Leaderboard

Daryl O'Connor took a few of us around his neck of the palm woods to see some truly outstanding natural areas and private gardens. All were truly impressive, and Daryl was very generous with his time -- thanks again, Daryl! If I had to choose a single photo to share with palm lovers, this is it -- the Tahina spectabilis in the garden of Stan and Jane Walkley. Look for the guy next to the palm, that's Stan. And no, he is not a small guy.

As another Fall begins, I was beating myself up about about still having so many palms in pots (vs in the ground). My original goal was to have everything in the ground by this Spring... but life happened and there are still way too many palms in pots. 🙄 But there is ONE area of the yard that is looking pretty nice! So I thought I would post a video tour of my 1st completed area of the yard. ❤️ * I'm a graphic designer by profession, so my yard has a crazy amount of COLOR. I also try to have variety in palm form, heights, and leaf types. Basically it's what happens when someone who normally designs with pixels on the computer switches to using plants as their medium. Oh, and you'll see a few bromeliads & other tropical plants (bromeliads were my first love). Enjoy! @Josh-O - You mentioned you'd love to see the Mealy Bug & Sambiranensis again sometime. Here's a video. Huge thank you for everyone who sold palms to me (including many palms not shown here).

The late Richard Douglas and Inge Hoffmann, two of my palm mentors, (Richard was more than six feet tall) then three images of my Ceroxylon quindiuense. I don't feel confident about estimating height, but I believe it to have about 35 feet of clean trunk below the leafbases. (10.6 m )

Hi everyone Back in 2013 pogobob took me to a friend's garden in San Clemente California I was fortunate to be allowed to collect seeds from the palm and today I have this in my coastal Tasmania garden. Troy

It’s that time of year again to climb up on the roof and take pictures of palms. Spanky the Roystonea regia. Jayne the Roystonea oleracea Syagrus picrophylla on the right and Big A’d Buteagrus Mule on the left.

San Diego, CA, USA is treating her right

This will likely be the last time I'll get to post about this tremendous success story of growing Satakentia liukiuensis in California. Unfortunately, our home owners insurance has issued us a cancellation notice unless we're able to comply with basically removing all of the palms in close proximity to my home despite all of them being healthy, well watered, and none of them carry a skirt of dead leaves; basically zero risk of catching fire. We've searched around and no other insurance company will cover us as they're all trying desperately to exit the market. The insurance market in CA is a disaster, but that's a story for another day. I figured I'd post pics one last time of this palm that has yet to flower/fruit, but is thriving none the less. It currently stands at 15' tall overall w/ 5' of clear trunk.

I visited La Carbonera (aka Tochecito) earlier today, and it more than lived up to its billing. These are quick and dirty edits from my laptop, so when I get home in a couple weeks and have my main computer, I'll make sure to update this post with more photos.

It' s sunny today after two weeks of cold and rain, so I ' ll take some new pictures of my C. decipiens after arriving home.

A few more, From left, Chambeyronia var. hookeri, Cyathea intermedia, Iriartea deltoidea, Socratea exorrhiza, and Wettinia hirsuita behind. Glorious is the adjective that best describes this view for me. Thanks for the inspiration Dave, I’ve been meaning to post this photo. Tim

I walked the Garden Lot around noon today and the heat and swelter were overbearing. I noticed my juvenile Tahina spectabilis has sent up several pristine leaves after growing little in summer 2023 or winter 2024. During Hurricane Ian in 2022 it was crushed by falling Livistonas and Bismarckias. I really thought it was a goner but gradually it produced leaves again from its underground meristem. Summer 2023 was hot and drought-stricken. We got less rain that rainy season than we got the previous winter. Winter 2024 was chilly, cloudy (94+ days of clouds) and wet - just what tropical palms hate and mine limped into spring with a lot of yellow cold-spotted leaves. But since the heat and normal rainfall have returned my beleaguered palms are happily growing again, my lone Tahina included Tahina spectabilis, Cape Coral, FL, July 2024

