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This Hedyscepe is according to my records is 11 years old today from germination in my shade house. Is approximately 1.7 m tall.

First flower spathes on this 2 headed Chrysalidocarpus Prestonianus Hybrid

This specimen has been in the ground for about 6 years and is finally starting to flower. I love the crownshaft of this species.

This is probably my favorite palm in Leu gardens. Thanks Eric for planting this beautiful plant!

If anyone would like to see how my gardens doing this year i made a video here on youtube:

Close to five years past and the palm nursery is getting there. I would say 60 percent was started from seed and the other 40 percent from mostly bare rooted purchased seedlings. When I first started the project I knew it would take around 5 years before you can really do anything with the plants, from planting them in the ground to seller a few of them. It is a love of growing palms and plants that drives me to succeed in such a project, and now there is no stopping all I can do now is grow from strength to strength and build another greenhouse to fill it with more palms. So if you’re wondering how long it takes to build up a palm nursery at least five years. IMG_9723.mov

My parajubaea cocoides that I grew from seed from Darold Pettys specimen. I remember in 2010 Darold had a few parajubaea cocoides seeds in his Garage and said hey Troy take these back to Tasmania and try to grow them.

Aloha - This year, we got off the island of Hawai‘i and travelled to the closest thing Europe has to offer, the Azores, an island group in the middle of the Atlanta that is part of Portugal. I know it is not totally the same, as it is much further north in the Atlantic. The closest in climate (in my gestimates) that Hawaii has to offer is Volcano on the Big Island or the higher cloud forest elevations of Kaloko Drive in Kona (Big Island). Maybe somewhat close to the climate is also Waimea (Big Island). We are staying right next to the Terra Nostra Park (Parque Terra Nostra) in Furnas on the island of Saõ Miguel. That place is truly amazing! It is a 150 year old botanical garden, with several thermal (hot) pools you can take a bath in. Anyway, I will start posting a few (mostly palm-) images below that we encountered. It might be the only place in Europe (Please correct me if I am wrong!) where you can see a fairly dense palm forest as well an abundance of large tree ferns. Furthermore, the garden's collection of huge Araucaria spp. (plus 2 Wollemia nobilis!) as well as their cycad collection are quite neat. I just wish their palm collection was a tad more diverse, their website states that the collection contains 19 palm tree species. In that climate you ought to be able to grow way more different palm species 🙂. Maybe they need to hire a palm-nut from this forum!! Fun fact: The garden was started by US Vice Consul to the Azores Thomas Hickling. From Wikipedia: "In 1795, he was appointed by Thomas Jefferson, then Secretary of State, as vice consul of the United States (a position continued by his son), beginning the oldest continuously functioning American diplomatic representation in the world (in Ponta Delgada on the island of Sao Miguel). Sadly, in the current political climate, it was decided that 12 diplomatic posts of the US to be permanently closed, incl. Ponta Delgada.

My Trachys look really nice , and I think can compete with other varieties as far as beauty is concerned . Some palms obviously are so damn cool that my Trachys can't compete with those cool beautiful palms , but considering everything , like climate , I think mine are respectable when put up against a lot of palm varieties in more southern locations . What do you think ? Will

Haven’t posted on PT for a while so I thought I’d post some pictures of my palms I’m growing. Washingtonia Robusta Sabal Minor Regular Trachycarpus Fortunei Butia Capitata Chamaerops Humilis Sabal Birmingham (left) Livistonia Chinesis (middle) and a saw palmetto (right)

There's been a bit of discussion lately about the under use of many of our lovely Australian native palm species. We have a large range of palms suitable from Equatorial zones right down to cool Temperate areas. You may see many of 'King Palms' in gardens around the world but nearly always only the Cunninghamia or Alexandrae. Wouldn't a display of the Archontophoenix species with the coloured crownshafts make a better display ? Foxtails are as common as geraniums but it's taller, more elegant counterpart, the Normanbya is virtually unknown to the general public. Livistona decora and L australis are well known also but there are so many other native livistona out there. There are also our Calamus, Ptychsperma, Linospadix and quite few others that I can't bring to mind at the moment. Are there any IPS people out there with a garden consisting of purely Australian Native Palms ? If so I would love a tour or at least some shared photos. Does anyone else think there would be a place for a nursery that only sold our lovely natives ? Maybe someone has a large native collection they are willing to share some photos of ? It's just an idea I have had for a while and would love to know other members opinions. Peachy

