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Morning garden walk with Suubi at the new house and these Chrysalidocarpus Sp Mayotte hybrids caught my eye.

Anyone growing Chrysalidocarpus ifanadianae? Mine is getting some size and showing some purple coloring on the crown. The only other Chrysalidocarpus that I’ve seen with purple coloring is Sp. Metallic Ovobontsira. I’ll get a picture of the entire palm soon. please post pictures if you are growing this palm

The Hawaii Island Palm Society had been wanting to organize a tour of Jason’s amazing garden for several years, but parking logistics never worked. The planned move lit a fire under the board. It was now or never. We hired two vans to shuttle groups of 20 visitors at a time to Jason’s and another nearby garden that also had limited vehicle access. The hosts repeated the tours for four consecutive groups of 20. It was a very, very long day, but the folks loved visiting both properties in groups small enough to allow plenty of questions. Jason must have one of the best collections of primarily Madagascar palms in a residential sized property. Even though the garden is relatively young, the growth rates have been off the charts. It’s a (very manicured) jungle. Jeff Marcus quipped that he had never visited a garden filled with so many Floribunda baby palms that he now couldn’t identify after they had grown 20 ft tall and were flowering. Lots of beautiful, unusual variants and hybrids. Several one-of-a-kind. HIPS is very grateful to both hosts for opening their wonderful gardens. We eagerly look forward to touring Jason's new, much larger garden (on deep soil!) that already has lots of palms in the ground. Several incredible palm gardens on the Big Island have changed hands in the past ten years. It is always a nail biter wondering if the new owners understand and appreciate what they have just bought. So far, each buyer has fully embraced their new garden and became palm aficionados. Sure hope whoever buys this property values the rare palm collection.

…when it comes to dragging fronds to the compost heap! 😅 It’s not heavy, just awkward. Which are your largest fronds? Heaviest? Most awkward to manage?

When they refer to palm fronds, they mean whole fronds, at least where I am. A well cut to pieces “frond” is no longer a frond. It’s just minced up plant material. My refuse company now wants ALL green waste including palm fronds and even kitchen waste like bones and meat scraps thrown in the same bins as the yard waste.

What I noticed before anything was the butchering of those poor palms. Green fronds should never be pruned off of any palm species unless absolutely necessary. Those green fronds are feeding the rest of the palm through photosynthesis. Don’t ever let your tree guys do that again. Besides that, it just looks horrible.

You might be able to trim roots out but the idea of putting drought resistant plants and succulents near queen palms seems a poor companion plant match. Queen palms are water lovers, succulents are not. I would either get rid of the queens as they are already stressed by being way over trimmed, so another stress from the root removal could be the coup de gras. Alternately, you could grow the dry adaptable plants in containers or raised beds and try to water and feed the queens separately for recovery. IF you want drought tolerance plants, they are best near drought tolerant palms.

Here’s a Roystonea regia leaf by a Chevy S10.

Don't tell anyone, but that where my trapped gopher carcasses go also !

Hey Jason, thanks again for the Chrysalidocarpus malcomberi photos. You saw this one a few years back before trunking, it has since grown quite a bit. Great color and nice leaf arrangement, although it still looks very similar to C. mananjarensis to me. Tim

I believe we already warned you about this. It needs to be planted ASAP. That's burn and its not going to get any better.

Yes,it is. Also having your palm in a fully exposed black nursery container is probably also cooking the roots. Have you ever put your hand against the sun side of that container at noon? Ouch! You have 3 choices that could help your palm survive the summer. 1. Shield that existing pot from any direct sun exposure by wrapping, or by putting that pot into an even bigger one to shield it. 2. 'plant' the existing pot into the ground. It will still be easy to move the plant later on if need be. 3. Plant the tree in the ground already! This is your best option to establish a healthy tree that will grow on for many years in our area. aztropic Mesa, Arizona

Ptychosperma microcarpum is thin/tiny palm that is well put together, with a beautiful habit.

I don’t recommend it. Palms are root sensitive and hate having their root systems cut, broken, hacked of otherwise messed with. They are not woody trees but are related to grasses. They cannot heal from damage done to them and very likely will die. They are queens and old ones at that. They are common as dirt and almost as cheap. You have much better palm candidates available where you live. I suggest you take the money you’d blow hacking up the roots, remove the queens, then re-landscape

wasps seem to prefer bismarckia over other big fans in my yard, though I once found a small nest on a copernicia fallaensis leaf. I dont spray aggressive chemicals on my palms just vinegar or water. I have lots of anoles(small lizards) in my yard and they eat all kinds of bugs. Might be they dont eat wasps, but I dont want to kill those anoles with pesticides and watch the mosquitos/biting flies flourish. I have frequently seen these lizards eat mosquitos and flies. They are part of the balance of my yard which actually has few mosquitos. In the past, a high pressure stream of water will blast wasps off the nest, then I remove the nest with a pole. Today there is 20' clear trunk on my Biz, I have not seen wasps last 4-5 years. Maybe wasps dont like being way up there in a windier environment. I am not allergic to bee stings, so my risk is not that high, they just hurt for a couple days. If I was allergic I would use a wasp killer for sure.

