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Maybe technically, but it’s really not the cold that does damage to roots generally, it’s the combination of cold and wet that promotes rot. Free draining mixes are very important in temperate climates I’ve found. For what it’s worth I kept 5 of my 11 sprouted seeds I mentioned earlier in this thread after gifting a few. All planted in the ground but now I’ve dug one to donate to the Melbourne Botajic Gardens soon. They’ve been slow but reliable and trouble free growers with some variability in colour and growth rate. They are now around 7.5 years from germination.

A troop of Licuala grandis at Four Arts:

A nice Chambeyronia putting on a show at 6.30 on a foggy morning!

Had this one in the ground for 26 years. And it seems to have enjoyed growing in the garden. I do know with the dead leaves not to mulch them in the garden they get seperated for the big compost heap. Too many times when planting plants in that area you get the needle sharp spines in the hands. One glorious palm not that often seen in my area!

All these responses are so helpful, Im grateful for the help. I knew they would get tall, I had no idea they were going to have such large trunks. Those really are massive.....I am looking around my yard to see where else they might thrive. Once I have done that, then I can consider what kind of Palm to put there in the front of the house. I would like a nice palm or 2 there for a pretty focal point in between the shudders, but ...now I know to find a much smaller breed. Im learning so much already.

A nice variegated rhapis planted beside the good old water tank!

Welcome! The trunk on Ravenea Rivularis get quite large , but I wouldn’t worry about it now that they are planted. Do not be surprised if the fronds burn a bit for the first several months , they are acclimating to their new home . These are water lovers and need a good watering regularly. They grow along waterways sometimes in habitat. The one on the left will soon get very close to the scalloped edging you have so you may want to move that out. I would put more wood chips where the soil is showing . All in all , good job and happy growing with those. Harry ‘This is one I have growing up through the fronds of a Caryota Obtusa. The trunk is tapered more than most palms . This one has a very large base . It will adapt to its surroundings . The two you have may become almost fused at the base eventually. Two Archontophoenix Cunninghamiana ( King Palms ) that were planted together as juveniles. Not a problem .

The hookeri are flowering well this season. No seeds so far over the last 3 seasons from when they started to flower. Iam in no hurry for any seeds of them. One day they will set seeds and I will most likely give them away.

Those two Chambeyronias are very interesting, my friend. You have a truly exotic treasure. Congratulations! Your seeds will be the next seeds of life, from which thousands and hundreds of palm trees will emerge over many generations.

Chamaedorea genoformis and chamaedorea metallica tucked away in the understory!

I do believe it’s a troop of monkeys and a stand of palms! 🌱

A big palm in the understory, stretching towards the light. They are very tolerant of the shade, and from the pictures I have seen in this forum shade and sun grown are both totally different in looks. This one is around 27years old and it’s hit the teenage days about to burst into growth. Very tough palm that should be more planted about.

Argh cold a wet, the palm growers enemy!

@cgarlick welcome to Palmtalk! I had a triple and a single Foxtail before the freeze, but 22.5F likely killed all 4 of mine. One looks like it is trying to push a new frond, so I suppose it has a chance. Anything below 25F is likely to kill a Foxtail, even a mature one. Any palm that is visibly "weeping" near the crown probably has a severe crown infection. Any palm where the main trunk or upper crownshaft changed from round to irregularly sunken in probably has an internal trunk rot. When those two symptoms become visible the palm is already dead. So like in the first photo that left trunk is definitely dead.

@danilee welcome to Palmtalk! I started here with a few Bottle and Majesty palms around 8 years ago. My Majesties were planted in AM sun and PM shade, and did fine there. I made the mistake of moving them into a very sunny spot and they withered away. If you want to move them, I'd suggest an AM sun / PM shade spot. If they've been in the ground for a couple of months then the rootball is probably still 3 gallon pot shaped. *Most likely* you could scoop them out of the ground and plant elsewhere without messing up the roots too much. If you want a small palm there are a few easy choices. Bottle and Spindle palms are cold hardy if South of the Orlando-Tampa I4 line. North of there (like me) they are occasionally burnt to a crisp and sometimes die. Pygmy Dates are a couple of degrees tougher and more likely to bounce back after a bad freeze. Both are full sun capable in FL. There are hundreds of species, but not a large number that are small (say under 10ft crown diameter), full sun in FL, and cold hardy to North of I4. Do you have a particular size or shape in mind?

