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Just a few more Chams in the greenhouse!

Some of my Encephalartos growing in the front are pushing flushes, finally catching up with the rest of you in Southern California.

Update May 2026..

Some decent rain after a dry spell is always welcome. You can water all day long with a hose, but the difference good rain makes you just can’t beat!

Loving mine in Phoenix have some color because it’s cool!!!

Sold to me as Encephalartos Longifolius x Princeps. This plant has exploded in 5yrs. Planted out as a 1G with a 2-3” caudex at the most. -dale

I was surprised to see this at Leu Gardens in Orlando, Florida back in December 2025. Wonder how it handled the big freeze event?

Never been even a hint of red with this one. From what I've read here, apparently quite a rare variation - I guess I got lucky!

A nice row of hookeri with almost three in a row putting on show.

Just 'discovered' my Buta yatay has two blooms developing. They look better than last year's attempt!

A male Xylocopa varipuncta bee feeding on my backyard Desert Museum palo verde (Parkinsonia X ‘Desert Museum’). The male has no stinger and his two evolutionary drives are to feed and mate.

Thought I’d throw in a couple of updated photos. Looking good as ever. They are now all over the garden. Tim

LOL I am currently watching a neighbor who had a broken irrigation system in sand. 4 royals are wasteing away even with our (NOT THIS YEARS) rains. They shrivel up from the grow point down. It takes a few years for them to come down. If you think aobut it and use Google AI's estimate of 63-64% water from an oil palm, it means 2/3rds of the weight can be lost in dessication. And it occurs from the top down so the tendency to topple shrinks with dessication/time. Ive also seen abandoned field nurseries where some royals waste away. The guy up the street has 3of 4 where the crownshafts are gone and the trunk is continuing to dry up and dissappear top down. I walk my dog by there everyday. As the thing dries out and loses height there will be less of a damage risk dropping it. I have thought about this a lot as I do have a fat royal with 25' of clear trunk. Its not a coke bottle so much. I'd say 28 in ch minimum trunk diameter with a max probably 5" more than that. A simple calculation on water weight is using water alone based on 64lb ft3 says that tree is 8000 lbs of water in the trunk with one third of that wood which is not counted in the weight. I would estimate 10,000 lbs for the trunk overall if wood is 0.8 the density of water and 33% the volume of the trunk. Who wants to chop down such a tree and then have to carry those 5 tons of wet trunk away? It could easily be 1/3rd of that weight and if you let it dry out and crumble you have mulch you can spread, and not have to carry away at all. Im still thinking about it for the day if it comes in my lifetime.

AMAZING!!! Harry

Yes it depends on what variety of palm you are planting that determines how much you invest in amendments. Iam amending a lot of my rarer and exotic plants now simply to give them a head start in life and that extra jump from the get go. But back in the day 30 years ago I just planted as much as I could if it lived it lived and what has lived you see now in my established garden. Iam going for round two of expanding my garden, making the most of the understory I created. Also new landscaping for all the new plants I have and I have a lot. Budget is another thing to consider as well, when it comes to my garden there is no budget whatever it cost it’s an investment. Iam about to order 50 cubic meters of topsoil. This to me is an investment in my peace and harmony in life. I wish you good luck in your gardening, just plant as many plants as you can now.

Looking at the outer edge of the garden, in there is a whole world of joy

Well Z iam still running around the block, when it comes to planting holes in my garden. Two rules apply the old saying is a $2 planting hole for a $200 palm or a $200 planting hole for a $2 palm. I have 600 kerriodoxas and I just plant them anywhere chip a hole and heel them in and leave them. If I have a sabinara that are rare and rather expensive then I amend the soil, dig a hole as big as possible backfill with the medium of choice. Turn that soil in the hole mixing it with the soil that’s been removed. Then I remove that soil again place more medium of my choice turn that soil again, by now I have excess soil that is what I want. I then plant my sabinara backfill with all the amended soil and make a dam with the remaining soil, see Chambeyronia picture. Another way I go about planting is with raised beds they are a game changer in growing palms, I make a raised wall with the materials of my choice rocks, railways sleepers or coppers logs or whatever is available. I turn the ground in that created bed then backfill with the medium of my choice. But I will say water is one trick in growing palms.

Chucking them in the ground while the rain is about, some proven winners again. Chambeyronia, chamaedorea, kerriodoxas, dypsis black petiole, Calyptrocalyx spicatus, davidson plum and a dioon spinolosum. A bit more of the tropical look happening.

A nice Chambeyronia in the greenhouse and a beautiful archontophoenix out in the garden.

True it is not the temperature it is the combi of cold and wet! If dry they can handle a lot of cold, I live in Central Portugal and here it is wet in winter but it hardly freezes at night and during the day normally it is like 13°C, My Dactylifera even produce pups.

