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Brahea elegans showing the armata portion of its genetics .

Good amount of rain last 2 days. Just that little bit and everything looks more lush.

I planted one in the middle of our hot Perth summer this year so 6 months in the ground has been a rocket, constantly sending out new spears. Even now we are getting smashed with 2°c mornings it doesn't seem to be slowing down. Sand over clay soils, north west facing garden.

Usually when you buy a whole flat of seedlings like I do you will end up with a handfull on the blue side of the spectrum.This one looked so good I decided to keep it for myself.

Arenarius

Hello :) , I got some fresh new salak fruits, I believe here in Indonesia they sell these fruits 1kg for only a dollar, it taste incredibly sweet and sour at the same time! Just for an info that these fruits I got are called Salacca Zalacca Var. Pondoh (Salak Pondoh) which are cultivated a lot here in Indonesia especially in Java. There are also the other types like Var. Amboinensis and Var. Sumatrana but I haven't tried it yet, but the most popular ones among all of them is the Var. Pondoh (Salak Pondoh). Btw I am planning to also grow the seeds and just grow them in a pot or polybag without planting it directly on the ground because its a type of a clustering and clumping palm and it has a really spikey sharp needles!

A couple of nice seedlings! Masoala Madagascariensis chamaedorea adscendens dypsis confusa Calyptrocalyx hollrungii

Nice Cycas Thouarsii flush getting photo bombed by Zamia Furfuracea flushes. I planted these at a property I do the landscaping on in Pacific Beach.

I would look at the top layer of soil as a guide. Scratch the surface with a garden claw , if it is dry I would soak it . I don’t think it could be overwatered this time of year in well draining soil. Whatever you’re doing looks like it is working . Harry

The poor man’s mapu they say, but you don’t have to be poor to appreciate this lovely palm. Get one with some good mottled leaves and there quite impressive in the garden or container. There are quite a few different varieties of the dasyantha around with different levels of mottling, a large form variety, green varieties and some are just plain old dasyanthas with very little mottling. The large form shows good mottling with the first leaf so a good choice there can be made. I have not yet grown any large form ones in the ground yet so iam still yet to see how large they can get. Dasyanthas a top quality palm with a good cool tolerance just add water!

Plenty of good advice written above, I will say keep them out of the cold weather once germinated. First bit of cold weather they will fry!

I have been fortunate enough to not have to clean the 200 seeds I sowed 6 months ago. And the only caustic seeds I have cleaned were Caryota seeds, which I used a jet wash to clean them, and was clever enough to wear safety glasses. There are a lot of poisonous plants out there and a lot of people think seeds are harmless, apple seeds with cyanide is just one example, but iam not sure how many of those you want to eat before you get ill!

To my astonishment fruits are not always at all or to similar degree caustic. Dunno the reasons but it is so. On the other hand I had once cleaned seeds of Wallichia disticha wearing latex gloves and nevertheless crystalls penetrated the latex. The itchiness on my hands was unbearable, even a certain pharmaceutical skin ointment had not helped, only betamethasone stopped the suffering.

Update of my B hapala after another year or 2 of growth since the last photo. Really bulking up before producing clean trunk. What’s more noticeable to me now looking at this is how quickly my nearby Cyphophoenix elegans is growing (white trunk and crownshaft to the right).

Looking up to this coconut palm

That’s WA for you, try @Tyrone in WA he is into palms and has some good stuff going in his yard. I do sell seeds of various things now and then if that’s of intrest for you. Crazy state regulations taking the fun out palm growing!

It doesn’t matter what the season is with this palm, any season they love. Try to get some Ravenea glauca or sambiranensis if you can!

Give bleach a try in lieu of hydrogen peroxide if you’ve got some handy. I’ve found especially for old seeds that have some visible surface mould, it cleans them up really quickly. I use a pretty strong dilution (I don’t measure but I’d guess 25-50%) for a short time (3-10 mins, again not timed) and it doesn’t seem to damage the seeds at all but cleans up anything attached. Just ensure you give them a really good rinse and scrub afterwards. I think I actually used bleach before and after soaking in water for the Brahea sarukhanii and Brahea aculeata as I didn’t have any peroxide on hand. I reckon those Trachycarpus seeds will be prime candidates for this treatment. I got pretty good germination initially so I know the seed is good. And Trachys can germinate after quite some time.