Hi everyone To provide a deeper context to my previous posts about the Stachen Microclimate, I have compiled a comprehensive global comparison. This data covers the period from 2014 to 2025 and pits my 425m (1,394 ft) enclave against some of the most famous palm-growing regions and maritime hubs in the Northern Hemisphere. Scientific Integrity: To ensure the highest accuracy, I have applied a conservative -0.3K safety adjustment to my annual means. This accounts for potential "heat spikes" in my solar-ventilated Bresser station during late afternoon periods when the solar fan might deactivate while the sun is still low. List (2014–2025): Location Elevation Annual Mean Absolute Minimum Santa Barbara (USA) 4 m 15.5 °C -1.0 °C Washington D.C. (USA) 5 m 15.4 °C -14.0 °C Bologna (IT) 37 m 15.0 °C -8.0 °C Venice Lido (IT) 4 m 14.7 °C -7.0 °C Verona (IT) 68 m 14.5 °C -10.0 °C Milan Malpensa (IT) 234 m 13.8 °C -11.0 °C Lyon (FR) 201 m 13.8 °C -10.0 °C Lugano (CH) 273 m 13.7 °C -6.0 °C Magadino (CH) 203 m 12.6 °C -9.0 °C STACHEN (CH) 425 m 12.5 °C* -11.0 °C Seattle (USA) 6 m 12.2 °C -10.0 °C London Heathrow (UK) 25 m 12.1 °C -7.0 °C Brest (FR) 99 m 12.1 °C -7.0 °C Kehelland (Cornwall) 87 m 11.6 °C -5.1 °C Constance (GER) 428 m 11.0 °C -11.1 °C *Adjusted by -0.3K safety margin. Key Observations: Elevation Efficiency: Despite being located 400m+ higher than London, Seattle, or Brest, Stachen outperforms them in annual mean temperature. This highlights the power of our local "Heat-Engine" and the Cfa (Humid Subtropical) characteristics. The "Milan Pattern": Our absolute minimum of -11.0 °C is identical to Milan-Malpensa. We share the same winter resilience and summer heat-sum as the northern Po Valley, but at nearly double the elevation. Regional Anomaly: The 1.5°C gap between Stachen and the regional reference in Constance (same elevation) confirms that our "Solar-Trap" setup and hedge-protection are creating a unique climatic island. Whether you are growing Trachycarpus, Jubaea, or even testing Strelitzia (which successfully overwintered here!), these numbers show that microclimate is often more decisive than latitude. Best regards Mazat

Well …. I have one of those , a Pupurea . I guess the other two will remain must have want list! That is if they would even grow here. Some nice ones there , and the list grows😎🌴. Harry

Agree with This... For reference, here's a couple shots of a smaller specimen back in my old neighborhood in CA. Tough to tell in the shot, but, width of the crown is roughly 12ft across. ..and this is still a baby. Now think about the two you have, and where you currently have them planted.. If you do a rando " Majesty Palm " search here on the forum, you'll find several threads w/ shots of just how big they can get, which will give you an idea of just how much space you'd want to give them. While it's true that palm roots aren't like tree roots ..in the sense that they typically don't destroy hard surfaces like a concrete walkway ..or the foundation of a house, palm species with a good - sized trunk width, like a Majesty, probably isn't the best option for so close to a home.. Depending on what part of FL you're in, there are other, slimmer palm options that would fit in that space better than these. For them?.. look over the total space of your property while imagining them larger / more mature.. That will help you decide where they will fit better compared to where you have them now. While they're definitely water and nutrient hogs < ..Love LOTS of K < = Potassium, > they are tough and will take some cold, ...if you're located in a colder part of the state.. Fast growing, so you won't have to wait as long as you might have to w/ some other palms to see them put on some size. Since you've only had them in the ground a couple months or so, they should transplant fairly easily since they're just starting to add on new root growth ..Do have their permanent homes already dug and ready to go ....before you move 'em. Keep them wet, and ..if you want to give them anything " fertilizer " after moving, you can give something easy .. like a compost tea / diluted Molasses ( 1 tbsp. to a gallon of water, 1x a month, for now ). ..It won't be until -at least- the fall before you'd even consider applying a stronger, palm special fertilizer. Hope this helps..

