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Well when I left for a brief trip to the States Fiona was not yet born. I had done the basics one does during peak hurricane months but nothing like what I would have done had I been home when she “visited”. Still since the rain, not the wind was the issue this time, my little plants in pots in a strong shadehouse are fine. I am choosing to post the positives at least to start. Look at these survivor palms that did not lose a leaf! Licuala cordata Asterogyne martiana Licuala mattanensis ‘mapu’ now seeding, but collected the ripe seed before I left. Chambeyronia macrocarpa In fact, when I looked more closely, most of the severely leaning palms are less than 4 feet tall and have evidence of obvious rhinoceros beetle damage. Of course they could not stand tall in the wind and rain. Some may live as I can prop them up and apply imidocloprid hopefully tomorrow. My flight home was to be on the day Fiona (and María five years ago) hit, so obviously I had to make other plans. I am very happy that even originally paying the lowest fares SW and Cape Air were VERY nice and got me home Tuesday by dark. Bad but not María on my land and in fact City water returned today versus 3 months without following María. Got smart with a small push button propane generator so no need to wait in gas lines. Bamboo and Tropical Almond and Cecropia trees are expected to crash down and I have been removing and cutting but still plenty to fall last Sunday. My big Roystonea borinquenas dropped leaves which crush some plants but the trunks usually survive and they push out odd yellow leaves soon after. Need to get through the rest of September and all of October before relaxing a little. I remember Irma that was so bad for us (and poor FL got nailed) but before we could clean up and exhale María charged in. I never lost internet (so credit cards work) and kept phone service with this one which has also been a huge plus. I live in the mountains away from water so my house and car are dry. Certainly many in PR had to be rescued due to flooding and landslides and many roads still impassable. Below is one of two seedling Copernicia fallaensis from Mike Harris of Caribbean palms in Loxahatchee FL. Both with Cuban genetics were also perfect and probably just appreciated all the extra water and now even more sun! Back to clean up/rescue.

Hello ladies and gents, On September 27th, 2020 my third child was born. On that exact day I also planted a Bismarckia In my front yard. This was not planned at all, my wife was having some contractions throughout the previous night and some in the morning but nothing too serious. That morning I planned on doing some planting and followed through with the plans. Right after the Bismarckia was in, my wife told me it was time to go to the hospital (Barley even had time to take a picture and water the palm). Long story short, here we are 2 years later, God willing, and I decided that it’s only right to take a picture each year to see both of their growths. This Bismarckia is now my daughters palm. Sep, 2020 (Top Pic) Sep, 2021 (Middle Pic) Sep, 2022 (Bottom Pic)

Strolling through my urban neighborhood prompted me to stop a few times to enjoy the desert, forest and occasional jungle that I passed. What about your neighborhood? Anything prompt you to stop?

Phoenix rupicola was looking beautiful this morning

I think this is part of the reason.

Moving right along…this Needle started out near a birdseed (squirrel) table…despite its protective needles, the critters nearly battered it to death, so I moved it to a nice, quiet spot under a big holly tree, though a very dry, shady spot, over the years, it has really responded…no protection at all except for the natural canopy of the holly tree and its south face…I highly recommend this palm for unprotected zone 7…over time, in a sunny spot, you can get a trunk as well…

Here are a few of my favourite shots of palms taken around Thailand during the past 3 years since I began collecting seeds, growing them...

Oneocarpus bataua. Just a baby and will grow into a large South American palm. I thought I had planted far enough away from the house, but now I’m beginning to wonder. Hmmmmm There is a yellow Sawzall at the base for scale. Tim

Oraniopsis appendiculata. Slow growing Australian palm, but it is getting bigger. Tim

That spathe will abort as the first ones usually do on many palms. Like Darold wrote, two or three new fronds later and you should get a viable inflorescence. Here’s one of my Rhopalostylis’ spathes for reference.

I challenged myself to see as many palms and exotics as possible in central London on Thursday, including ones that I haven’t posted before. I’ll start off with the less impressive ones. I have posted about these CIDP’s previously. They are self seeding aggressively with hundreds of seedlings coming up, some of which are on strap leafs. All of these are my photos from Thursday. Here are yet more London Washingtonia that haven’t even been posted before on here. All backyard lurkers that have been growing there for years. I also stopped by at Egerton Terrace to see the exotics too Brahea Clara in Notting Hill Brahea Armata and CIDP in Notting Hill Washingtonia in St James square Mount Street Gardens CIDP Eaton Square CIDP’s Norfolk Island Pine in Fulham Phoenix Canariensis in Wapping Another church CIDP located at St Michaels Heres one of the Bougainvillea’s that I actually walked past by mistake. Big bananas in Fulham Reporton Road CIDP Chamaerops Humilis Here’s the weird shade grown Phoenix hybrid in Lincoln Inn Fields @gurugu @Phoenikakias Little Venice Washingtonia Jubaea and Cycas Revoluta in Belgravia Lemon citrus? I wasn’t looking for Yucca Elephantipes, but since it does so well in London I obviously came across quite a few… I haven’t even commented on the parakeets yet, which was the best part of the trip. That is an entire post in itself.

