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To all the people in life who said I'd never amount to 💩, well, it turns out you were right. But I do have a state nursery sellers license now.

After several revisions, I’m excited to share my ongoing PDF guide to cold hardy palms. This has been a long-term project and will continue to evolve as I learn more and gather new experiences. Feel free to share it anywhere by posting the link to the document — that will always point to the latest version for when I update. I am still working on some more pages in time. I truly appreciate all the support, knowledge, and friendships from this forum over the years. My goal has always been simple, help others enjoy and succeed in this hobby as much as I have. Hopefully this information will especially help others new to the hobby. While the design is AI assisted, all photos and text dictation are from my experiences. While I am aware there are a few errors still, let me know what you think TNTropics Cold Hardy Palm Guide https://drive.google.com/file/d/1w9-43MjGhgyQyqgVeQoWXU69GvRGLpdU/view?usp=sharing

1. Hyophorbe indica 1.5 gallon size 2. Burretiokentias koghiensis 15 gallon 3. Caryota gigas 5 gallon 4. Butia eriospatha band size 5. Brahea clara 5 gallon 6. Brahea edulis 15 gallon 7. Brahea elegans 5 gallon 8. Coccothrinax barbadensis 15 gallon 9. Coccothrinax crinita 5 gallon 10. Cryosophila stauracantha 15 gallon 11. Dypsis baronii 5 gallon 12. Dypsis heteromorpha 5 gallon 13. Dypsis pembana 5 gallon 14. Kentiopsis olliviformis 15 gallon 15. Prestoea acuminata (montana) 5 gallon 16. Rhopalostylis baueri 15 gallon 17. Roystonea oleracea 15 gallon 18. Syagrus coronata band size. This is a small sampler of the over 200,000 palms & cycads we have at our Nursery. I think we offer the largest species selection of any Palm or Cycad Nursery in the western U.S. Visitors welcome. We give individual attention. In business in Encinitas, CA for over 40 years. Mail orders done almost daily. Delivery available on most items. And, by the way, creator and early developer (along with assistance from other IPS members) of this PalmTalk Blog multiple decades ago. Phil Bergman Owner Jungle Music Nursery 1111 Urannia Ave, Encinitas, CA 92024 Phone: 619 291 4605 Email: phil@junglemusic.net Website: www.junglemusic.net

My lafazamanga caught my eye this evening, and I thought I’d share a photo of it post-transplant (which happened months ago). 🪏 as far as I can tell, it’s very happy in its new location, and hasn’t missed a beat from the move.🤞 Has been such a great plant for me, so I’m hoping it will do as well in the new (equally prominent) location. 💕

In 2015 while I was working in california I bought some patrick schaffer hybrids. I was inspired by the gardens of the fathers of butia hybrids DIck Douglas(NorCal) and Merrill Wilcox(FL). I wanted some jubaea genetics in my yard but best knowledge said pure jube would not be happy here. My favorite patrick hybrid, the one that I did not give away, was a (Bx J)xJ. I had a coupole BxJ from patrick and this one just looked different, even as a small seedling in a 4" pot. It is a BxJ mother tree pollinated by a jubaea. I had it in a small 7g container for years and then upgraded it to a 20 gallon in 2020. I feared it would not deal with florida humidity and wet soil so I kept it in that 20 gal pot and infrequently watered it. I tried to give it away, no takers from the coconut and adonidia crowd in my neighborhood. I even offered it here on palmtalk, surely a nice cold tolerant hybrid would work somewhere up in northern florida or there abouts, no takers. It grew slowly over the years and a year and a half(?) ago I decided I didn't want a palm prisoner in a container so I decided to put it in the ground in a dry spot where I had removed an invasive ficus benjamina I had mistakenly planted. Well, it seems as if the palm just loved this winter and pushed out a bunch of new growth. It grows faster in winter. I also have a BxJ with 3-4' trunk that is a nice palm but this one has a symmetric beauty that I love. Now I am very happy I didnt give it away. Its not a fussy palm, I planted it in a spot where it will intercept cold NE winds off the nearby pond Anybody else have a butia, Jubaea, or syagrus hybrid out there, I know Patrick made a bunch of different hybrids, show yours if you have one.