Yes , as @aztropic says , the Wodyetia let you know when they are not happy and usually never fully recover . Some palms can rebound very well but these are not forgiving , in my experience. The narrowing trunk near the crown is usually followed by smaller than usual fronds ….death sign. A healthy one is robust all the way up to the crown , only slightly tapering. Harry

A couple of good collecter palmscocothrinax eckmanii dypsis proceralicuala fordiana

Three of the best for any palm garden, a must have trio. Oraniopsis appendiculata archontophoenix purpurea lacospadix Australis clumping form

During my trip to Jimbaran, Bali, Indonesia, I saw this palm tree right at the gate of Jimbaran Sixth Elementary School. It was planted in a container that is most likely sealed at the bottom. All nutrients are concentrated in its trunk, making the stem look exceptionally thick and bulky. This is probably not a natural growth state for the plant. Just like vegetation growing on bare rocks, it grows very slowly and stores all its nutrients inside the trunk to survive. I used to work as a maintenance gardener at Fengbaoyu Rainforest Botanical Garden, so I’m fairly confident I can try rehabilitating it and make it thrive. In human terms, our entire lifespan is only a tiny fragment of a plant’s timeline. Eventually, once it recovers well, I plan to donate it for free to someone who has a proper garden with suitable natural conditions for its long-term healthy growth.

After chugging along since 2018, one of my Torallyi kicked the bucket over the winter/spring this year in Northern California. A very unremarkable 9B winter - not very cold, some nice periods of rain, and everything else in the yard came through nicely, including two other Torallyi. Marked the dried out/bleached out center spear two months ago and it hadn't moved a bit. Have always stressed about my Torallyi randomly dying a la DOOMSDAVE's massive Torallyi. Surprise, it died. Had it removed today and wanted to ask the collective - Put down a JxS into the hole immediately? Or give it some time? No real signs of disease that I could see - tree guy didn't have any ideas either. He did say that whatever I planted there probably wouldn't grow all that well - being boxed in by the driveway/fence/old roots. -E

I'd plant the JxS immediately if you have one available. Perfect time of year to get one permanently established. Very hardy, trouble free cross, with an upright growth habit. I have 2 growing like weeds in Arizona. 🌴 aztropic Mesa, Arizona

@Mazat This is the St James's park data London. There are slightly warmer areas/microclimates, for example here but this is London's mildest official station. 12.7c average.

I have came to that conclusion here too. Stunning palms but I'd rather use the space for something else.

Well well well.

What a privilege to visit Phil’s garden and wholesale nursery (Eumundi Palms) on the Sunshine Coast. It’s something I’ve been wanting to do since moving up to Queensland more than 3 years ago now!!!. The stand out for me was this incredible Cyrtostachys renda hybrid (C. renda x C. elegans). Hopefully one day it’ll produce viable seed, and there will be no shortage of customers for the resulting palms I’m sure, as they thrive in the sub-tropics.

This subtopic is the correct place for the question. As kinsyjr mentioned, please add photos when you have them Two things w.r.t. the palms: 1. Most are grown semi-shade in nurseries. Try to shade them in the hottest time of day. 2. Be generous with water as the warm season has started.

Thank you so much!@sonoranfans I’ve noticed many potted Cuban palms start turning yellow and hate standing water when their soil lacks limestone additives. Around 70% of Cuba’s geology is high‑calcium limestone bedrock. I’ll keep troubleshooting these indoor potting issues until I get it right—even if there are setbacks. I’ve already succeeded with two wax palm varieties: Copernicia baileyana and Copernicia hospita. Now the next, higher challenge for me is cultivating Copernicia fallaensis.