Awesome, yours looks fantastic! I always love hearing from fellow D.C. area palm growers. Needle palms are definitely bulletproof here and do not need any protection, and there are quite a few big ones scattered around the city in people's yards and in gardens and public plantings, they are the most common palm in the area. I have dozens of videos of beautiful specimens in the area on my YouTube channel, Palm Planet, and just planted one of my own in my backyard. Here are some pictures of mine of the most famous needle palm in the area and quite possibly the largest. It was supposedly planted in 1968 and is located in the Asian Valley area of the National Arboretum. It is well over 10 feet tall and even wider and has experienced many deep freezes including the January 1982 freeze where it dropped to -5 Fahrenheit, and never receives protection. Definitely the ideal palm for colder temperate climates.

Clinostigma samoense. The beauty’s on duty. Tim

Licuala khoonmengii A cool little palm that keeps flowering, but no seed.

I have been wondering for a while when these might start flowering and producing seeds and I found a nice surprise today after removing a dying frond. I grew these from see planted in April of 2011. I believe these are R. bauri.

Beast in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco (September 2022)

Clinostigma with @Josh-O for scale.

The last one for now is a Veitchia vitiensis. Smaller in stature with a mottled steel gray crown shaft. Tim

End of Summer Update: The bad Carpoxylon macrospermum #1 - dead #2 potted, will wait until next spring to try again. I guess I didn't take any pics. Neovietchia storkii #1 - dead #2 potted, will wait until next spring to try again. The wind this past spring really hammered the full leaves. Then it turned black and brown and that was it. Bentinkia condopanna #1 dead #2 just put back in the same place. Replacement The first one suddenly began to put out stunted fronds and then started trying to put them out too quickly. Then it stalled altogether and all leaf tips started to brown and within a week of the tips browning the whole palm turned brown. Hyophorbe indica #1 - hanging on. I thought I had a manganese deficiency so I added some and it helped. Ultimately it still looks pretty sickly though. Loxoccocus rupicola #1 - hanging on - had fungus on last 2 spears. These seem to be susceptible to fungus even the seedlings. Pinanga speciosa #1 - hanging on - sunburn All of these accept for the L. rupicola had a light spraying of Ortho ground clear around the edge of the mulch ring (yes I’m dumb lol). 2 blue java bananas were also sprayed, 1 of those died and the other recovered. I hope the cause for all the carnage was that the herbicide weakened these palm and they succumbed to heat, sun and/or fungus. Its also been a tough bug season here this year. Ants, mealy bugs, spider mites, grubs, scale etc have been invading like crazy. I’ll probably take a quick lap around the yard tomorrow morning to try and capture the “good” along with some new additions.

Distance view of All American Madagascarensis, with @Josh-Oand a van for scale.

This is what my tree looks like.

This thing (H. Indica Red) went from a small 5 gallon to standing almost 8 feet tall in 15 months. I suppose it will start to lose its red color now but the thing has been a rocketship and beauty for me!

Thought I’d post a few photos of some palms that I wouldn’t consider rare, but rather uncommon and don’t get much air time here on Palmtalk. Tim Geonoma atrovirens

Basselinia humbotiana. Kinda slow to start, but growing much faster lately. I first saw this palm at Jeff’s and had to have a couple. Tim

Chelyocarpus, first is C. chuco and the second is C. ulei. These are referred to as the South American Licuala.

Here's an Attalea in Palm Desert, CA for inspiration! Good luck!

Update! Seeds are changing color now.. with a few starting to drop! I tasted the fruit..which is my first ever.. and it was delicious! The seeds aren't as big as I'd pictured in my mind.. so I can't say what the nut tastes like.. but the flesh tastes like a mix of pineapple, mango, with a hint of cherry and overtone of ??coconut? It's interesting..definitely a tropical flavor..) ill be collecting them as they fall. Does anyone know how to test for viability the quickest way?

The PSSC had a meeting yesterday and it was wonderful. Two gardens in Huntington Beach, Orange County, California. The first garden featured, among much else, what looked like a Dypsis madagascarenis that did double duty as a flag pole. Other palm talkers, jump on in and post away, too!

Good grief Lars, yet another tropical storm. We have been spared for the last couple of years and lucky our island has such massive mountains that deflect or tear incoming storms apart. Onward and upward…… Tim Oh, and a snap of Chrysalidocarpus ‘orange crush ‘. (I need to verify that name.)