Alex, can you tell a little more info about the palm in question? -how big is it (looks to be fairly small) -how long ago was it planted? What soil medium is used? -when purchased, was it pulled from a greenhouse? -what’s the sun exposure? -irrigation schedule? To me….it looks like it’s simply acclimating to its current conditions. “Damage” to older leafs isn’t nearly as big of a concern than to new foliage. -dale

I wouldn’t want to under it when it decided to come down! Harry

Encephalartos laruentianus will have the longest leaves of the group. They are vigorous growers too. I'm not growing pure Encephalartos whitelockii, but have a couple of hybrids with sclavoi, which changes the leaflets as well as the overall length of the leaves. I also have a couple of Encephalartos ituriensis, and for caudex size have no where near as long of leaflets as my Encephalartos laurentianus had at the same size. Leaves on Encephalartos laurentianus are very upright and straight until they get pushed down by a new flush or emerging cones. Female Encephalartos cones and both my E lauriantus and one in a garden on the Big Island east side. My wife for scale in Hawaii. The next photo is a flush from a couple of years ago on mine after I cut off the previous flush showing how erect they are. I'll see if I can get a clean shot of it today holding two flushes and no cones.

Interesting topic Kim! I agree that my PR native Roystoneas make it impossible to plant anything I really like under them. I don’t let any new ones grow up, but that leaves (pun unintended) many really big beautiful ones so numerous I have never counted them. The previous owner planted them to mark the property lines plus many others in the interior. So pretty and survivors of all but utility chainsaws. We do have free weekly garbage pick up and they take anything I can fit in large construction size bags, but way too much trouble to chop and haul from afar. Now I worry that my piles of green waste may turn into prime breeding spots for rhino beetles…. I am careful where I plant my spiny favorites because I know I will be the one handling the fronds that fall.

A couple pics from today’s morning garden walk. Mowing the grass today! This is 2 weeks of grass growth here on the Hamakua Coast!

So Kim, what is a long way off from trunking on the east side of the Big Island? Next year or a year and a half?😄🤣😂

I have 2, but they are still small. Planted in January 2019 from 1-gallon pots, the fronds are getting taller, but a very long way from forming a trunk. I'll take a closer look later today.

Oh, yes, I have the big green can in San Diego, but my palm garden there is minuscule, not a single really big palm, only a few Howea and Phoenix roebelenii. Easy enough to cut up and stuff in the bin. At my place in Hawaii, there is no garbage collection; one must take loads to the "transfer station" for recycling, garbage, and green waste. I could never load the weekly accumulation of fronds into a vehicle, and with a couple of acres, the compost heap is the best option. With the ample rains here, the organic matter does break down over time. One of my oldest compost heaps that I quit using some years ago has completely disappeared.

I've had them nest on Washingtonia and Livistona chinensis fronds. A decade ago I invested a few bucks in a pool toy squirter. Mix some dish soap in a bucket, fill the squirter and take aim from several feet away. My aim isn't perfect but I rarely have to reload! 😜 Problem solved.

TampaBay area $50

Wow , someone really over trimmed those . I understand because Syagrus Romanzoffiana are quit messy when they flower . The roots can be hacked out for additional planting of other plants but remember , palms , especially these love lots of water , so plant other plants that can benefit . Harry

Try to spend at least 5 days in Melbourne if you can. It's the food, culture and theatre capital of Australia. A good place to find a nice frock too. The Dandenong Ranges are temperate rain forests, with the 100 metre Mountain Ash eucalypts and Dicksonia tree ferns in habitat. Lovely gardens and restaurants up there too. On the other side of the city are the You Yang Ranges, open dry sclerophyll bushland and an easy 1 hour hike to the top that gives you views to the city, Port Philip Bay and across to Geelong. On the south side, the Mornington Peninsula goes all the way to Bass Strait, with lovely beaches all the way from the city to the Port Philip Heads. On the other side of the Peninsula is Westernport Bay (meh) but further south are the wild surf beaches for the intrepid types. The Botanic Gardens are quite lovely and some of the palms may surprise you. The Victorian Art Gallery is always well worth a look too. Best of all, apart from the far end of the Mornington Peninsula, nothing is further than one hour from the city. As for Brisbane ...well the Botanic Gardens are interesting ( City and Mt Coot-tha) but nothing within 2 hours minimum to look at apart from those. ( unless you wish to experience the rapture felt by those fortunate enough to gaze upon my beauteous countenance) Peachy