Clinostigma after a night of heavy rainfall. Tim

Thought I’d post a current photo from an earlier one above in this thread. The mature habit is so different from the juvenile form, from small, round, and bush like, to a rather elegant form accenting the long pinnae. Seeds and germinates regularly and easily. It does have a reddish/pinkish new leaf. Tim

Figure I would add some palm porn in the topic as well! Phoenix Reclinata, Brahea Armata, Brahea Clara. Ignore the mess and grass area.. I am remodling the house and currently retiling so my focus is divided , haha

Hi there. One of my Satakentias, a bit hard to make out... But with a nice color after shaking off a boot... Hallelujah!🥹 Lars

You are doing well with that one . They usually don’t do well out of their preferred environment . It looks fine , to me. Harry

My son and I visited Stan and his lovely wife (Jane) last Sunday. As with many sub-tropical/tropical botanical gardens, one tends to spot something new each visit due to the vastness and diversity of palms. This time it was Phoenix roebelenii “Mekong”. The original wild form of the cultivated species.

Areca vestaria

I understand your frustration . I think , for now , my desire to import seeds or plants has diminished as fees everywhere rise . Here , costs are going up disproportionately to affordability. I understand the idea of biosafety and all , but the cost is driving some into smuggling mode. I have an idea of what it takes to germinate palm seeds and it is a lot of time and a bit of work. I get my seeds for free but still spend on soil and containers . I admire your dedication to the palms , I can only imagine the amount of effort and $$ required. Harry

I've been over to Indonesia a few times in the last couple of years. Always interesting to see the sights...beaches, rainforest, volcanoes and all the local culture etc...so very different to home in Darwin! Suprisingly not as hot as I thought it would be. But all that volcanic soil, good rainfall and tropical temps makes for a very lush landscape...Have seen quite a few native palm species growing in natural habitat, plus the milions of coconut palms everywhre (although the Rhino Beetle is doing a fair bit of damage unfortunately) Fortunately it is only a two and a half hour flight to Bali from Darwin, and reasonably priced. Internal fights are super cheap. Over the top of Kilingking beach So many volcanoes on the flights from Darwin to Bali and from Bali to Java Rural life Plenty of bamboo forests Rural villages everywhere in Java Pinanga javana Caryota rumphiana Calamus sp Corypha utan Areca catechu Caryota rumphiana Plenty more if you'd like to see...

I have a beautiful hybrid BxPJC from Patric. Does anyone know if these hybrids are self-cleaning? I’m in San Francisco so don’t see many large Butias. The B odorata i have is about nine years old and i have to cut off dead fronds. The Parajubaeas I see around the city seem to have fronds that fall against the trunk when fully brown but may need to be trimmed? The largest are in the botanical garden and Presidio so I think someone may be cutting off the old fronds?

The only problem is I keep saving all the good places for all the good stuff, and that’s a problem because I have so many good ones! 🤣 Richard

Thank you for your advice

Nice. The Bayview area has some really nice homes and gardens as well

These sprout pretty quickly with bottom heat, at least if you're in a cooler area like I am. 6 weeks or so seems to be the average time needed to germinate. I find that tropical species want the soil temperature to never fall below about 70 degrees F, night or day.

Those are looking very nice , future palms for gardens. Also uncommon varieties in numbers. It really puts the emphasis on how long it takes to get them up and going. Almost 2 years according to the last photo. Harry

And please send a video of you when you try to pronounce this at the restaurant 😂.

Probably you have tried escargots à la Bourguignonne , give those cute mollusks a second chance by trying also chochlious boubouristous. Several Australians are of Cretan origin and some day you may have this opportunity without having to travel abroad. About the Spanish caracoles never tried them either, at least to my knowledge, perhaps they had been mixed in to a paella...

This still sucks.

I think it looks great, as good as any I've ever grown here in San Diego haha. Even in the actual tropics, conditions aren't perfect, and they still have to deal with poor soil and inconsistent rain. I’ve seen many coconuts there that aren't professionally landscaped and look pretty ragged and yellow. Yours has the advantage of gap-free watering and fertilizer

Tried them in Belgium, not to my liking, I think I will stick with the Belgium chocolates much more of a refined taste for my liking!