Well, I'm moving and leaving my garden behind. The amount of work I put into this yard is amazing to look back on, but life happens and you know how that goes. There is a silver lining though, my new home is only a short distance away, but due to cold air drainage, I'm getting a nice boost in my climate zone. I'll be upgrading from a solid 9b to a high 10a / low 10b. I had to consider if it would be better to just leave my palms in place, to hopefully drive by and see them thriving one day, or to attempt the dreaded transplant... Well, I had the pleasure of hosting @Darold Petty last weekend and we talked about the true reality that the next owner is unlikely to know or care to take care of a rare palm tree in the landscape... And that the chance is always worth taking; dig it up. So today I was busy! Attached are pictures of my yard in it's prime and the palms I dug up today (Chrysalidocarpus Decipiens, Brahea Decumbens & Brahea Super Silver)

Germinated from seed in 2010 my largest Hedyscepe has finally flowered and now setting seed They obviously love my cool humid frost free climate at 42 degrees South.

Planted from a 6" pot around 10 years ago it's certainly grown better than expected. Plenty of rain and not much competion from other palms helps.

This particular Rhopalostylis baueri in the front yard shows off some nice coloring year round whenever an old frond breaks away. The palm is eighteen years old from seed.

Dypsis mirabilis. Tim

I usually walk the entire garden in the morning and the evening with the dogs and wanted to share some photos First stop was to check out this massive flowering Chrysalidocarpus. Barely trunking but flowering like crazy and a very large palm already. Check out the size 10 shoe for scale on the second photo. around the corner and lining the fence is a row of Chrysalidocarpus Sp Mayotte and here’s one of them. Most likely a hybrid as I have 2 very different looking palms as Mayotte grown from the same seed batch. This looks like a “white triangle” type hybrid: Chrysalidocarpus Robustus getting to the size that it will really get going now:

Collorfull crownshaft of a Crysalidocarpus ( Dypsis) decipiens after old boot was removed today

And now back to the house, looking over some of the garden from the side lanai. This is where the orchard meets the ornamental: and looking west as the sun sets: Thanks for looking!

Before Hurricane Milton hits i took some pics of a few palms that are looking nice in my South Florida garden (Zone 10b). The yard got hammered pretty bad from Ian in 2022 but i only lost two canes on clustering palms and the garden grew back to normal in one year. Chambeyronia houailouensis Chrysalidocarpus lutescens 'Thai Dwarf' Chrysalidocarpus psammophilus Chrysalidocarpus lanceolatus Adonidia dransfeldii Chrysalidocarpus mananjarensis Pinanga coronata 'Kuhlii' Carpoxylon macrospermum Last one is my oldest son helping me plant a Rhapis excelsa 'KOBAN'

Copernia fallensis. Visited the farmers feildin 2011 in Cuba. Was like a religious experience, ..almost.

Driving Northward through Botswana from South Africa I started noticing the first Hypheane in Gaberone. The next sightings were further North at Francistown and from there regularly northward to Chobe where I am today.

Ceroxylon quindiuense, this is an old image, the crown is more relaxed and hemispherical now.

Into the “jungle planter” which is the first area planted about 3.5 years ago. This was all just bare grass hillside originally. Filling in nicely and creating pathways through it all now for the dogs and myself: Rocky 2.0 stopped to check out this crazy mutant Chrysalidocarpus Malcomberi Hybrid that has decided to split like crazy: Coming out of the jungle path you see Metroxylon Amicarum: looking down the driveway. Chrysalidocarpus Prestonianus hybrids on each side: further down the driveway are Chrysalidocarpus Hovomantsina on each side:

Hawaii Island Palm Society (HIPS) had an Ice Cream Social & garden tour in my old garden yesterday, September 28. The garden, now in the expert care of new owners Bob and Andy, has a new name (above). I had just arrived an hour earlier after a 24 hour journey from New Zealand and was fortunate to be able to attend, arriving just as the garden tour was about to begin. First a few random photos of the group.

Dictyocaryum lamarckianum, the only survivor after poisonous SO2 gases during the nearby 2018 volcanic eruption killed off half a dozen others. My final photo. Others who were there, feel free to add photos, 🙂

in summer 2014 3 years later the leaves were getting larger and more numerous but height was about the same then another shot in 2017 a couple months after hurricane IRMA hit. It lost ~ 8 leaves on the lower crown. late 2017 after IRMA hit y 2019 it was starting to put on trunk. Not sure that was delayed or accelerated due to the hurricane hit. Leaf bases were falling off no assisting them. here in 2021 a year before IAN Then IAN hit and it lost a dozen leaves mostly to windward and quite a way up the trunk, (asymmetrical losses to windward) I didnt take a lot of pics of the damage, I want4ed to forget about it. The damage it has sustained was from cat one max 97 mph gusts with 80 mph sustained for 3-4 hrs. This morning the palm shows 10' clear smooth trunk @28-29" diameter (all the way up so far) and about 13-14 foot trunk including dead leaf bases. the crown is not fully recovered but it is doing well. The thorns on the petioles of the newer leaves just shred the older leaves in this kind of wind.