Syagrus R. Is a palm that can use a lot of water, like many others . I water almost every day in the summer depending on how the soil looks . Queen palms can look wet constantly and I’ve never had them look burnt , even when they were young. They are messy palms but worth it for the canopy they provide . You have years before you will have to worry about it. I just cut a seed pod out of one that overhangs our deck. Archontophoenix might have been a better choice in retrospect but I’m not sure they would give quite as much shade so quickly. The speed of growth will be exponential in the next few years if they get the water. Harry ‘This side of my house is West so afternoon sun is very warm . The trunks , there are actually three but you can see two , each have a large crown of beautiful thick green fronds that cool the garden , provide shade for my Dypsis collection as well as others , and actually cool the house down. The Pritchardia on the right would probably not have survived without them. Same with the other Chamaedorea , Dypsis , Rhapis , and Caryota Mitis . The larger Caryota on the other side of the gate were sun tolerant species. ‘This circle around the trunk of the Roystonia Oleracae shows the amended soil before the wood chips went down. I do this at least once a year. The trunk on the left is a Syagrus R. You can see the moisture in the soil , it is like that almost constantly .

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.

Earlier today I took a trip to the national zoo in Washington DC and here are some of the pictures of plants and stuff I found

I planted this Washingtonia filifera in March of this year here in Albuqueque, New Mexico. So far it's pushed out five new fronds and one more is about to open. Plus I haven't had any older fronds die off yet. I'm really happy with the results so far!

I have what I believe is an odd robellini palm tree that somehow grew three limbs from the main trunk (see image). I've never seen that before. How does it happen? Anyway, my main concern is the limb on the left is hanging way over my pool creating too much shade and I'm afraid the weight may tumble the whole tree at some point. Is it possible to have the leftmost limb (arm) removed without killing the whole tree? How should it be done? In stages (maybe remove all the green fronds first, then sever the limb)? How long to wait between each removal stage? How close should the cut be to the main trunk?

One of my favorite Chrysalidocarpus for sure. I got a couple of 25-footers in the side yard. SW Florida. (Bought in Miami). Ladder is to collect seeds.

I really love all the Australian natives. Great range of palms from large to tiny, rainforest dwellers to tolerant of arid conditions. You can make a diverse looking garden just with Aussie native palms. Here’s my collection: Archontophoenix alexandrae Archontophoenix cunninghamiana Archontophoenix cunninghamiana x Alexandrae Archontophoenix maxima* Archontophoenix myolensis Archontophoenix purpurea Archontophoenix tuckeri Calamus muelleri* Hedyscepe canterburyana Howea belmoreana H forsteriana Laccospadix australasica clumping form L australasica solitary form Lepidorrachis mooreana Linospadix apetiolatus Linospadix microcaryus Linospadix minor Linospadix monostachyos Linospadix monostachyos fine leaf form Linospadix palmerianus* Livistona alfredii Livistona fulva Livistona muelleri* Livistona nitida Livistona rigida Livistona victoriae* Oraniopsis appendiculata Ptychosperma sp Black Fruit* Rhopalostylis baueri var baueri *not planted in ground yet So I think that’s nearly half of the natives plus a hybrid. There’s probably scope for me to expand my Livistona collection as most would grow well here, but space is the issue. A few species are very marginal and usually don’t do well down here (Ptychosperma elegans, Licuala ramsayi, Wodyetia, Normanbya) while others aren’t even worth the thought (Hydriastele sp). Here’s a few photos of my favourites. A myolensis A purpurea H canterburyana O appendiculata L mooreana L apetiolatus

Great topic...although I'm obviously biased! So many Aus natives grow well in my climate, probably a higher percentage of the total palm flora of any continent except Nth America I'd think...oh and Europe, which is 100%! My current list of species in ground: Livistona australis (Eungella Qld form and Durras NSW form, so close to northern and southern extreme of the species distribution. No discernible difference in cold hardiness) L nitida L fulva L decora Archontophoenix cunninghamiana Hedyscepe Lepidorrachis Howea f Rhopalostylis baueri Species waiting to be planted: Livistona rigida L drudei L mariae Archontophoenix alexandrae A maxima Howea b Linospadix monostachya Laccospadix I count 17 species out of 60 total, so nearly 1/3...I'm thinking that I might be able to push that out to around 20 with L lanuginosa and a couple of the highland Linospadix from NQ...but it might be a stretch. Still, a good list considering I live on a sub Antarctic island!