Explanation is easy. Like Richard had written right above, it is the combination of cold and wet that does Phoenix dactylifera in. Real date palm may be even cold hardier than CIDP but in an arid climate. High air moisture does not suit it well. And iberica is just another dactylifera. Many growers call deliberately Iberica common dactylifera specimens growing and fruiting in Spain! There is not a separate iberica sp, we can find genetical traces of a wild sp in some Spanish date palms but this does not mean that this wild sp still exists. Similar situation with the Neanderthal genes in the DNA of European population. Another grower in north-western France saw his iberica declining slowly. Perhaps an F1 hybrid of dactylifera with theophrasti could offer you the opportunity to grow a dactylifera without such problems.

May and June = Graduation Season ...So, in the spirit of the season, the first of this years' seedling grads moving from their com pots to 1gals. In this case, Bursera fageroides from my specimen. While i didn't end up w/ as many as i'd hoped, 6 isn't bad for the inaugural batch. Already forming fat caudexes. I'll hold on to them until i see flowers and know what sex ( ..es? ) they are. Pseudalbizia sinaloensis, Another fast growing tree i'd never buy ..bigger than a 1gal, if i couldn't start from seed ..which this one is from check - in - on as we head toward the start of Summer ...and what will come next, hopefully.. 1st Picture is from Aug. 2024 ..approx a year or two? ( ..planted right after we'd moved here ) after i stuffed it in the ground as a whippy 2gal screaming to get out of it's pot. Mid May, 2026? = Even if it is going through the gawky, " early teenage phase, growth -wise, atm, pretty good progress, even compared to 2024. Well on it's way to " Gold - trunked monster " status. We'll see how much growth it adds by October. Slaughter Pink and TLD shots, for the heck of it.. Another means of sus -ing out the differences between the two ...and other, yellow flowered " Celadine look - a - likes " 2 clear and parallel leaf margin veins? = real deal Celadine. Single vein? TLD.

I don’t see many sabinara on palmtalk, iam sure they are out there I just don’t see many here. I have 4 in the ground and a few seedlings. Surely iam not the only one growing them, are there any Australians in a subtropical zone growing them. Or am I the only one growing them this far south.

That’s a beauty that one. And it would be intresting to see how it handled the big freeze event, my ones have seen temperatures as low as 2 degrees celsius. So fairly cool tolerant. This approaching winter will be the first real outdoor test. Growing in the ground is a bit different from the greenhouse conditions, which they handled not a problem.

The first flower opened last night with a bunch more following today. Despite that, it is just getting started. I really need to get a ladder out to photograph the flowers properly.

Chamaedorea adscendens.

Great night to plant the clearance rack Washy…

You wait and see what that shovel can do, a good operator on a machine like this can perform gardening miracles! Richard

Sounds like it’s just to cold and wet, and the varieties you have chosen are just not suitable for your climate.

Some interesting ideas here. I never thought about killing the palm and letting it desiccate and dry up before whacking g it down. seems like a smart idea to have it do less damage.

Looks like they are loving life in the shade. Here is one of my hookeri that popped two days ago. light passing through the leaf is flame Light back reflecting off the leaf transits different chemophore compartments(mostly epidermis) and is dark red

Where there's a will, there's a way. Home depot rents 32 foot tall ladders for $50. I rented the ladder, edited my Bismarck, and had the ladder checked back in at 3 hours time. Planning out the job ahead really makes things go smoothly.👍 aztropic Mesa, Arizona

Edited a palm and it tried to edit me.

As one would be aware of I just can’t get enough of this palm. An absolutely gorgeous palm. If I see one for sale, the dollars are thrown at it!

Thrinax radiata is a great palm. As a native, it’s now on the favored list, and is planted by the hundreds in every parking lot, and along every road and highway and median down here. These do look better with a little shelter and care, but they are planted out in the open right on the beach and still make it, though they get beat up there.

That's one of the furthest inland pre-2010 coconuts in Manatee county. It's been there at least since 2007 https://www.google.com/maps/@27.4392994,-82.4530506,3a,48.9y,26.72h,87.46t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1s9lTgaiMreRLuOxA_fpQ0vw!2e0!5s20071101T000000!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fcb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile%26w%3D900%26h%3D600%26pitch%3D2.5371347235223425%26panoid%3D9lTgaiMreRLuOxA_fpQ0vw%26yaw%3D26.719328648313933!7i3328!8i1664?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI2MDUwMi4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D

Found this on route 70 in Lakewood Ranch today. About 20-25' tall.