Here is a preliminary cold damage to my personal palm collection. I live in Altamonte Springs, about 14 miles north of Orlando. Its a little colder than the metro Orlando area. My yard does have some good tree canopy in the back but this didn't make much difference with the winds. The first night of the freeze was 23F with 20-30mph winds all night and it was below 32F for over 10 hours. The 2nd night dropped to 28F but it was still with frost. This was the coldest freeze since the record Christmas 1989 freeze. It was also the first hard freeze with high winds the entire night. PALMS Acoelorrhaphe wrightii (4’)- no damage Aiphanes horrida x minima (6’) -100% burn, already had about 25% burn from earlier cold, it always showed damage below about 35F every year but always quickly recovered, not sure this time Archontophoenix cunninghamiana (20’) -major burn Archontophoenix purpurea (7’)- 100% burn Areca triandra (3’) -100% burn Arenga engleri (7’)- surprisingly burn on one leaf Arenga hookeriana (5’)- all tall stems 100% burned, shorter suckers green Beccariophoenix alfredii (15’, 10’)- both have severe burn but green in center Borassodendron machodonis (3’)- COVERED, no damage Brassiophoenix drymophoeoides (5’)- 100% burn Carpentaria acuminata x Adonidia merrillii (25’)- 100% burn Caryota mitis ‘Variegata’ (3’)- severe burn Chamaedorea elegans (2’)-100% burn Chamaedorea ernestii-augustii (3’)- 100% burn Chamaedorea metallica (2’)- 100% burn Chamaedorea microspadix (6’)- no damage Chambeyronia macrocarpa (3’)- all leaves burned except newest Chelyocarpus chuco (4’)- COVERED no damage Chrysalidocarpus leptocheilos (3’)- 100% burn Chrysalidocarpus lutescens ‘Nana’ (3’)- COVERED but partially blew off, 50% burn Chrysalidocarpus madagascariensis (Mahajanga form) (6’)- 100% burn Chrysalidocarous onilahensis (3’)- light burn Chrysalidocarpus pembanus (15’)- 100% burn on the 2 tall trunks, suckers have some green leaves Chrysalidocarpus psammophilus (3’)- 100% burn Chuniophoenix hainanensis (3’)- no damage Clinostigma savoryanum (4’)- 2 newest leaves have no damage, others burned Coccothrinax barbadensis (3’)- light burn Coccothrinax crinita (3’) – severe burn Coccothrinax spissa (3’)- severe burn Cocos nucifera ‘Green Malayan’ (10’, 3’ trunk)- almost 100% burn but a few green leaflets and petioles still green, already push new growth, it already had about 20% burn from frost a couple weeks prior Copernicia alba (6’)- no damage Cryosophila stauracantha (4’)- 100% burn Cyrtostachys elegans x renda (3’)- COVERED no damage Dictyosperma album (furfuraceum) (3’)- 100% burn Euterpe edulis (10’, 5’)- both have 100% burn Gaussia attenuata (7’)- 100% burn, new spear opening Gaussia maya (5’)- 100% burn Heterospathe negrosensis (4’)- light burn Howea belmoreana (3’)- severe burn Howea forsteriana (7’)- severe burn Hyophorbe verschaffeltii (6’)- 100% burn Lanonia dasyantha (2’, 3’)- no damage on either Leucothrinax morrissii (5’)- no damage Licuala kunstleri (2’)- light damage Licuala peltata (3’)- light burn Licuala ramsayi (6’)- slight damage on 1 leaf, very delayed reaction Livistona decora (10’)- no damage Livistona muelleri (4’)- moderate burn Livistona saribus (15’)- no damage Normanbya normanbyi (8’)- 100% burn Phoenix acaulis (3’)- no damage Phoenix loureiroi (Kashmir) (8’)- no damage Pinanga coronata (4’)- 100% burn Pinanga gracilis (3’)- 2 stems, 1 no damage, other 100% burn Pritchardia hillebrandii (3’)- moderate burn, still lots of green Pseudophoenix sargentii (4’)- severe burn Ptychococcus lepidotus (5’)- 100% burn Ptychococcus paradoxus (6’)- 100% burn Ptychosperma elegans (10’)- 100% burn Ptychosperma propinquum (macarthurii) (12’)- main stem 100% burn, suckers mostly brown but some green Ravenea glauca (3’)- light burn Ravenea hildebrandtii (5’)- 100% burn Ravenea rivularis (6’)- 100% burn Reinhardtia latisecta (2’)- no damage Rhapis excelsa ‘Zuiko Nishiki’ (5’)- no damage Rhapis humilis (8’)- no damage Sabal etonia x palmetto (2’)- no damage Sabal mauritiiformis (5’)- very minor burn Sabal miamiensis x maritima (6’)- no damage Sabal palmetto (10’)- no damage Sabal palmetto (Miami Rockridge form) (2’)- no damage Sabinaria magnifica (3’)- COVERED, cover partially blew off, light burn on a couple leaves, very delayed damage Schippia concolor (3’)- moderate burn Serenoa repens, silver (3’)- no damage Syagrus romanzoffiana (20’)- light burn Syagrus sancona (7’)- severe burn Syagrus weddelliana (6’)- severe burn Veitchia arecina (3’)- moderate burn Wodhyethia bifurcata (4’)- 100% burn CYCADS Bowenia spectabilis- no damage Ceratozamia hildae- no damage Cycas debaoenis- no damage Cycas thouarsii- 100% burn Encephalartos ferox- 100% burn Stangeria eriopus- light burn Zamia furfuracea – no damage, in pot and taken in Zamia integrifolia (narrow leaflet form)- no damage Zamia integrifolia (Palatka Giant)- no damage Zamia integrifolia (wide leaflet form)- no damage Zamia nesmophila- moderate burn Zamia sp. “Spots”- severe burn PANDANS Freycinetia cumingiana (4’)- main stems dead, some green shorter stems/leaves Pandanus furcatus (15’)- 100% burn but green already pushing out Pandanus letocartiorum (decumbens) (2’)- 100% burn Pandanus penangensis (monotheca) (5’)- 100% burn Pandanus polycephalus (3’)- severe burn Pandanus pygmaeus ‘Variegatus’ (2’)- moderate burn Pandanus tectorius (spineless form) (3’)- 100% burn Pandanus tectorius, dwarf spineless variegated form)- 100% burn PALM-LIKE PLANTS Cyclanthus bipartitus (4’)- 100% burn, this is root hardy, foliage dies every year as it declines around 35F but rapidly regrows in spring Dracaena arborea (4’)- severe burn Ravenala madagascariensis (15’)- 100% burn Ravenala menahirana (Honkondambo) (3’)- 100% burn, new leaf emerging Sphaeropteris cooperi (Cyathea) (10’)- 100% burn Strelitzia nicolai (10’)- 100% burn