Jim, having seen your place I am baffled where you find room for all these palms, it was full 11 years ago when I last visited. All of the New Caledonia palms are weeds in my cool montane heat deprived climate, 4" in the ground turns into a trunking palm in three years, it's always 70's during the day and 60's at night with some Winter days that don't make it past 64F. But our dew points are much higher than yours, and Winters are 12a so we don't get those cold 40's nights you get, plus more rain than we really want or need. But in general these palms don't seem to need a lot of tropical heat to grow. Happy to send you some of our rain, we're at 160 inches already for the year, El Nino is making for a much wetter than normal first half of the year.

Florida sun is tough on them, combined with sandy soil. They can take sun if they have enough water but aren't tolerant of dry, hot, and sun all at once. Shade isn't a problem at all, you'll just get less compact, probably nicer looking leaves. Maybe a bit slower growth overall, just like a palm. Winter sun/summer shade is actually perfect.

The good thing is I respect our bio security laws, not just because it’s the law but for our environment in Australia. Would I attempt to smuggle seeds or anything not on my life would I do so. One thing I know is don’t muck with customs Australia. One strike and it’s game over for importing seeds. It’s a passion for palms that keeps me importing seeds, that and for my garden, plus I get varieties of palms that are just not available, especially at the price I can get the seeds for. It’s getting more expensive to do anything now, let alone import seeds for a hobby. Years ago I rode enduro motorcycles, it was my sport and it was reasonably cheap to do so, now that sport cost you money, same as deep sea fishing and owning a boat, it’s cheaper just to go to the fish shop now and buy the fish you want. But when it comes to my garden I spare no exspense! Richard

I’d say that looks about as good as you could hope for given the conditions. Well grown!

..Keep in mind that those totals are just for the airports.. That said, very rare that ..if the totals are good as say Sky Harbor, quite likely the rest of the valley is probably doing ok as well.. Dialing that in a bit more, Using Rainlog data from 2021, While Tucson Intl. recorded 12.79" in '21, ( *** Think the gauge there was installed late in the season that year, hence it only recording 4", instead of the official amount for the season down there. Also pretty sure the gauge up on Mt. Lemmon was installed late.. Definitely saw more than the suggested 7.67" *** ) many other spots, below the mountains, topped 15" - 15"+ ..It rained so much that year down there that springs started flowing up through cracks in some of the roads in various parts of town. 6/15/21 - 9/30/21 If you've traveled down that way since moving here, no doubt you've passed Picacho Peak.. What usually looks kind of " meh " as you pass it, looked like this while headed to the borderlands in mid Aug. of 21 ..Passed it countless times sine 2009 and never seen it look like this, esp. during a given summer. Blurry, but a shot of the Tucson Mtns ( Ring the West / Southwest side of town ) ..which usually get a " they look alright " most of the time thought when viewing them, on the way back from the borderlands that afternoon.. For a few seconds while driving through this area, i honestly thought i'd been transported about 300 -500 miles further south, where the foothills can look like this a majority of years. Combined w/ everything else seen that day = mind- blown- / Those views forever burned into memory ....and helping to keep faith alive during the Non - soon years.. " More local " views that summer? very similar to these pictured down south.. Pretty sure there were even temporary waterfalls cascading off certain spots in the Superstitions for a week or two later that summer as well.. Will we have that kind of summer? ..Like you, i sure hope we do, lol.. Will say that after experiencing '21, i'm aiming bigger.. Wettest summer up here, via what was recorded at Sky Harbor?. Over 9"

Borassus flabellifer were looking good at sunup this morning...

A nice dypsis prestonia showing some good colours. And the next generation of seedlings coming behind.

Iguanura wallachiana , dypsis minuta!

