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Just had my Parajubaea sunkha flower again at the start of winter. There are 6 flower spathes behind this one so maybe, just maybe I’ll have some male flowers and female flowers open at the same time with viable seed as the result.

Another frond drop on the middle Lemurophoenix halleuxii. Not so bright as the last one, but still pretty. 🥰 I love the tiny polka dots on the leaf scar.

It all begins with a seed the best way to get palm seedlings cheap is to germinate them yourself firstly you need the seeds before you can do anything with various luck in the germinating department you just never know how many seeds will germinate obviously the fresher the better but even then different techniques are required for different seeds which is a learning curve as you go the propagating I do is from learning over the years either asking or listening to other growers advice reading but a lot of self learning.

Chrysalidocarpus Robusta Hybrid size 10 shoe for scale and the largest “doinker” I’ve seen on a palm!

I got this plant sold to me as Dypsis Lutescens a few years ago and it has grown great since being grounded. It started out as a 15G with 30-40 little suckers. I knew I didn’t want it so full so I cut it all the way back to 3 of the largest sticks and planted it out in full sun. Fast forward 2yrs. Ive always thought it was Lutescens but looking at it lately, I’m really wondering if it’s possibly Dypsis Arenarium as it possesses the red emerging spears. The trunk portions have some color too. Not sure if your standard Lutescens have either of these traits. Am I just wishful thinking or could it be? March 2022 June 2024

Took my daughter and 15 year old grand daughter on a short hike the other day. Waimano Valley along the stream is now a jungle of what I believe of Pinanga coronata. I use to hunt wild boar in this area in the 70's and these palms WERE NOT present in the valley. Over the past decades Pinanga coronata has become invasive in many of the leeward Ko`olau valleys. I wonder if birds or pigs carried the seeds over the mountain from Hoomaluhia gardens? The photos following the first are NOT sideways on my computer. Not sure why this program turned them. Never happened before. Also saw a few of this. Could be young Roystonea regia? Didn't cross the stream to check the fan palm. Could it be Livistona chinensis; ? There are MANY of these in other valleys closer to Honolulu.

This jumped out at me. The Villages, FL Lowes. Arikury palm, Syagrus schizophylla. $84.98. 6.5 gallon pot.

Last winter didn't seem any worse than the previous few, and yet damage to my mule palm was extensive. Because of this, I would consider the mule palm as marginal in zone 8B. It's my understanding that fronds should be left on the plant until completely brown because there is nutrient uptake until that point. As usual, I erred on the side of caution (i.e., procrastinated), and performed nine frondectomies, certain that they were good and dead. The remaining leaves have considerable damage. Only the two that emerged this year are solid green. It looks like it's going to be a long recovery if we don't have another winter like the last one!

My beautiful Foxtail Palm has outgrown my apartment. A bit more than 220 cm from soil surface (a bit more than 245 cm incl pot). Grown by me from seed, sown 2018-05-24. Let me first say that I hope someone is interested in picking it up, because most shipping companies don't do > 2 metres and the cheapest I found that does, costs around €150. For the palm my suggested price is €40 even if it is worth at least 10 times that. Foxtail Palms love sunshine, although this has lived exclusively off grow lights so if to be put in the sun it should gradually get used to it. Rather easy to manage, grows similarly fast a Kentia palms, no acute need for repotting, needs water once per week for now. Planted in 75% coir and 25% seramis (when pottning up you can use the same mix or just coir). Normally grows in Australia. Mature palms have been observed to cope with down to -1 degC without damage see here. This palm has been grown in my apartment. It has very special leaves, and as it matures, they are gathered as fronds that resemble Fox tails. Also see Palmpedia.

In LA, I wouldn't worry about a Ficus like that strangling your Phoenix palms. We don't have enough humidity to allow it to really take over. Worry more about the arrival of the South American palm weevil doing damage to Phoenix palms in the coming years. They are here in San Diego County now and working their way north. Enjoy the Ficus epiphyte, as they rarely become parasites here.

Looks like Howea forsteriana to me.

my a. obesum in full bloom

Seeing both Tim's and yours, I wish they could survive here. I tried a decade ago and failed though. Absolutely stunning palms.

I planted it last night hoping for rain that was denied today. Found a spear well on its way when the last one just opened a couple weeks ago so heat is a big helper on growth rate. The sky photo is the view directly overhead into the Palmetto Protector (lol) and the open view to the southeast. Its heel is pointed away from the other trees and just above ground level, but i may need to add a bit of soil to it. By the end of summer im hoping to have a decent head of fronds going, and a mild winter after(please?)

I can’t help with the positive ID but if that is lutescens all that purpuly maroon-ness makes it one of the nicest ones I’ve seen.