About 13 ft. tall. I saw this one in a residential area west of New Orleans. I suspect it is a native remant specimen that was there before it was reclaimed swampland.

Yup. I was sold two shade-grown "reclinatas" which had super soft, tropical-esque fronds. They turned into this - super rigid. Even the leaflet tips are sharp. No suckers, and a crown the size of canariensis.

This is a perfect time at latitude 26.71°(north of the Old Monkey Jungle) to chime in on this subject! This area of SE Florida is definitely not within the tropics (23° latitude) and we just experienced a cold event that it is necessary to travel back thirty-seven (37) years to find a cold event more severe. However, I would argue from the perspective of what grows and the overall warmth of the climate, that in many manners, it can be considered tropical-like. I detailed at the very bottom of the thread titled "Historic East Florida Freeze, February Screenshots" the climate data experienced during this cold event. At PBIA, on February 1, and February 2 of this month, low temperatures of 31°F were recorded for a total of three hours below freezing. This certainly does not dovetail into an easy discussion of a tropical like climate. That stated, I also detailed how the end of the month tally for the month of February 2026 at PBIA was a cumulative median temperature of 64.84°F. This eclipses the 64.4°F required in all months for a technical tropical connotation under Koeppen/Trewarthia. January 2026 had a cumulative median temperature of 67.01°F.. December 2025 had a cumulative median temperature of 71.84°F. All of these temperatures were recorded at PBIA. Parenthetically, even in our coldest event in 37 years, we met the tropical criteria for Koeppen/Trewartha. That was not the case during the December 1989 freeze. During that cold event, the cumulative median temperature for December 1989 was 57.48°F. The cumulative median temperature for January 1990 was 66.37°F. The cumulative median temperature for February 1990 was 70.04°F. All of these temperatures were recorded at. PBIA. In my other post above described, I detailed with specificity the weather underground station in Palm Beach referred to as Device One-KFLPALMB 251. During the February 2026 cold event, this device recorded an ultimate low temperature of 38.3°F with a cumulative median temperature of 67.8°F. That taps into another theory that I have based upon observations regarding a micro climate experienced in this area because of proximity to the.Gulfstream/Florida Current. I will not open that door in this conversation. More to the point, the obvious question becomes what grows? I have posted pictures in various threads of the tropical vegetation and palms in this area and how they have been affected. Ultimately, what can be grown in an area, particularly after a cold event, should lend some perspective regarding the tropical character of a place. Anne Norton Sculpture Gardens is adjacent to the Intracoastal and my knowledgeable friend Felix, who is the real man on the ground taking care of the palms, testified to me that AN did not experience a freeze. Please find some recently photographed specimens at AN: Neoveitchia storkii, which is indigenous to the Fiji Islands:

It’s a wonderful joy planting a couple of palms. And even better in remembrance of one the greatest palm germinaters that I have know. So a couple of Mercs palms went into the garden today, a ravenea hillbrandtii and a hypohorbe indica red form along the driveway in a prime viewing spot for that extra bit of remembrance!

The old saying down under is have you got a spare minute, well if you have two minutes to spare you have got over 70 varieties of palms packed into just this part of the garden. A small amount in comparison to other collections. I don’t know how many varieties I have in the ground or in the greenhouses waiting to get planted. I do know I counted 70 in this section of the garden alone. Plus whatever other varieties of plants are in there. The garden is getting close to 30 years old and iam not stopping until that day they throw my ashes in the garden. And even then the palms will have their say as to who really rules the garden. I will quite happy knowing I fed them one last time @happypalms! IMG_9614.mov

I have a 'Green Malayan' at my house in Altamonte Springs (north of Orlando). I'm in a cold pocket and wasn't planning on trying a coconut here. We have Great Danes and one of them liked to carry and chew on coconuts. My inlaws live in Jupiter so we would brink coconuts back and had a pile on the side of the house. One of them sprouted so I planted it in my banana patch. That was about 10 years ago. It would get some damage almost every year. This year it already had about 25% burn before the freeze hit. Its about 10ft tall with 3ft of clear trunk. I had 23F in my yard with the winds, 28F the 2nd night with frost. All the leaves are burned but the petioles are still green and a few leaflets stayed green. I cut the center leaves out last week in case rot tried to set in, spear was solid. With 3 days last week near 90F it is actually pushing new growth. I will be floored if it does regrow.

High above Hanoi: the Prince of Palms (journal), the Queen of PalmTalk and some dude.

I shall start this thread, this way when I plant a few more things in the garden it will be found here, and what a joy it will be, theres a lot to planted! So the new plants for today are kerriodoxas and chamaedorea adscendens a little reindhardtia gracilis a philodendron hose buono and a Zamia variegata. This little batch should get the garden looking good from the deck.

Another 12 months and I reckon the large Tahina will have a full crown. Smaller one also coming good now.

I somehow missed this thread . There is a huge Brahea edulis in San Antonio that survived 8-11°F and probably 3-4 days below freezing in 2021. It has seen teens since then in atleast a couple winters, and may have existed in the 1989 freeze. Here it is recovering in 2024.

A few more up this week, it’s always good to see a few more popping up. Iam very happy with some home grown Metallica seeds with a hundred percent success rate. Goes to show fresh seeds produce the best results.