This view

I'm happy to report that I've got a very precocious and showy Heliconia blooming like crazy out here in Palm Springs. It's a Heliconia stricta cultivar called 'Sunrise' and it's available from Plant Group Hawai'i. This is apparently a seasonal bloomer as my two clumps, which are growing in slightly different sun/shade profiles and different areas of the yard, started throwing their inflorescences synchronously, within a week of each other this spring. I planted one around mid-2023 and the other in April, 2024. I think it's safe to assume this is a second-season bloomer due to its strong desire to flower in spring. The inflorescences are really quite large and showy, and I'm a little surprised to be seeing so many appearing in two separate clumps (three on one, two on another). Each bract measures about 4" long and the overall inflorescence height is about 7". One thing to note is that this, like a number of strictas, seems completely happy in quite a bit of shade, so it's a good sub-canopy subject to try, at least in hot interior areas. Cold-tolerance hasn't been tested in extreme conditions, but mine have survived low 30sF up to 124F so it seems quite strong to varying environmental conditions. We have 30-to-50-degree diurnal swings out here with most December/January mornings 40-45F with maybe a dozen or so in the 30s F, and highs pretty predictably somewhere 65-75 (average high 70F). The plant keeps quite a good appearance over winter with minimal damage here, and the overall height of 6-8' with rather long leaves makes it a really nice landscape element. Spring starts here the second half of February and warmth accelerates very quickly. I have no idea how this would do in the much cooler coastal plain or right at the coast in SoCal, but I think it's certainly worth attempting by any "Heliconia nut," particularly if you have a nice, protected area with dappled sun/shade. It would likely need more sun right in the fogbelt within a mile or two of the coast, and I would think you would need to carefully carve out a wind-protected area under canopy that gets some winter sun-warming. This one is very easy to root in a tub of warm water. Just put the rhizome in and let it sit in full sun so it will warm up (use an aquarium heater if necessary to keep it around 80-85F while sprouting). But water should be changed every day or two to prevent fouling and also for oxygenation, which is very important. Once it has a mass of roots you can put it straight into the ground (that's better than in a pot, where it may rot). Closer to the coast where there is winter rain, I'd strongly suggest planting on a raised mound composed of really chunky high-drainage materials (like a good homemade Philodendron potting mix). While these clumps were not planted on mounds, I have more recently found that treatment to really accelerate growth for many Heliconia. Out here in the desert I mix coco-coir chunks (not fines) as a spongy moisture-reservoir, combined with lava rock, pumice and coarse sand. I'd also recommend avoiding the north side of a building or other winter-shade area where it may "wet-chill" to death. H. stricta 'Sunrise': I also (finally) have a couple of H. rostrata throwing blooms, one H. rostrata 'Misahualli' and another that is probably either a '5-day'/'Peru' or '10-day.' Inflorescences are still pushing but I'm very happy to finally see this stunner blooming out here in the desert. This one will bloom in appreciable shade but requires propping up under these circumstances because the pseudostems will stretch to find light and fall over under their own weight. In sunnier conditions they will stay stronger and more compact. H. rostrata 'Misahualli.' This one is under the canopy of a rather large Cassia javanica and an adjacent Thevetia peruviana, so it doesn't get very much sun at all...just dappled for the most part, but seems quite happy in its spot. H. rostrata (probably '5-day' or '10-day'), just starting to push. This one is in a pot that has rooted into the ground, and in too much shade, which is why its long, thin pseudostems are lying almost horizontally, being propped up by some nearby plants.

@SCVpalmenthusiast I'll retract my earlier comment about Alfredii being a bad choice so close to the house. For some reason I thought you were putting it up right next to the house, like the spot with the Teddy Bear. You'll have to chop a few fronds off early next to the driveway, but I think that will work great! I have Blue Glow underneath a big Bismarck, with rain runoff from the driveway feeding it too. As Silas said, that one is pretty tolerant of moisture. For some color you could look at "Ripple Effect" if you can find one. As far as growth rate, 15 years to 1-2' of trunk seems...er...way too long. 4 of mine went from 3g in June 2018 (smaller than yours) to more trunk than the Mounts ones now. The 5th one is a bit smaller, but I transplanted it in March 2019 because I planted it about 5 feet from my well's control box and water retention tank. This one is the smallest of the bigger 4, just after a "hurricane cut" to reduce the crown last summer. So that photo is almost exactly 7 years from a 3 gallon. And here it is in June 2018 when I planted it:

The Vallejo palms are Brahea armata. One location I wish had Bismarkia is the performing arts building in downtown Phoenix, Arizona. When I visited several years ago there were two struggling, and pathetic Syagrus romanzoffianum palms flanking the entrance.