Got this view last week of some of my Lord Howe Island 🏝 Palms from the upper deck.

I visited Karen Piercy's place this afternoon under the pretext of picking lychee. Of course, the real reason to visit was to commune with the jaw-dropping collection of massive palms. I posted a photo of this Corypha umbraculifera a few years ago, but it was even more overwhelming on this visit. The trunk has to be over 4 ft in diameter, maybe closer to 5 ft. Growing in deep Hamakua soil at roughly 1200 ft elevation overlooking the Hilo airport. Now you know why you don't often see these growing in suburban landscapes. Certainly gives Tahina competition as the most massive palm out there. It's probably still decades away from blooming. You may remember Karen and her husband, Dean, as the organizers of the 2004 IPS Biennial to Hawaii and helping again with the tour of the former Carlsmith palm collection during the 2022 Biennial. BTW, I filled my 5 gallon bucket with delicious lychee. That didn't make a dent in the fruit still left on the trees. Oh, the hardships of living in Hawaii...

Today I had the pleasure of meeting Tim "Realarch " from Hilo area Hawaii visit my garden. On one of my rare 80f plus days I showed Tim and Bob around my cloud forest at sea level garden. Always great to meet palm people from overseas. Thanks Realarch for coming around and enjoy the Tasmanian seafood tonight Troy

1st of 2 habitat locations visited that day. This particular spot felt like I’d jumped in a time machine and headed back to the Jurassic Period. Such a stunningly beautiful palm. Gunn Point.

Off to the side is this planter with Ptychococus reaching for the sky. Very fast growing palms here. Turning off the driveway to head back into the garden where I did my first rock work to divide what was a hillside into terraces: New Caledonia planter with a couple of Chambeyronia (Kentiopsis) pyriformis on each side or a narrow path through the planter: the Madagascar planter is next to the New Cal planter and a favorite there is this Chrysalidocarpus Robustus Hybrid. Orania Trispatha is on the left of it:

Lemurophoenix laevis Sabinaria

This is such a beautiful palm, in my eyes. The leaves are so big and round, and they come with super tall petioles held vertically. The petioles on mine are approx 6 feet tall. I remember seeing a huge one at Kevin Weaver's place in Lake Elsinore and immediately fell in love with it.

Chrysalidocarpus carlsmithii. These guys just keep on giving. Tim

Had to run down to the Keys for a couple of days. Here’s some pics from the hotel. It is hot, bone dry, and sunny this time of year. Desert conditions. Didn’t have any time to run around looking for out of the way stuff, but the hotel did a really great job with the landscaping, so I thought I’d share….. It was a quick trip. Whoever put all this together really knew what they were doing. Great selections for the climate and conditions. Tourist Palmscaping to start…. In place of bottles and spindles for accents, they plugged in a lot of coccothrinax… Random Zombia antillarum… Some Latania for silver accents… Lots of Thrinax Radiata all over for some lower cover and shade… Leucothrinax morisii everywhere down here as accents… way better ones along the roads. These and Thrinax are in every yard, median and parking lot. Chrysalidocarpus Pembana clumps recurring as under tree accents… Typical Areca / Chrysalidocarpus Lutescens all over as screening palms…. Mostly looking ok for down here. Lots of these as screens… blanking on the name right now… that clumping one with the fragment fruit, I think, or maybe Arykury Palms/Syagrus schizophylla. Not sure, favor the first…. Some Vetechia sprinkled in… A Copernicia alba… A few Satakentia…. A random Atela… Lots of Serenoa repans, some stands 8-10 feet tall…. Lots of Allagoptera arenaria… Lots of Chamaerops humilis as accents… a common yard palm down here. Some Acoelrrhaphe wrightii screens…. Looking happy even in dry spots. This random huge palm was not too happy…. (Not sure, but it was a big young boy) Lots of cool understory and ground cover plants around too… all appropriate choices Missing was Pseudophoenix Sargentii and more Copernicia…. Many great Pseudophoenix along the roads and the way down. 300lb Goliath Grouper…. Always watching… always judging… Tarpon of course (off site)