Every seed and bulb I own is now planted. I'd just like to throw that out there. Please clap. https://www.instagram.com/reel/DVAn6WoDTPQ/?igsh=aWgwNHQ4aTJ3a2Y4

After this year how my yard looks and how others look I have realized how important canopy is. A night in the upper 20s 27 to 30 5 hours or less has 0 effect on anything under canopy. The realy bad nights with wind and the night at 24 with no wind the stuff under canopy still out performed stuff in the open. Areca palms under canopy small ones are still alive as coukd be just a little burn. Arecas in the open torched tonthw ground. Mangos in the open torched mangos under canopy still have some green leaves or no damage at all if they are protected enough. I've learned the warm and cold spots of my yard. A thermometer didnt show much difference in these areas but the plants did. I have an 8ft tall mango in the open on the back side of my yard. I only protected it the night at 26 and 24. It went through all the nights with heavy frost and 4 or 5 nights between 27 and 29 not protected with 0 damage. Bananas under canopy on part of my yard no damage intill thw 2 bad nights etc. I now know I have no problem growing sensitive fruit trees and ficus etc under canopy. Some defolitated or burn back tiny branches but survived perfectly ok and are pushing new growth already. I am focusing on canopy. I have planted almost 15 queen palms to help with canopy. They are super invasive around me I dig most of them out of the woods behind me before they cleared it for houses. Pic of mango for reference. Its had a rough past over the last 3 years. Flooding has almost killed it twice. That problem has been mostly resolved.

I just want to show how dry the air was over north Florida on the morning of Feb 24th. Here is a computed sounding profile from the GFS model run initialized at 6Z. The bright green squiggly vertical line on the left is the dewpoint temp. The red line paralleling it to the right is the temperature. At the surface the dewpoint was 20F and the temperature was 35F. The dewpoint spread (the distance between the dewpoint and the temperature line) is very big at all levels of the atmosphere above the surface. In fact if you go up to around 2.75 km above the ground (near the 750 mb level) the air is bone dry as that dewpoint spread hits is maximum value. Only at the surface was the Relative Humidity (RH) at it's highest point (48%). At every point above the RH was much lower. In this sounding, for the entire depth of the atmosphere there is only 0.16 inches of Precipitable Water (PW = 0.16in). This also proves that the atmosphere is very dry .... I will come back to this point below. On the far right hand axis labelled at the top "Inf. Temp." The "Inf. Temp." is the Inferred Temperature Advection (degrees C / hour). At every level of the atmosphere, except around the 750 mb layer you see cold air advection taking place (the blue vertical rectangles on that axis). Now, coming back to the Precipitable water available within the entire depth (column) of the atmosphere (PW = 0.16 inches). Let's look at the Sounding Climatology from the nearest location, Jacksonville FL : Here you can see that for February 24th the 10th Percentile value for PW is 0.32 inches. That morning north FL was seeing values only half of that. In fact the values being seen were very near the all-time lowest values seen via real soundings. The air was extremely dry above north Florida that day. It was very clear to both incoming Shortwave and outgoing Longwave radiation. The lack of water vapor and no mixing allowed for very strong cooling of the air. -Matt

Port Richey, in Jasmine Lakes. We were extremely fortunate with the wind direction remaining slightly west of north during this event. Our low minimum was 28.0°F for 3 to 5 hrs (guessing on duration. I still need to check our weather station data). Veitchia Arecina, planted December 2021, this year, I was having a bad Lupus Flare and was curious about the cold tolerance. Completely unprotected through the 3 nights of freezing and 3 to 5 nights close to freezing. My Beccariophoenix Alf. was also unprotected with the 28.0°F. Alexander Palm, toasted, but alive and the new spear has grown about 6 inches. Foxtail, foliage crisp, new spear green and also has grown a few inches. Dichrostachys "Kalahari Christmas Tree", surprisingly was defoliated but will recover. Pretty sure the wind was the main culprit. Not to mention it too was uncovered. My Coconut Palm and 2 small Teddy Bear Palms were my main concern. One Teddy Bear, oddly enough the one I boxed and blanketed, defoliated, but the green spear has grown slightly. The other was on the southern side of my husband's big work truck, which must have helped protect the foliage. I wrapped the base up to halfway its height. The end of the big frond eventually did brown mostly, but not as much as I anticipated. As for my Coconut Palm, the C9 lights actually burned each frond and they fell over *smh* but, the temperature stayed about 70°F with the cover. I was hospitalized for a few days after the freeze and left the lights on to keep it cozy. The spear has actually grown about 3inches since. The photo driving down Jasmine Blvd (heading east towards Little rd - I was not driving) is of Royals, Coconut and Caryota. A bit crispy, but nothing like the carnage to our east

Today I noticed how conveniently located my coconuts are on this tree.

