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An update at the end of July, 2026.

Chrysalidocarpus saintlucei gets thicker in full sun and thinner trunk in shade here. Full sun specimen front and center in this photo.

Dioon mejiae seems to always flush later into summer for me. Perhaps it needs more heat than some other cycads I am growing?

Lytocaryum insigne seedlings available. Nice established root system. These have proven to be trouble free and robust, ready to push 2nd - 3rd leaf. Seedlings will be shipped in cones. $40ea UPS 3 day $18

The plumosa are flowering again, and I have finally worked out the boys and girls and where they are in the garden. No flowers opening up yet. But some daily observations will be the order for the day. I will try and hand pollinate them this year. I managed to get 4 seeds pollinated last season only to have the rats get them, right on harvest there clever little sods. In the 25 years they have been in the garden only twice I have had good seed set naturally where Mother Nature lined it all up. A nice landscaping palm that’s tolerant of a lot of hard conditions.

Generally speaking, are the blue joeys (Johannesteijsmannia magnifica) known to be more stout in form as seedlings/immature plants than the green joeys (Johannesteijsmannia altifrons ) ? I’ve only been growing this one seedling magnifica (from 1st seedling leaf stage) and noticed it doesn’t develop those long-strap like immature leaves like the altifrons I have raised. I grow indoors. Because the magnifica is much smaller than my altifrons, I have grown it along with my higher light orchids. The altifrons are well over 3’ so I can’t get them under the orchid lights. I noticed from photos that the mature magnificas look like the altifrons in form, possibly broader; the blue underside of the magnificas being the obvious difference. Although, perhaps any of these form differences in photos can be due to stretching in lower light vs more stout in stressful high light levels. I just want to be aware if I’m possibly light-stressing my magnifica. Pictured below, magnifica on left is younger than the altifrons on right.

Well I guess I jinxed myself. 1/2” in the last 18 days and 100 degrees and sunny every day for quite a while now. Things are looking rough, I’m watering every night. Can’t keep up really. At least the palms are drought tolerant. I have a lot of Texas natives planted and to be honest, half of them just plain suck. They’re struggling too and many only look good for spring and the first half of summer.

Seeds are ripe on my super silver med fan palm. Flowers were hand pollinated, and wrapped for isolation. Parents are the pics. Super silver offspring! 25 seeds picked fresh off the tree with fruit,(to contain freshness) shipped continental USA for $20 total. Takes full, blasting, Arizona all day sun, and freezes to at least 25F with zero damage. VERY hardy fan palm with exceptional silver color. aztropic Mesa, Arizona

18 months post cold event

Yea spelling wrong. To hard to look up on phone. Any way growing nice under shower tree

Wallichia densifolia git my attention today.

Tim, One defining feature between the two in my observation, is that hillibrandii has the green leaf undersides, while arecina has more gold, similar to martii and viscosa. Tracy, i’ve got a hillibrandii coming into flower for the first time, I’ll see how those develop! Bret

yes Richard please pollinate, we need seeds here

A nice new taitungensis flush!

You’re not alone , Jim. I had a beauty ( Wodyetia Bifurcata)for 7-8 years with about 7’ of trunk . One year it started pushing shorter fronds and looking poor , eventually it died . The other one I had died within a year of planting , I have tried everything to save them. I have a palm friend a few blocks away that has one that is huge and healthy ( producing lots of viable seeds!) . He also had another one that did exactly what mine did . I tell people “ hit and miss” for these . I have two small ones that I bought from a private grower who was getting rid of them because he lost so many . He said “ I quit !” I got a great deal and they are plugging along slowly . Some gardens have really nice Foxtail palms , I just haven’t figured them out yet. Harry

Pinanga sp.’Thai mottled dwarf’, or at least sold as such.

It’s that time again as the Chamaedorea Radicalis are full of fruit and starting to ripen. Harry A load of fruit leaning on the Lanceolata This batch is hiding behind the fence! I see you!

The good old Ferox cone is getting more mature deeper into winter!

Someone here would like to see how and, here you are satisfied, I didn't breed it and it was born on its own, on the 2nd leaf I saw that it was different from a normal radicalis

Yes, I hybridized radicalis x microspadix, producing about 10 seeds, all of which sprouted. The seeds were small. I hybridized microspadix x radicalis, producing only 3 seeds, but all 3 sprouted. It's a shame I lost almost everything while I was in the hospital.

sounds like this was a naturally occurring hybrid. Any attempt to do manual cross pollination in the past? JD

comparison between the pinnules of radicalis and radicalis hybrid,shorter and wider hybrids

Chambeyronia divaricarta. New leaf is quite showy. Tim

@gyuseppe give us more pictures, close up overall and of the base. We’ll help you figure it out paisan!