I spent a fortune on seeds for a few years and found that either nearly all of them germinated from a batch or none at all. (mainly the latter) When people could still send us seeds, I never had a batch fail from other people on Palmtalk or from good old Rosebud Farm. These days I don't have the space or patience for seeds so I have to rely on those more dedicated to reproduction than me. Peachy

Some update pics from the garden.

🫤 I am hoping they will grow somewhat slowly here in zone 7, especially if clumped. If they don't do well closely planted that is extremely helpful to know. Even if they were ok being on top of each other, It sounds like separation would be necessary anyway because there are at least six palms in that pot. Guess I'll be doing that in the next week. I'd rather not just snip them, but on the other hand it was $20 so losing two or three out of six would not be so heartbreaking. I'm seeing now there's an older thread where someone separated a similarly overpotted clump of them that's also pretty helpful ( )

Looks more like a resort/hotel than a home. 😍

Agreed Tracy. Tim’s tree in person is even more fantastic than in pictures as you know. Doesn’t even look real. 😂 @Kim, yours is an unbelievable palm too. As Tracy said, wish they grew here. -dale

@flplantguy I have had mixed experience with most of them, Chrysalidocarpus leptocheilos (Teddy Bear) and Chrysalidocarpus lastelliana (Redneck Palm): Chrysalidocarpus leptocheilos (Teddy Bear) - I still have one in the ground, on a relatively high-and-dry area on the East side. It's fully open to the sky and frost, and seems to be okay so far. I had 4 small ones die on me, 2 in the ground and 2 in pots. They were apparently killed by crown rot after a winter freeze. Chrysalidocarpus lastelliana (Redneck Palm) - I have two in the ground. The one on the East side is about 10 feet from the above Leptocheilos, and is doing great. The other is in the SW corner in a low-ish area and is not happy. It got burned 2 winters ago in the Christmas 2022 3 day heavy freeze, and has just struggled and stayed yellowish and barely alive ever since. My gut feel on these is that they prefer a drier spot in the winter, though I have not grown one over about 3 feet tall yet. I'm hoping that the two on the East side continue to do well. Frost protection is a good idea, and avoiding a low wet area is probably a good choice too.

My neighbor has a nice silver specimen I see peering over my pool fence area, I glance at it daily. In full sunlight it’s almost blue some days . Butia odorata I believe it is. Very common here in north orlando area. I don’t have any planted in my yard, but get to enjoy this one on the regular. This one was probably planted back in the late 70’s or early 80’s when these neighborhoods were developed, if I were to guess.

Cindy, at first glance Phoenicophorium and Verschaffeltia are almost indistinguishable. Your stretched version looks pretty cool. Leaf yellowing seems to be pretty common, especially in older fronds. A friend of mine who’s entire palm was yellow, thought that’s what they are supposed to look like. I’ve had good luck with a common palm fertilizer containing micronutrients that works pretty well. Takes a few months, but the new fronds respond to the food. This one get quite a bit of sun from mid morning to late afternoon. Sits on a slope with good drainage. The old super model shovel for scale. Tim

Awesome trails through this sub-tropical rainforest. I’m lucky to have a son who enjoys these experiences just as much as I do. Dominant species Archontophoenix cunninghamiana. Also spotted Calamus muelleri, the odd Livistona australis, and Macrozamia lucida.

Last night the boot came off this Chrysalidocarpus prestonianus, revealing it's colorful trunk underneath. I couldn't help noticing.

Some Parajubaea pics from yesterday.

Another Cocos ID, SW Florida: Jamaican Tall?

I think I may have found a coconut palm in Culver City California. I was driving by and it caught my attention. Got out my car and tried to take a closer look, which I did but was scared to take pics and they were having a party 😆 anyways when I got home I looked up the intersection on Google maps. It’s on Washington place west of the intersection of Inglewood ave about 100 ft from the corner on the north side. It’s definitely not the coconut look alike from New Zealand . The fans of the palm are way too wide and robust.

No holes but lined with plastic to prevent the roots growing into the styrofoam the depth varies for some box’s up to eight inches are the best for large seeds and small ones at least 4 inches depth they have lids as well that helps with germination or you can place them in a large plastic garbage bag.

Finally, some blooms this year on my Cassia leptophylla here in interior NorCal. It's been in the ground for at least 5 years and defoliates every winter.

A great looking specimen Tyrone. Have you tried harvesting the male flowers, processing the pollen, and dusting the female flowers?

Nice rain right now 88F palms are getting soaked.

Updated photos: flowers are finally holding

Very unlikely, it’s about impossible to obtain. Ever even seen one here in RBGSYD etc ? There is a couple reason that is so.