39F was my low. Plants are probably just as tired of this as the rest of us. 1 more night. As far as why all of FL is cold, it's the persistent flow of air directly from Canada to FL. The high pressure over the 4 corners is never good for FL and it has not moved much of 2026. West ridge is a good indicator of cold nights in FL. The drought isn't helping either. Like the desert, dry ground cools much faster. Basically this has been a perfect storm but in the wrong way.

Rhopalastylis Baueri getting the ring. Planted out as a small 15G in the winter of 2020 it’s grown way more than my other Rhopalastylis. This one is happy. -dale

You will get more seeds and bulbs, and the whole cycle will start all over again!!! I should know because that’s what I do!!!!!!

It didn't get down to freezing in Cape Coral but we had several nights in the mid-30s (34-35F) and I am gradually seeing cold damage as time goes by. Coldest nights since the record freeze of 2010. Looks like a repeat performance early this coming week. That and months of extreme drought make for a brown and crispy garden. Can't get a break.

As I sit on rock in the garden looking at what I have created iam amazed. The garden goes from a jungle canopy understory to a very dry hot intolerable in summer heat garden. Yet it all seems to work and grow in harmony with Mother Nature. You can create a garden of your taste to reflect your personality, it just takes time. All you see was basically carved out of the Australian bush, and we’re not talking about tropical cairns or Hawaii where you throw a plant over your shoulder and grows by just looking at them. Its hard country to garden in just add water! IMG_9785.mov

A few more from Pearland. Everything palmwise survived. The Queens fronds look great for 22-24°F. Bismarckia nobilis Medemia argun Butia , Copernicia alba, and Livistona nitida Phoenix theophrastii ‘Golkoy’ Copernicia alba #2 Butia x Parajubaea var. torallyi Mule palm Livistona decora Ravenea rivularis and King palm Queen, seed supposedly sourced from a hardy parent. Beaucarnea recurvata starting to form a thick caudex Acrocomia, possible totai Sabal uresana Beccariophoenix alfredii

Went there today to get another round of 14 bags of mulch (need about 70 bags total for the front yard as I go section by section with the spring mulching on days off). …… didn’t see the Old Timer. Someone made off with him.

They generally transplant very well, even with a small root ball. Spring would be a good time for the move or now if temps are reliably mild. The palm will be quite heavy so be ready for that. You’ll need to water it daily for a few months while it replaces lost roots.

Christmas palms looking good. First is a triple trunk version. Red circles are the sharpie line growth in 3 weeks. The other is a larger double trunk one that had no protection.

I thought I'd update this topic with a few photos of our new Nursery Location at 1111 Urania Ave, Encinitas, Ca 92024

I tried a butia a few years ago and covered it on cold nights. It died but my pot grown palmetto survives to this day. I wish butia were equally as cold hardy as sabal palmetto but it hasn't been my experience. I've killed two butias and pretty much have given up on them. I may try one again. 🤔

Just a trio of Chamaedorea radicalis getting around the garden.

You might think that for something like this, AI scrapes the internet for information about the various palm species and then synthesizes plagiarizes the information to make these articles. What it actually does is even lazier and much stupider: it just makes up plausible sounding facts out of thin air, and then fills in the requested fields (like the incredibly detailed care information) with completely generic and useless information. This site is now some of the most prominently accessible information on the entire internet when you search for these species (google ranks sites like this that claim to be selling something very highly). This information also gets fed right back into the next plagiarism machine that comes looking for it. Garbage in, garbage out. It would be funny if it wasn't so scary. https://www.viriar.com/blogs/palms-tree-encyklopedia/hyophorbe-amaricaulis https://www.viriar.com/blogs/palms-tree-encyklopedia/ravenea-musicalis-river-palm https://www.viriar.com/blogs/palms-tree-encyklopedia/sabal-pumos-pumila-dwarf-bush-palmetto - These are just a few quick examples of information that is, for the record: completely false, that I was able to find in a minute or two of clicking around. Last year I noticed that the International Aroid Society redesigned their website and included an wholly AI-generated encyclopedia of thousands of Aroid species. Just like this one, it was completely nonsensical and full of misinformation. Unlike this one, it was hosted by a legitimate organization which is the official registrar for the Aroid family, and also a non-profit that promotes education and conservation. After a few months and some negative feedback that section of their website is currently not active, but we are teetering on the edge of completely losing our grasp on collective reality, as this dangerous technology is pushed on everyone.

