids!

sounds good, on extrea hot breezy days dont hesitate to use overhead water late in the day( 1-1 1/2 hr before sunset).

I have no idea what this is? For what it’s worth and as similar to @quaman58, I also fertigate with a Dosatron unit using GrowMore (18-6-18) water soluble at a flow ratio of 1:120 with a 1:200 solution. I use a Maint loop and turn the fertigation system on every 3 weeks or so. -dale

“genetic anomaly” sounds logical, yes Harry🤗

Anyone wanna understand the logic of the city planting more palms here? Are there not enough already?? 🤷‍♂️🤦‍♂️ Make it make sense 🤣

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder so I'm not going to discuss what palm looks ugly or not. That's just your opinion in this case. Speaking of Deer Park . Do you think I stayed 6 weeks inside of a hotel or just drove around within 10 miles ? Sure I haven't seen all parts of Houston, probably never will because it's just too big to explore every single subdivision and I also been to the Northside as well. I agree with you saying it was an accent palm . Houston in general was never a place where palm trees were a typical landmark. There are way more palm trees growing in Jacksonville or even Pensacola as well as New Orleans. You have to drive south of I-10 to see them more frequently planted along public places , it's also warmer by a few degrees in winter as well. North Houston is more like a 8b/9a zone since 2021 .Sabal palms are the best for this area. You need to understand that most people aren't palm enthusiast. They see a palm they like in the area and buy it at a nursery or BB store. 95 percent don't look for hybrids or whatsoever. Too much of a hassle for them plus they aren't that easy to get. Sure money can be an issue too. I'm glad there are people like you who want to see where their limits are but to be really fair it would be more convincing if the palms you have go through the winter unprotected because that's the only way to see if they can even make it on their own. Protection is cheating and I have done it myself.

Yesterday we had a great hike in Phong Nha National Park. Licuala bachmaensis Dr. Bill Baker explaining morphological differences between Lanonia and Licuala Close up for Lanonia centralis demonstrating a small bump just before the center leaf split. Rhapis excelsa Lanonia centralis Hiking up a waterfall to end the hike

Those Riversides look plenty old enough to flower - the seeds are even larger than mexicana seeds. I have two in the yard I grew from seed collected in Riverside, CA!

Very cool, too bad there wasn't something in there for scale. Riversides are supposed to be a very large Sabal and fast growing. I have two in my yard and they are indeed fast growing, and were not bothered by this winter as well.

Took these photos in early January of some "exotic Sabals" with tropical looking leaves and petioles in Jacinto City (Houston Area). I spoke to the property owner and he said they are Sabal sp. 'Riverside'. These have shown some minor to moderate cold damage in the past but are unharmed by the 23F cold snap a few weeks ago. Sorry the lighting here is not ideal. They are a bit more glossy and deep green in person.

GBIF shows specimens collected at elevations from near sea level to about 7500'...I don't know whether the color-forms relate to elevation ranges, but perhaps successes in SoCal (also failures in FL) may have a relation to the elevation of a population that found its way into cultivation. I've often wondered about this species because I could never keep them alive in the Keys (red, orange or yellow) and I also have failed here in the desert, with consistent collapse (on the orange form)...not in winter, but in mid-summer.

Last year's flower didn't do much, but this year looks good!

A few more..... Tim

This was a large 1gal. from Floribunda that has been in the ground since July 2016. These pictures are from this past August. I also had a 4" from Floribunda in a neighboring spot that had been hanging on since 2015 but I pulled it just a few weeks ago as it wasn't looking so hot after our awful winter. I have a one gallon from Jeff still in a southern exposure. It's burned and looks ratty but still hanging on.

yeah but i find that they grow to quickly for my taste. I keep cutting them down but the just keep growing back. I just cut them down 5 min ago so dont ask for pics.

Plumerias do really well at my beach garden.They love the sun and fast draining soil.The wind keeps fungus and rust problems to a minimum. This is the native white that has no scent.I have seen this one growing on rocky hillsides at 1600m where winter temps drop to 6-8C every night in Dec-Jan. This is also a native.It seems that the pinks and reds grow at lower altitudes.It is also scentless My favorite , P.obtusa "Singapore"It is evergreen and has a wonderful light lemony-magnolia perfume