Iguanura polymorpha!

I became aware of the wide variety of palms that are from Australia early on . I got a book about palms and noticed that many of the palms I liked were from that part of the world. Back then , the Wodyetia was protected and seed was not allowed to be exported to the US . The ease of regulation made it possible for the rest of us to acquire some Archontophoenix with different crownshaft colorings and characteristics. Last year I was given a pot of about 5-6 seedlings . They are a mix of Maxima and Purperae . I had shown a fellow collector one of my prize possessions , an A. Alexandrea that I got over 25 years ago from a big box store , labeled as “King” Palm. I knew it was different from all the others on the pallet by the silver underside and darker green leaves . There are many types of palms from your country that I would love to grow but some won’t like it here. To me , one of the nicest looking Livistona is the Australis and they thrive here . In my humble opinion they are under used in landscaping, although Ventura put a bunch of mature specimens in at the new addition at the hospital. Harry

There are a couple native nursery’s around that only sell Australian native plants and will not look at anything but Australian native plants. And it would be an interesting garden just solely native palms. A nice avenue of solitaire palms would be fantastic to look at. Richard

Webster area today lots and lots of new robustas planted along 45 south 👀👀👀👀👀 . And some skyscraper robsuta I found there is another one but I’d have to go trespassing basically to see it in full view lol

Just a couple of joeys fairing up well in the cold temperatures. With the winter temperatures getting down to 3 degrees Celsius the joeys are doing fine in it. Sometimes they overreact with palms in cold weather saying they won’t grow it’s too cold, there to beautiful they won’t take the cold. Well for such a tropical looking palm joeys take a fair beating in the fridge department that’s for sure. Just because there rare doesn’t mean they won’t take the cold, just treat them like any other palm and they grow fine. Mind you though there not rocket ships in the grow department I will say that!

I live in the hot and humid (9 months of the year) subtropics. I planted a little windmill nearly 4 years ago and it is now reaching the eaves on my house. I water it on hot days, mulch it well and it has thrived. \Peachy

An original rhapis germinated from seed some 24 years past. It has finally become an adult palm after all those years. Most likely the big rain event we just for 3 months triggered the response. I doubt I will get any seeds it’s rare for rhapis to set seed in my climate, they will set seed but very rarely, I will be hopeful gor a couple of seeds if iam lucky. But still it’s nice to see it flowering after such a long time.

East side of Big Island of Hawaii, 350'; temps never lower than 63 degrees, 150 inches of rain a year.

Here's a blue yarey I grew from seed I collected from habitat in Cuba,2014. Slow but steady. 😄 aztropic Mesa, Arizona

A new frond on my Rhopalostylus Bauri Cheesmania . I lost a R. Sapida a few years ago after 20 years of solid growth . It was terminated by a heat wave because I failed to give it shade . I happened on to this species and decided on a shady position in the garden . It has been here for about a year and thriving. Harry

I would give it more water and amend the soil in a larger circle around that palm . You have plenty of room and that young Syagrus is thirsty. In full sun at that age it will burn if let to dry out. After a good soil amendment, then top with wood chips to help retain the moisture and insulate the soil from the sun. Make sure to mix the garden soil in with the existing soil as deep as you can with a claw . Once it gets bigger it should start holding its own . Harry

Some of the best looking Trachys are in NC. I saw some at lake Gaston that looked especially healthy. Also at ne NC Zoo!

I just pulled an old leaf boot off and revealed this bright waxy trunk. Noticing the red isn't really a thing for this plant anymore. It used to have bright red showing, just a few months ago!

When I lived near the coast in central Florida, where temperatures commonly dipped below freezing for a few days during the winter, I developed an interest in Australian Livistonas that could take it without damage. Now I am in east Hawaii Island, but I retained my interest in Australian Livs. I have 10-15 year old specimens of benthamii, muelleri, fulva, drudei, lanuginosa, and rigida. I even have a small leichartii (kimberlyana or lorophylla) that is hanging in there. The fulvas have had some problems, possibly because my soils aren't very deep in places, but the others have done fine.