That is a lovely hybrid . We had a guy that did hybrids and I once purchased a Chamaedorea Potutalensis/ Elatior hybrid . Within 6 months it started taking over my shade house! The palm was like “ Jack and The Beanstock” ! It was beautiful but way bigger than I wanted so I managed to get it in my pick up truck and rehome it over the hill to my mentor’s jungle . The fronds were large , like Tepejelote , and it grew along the sides of the shade house . It pushed everything aside as it traveled along . I’ve never had a palm grow like that! Harry

Ever so subtle.

Harry, Konstantinos and I are lovers of hybrids and have even created some, yes the radicalis mother eTree Form

I believe you , the leaflets certainly look wide for Radicalis . Is this a hybrid from Tree Form? Harry

It has wider pinnules, no none of my hybrids have suckers

What traits of the other half, namely the microspadix, are apparent? Does it sucker?

The first Chamaedorea radicalis in Italy were made by a friend of mine with the seeds of Inge Hoffman who managed the seed bank, she collected them in Dick Douglas' garden

No Harry, the underside of the leaves is not silver, trust me, it's a hybrid I've been growing Chamaedorea radicalis since the late 80s.

Are the undersides of the leaf silvery ? My C. Radicalis vary from plant to plant . Most are pretty predictable , but they can be different. Harry

@JLM Looks like it is on the mend for the foreseeable future. Let us all hope we don't get double-tapped this winter like we did in 2010.

Asterogyne martiana, seen in the Botanical Garden of Basilea, Switzerland

Not super red today. Has looked better Calyptrocalyx hollrungii This one has looked better.

Encephalartos Cleopatra x True blue Arenarius flushing for the 3rd time since spring! That hybrid vigor us a thing! I have also noticed each leaf it throws is getting bluer.

Here’s enough breakfast blueberry’s to last a lifetime and more. 100 acres should keep you going with a bit of all bran breakfast cereal!

One of my unknown Prtichardias has a spadix with flowers emerging from it's spathe for the first time. The spathe is an interesting cluster of bulbuous shaped heads that individually open. I don't have Don Hodel's book on Pritchardia species to help identify the species. Thoughts are always welcome.

My only Pritchardia is P. Hillebrandii brought home from Maui years ago in a 3” pot! It has survived for at least 15 years here in Santa Paula . Planted next to my house for protection , although I’m not sure it needed it. Harry

So, while I was in the vicinity, here are a few snaps of P. lanigera. Why not eh? Tim

Here is an updated photo of P. glabrata. I had a pair side by side and curiously lost one a few years back. Tim

Hey Dale, like the previous responses to what your palm might be………just not sure. I don’t think however, that it is P. martii. That is a comparison to the one I have in the garden whose undersides and petioles are covered completely with whitish/silver lepidia. So much so, it resembles frost. The petioles are also incredibly long, even in full sun. A few years back I acquired some small cast off Pritchardia in cones and they were supposed to be either P. beccariana or P. hillebrandii. Now that they are fairly decent size, I can only guess what they really are. One has heavy lepidia like P. martii, one is moderately covered like P. beccariana, and two have almost none. Ufta! The more one knows, the less one knows. Here are a few photos of the P. martii I took this morning. It’s a stunning palm. Oh, and thanks for the bump Tim

Sean, the common wisdom is that only the Hawaiian species will grow in California, so... no P. pacifica or P. thurstonii.

I planted my beccariophoenix alfredii October 16th 2011. It was a tall one gallon. I wouldn’t call it fast at all but it’s gone from about 1 foot to about 15 feet. Post em if you got em

2022.

10 month update.

A little chronicle of the day. It held up well on hwy 40, and I got it in ground right as it started to rain. Thanks @Joe NC

Remember my Yatay mule that got knock to the ground in the 2018 freak freeze we had? It's over 25 ft tall & flowering. I don't have much hope for viable seeds as I have never seen a mule produce viable seeds. They are always solid. Even the Doc's downtown seed every year but the seed is never viable. Anyway, here it is.

It grows and flowers well here. The foliage is actually a little hardier than other ohers. Most will burn at 32-34F, H. scheideana has taken to 30-31F with no damage. Also growing the cultivar 'Fire and Ice' but I don't notice any difference between it and the species. Both grow 6-7ft here. Heliconia scheideana Heliconia scheideana 'Fire and Ice'