45 minutes by car to my south and I find myself on the English Med near Portsmouth. It’s no surprise anymore that the Phoenix Canariensis are outstanding here. This is a running theme now with CIDP’s in southern England, including London. I saw plenty of other exotics too. This isn’t Cornwall or London. This is Portsmouth in Hampshire. If this one had its skirt cut off, the trunk would look way bigger. There are 6 Butia’s on the other side of the esplanade Brahea Armata’s The Washingtonia needs a trim. It looked much tidier last year. Small Cretan Date palms. This is what I mean when I say we have to plant them small. In fact these were planted absolutely tiny a few years back. @Peachs @gurugu I love exploring the coastal villages in southern England. In fact they are becoming more like Southern California than southern England.

They're actually not palms at all despite their common name "Sago palms". They are cycads Cycas revoluta.

I just cut across the top to free things up, then trim along the trunk edge like a pair of scissors. They are pretty beefy and cut through the tuff stuff easily. They come in all sizes but these are the smallest. You can get very close with no trunk damage except minor abrasions at most. Went outside just now and cut this one off in 30 seconds for this post. I've got 3 in pots out back, due for a 1st time trim. I'll post the hack jobs maybe tomorrow if it doesn't rain. Yours looks great after the trim. I know some people like the scruffy-trunk look on these, but I think they look really nice circumsized.

Thanks for the advice, everyone. I made some progress this morning.

Cyphosperma naboutinense. Taking it’s time in the understory. Tim

As she cracks open and I have begun harvesting what I hope are fertilized seeds, there is no denying that this cone is providing as much color as any flowers in the garden. A friend who runs a landscaping business that does tree trimming was over to look at the neighbor's Brazilian Pepper tree to give an estimate on it's removal yesterday. When he walked through the garden this plant was what caught his eye and got him to stop in awe. It was a combination of the plant itself and this colorful open cone, so verification that it is one that stands out in a garden full of cycads.

Dave was generous enough to let me tour his garden the other day! Unfortunately, he wasn't present to give a personalized tour of the garden. Click Here for the complete list of photos with my attempted IDs. Feel free to chime in.

I suspect a strong customer bias against palmate/fan palms plays a part in TX as well as other states. Face it: the cold hardiest palms are almost exclusively fan palms - Sabals, Braheas, Trachycarpus, Rhapidophyllum, et al. But in my years on this forum I’ve seen people over and over express the desire to grow only pinnate/feather palms. I see this in my seed sales. If I offer Coccothrinax or Schippia seed I get shrugs of disdain. But people go gaga over any pinnate palm seeds. I’ve pretty much given up on Cocothrinax seeds and now compost nearly all of them. This bias against fan palms is particularly true of palm newbies who have visions of coconuts and Christmas palms dance in their heads. People with that strong a bias likely don’t consider a Sabal or Copernicus “true palms” and don’t want them in their yards. And many container garden growers remain obsessed with Adondias and wonder why those uber tropicals can’t survive in their houses. If more people woke up and smelled the coffee, there would many more varied palms growing in TX and other states.

I suspect you haven't been to the RGV 😄. In terms of sheer number and density of palms (97% Washingtonia robusta), it's hard to beat. McAllen/Mission has the only Bismarckia lined freeway in Texas. Brownsville has several public plantings of royal palms. Rural areas north and northeast of Corpus can get very cold (especially after the 2021 freeze). You won't see large numbers of W. robusta again until you head significantly north into the central and southern portions of the Houston Metro. Houston is quite palmy (even moreso pre-2021), especially near and south of I-10 though palms remain more of an accent (with localized exceptions, certain neighborhoods, etc) until you reach the Gulf Freeway corridor/Clear Lake Area where they dominate the landscape. Palms are used heavily in many public and commercial areas in Houston such Meyerland Plaza, Highland Village, Hobby Airport, Gulfgate, Memorial City/City Centre, etc. The most prominent mass planting is probably at the I-45/Beltway 8 interchange.

Sickening! Just picked my jaw up off the floor.....

View from the driveway. Note the Dypsis pembana multi trunk in the center.

Here’s my beloved Chrysalidocarpus Heteromorphus starting to trunk. Interesting to me how the fronds don’t encompass the entire circumference of the trunk. Different than other palms I’ve seen. Or maybe it’s similar…I don’t know? Planted out last year from a 5G. Next is my Chambeyronia Hookeri. Planted as a 20G about 1 1/2yrs ago. Just doin it’s thing. Happy little trees. -dale

Here it is all finished! 😋 This was such a task and I had to finish it within a couple hours since the temperature decided to randomly drop to 49F degrees, but I finished and it was heavy as hell to get up the stairs and will be even worse when I actually water it. All I need now is a baby pool to place it in so it can drain when I finally start watering it and I'll use a water pump to remove the excess water when It drains into the drainage "pool" I still have to move it into my odd little plant growing area and re-arrange the grow lights to accommodate all of my plants, including the coconut, and my banana tree has grown quite large, so it will be difficult to fit it in there. @JohnAndSancho heres my weird little pvc thing I built for my coconut when it was tiny but ended up turning into a plant growing thing. I did take pictures of the roots before I planted it in the new "pot" because their cool to see.