Growing palms indoors can work for some species, but I seriously doubt any cuban copernicias are going to be happy. They love sun and heat, I had some trouble keeping them healthy in pots even outside in part shade. Second they hate pots and you can overwater them if you are not very careful. The two you bought have gone into a serious decline and likely wont make it. If you are experimenting, I would use cheaper palms than C Fallaensis to develop your understanding of their needs. A Copernica Macroglossa might be a better choice to experiment as they are far cheaper. If you plan to grow indoors, you may need a powerful grow light, 600W or so. Google AI AI Overview Copernicia species, such as Copernicia alba (Caranday palm), are generally poor choices for long-term indoor cultivation because they thrive on intense, direct sun and high heat. While they can be kept in containers, they require very bright indoor light (south-facing window) and are rarely suitable for average indoor environments. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5] Key Considerations for Growing Copernicia Indoors Light: Needs maximum possible sunlight; full, direct sun is preferred, making a bright, sunny, southern-exposure window essential. Soil/Water: Thrives in well-drained, sandy soil; allow it to dry slightly between waterings, as they dislike sitting in wet soil, though they are drought-tolerant once established. Temperature/Humidity: High heat is preferred; they tolerate dry air, so low humidity is generally not an issue. Here is a thread on my smaller C fallaensis planted a couple years ago.

No tap water does not work like rainwater. First as @Kinzyjr said, rainwater comes with dissolved N2 and O2 which is rapidly absorbed through both foliar epidermis and the root membranes. N2 is so small it readily penetrates epidermis of leaves, unlike larger ions from urea or nitrate fertilizers which will be much slower penetrating the epidermis in a foliar application. Second, rainwater does not have hardness or other chemical ions that inhibit nutrient uptake, its natures distilled water with O2 and N2 absorbed in droplets as the rain falls. Rainwater also rinses soil of salts left by fertilizer and hard irrigation water. It oxygenates the soil and the oxygen helps dissolve some salts and waste material from the plant. Rinsing soil is necessary to allow newly dissolved fertilizer to move through the soil to the root membranes, replacing old spent fertilizer salts with new bioactive nutrients. Nutrients move faster in soil due to chemical potential gradients which only exist in moist soils and these are maximized when older left over salts are rinsed away and more new nutrients are introduced via NPK or organics. Just like clean water rinses soap off your hands vs more soapy water, rainwater is a cleanser of the soil which maximizes the potential gradient with new fertilizer. I have grown palms in the desert and in florida. The growth rate yere in the wet season is phenomenal. The dry spring has generally a modest growth rate here. In addition to rain being a huge positive, dry and windy conditions stagnate growth by challenging plant hydration in sandy soils. If you don't get much rain , humic acid can do a very good job of cleansing soil when used periodically with plenty of irrigation water after letting it soak in. Humic is a chelator of ions and dissolves many tough salts like Mg,Ca oxides so they can be rinsed away. Lay persons explanation of Chemical potential gradient(CPG for short): CPG is what drives the movement of ions through soil and across membranes. It is like an electrical potential(voltage), a somewhat crude analogy. Electrical current always flows from high electron density to low electron density. In wetted soil all ions sense both the concentration of other ions of the same species and to a lesser extent, the concentrations of ions of other species. Sometimes ions of other species can reduce the driving force and/or nutrient uptake. This sensing of concentration of the same species is like a voltage(potential) and the CPG potential is high when high concentration areas are close to low concentrations areas of a ion species. Ions of a same species will always move from areas of high concentration to areas of low concentration. This CPG is the driving force, like voltage is the driving force of electrical current. The greater concentration difference, the greater the driving force and rate of movement(by diffusion) from high concentration area to low concentration areas. Thus nutrient replenishing at root surface will be more rapid with a greater driving force. Fertilizer uptake across root membranes is also impacted by the driving force or CPG Rain plus a good NPK fertilizer is like dynamite, it will lead to a maximum uptake all else equal(heat, sun, soil etc). This is why palms will grow faster in high drainage soil IF you water according to the known dry cycle. The dry cycle is shorter in high drainage soil so there are more high gradient conditions vs a long dry cycle of low drainage soils.

How fast does it grow for you? I’ve read it can grow pretty fast in the ground. I purchased a Ptychosperma scheferri a year ago. It had 40 plants in one pot, so I separated them, now I have no idea what do with them all. 😂. They grow very well outside here in urban San Diego, though. How cold do you get in winter there? I have maybe 4 or 5 morning low temps of 43 degrees f or 6 degrees c during winter.

The trunk rings at the bottom will get larger when the base widens. Above the base, no. One thing you will need to expect (and not be alarmed at all when it happens) is just before the base widens, large cracks will appear in the base. Don't panic. When the expansion concludes, the trunk will be smooth again. It happenson a lot of palms but is quite noticeable on Archontos. I'll see if any mine are doing that right now and get a photo if any of them are.