Fifteen old leaf bases finally falling away on this eighteen year old P. torallyi’s fattening trunk. This one was planted as a small two leaf seedling. This one has never set seed but a number of dried up immature inflorescences were hiding behind the fallen away leaf boots and they fell off as well. The palm is pushing a very visible fresh inflorescence now. Maybe this one will actually produce something.

Got my annual order of palms from Floibunda today and the plants exceeded my expectations as usual. Experimenting with some new (to me) species besides some that have already done well and I’m repeating them in the landscape.

I want to show you guys this Hungarian living in Slovakia how insane he is in a good way! He's growing Hyophorbe lagenicaulis, Bismarckia nobilis, Phoenix roebelenii, Dypsis decaryi, Latania lontaroides, Archontophoenix alexandrae, and other tropical palms and plants planted outside in his garden. In winter, you can see in the video how he protects them with heating cables in the ground and wrapped around the trunk and leaves. He even uses growing lights to keep them alive! This is just insane considering that Slovakia is in Zone 6 You can find him on Facebook as Jardín Tropical 2004! ScreenRecording_02-18-2025 22-55-57_1.mov

Pritchardia martii, abaxial side of the leaves. Almost looks like a frosty morning shot. Super dense lepida, (white hair like covering), one of the traits of this beautiful endemic species. Tim

Noticed this Crysalidocarpus hovomantsina dropped a leaf sheath in the last few days, the kind of sight that gives palm gardeners heart palpitations. The coloration is always unique. Tim

Bentinckia condapanna. Tim

One of those days so gorgeous you pinch yourself to be sure you’re not hallucinating. So how about the rest of you?

ALl the taller palms have a hurricane haircut now from Milton(110mph gusts). Nothing too tall in my yard, a couple royals 40-45 feet tall estimate but there are some pretty thick trunks. Its tough to estimate height that tall. But the smooth trunks are 26-30 feet and crownshafts are 6 1/2 feet. That leaves leaves and spear extending past 31 feet(smaller one) and 36 feet(larger one). I estimate leaves/spear extend 10' + past top of crownshaft. The royal trunks are a bit more slim down low with some coke bottling up around 15-20 feet or so. First pic is the taller one which is more slim in trunk by 3" perhaps. The fence is 7' The smaller one is near a hose bib and got more water, a bit less sun. Down low its 27" thick next to the 30" wide chair(viewed straight on). It appears to bulge a bit, perhaps 3-4". Here is the bottom 20 feet of trunk with chair for scale. These are my tallest palms and the heaviest trunks(25' to 30' of trunk weighs several tons. They are not the thickest trunked palms down low. That would be sabal causiarum at about 42-44" bulge down low this is the thickest trunked palm down low. My favorite trunk is the concrete pillar looking trunk of copernicia fallaensis. It does not taper at 28-29" thick last time I measured the perimeter(2piR) with a tape last year. The causiarum tapers notably, fallaensis does not taper thus far. It is notably thicker than the causiarum at 10 feet above ground as the causiarum trunk tapers to 24" or so at that height. And last but not least is the fastest tapering palm, beccariophoenix alfredii, about 32" thick at the base but rapidly tapering. I also like the undulations on the clean trunk. I have never cut leaf bases off all these palms, they are naturally shedding. Alfredii trunk base And the overall of alfredii showing the rapid tapering of trunk. Alfredii seems to recover well from hurricane but it still has the comb over effect of asymetry. Funny alfredii looks like my best recovering palm right now but we haven't hit the wet season yet when everything grows a lot faster.. I learned a less from Milton, damage was more a function of height than species. The tallest were the most damaged.

Pelagodoxa henryana. Actually kind of amazed that they have done this well for having little soil. They must have found fractures in the lava rock. I do keep a lot of mulch as dressing though. A bit of canopy while young and in a somewhat protected spot. Tim

Here’s some photos of my Basselinia glabrata which grew quite rapidly from a one gallon three years ago.