I mentioned previously that seeing and feeding the wild parakeets in London was the highlight of my trip. It was an unbelievable experience! I spent about an hour feeding them on Thursday at Kensington Gardens. You can see them all over the capital but there are certain ‘hotspots’ where you are guaranteed the chance to hand feed them and interact. They will land on your head and shoulders even. St James Park is another location where you can experience this. When I say that these parakeets are very tame, I am not joking. @gurugu @Peachs Do you guys have them in northern / central Spain? The squirrels are also very tame!

Don’t worry about that getting brown at the tip. The leaf is still way down inside and will take quite a while to bust up through that sheath. See pic.

After basically throwing everything at this Palm it looks like we are back on track. Treated internally with a time release Bayer product that I put around the base of the palm to kill any type of insect possibly infesting the palm, mixed borax in water and water base of palm for possible boron deficiency, sprayed the disfigured fronds with hydrogen peroxide for possible fungus. The results are in the pictures. One frond never opened and looks like club not visible in picture. The the other opened with the top part of the frond staying crimped and bent and the third frond is opening like normal . There is already a spear with a new frond starting and it looks perfect. So I combined all the suggestions I received on here and the Old Man is on the way to recovery.. thank you everyone for the help.

Any Pseudophoenix, Coccothrinax, Thrinax, Hemithrinax, or most Copernicia species. aztropic Mesa, Arizona

Next update: Saguaro seedlings jusst starting to look like ...Saguaros, lol. Had these Ferocactus wislizeni down since spring.. Taking their sweet time to pop. @SailorBold Cleaned seed = much better germination.

The first two pics. I think are the same palm. Those are the one(s) I would choose. If growing in Albuquerque, plant late Feb/early March. Put a large 12"(or couple) or larger rock(s) near the trunk. If you live west of Louisiana you have better odds. Trunked hybrids have survived multiple below zero events here, 2+ feet of snow, etc. I use rocks when young for passive protection. stop watering ballon fiesta and don't resume until spear moves(grows) usually Feb/April(depending on locale). Your wasting water. I do brush snow off. it will get hardier as it trunks. Nothing wrong with protection, it's just something I don't do. 3 years til full speed. hope and pray. And good luck! Last week's pic. 9 years from seed

We’re gonna need proof. Pictures are a must on these boards!! 🤣 I bought mine from Josh nearly 2yrs ago as well. However it just went in the ground in July. Its been a consistent grower. Not as slow as I imagined. Facing North, protected from the South by a wall and West by my Dictyosperma. Still gets a good amount of sun tho. Barely see a hint of color on the emergent. Picture from July as I’m currently out of town. @DoomsDave, yours is in a perfect area. Gotta literally brush by it when you walk up to your front door so it’s a constant reminder. It’s growing awesome. -dale

Here are our features on satellite tonight. First one is Hurricane Fiona, which is now a Category 2 hurricane with max winds of 100 mph. Fiona is forecast to become a Category 4 hurricane on Wednesday, and is expected to pass Bermuda as a Category 3 on Thursday night or Friday morning. By Saturday, Fiona is expected to be near or over Newfoundland as a Category 1 hurricane. Yes, it is expected to keep its tropical characteristics far enough north to bring a possible direct hurricane impact to Atlantic Canada. This is not a guarantee, but interests in the Bahamas where Hurricane Warnings are in place, in Bermuda, and in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland should all keep an eye on Fiona. The second one is Invest 97L, located over the open Atlantic. Development chances have gone up to 40% tonight. This one will not impact anybody. Next name is Gaston. The third and final one tonight (besides the Pacific disturbance which has minimal development chances) is a tropical wave located in the MDR. This wave is expected to move west into the Caribbean Sea. Development odds are now up to 30% as of the latest update by the NHC. There will be nothing that will stop this wave from moving westward, the only thing preventing short term development is outflow shear from Hurricane Fiona to the northwest. Once Fiona has exited the picture, odds become better for development. Once this wave gets into the Western Caribbean, it could get ugly. The environment could be nearly shear-free, and with the jet fuel for hurricanes that is the Western Caribbean sea surface temperatures, it will not be hard for something to develop quickly. The next names are Gaston, and ironically Hermine (you know, the one that broke Florida's hurricane drought). Please do not post any model data beyond 120 hours for at least the next few days for this disturbance, some of the data does not look good and theres no point in getting all worked up over it right now. Models will struggle and they will uptrend and downtrend and shift every which direction until we get a well defined center that models can track.