Leaderboard

A great palm for SoCal

Two different palms have come in over the years as Dypsis (now Chrysalidocarpus) Sp. Ambanja. The first was a multi trunk palm somewhat like Baronii. The second was a larger solitary palm. Mine has just revealed its first ring of trunk and is a really nice looking palm. Has similar characteristics as Leucomalla (white spear and coloring) and Sp. Dark Mealy Bug with the black flecking. But has a unique look of its own. Anyone else growing this?

Everytime this palm loses a leaf sheath is quite the event. Who needs sun on a rainy day with this in the front yard, It’s really quite the chunk. Tim

Mine is beginning to look like something 🙂

Close to all day full sun 1.5 miles from the ocean.

Mine has been a great grower for me. The colors on the crownshaft and petioles are great. I just recently took a close up photo of the trunk showing the coloration:

Veitchia arecina or Veitchia joannis:

How bout a small ‘BUMP’. So, how are all of the posted specimens doing? Thriving I hope. Here is a photos I took yesterday of a grouping grown from seed back in 2012. The tall palm in the center surrounded by B. condapanna is B. nicobarica. Tim

A change in the season has seen the garden go into a relax mode, with the dry weather a lot of leaves have fallen. Fortunately we have had some good rainfall to push the garden back. And the summer root activity has gone into new leaves and spears.

Typical flood or drought situation, this is the case with these seeds, not wanted hundreds sitting on the ground. Any other time I would have put the eyehole lot in to germinate, such a shame. It takes time, space and money to grow hundreds of something you’re not interested in.

Here is a better shot of the whole palm

I would plant Sabal minor (or both species?). I've often said you can landscape a whole yard with S. minor cultivars so your choices are many. Needle palms are relict palms from the Pleistocene that some palm experts claim were aided reproductively by now extinct giant sloths - bears are thought to do that chore now. Whether they are on the way to extinction themselves I don't know but they are what they are - no cultivars or varieties unlike Sabal minors. While they are beautiful and tough in their own right I have discovered that they don't thrive in my SWFL sweltering, ferocious sun climate. I believe my winters are not cold enough for them. I have been unable to keep a needle alive long term even in shade and given up on them - 3 strikes put this species out of my lineup. If I were you I would experiment with both species and report the results to PT. If more people did that we'd learn a lot more faster.

Up the back yard near the propagating hothouse is the sancona, it endures many a tough time and is in need of a good feed. But finally after 26 years we have a trunk forming. Some palms in my climate just want water, this one is in a dry spot without irrigation donuts done quite well considering the circumstances it grows under, basically in the bush!

One tough plant, as me very easy to grow just add drainage and sunshine. These ones are 25 years old that just sat around in containers for years, then finally planted in the ground.

The last pic of the Caryota maxima, it’s just getting bigger each new leaf it’s a monster.

Some of the many Brahea brandegeei blooming in old palm canyon in the western edition of Balboa Park. I believe this old palm canyon is over 100 years old.

Received my two Butia eriospatha today in great shape. The order went from west coast to east coast and shipping was fast. I ordered and paid just before midnight and Pdmesa shipped the following morning on 4/30, before 9:00 am, and the package arrived on 5/5. Well grown beautiful plants were packed perfectly and with great attention to keeping them safe. Not one thing was out of place or broken. Seller communicated very well and did everything he said he would. Would definitely buy again!

Beautiful palm. I have one 25+ years old, been in the Backyard Jungle for 15-20 years. It is about 3' tall but even more amazingly it has survived Hurricanes Irma, Ian, Milton, yadda, yadda (my 25 y.o. trunking H. forsteriana succumbed to Ian in 2025). H. belmoreana is supposed to keel over in my sweltering climate but this one clings on year after year. It is shielded by a mutant whole leaf oil palm above the canal, overhead canopy and palms to the east and west. I plan very carefully how to protect this little palm.

Cool to see commercial property owners using palms other than syargus, phoenix etc. Have any of you carried your hobby into properties other than your home? Here’s my attempt at identifying these near me in the San Gabriel foothills jubaeopsis caffra bismarckia/ roystoneas ravenala madagascariensis Struggling dypsis sp? With caryota mitis in background some sort of cycas?

This L fulva went from healthy to this in under two weeks...no idea what happened but there are six others within a 5m radius that all look like the healthy one below. This is in a fairly wild part of the garden, hence the weeds, but I don't think that's a factor. Rainfall has been reasonable lately, temperature mild to warm. The patch of dead grass immediately below the victim is very suspicious, I suspect something fungal maybe. Any thoughts?

Do both I do, zone 6 here Mine are in the open on the north side so I protect a bit. But mine have seen dips to single digits briefly w/o protection. I have lost some but that's the game when zone pushing. Going strong 5 years in ground,at least my needle, it's in full sun

I would freeze to death down there, so I can’t see why a grub wouldn’t. Organic xtra the pelletised chicken poo is a no no in my garden it has all that extra potash and stuff. I have burned palms before with it. So now it’s just dynamic lifter for me it is only sawdust and chicken poo. The organic xtra not for me and my garden. This is where a garden diary is handy to have, what did I do and when certainly helps.