Yep, ^ this is exactly what i saw when roaming the area after the 2010 freeze.. Wasn't there in '18, but did see a morning or two near freezing ( ..light frost in my yard, over by IMG Academy ) in early '16, right before moving here. As mentioned elsewhere, saw frost in yards near where i'd worked at the time in Sarasota, just west of 75 on the same days as well. Saw some 2026 street views near the old house in Bradenton yesterday and ..I too was surprised to see specific trees i'd pass daily / observe closely looking completely flawless ( Gumbo Limbo planted near the Oyster Bar, Cassia afrofistula in a yard nearby on FL. Blvd, Pseudobombax e. near the CVS / Target on Bayshore Gardens ) Expected to see more remnant damage..

I'm living right at I75 and 70.

Are you living in Lakewood ranch area now? This year's freeze was a bit of an anomaly in that we stayed so much warmer here on the west coast of Florida for such a bad freeze. Usually we get colder than the east coast at the same latitude. This past winter, Bradenton and Sarasota had the same ultimate low as Miami of 34⁰F, and Lakewood ranch had the same low as West Palm Beach and Homestead at 30⁰F. That's definitely not normal. Even though it's rated 10A, east of 75 is still susceptible to freezes. Just as recently as 2018, I hit 32⁰ in my yard in West Bradenton and it was 27⁰ out in Lakewood ranch. And it got quite a bit colder in 2010. Lakewood Ranch hit mid 20s and I believe even lower 20s in some areas. I wasn't here for that freeze, but talking to the nursery people, they lost a lot of tropicals in 2010 in the Lakewood Ranch area. They even lost bigger mature stuff. West of 75 is much safer from freezes. West of 41 is even better.

I'm still awaiting my first summer here. Yikes. Also, I have to deal with the dreaded hoa situation. Still, a happy adonidia triple and a covert dwarf maypan in the backyard are all I need. Excuse me, sir, is that a coconut palm on your property? No sir, that's.... Uhhh.... A beccariophoenix alfredii Mr. Hoa Guy.

The reason you don't see anything 40 years old is because there wasn't anything here 40 years ago. I was blown away by the lack of damage from this year's cold weather. I believe their new zone is 10a.

Zephyrhills is identical to my area climate wise. Not surprised about these the last few years. New port richey has some huge mature fruiting coconuts now.

Happened across this lot in Zephyrhills today. There were a few coconuts that had mature leaves. They didn't look to be there all that long from what I could tell on Street View, but still commendable none the less. Zephyrhills - May 2025

Very cool my Friend.

Updated pictures of my Copernicia Fallensis and Tahina Spectabilis as of today….

No worries, feel free to post whatever goodies you know of from that area.. Maybe not in my specific neighborhood ( ..Other than what i'd left , if any of it is still there ) definitely lots of uncommon stuff in that area for sure.. Good - sized Copernicia macroglossa next to an eye doctor's office, Pink Pseudobombax, Plumeria ....galore.. BIG Mangoes, and some of the bigger Guamanchil i've seen anywhere in some f the neighborhoods not far from the house as well. ...Silver Tabebuia ..and a Brachychiton, ( possibly a cross between bidwillii and acerfolius, about a block from the house ), ....and possibly the rarest thing i'd see fairly often when driving to / from work, this Cassia afrofistula pictured below, Possibly the only specimen around since it appears the one at Selby has been removed for their expansion. I'd had a light frost on a morning or two when we lived there but, beyond that ..never got cold. Lay of the land in that corner of Bradenton seemed to influence things very nicely. Agree ..beyond 100% ( if that's possible ) WHY anyone would plant Queens there, when much better things can be grown? ...so far beyond my comprehension i don't even care to wonder. Bad enough they're planted here, lol Aside from watching that Cassia for seed, do wish i could access the trimmed Gumbo Limbos planted in front of the Oyster Bar at 14th ( Hwy 41 ) and 69th W. Should have tried to start a bunch of cuttings from them when i had the opportunity.

I came across a few older coconuts in the middle of Pinellas Park today. Previously, I didn’t think this area was warm enough since it is far from the Gulf and the Bay. Evidently, it still has a pretty solid climate. Two are pictured here, then there was one more on the other side of the street.

Checking on a few things at the old house in Bradenton via street view, noted a little something local folks might be interested in checking out if / when passing through the area.. Remember all the buzz about plans for major development of the Ag fields within the.. and southwest of.. 53rd Ave West / El Conquistador Pkwy Corridor shortly before leaving the area.. Appears that is finally starting to oocur, ....at least south / southwest of El Conquistador, and includes a giant, artificial Lagoon. Bird's eye views.. From what i can see from the road ..and zooming in from the vantage point of where street view stops ( shot #2 ), appears they did not skimp on use of Veitchia, Royals, a few Foxtails, and Coconuts for this development. Couple years from now, this should look pretty amazing.