Those look nice. I like the brick setup you have there.

Not a palm but a rather root bound Musa sikkemensis. I think it began to appear much better the day after it got out of the restrictions of being potted.

I just love the leaves on this palm

@flplantguy If Chrysalidocarpus leptocheilos (Teddy Bear) is a 26F-28F palm, a Chrysalidocarpus lastelliana (Redneck Palm) is a 28F-30F palm. A little difference that ends up being a game-changer in Central Florida. Both do fine in lake and UHI-modified microclimates from Sanford to Tampa, but it helps to have overhead frost protection and windbreaks to prevent defoliation or bud damage in colder winters. If you have a way to provide it with both overhead protection and a windbreak, it's worth it as @D. Morrowii has advised. There are some observations for both in the Cold Hardiness Master Data that are worth checking out: https://www.palmtalk.org/forum/topic/61358-0000-cold-hardiness-observation-master-data/?do=findComment&comment=1168867

Looks like chinensis. This is a solitary palm so you have a lot of palms crammed into that 3g? pot. They will compete until the weakest die. You could try to separate and pot them separately. Or another way to thin them out is too snip off the smallest stems until you reach the desired number of palms (they will still compete) Pot them in loose, coarse free draining garden soil such as Kellogg with extra perlite or pumice. Avoid Miracle Gro soils - they monopolize garden center soils and are way overdue for anti-trust action - which are pretty much the same black muck. Also avoid cheap, black dollar store houseplant soils. Do not overwater them or let their pots (lots of drain holes) sit in stagnant water or you risk root rot. Feed them timed pelletized fertilizer (I used 6-6-6 this year as decent fertilizer is expensive and hard to find here). If these are your only potted palms, Nutricote in a shaker works, too. Fertilize in spring and summer but avoid applying in late fall/winter. Always remember: throwing water and fertilizer at an ailing palm is not the cure for all ills.

Max yesterday was 32c with an overnight low of 25c. The good news is that we finally got the first rain of the 2024 rainy season. It wasn’t much but being already one month into the rainy season we are glad to finally get something.

So an update on mine. I thought it was starting to flush about a week ago. I trimmed the smaller leaves to clean up a bit. Today I noticed it looks like there's a cone instead of a flush.

Finally a worn out me and an overview

To the right side of the pool deck is a turtle and tortoise enclosure that we incorporated. My younger son is re-landscaping the interior of that as we speak, which must of course meet the approval of our long-term tortoise resident named Houdini.

I got out and spent this morning planting a couple of small sabal causiarum, a butia, cycas revoluta, and I moved some cannas from my backyard to the front. Needless to say, I am tired. I am really grateful that I can do hard labor in the sun though. I know I won't be able to do it forever. Sabals along the fence line with some loquats:

And done!

Some sunshine on the way back for a better picture

Some more pics

Earlier this spring I sliced a big box store Majesty triple apart with a big kukri knife, just separating them into 3 equal parts. I figured that I'd take a decent amount of large and small roots on each plant so they'd probably be okay. I planted them in a shady corner, they just sat there for about 2 months and then started growing normally. They've doubled in size since May, and seem pretty healthy. A few days ago I ran across a ridiculously overplanted Livistona Chinensis 3 gallon pot with a whopping 7 individual plants in it. For $10 I thought it would be a fun experiment to try and separate these out and see if they survived. Since they were so intertwined it was obvious the slice-and-dice method wasn't going to work. I washed as much of the (apparently pine bark) soil from the root ball and then slowly untwined the roots, trying not to break the big ones. One of them was fairly loose (the left one in the picture below) and it only had one large root mixed in with the others. So that one was easy to pull out. Two of the really small 1" diameter ones separated easily because they had few roots, then the last 4 came apart in under a minute. I potted them up into 2.5qt and one 1G pot for the biggest, using a mix of sand and Miracle Gro potting mix. They are now sitting over in 50% shade and we'll see how many survive! I'm betting the bigger ones (about 2" diameter) survive but the two small ones (about 1" diameter) don't. They all seemed to have a decent number of large and small roots, and I don't think I damaged the root initiation zone on any of them, so there's a chance!

But it's all full again as of today and the stream is flowing.

Dear Sunny No problem at all,since take away the broken part of that cuting trim it for any splits and repot it in a loose sany soil and bring that plant indoor till the new roots come out from the cut away part of the plant.and i keep doing this often with my adenium to give new plants to my cousion sisters. And they all do fine in just 3 months are so.but i do this with my Big sized adnium plants. can we see that break away peice of your plant ! here is mine and clearly watch that lots of stems have been cut see it closely you will find cuts here and ther.all my cutting to survive,but less watering and more warm climate is needed. Love, Kris