The whole site is complete and utter AI slop. One of the many reasons that I absolutely loathe generative AI is that it's polluting the Internet with an endless feedback loop of garbage like this.

It depends on how far inland you are in St. Lucie county. If you're generally east of the turnpike, then normally you'd be good. The setup we had on 02/01 was unusually bad, similar to 12/25/1989. If I remember correctly, the all time record lows on the east coast are as follows: Merritt Island 21F Patrick Space Force Base 24F Melbourne 17/19F Vero Beach 21F Fort Peirce 19F Port St. Lucie 22F West Palm Beach 24F We were not too far off from our all time record lows, about 2F to 6F in fact. What we just saw historically is almost as bad as it gets. The rest of the state was give or take was a repeat of 2010. North Florida and within about ten miles from the gulf coast fared comparatively well on this one.

Page 7 looks like a bountiful garden compared to my disaster in Oviedo. Not sure on casualties yet but looking like severe. Royals, several very large Adonidias, 100’s areca’s although the lowest are green, coconuts, citrus, bananas, mangos, ti, ginger, crotons, aboricolas, colocasia, fiddle leaf, birds, you name it. Torched. Even the Bismarcks got hammered but should do fine. Only the Europeans, sabals, and livistonas appear unfazed.

I went back to review how my coconut recovered from the 2018 freeze. Took a good 1.5 years to regrow the entire crown. 2018 min was 28F. This year was 25F and change so about 2-3 degrees lower. I believe freeze duration was 4 to 5 hours longer. Pic is Feb, June and Nov of 2018.

I see a few questions about how is it getting so cold in FL right now considering that areas much farther north of here have snow on the ground and are warmer ? There's a few things that must be considered to answer that question : 1: Strong cold air advection. That cyclone that just slammed the coast from DC to Boston advected a lot of cold air from the north straight south. The cold air advection wasn't as intense as what you got a couple weeks ago, but it was still strong. 2: Extremely Dry Air. The air at the surface and at every level above the surface over areas of Florida are extremely dry right now. This allows the air to cool down significantly. It also allows the daytime high to be warm. 3: The air is also very stable and stratified (thermally in the vertical) over Florida right now. This prevents any mixing at night. The coldest air will sink down to the surface. 4: The vertical column of air from the surface all the way to the boundary with space (say 10mb) is exhibiting an extremely Radiationally "Clear Window". Radiational cooling all through the atmosphere is maximized right now helping to further cool the air column. This Radiationally clear window is there because the air is extremely dry at all levels, no clouds, calm winds, no mixing. That Dry air above got pulled in from the west / central portion of the interior continent, particularly at the low levels. The deeper moisture got dragged up from the south (well east of Florida) on the eastern side of the storm in a warm / moist conveyor belt and dumped it's precip. along the coast in the form of snow and rain. So why was it warmer in areas that just got snow ? Those areas are all the complete opposite of what Florida got. They have a high level of moisture in the lowest levels of the atmosphere. Still some clouds. The air is mixing well at the low levels. Those areas are actually seeing more warm air advection compared to Florida. That snow was extremely moist an quite warm. They will cool down more as the low moves further away. Under a "Radiatively Clear", barotropic atmosphere (post cold advection) .... the 2nd morning after, the lowest temperature of the day will always occur right at sunrise and last up to an hour afterwards until that incoming shortwave radiation from the sun can warm the surface and mixing occurs via shallow convection. This is all just physics. Physics and weather have no regards to the calendar, ever. -Matt

Two lots over caught my eye today.

For me it's not a reclinata but a hybrid of rupicola! I said it! I didn't know whether to say it or not

Mary Lock inspects the betel vendors at the Long Bien market in Hanoi. All of the betel nuts for sale were still green, which is apparently preferred over fully ripe nuts in Vietnam This vendor peels the fruit and arranges them as if they were flowers - an edible arrangement. These arrangements serve as gifts for your discerning betel nut chewer. The gift package is handed over to a motorbike courier for delivery.