I’ve got an Arenarius Blue that has about a 4” caudex and just started pushing 6 fronds. And this little Enc Horridus x (Arenarius x Woodii) finally decided it likes the weather. -dale

Mine's next to a wall, it has been 2 and a half years with me and the only freeze that damaged it was the december 2022 freeze (-2⁰C but dry) and the only damaged frond was the one in the left of the picture. Not fast but not slow in this area.

Some may say those are planted a little too close to the house, but not to worry. In my experience, these seem to grow well, even under cramped conditions. I have a couple that I direct planted the seeds into the ground only 1 foot away from the wall. (Seeds planted about 5 years apart) Trees are both growing great in the Arizona desert. aztropic Mesa, Arizona

They are in the ground in a very warm , sunny spot . The mid day sun here is very warm but the shade starts about 3:00pm for now. Once they get large they will get even more sun. In the winter , this area stays warmer than out by the street where my last Wodyetia were . Fingers crossed ! Harry

I actually have three cans , mainly because of all the weeding that is done on my slope weekly. The funny thing is , a couple years ago our city switched trash companies. The new cans have a noticed stamped on the lids “ no palm fronds” . I haven’t been busted yet , maybe because I usually cut the fronds up to fit inside the can so they can’t see them. Harry

Yea that was my impression as well, it’s a very small square footage Nursery but they pack in the plants and are VERY Palm heavy they even they have massive size Mules and even some more exotic stuff like Copernicas, they get all their Palms from the Valley here in Texas. Padre Palms gets them trucked in from Florida so this is also something to consider. I have chatted it up with the staff at both locations and pressed them for Palm origin info. Prices are high you could drive down to the valley and pick up the same palms for cheaper but great to browse. You better have a Victorian-era fainting couch nearby when you check out the prices on the large Mules though… Turners had 2 CocoQueens a while back that were really pretty looking and large sized, not that I would take a chance on one here.

Walking around the neighborhood and this guy jumped out, never seen him before.. variegated Sabal

The road was washed out in many places due to Cyclone Gita recently passing through a few weeks back.

Out watering in the garden today and was noticing that from certain views around the garden it doesn't even look like im in Southern California anymore. share your own veiws

Alright, Washingtonia are cheap from palmpeii nursery on etsy decent sized saplings. I’ll look into that. I have two potted trachycarpus I just use miracle grow potting palm mix. So it’s a no go on the bismarckia surviving indoors, then?

Looks like sunburn to me.

I’m impacted too. My return Noumea to Sydney flight has been polished back a few days. I haven’t done anything with it yet because I’m waiting to see what happens with the whole situation. I know there are others impacted too.

It looks like it could be in the Manikensis complex like Munchii but those leafs aren’t typically recurved but straight rather. Is it possibly a hybrid? Either way, looks healthy. 👍🏻 -dale

They are beautiful palms and I have found them to be easy to grow here. They even handle the salt breeze pretty well. If they do well they can take up quite a bit of space and be a bit messes when seeding. If the Wodyetia doesn’t work consider Normanbya normanbyi. It’s very similar but tends to be a smaller, cleaner palm, at least for me. Hope these Wodyetia work out for you.

Hmm, I’m wondering why you think they are better than your Windmill palms which are much more cold hardy than Mexican Fan palms and don’t grow like weeds to unreachable heights in just a few years. Your Washingtonia robusta palms are zone 9a hardy on the low end While your Trachycarpus are zone 7 on the low end. By all means go ahead and plant them and enjoy them either as annuals or protect them in the winter until they’re too big to do so.

Parajubaea sunkha

Old clump of Ptychosperma macarthurii at ANSG:

The palm needs to be planted in the ground.

Calyptrocalyx elegans hybrid was showing off over the last couple of days...

From my travels and observations, here is a rough range of where R.Sapida occur naturally in NZ. Anywhere in the yellow zone, where you find surviving rainforest- even small fragments, R. Sapida/Nikau dominate the under story. I live quite close to the yellow/red boundary in North Island, on a forested peak about 25km South of here called Maugatautari, there are plenty in the understory of the bush, up to ~650m elevation. Yet another 50km or so South in the Pureora Forest, I've seen none, even in lowest/wettest parts of the bush there.

Some more miscellaneous pics

And more...