I agree Peachy. Not many people outside palm circles even know we have native palms here. I don’t only grow Australian palms but my collection is heavily invested in Australian palms and I’m also pushing into the Aussie cycad direction as well. I’ve got all the Archontophoenix species, would like to grow more Aussie Livistonas, and there of course are the Howeas and Hedyscepe. I’m trying to mass plant lots of the same species because I have the space to do it. Trying to get more Linospadix going along with Laccospadix and once you enter the cycad domain, Macrozamia, Lepidozamia etc. What I can’t wait for is for someone to say, why don’t you grow natives instead of all these palms.

Hey Marius, like Tracy, I've grown other species, and was going to give you some general advice, but after googling raimondii, I'd have to say they're a completely different beast! I was going mention that they form a big clump and every head is monocarpic but the plant keeps pupping...but no...these look very different. Although a bigger plant they actually look like they might be less trouble than the clumping species, which as Tracy mentioned are a nightmare to weed around...in fact I don't even try any more! Below, just for fun, is a pic of my two P chilensis flowering a couple of years ago after 12 years in the ground. Love these plants but they're a handful...

I have no experience with this species of Puya, but have grown a few others over the years. I just looked this one up, and note that you may never see it bloom based on its normal reproductive cycle. According to the article I read, in habitat, they can take between 40 - 100 years to achieve maturity and bloom. It is a moncarpic species. You might get lucky, as they observed that one plant in the collection at UC Berkeley, here in northern California actually bloomed in a mere 28 years. My two subspecies of Puya alpestris, which I have posted blooming in the past, have each bloomed once in the last 15 years. Give this one plenty of room. I assume it is like the other Puya's and is an extremely vicious plant up close... very tough to week around. Given the overall size your Puya raimondii will achieve, just make sure to give it sufficient space away from any walkways or areas you may need to access without donning full body armor. I look forward to seeing your specimen planted out! Good luck and keep this thread updated on the growth!

I bought one 25+ years ago for $3 at a palm nursery down near San Diego. They had a bunch in small pots . I wasn’t looking for one but couldn’t pass up the chance. I was expecting a clumping palm . It never sent out any pups , just grew straight up. Harry ‘I am 6’ tall and I have to reach up to touch the lower fronds when I stand where the gnome is! My single stem Chamaerops Humilus . This is from a year ago.

First flower on Lanonia calciphila. Wild collected the seed from Vietnam many years ago. Back again later in the year.

The long forgotten solitaire palm a beautiful Australian palm. I have three mature beauties in the garden. Tough as well heat tolerant cool tolerant and a little dry tolerant. A great palm and a nice single stem ptychosperma well worth growing.

Great looking palm, Ray! I think mine’s about the size of yours, maybe a bit smaller, but leaf bases are persistent right down to the ground. I want to see some trunk!

We have a few at the RTBG in Hobart.

That's when mine started flowering, but I only had males the first year. I lost all of my first batch of fruits in the freeze at the start of the year, but I have 10 or so flowering now and several setting fruit again. Easily one of best palms for Houston.

As @Harry’s Palms said sunburn and more water for now, it’s normal thing I wouldn’t worry about it it will grow out and become a beautiful palm. A lot of palms sulk when planted out it’s not the growers fault, put a baby out in the sun and see what happens but as it matures it get used to it. The only problem you will have is all those seeds in the years to come smashing your shins as you mow around them, sounding like hail hitting metal on the inside of the mower.

Hi, two of my rarer species in the garden enjoying abundant rain during the rain season... Not the fastest ones but I am glad to have them - Neoveitchia brunnea. Lars

Nice score on the blue glows! They're beautiful Agaves. I recently planted 2 here in zone 8b/9a. I've been seeing them for a few years planted around town so I figured I'll give them a try.

Some cycads are known for coning at relatively young ages and sizes. When comparing an Encephalartos princeps I have been growing for almost 20 years now to the caudex size of my other Encephalartos genus cycads, all others have coned by the time their caudex achieves this size. That what was prompted me to create this thread. Do you have any particularly old or large caudex cycads (for the genus and species), that just haven't coned when others of similar genus and species you have already attained that milestone? This specimen has been in the ground for roughly 10 years now, and was grown in pots previously, so it isn't an issue of it acclimating to its location.

My biggest P. torallyi (pictured) has a 37” (94 cm) trunk diameter. The one in the original post is 34” (86 cm).

My old garden was very exposed, a touch of frost now and then and the winter nights went down to -03c regularly. My Beccariophoenix alfredii was untouched by any of it. As far as cold tolerance goes they are equal to Bismarckia. I also had B. fenestra which shared cold hardiness with both aforementioned. Peachy