Pinanga sarawakensis.

I find them very unreliable once they reach trunking.

Thanks! The flowers look great from any angle. Didn't take long for the local hummingbirds to find them too!

Thanks for the "bump", Tim. Beautiful photo. I'll have to update this thread with a new photo when I get home. Unfortunately my B. condapanna doesn't look quite as good as it once did since I went to Kauai and left a friend in charge of watering. Hopefully I can limp it along and with some deep watering I can get it to fully tap in this summer.

There is a group of Jubaeopsis at (of all places.....) the Beverly Hilton hotel in Beverly Hills CA. These plants are 50+ years old. I first saw the grouping in the mid-1980s, and it was an impressive sight. They looked liked coconut palms. The original planting appeared to be 1 or 2 individuals and in the 1990s some of the trunks were 2+ meters in height, and some were flowering. Unfortunately the plants were 'rearranged' during a massive restructuring of the valuable hotel property, still in progress. The plants were moved a small distance and possibly some of the clusters were split. I saw them in October 2025, and they are still striking. Inquiry at the hotel was met with fascination. The plantings are located at the Wilshire Blvd. entrance to the hotel, now the main entrance.

These palms truly look like they “shouldn’t grow here”…..

This is a definitive article on the topic: https://geo.cbs.umn.edu/Ezedin&Weiblen2019.pdf and here is mine:

Here’s one small palm I fell in love with straight away. These little understory palms are an absolute beauty of a palm. Just as good as any small chamaedorea in the garden!

I’m going on 3rd growing season with both of these although in zone 8a west Texas so much different climate. We are much hotter on average all year but get far less moisture. I’ve found sabal minor is much easier to establish as needle palm spear pulled on me here the first winter. I learned they don’t like full sun here either. I would try both as well. There full sun would be ideal and you can’t overwater them if the ground drains decently. I know someone growing both in 5b with minor protection. I believe he left one needle palm unprotected this last winter and it made it through fine with some damage.

I will gladly take you up on the cocoides and the nannorrhops. Do you do shipping? I will pay. Thanks.

Not the most fascinating Dypsis I guess. If it was Chamaedorea plumosa I'd ask you to sent them all to me!

Dypsis can take months to germinate here . I understand , especially if it is something you’re not that interested in . Me ? I would probably scoop a few up and plant around the garden . That’s just me . I still scatter C. Radicalis seeds around! Harry Near the Chamaedorea Plumosa to the right and Dypsis Basilonga on the left are a few C. Radicalis in a community pot and in the garden behind in the Plumosa . I have more C. Radicalis seeds that I will be planting soon. Never a dull moment at Harry’s Palms!

It must prefer the Cali mediterranean climate to FL swelter. I will take photos soon. I didn't know they split. Is it male or female?

thanks my friend !

Tim, Thanks for posting. I have got half a dozen good looking hopefuls still potted, any advice about planting them out? Lars

Once they get a couple of feet of trunk they start producing munted growth and micro-spears. Seems to be a thing with both Howeas in my garden. I have had some Hedyscepe do this too.

Thank you for the information on the soil! I figured those palms wouldn’t look so good in dry soil. I’m very lucky where I live here in urban San Diego to be in USDA zone 11a. It’s amazing the amount of tropical plants and palms which grow to perfection and maturity which “are not supposed to grow here” . This is why I never make definitive statements about any tropical plants that “can’t grown”. I’ve been proven wrong too many times. I’ve been in the IPS since 1984 and am pretty good at identifying palms, but definitely not an expert. It can be very difficult sometimes to 100 percent id palms, especially the more unusual ones or hybrids. 😎

Well, I’m growing sp. ambanja, but it’s definitely not that palm! Sorta kinda like baronii, but it’s got its own look. Yours looks great whatever it is Jason.

Quite the opposite! I bought them a year ago in a terrible state, with only 1 leaf left, chlorotic... name it. I got a good discount and it was May so I thought I'd try. On the day I bought them I accidentally left them in a car under hot Athens sun for several hours; it was like 60 C in the car. I thought they would be goners. Yet they are both fine! One is in the ground and the other one still in a pot; both pushing new leaves. The one in the ground is faster for sure. I am waiting for some trees to make enough shade in order to move the second one in the ground too. Their trunk is about 1m long.

The trunk rings at the bottom will get larger when the base widens. Above the base, no. One thing you will need to expect (and not be alarmed at all when it happens) is just before the base widens, large cracks will appear in the base. Don't panic. When the expansion concludes, the trunk will be smooth again. It happenson a lot of palms but is quite noticeable on Archontos. I'll see if any mine are doing that right now and get a photo if any of them are.

If I was in Santa Barbara, I'd take you up on the Nannorrhops for sure.

Cycas panzhihuaensis x Cycas taitungensis is a nice hybrid. Nice color while flushing. Planted a group of these in garden with 1” caudex a little over 4yrs ago.