Caught this very large Sausage tree at Four Arts. No sausage yet but the strings are growing from the tree:

Instead of Cycas sp. silver they should have called this Cycas sp. golden because that is what color the leaves are.

Would love to hear everyone’s damage data so far. Really enjoyed Eric’s similar post for 2009-2010 freeze, so I hope to start another similar discussion for this past 2025 freeze. My location: Windermere. - Mature foxtails - no protection. Complete defoliation. All recovering, pushing green. No bleeding trunks. - Green Malayan dwarf - covered trunk and central spear with frost cloth, no heat. Complete defoliation. Recovering, two green fronds now. - Two double P elegans - no protection. Against house. 1 double trying to recover. 1 killed. - Triple christmas - covered with light cloth and tarp. No heat. Mild burn. Recovering well. - Bottle - wrapped with frost cloth, no heat. Complete defoliation. Recovering well with 2 new fronds now. - 3 royals R regia - no protection. Complete defoliation. Recovering well, 1-2 new fronds each currently.

yeah rain is the biggest factor here for growth rate. Dry soil means the palm cannot feed normally. Nutrient uptake requires moisture, osmotic effects come to a standstill in dry soil. SO when your soil dries out after watering, feeding drops off. I measure growth by spear height changes, I dont mark spears. RIght now its been dry here so the spears are not moving much. My teddy's have been the easiest to see the difference over the past 2 years, they have added about 6' of height before the water restrictions hit. Everything in my yard has come to a crawl with very little rain and once a week watering. If you have clay soil, you're lucky to have it these days. I will put down another ton of turface MVP after this drought is over. It seems to make plants and palms more drought resistant.

A couple of nice varieties of palms worthy of any collection! dypsis manajarensis iguanura bicornis took me a while to work out how to grow iguanura palms, but you can see I have learned how to grow them, with healthy leaves. Areca vestria dypsis saintamarieButia purperesis. I know you like them, might have to send this one down to sunny Melbourne. @tim_brissy_13

Well, the sellers response about my weird Ensete is it's still growing and pushing leaves, and I'm like, yeah, so was the last one until it just died. So i was shocked to see these at the local "cash saver" grocery store/Ace Hardware. Hopefully I end up keeping both alive, because the plan has always been chop and prop.

Palm Plantation is terrible. I’ve purchased palms from probably 40 different people and companies all over SoCal for years. I find their prices waaaay too high. Like 2-3 times as high as I’ve seen other places. Reselling cycads from a very well known cycad dealer for 3X what I or anybody else can get it for. Tag still in the pot so it’s no surprise where it came from. I had a terrible experience in two separate occasions and encourage anyone to find another place to shop. Don’t waste your time or money. I can go into it in detail if needed just DM me. -dale

Update almost a year later! They recovered beautifully. Hoping for another recovery after the freeze expected this weekend. Good luck to all bracing for the storm!! 🌴❤️

Posting a few photos of my Parajubaea torallyi. I planted this palm about 15 years ago from a 5-gallon pot. It currently has about six feet of clean trunk and it’s about 25+ feet tall. This time of year, I tug on the old leaf sheaths to see if any of them are ready to come off. If they're ready, they pull off easily. However, if they aren't, no amount of pulling will remove them. It’s not unusual to find Arboreal Salamanders (Aneides lugubris) under the old leaf sheaths as shown in the photo below. I'm in the San Francisco bay area.

Excited to finally see a flower on one of my P. torallyi. This one is 18 years old from germination.

Monster of a Corypha utan (Philippine variant).

Wonderful example of Tahina spectabilis.

If my Chrysalidocarpus prestonianus hybrids turn out half a nice as Philip’s, I’ll be chuffed. This looks to have some C. pembanus in the mix I think.

Caught this ring-necked snake Diadophis punctatus (a colubrid) in my dining room area. It's smaller in diameter than a pen and about 6 in. in length. While not technically a "garden visitor" at the time, I have found them in my garden, both front and back for years. More on this reptile: https://animalia.bio/ring-necked-snake They must compete with the alligator lizards for insects. Ring-Neck Snake 1-12-23.mp4

Homo sapiens var. Austrailiensis is another contender in this race to eschew sophistication.