Palms here are killed by lightning a lot, hence no tall washingtonias even in dry soil areas like spring Hill. Then there is the summer heat and humidity and diseases, you can't add more "dry" during heavy rain periods, whearas you can add more water when there is a drought. Many homes are newer, hurricanes, etc. There are a lot of potential reasons for less impressive palms than other places, but cold is a major one for sure. I am leaving out natives of course.

Here are few flushes from around the garden.

Yes because Dypsis is too hard to spell and pronounce.

Yep , life moves along , things happen , and interests change . After losing some of my strength and mobility for the last 2+ years I dropped out of a couple of cycling forums . Now I spend most of my time in my garden with my palms and posting here . A sudden health issue or change can be personal and tough to talk about. My palms became close friends and I even started collecting more again after years of just letting things grow and not much attention due to my riding and surfing. I started riding again , my surfing is behind me now , but gardening is my thing , and shorter rides on my bike. The ebb and flow of life ! Harry

Phytoplasma diseases; ex. Lethal Bronzing.

Doesn't she have any suckers yet? Reclinata as a child, she puts out suckers

With temps headed for the 90s this week / winter 25 -26 in the bag, ..figure it is time for an update.. When the Phacelia are all but done for the season, Glandularia gooddingii steps in fill the " blue / violet flowering thing " space on stage. On a side note, ..as much as i love 'em, decided that this will be the last year i grow out extensive plots of both Phacelia sps i've had going.. As attractive, and valuable foraging for early native rising bees as both are, many species of the Genus hide a not so pleasant " gift " when one brushes up against them ..or, in my case, goes to remove them from planting beds as they fade out for the season / trim and harvest for seed.. Essentially, ..if you're sensitive to compounds produced by Poison Oak / Ivy, you may be sensitive to similar, sticky / oily compounds these plants produce that can cause similar rashes on the skin. After a few weeks of itchy hands / arms ..and other places where the oily residue these plants produced touched while clearing them out, i decided that ..while i won't eliminate them completely, i will shift these out of the main bed out front, adding in more Lupinus for the " blue / purple " end of the color spectrum out there. Of the two species, seems P. crenulata, Notch -leaved Phacelia, may possess more of these itch -inducing compounds than P. campanularia.. Speaking of Lupinus, one of just a couple L. douglasii that managed to survive a very dry winter.. TX. bluebonnets that also held up thru the winter should be doing their thing shortly. Locally native L. sparsiflorus are just about done for the year.. Penstemon parryi w/ Ruellia californica / peninsularis in the background.. It hasn't stopped flowering since ....October.. What freshly opened seed on Bursera fageroides ( ...and the majority of other Bursera sps ) looks like when the fleshy, outer shell opens and exposes the neon, Red Orange Aril - covered seed ( An evolutionary strategy of attracting birds ) While it has been shedding seed here and there for several weeks, w / the heat kicking in, expect all the remaining seed to be ready to harvest / plant out soon. I'd say the kick off to " Cactus Season 2026 " is about to get underway but, ..whatever sp of Stenocactus it is i have started flowering about 2 weeks ago.. Beaver Tails and " old enough to bloom " Hedgehogs ( Echinocereus ) are up next. You know it has been a warm winter when -any- Adenium starts flowering ..in February.. This kid is sitting in more shade atm so it flowering, already, is a bit more of a surprise and a testament to just how warm this winter has been.. Locally native form of CA. Buckwheat with neon Orange Cape Daisies in the background. Darker colored form of Calliandra eriophylla, second flowering since the start of the year.. Aristolochia watsonii, off to the races, already.. That pretty, blue violet Mandevilla seemingly much happier w/ conditions thru the winter rather during the summer. Clitoria mariana awakening quite early this year.. I'd mentioned elsewhere how the Plumeria would likely start moving earlier than is typical this year. Well, as you can see, .." pushing off dried out leaf attempts " is the first sign of awakening from their winter naps.. The rewards of using Sulfur powder to save injured specimens.. New growth will pop from dormant buds in the leaf scars in view.. On a bench, inside.. Artemisia californica trial coming along nicely.. Same with the Cochlospermum palmatifida trial.. Potted up the next batch of seed last night.. Plan is having some to plant out around the yards, and some that i can keep in a large pot ..for seed. On a side note, ..What the roots of a true " Devilish Blonde " look like.. last October, carefully removed all the 2yr old potted specimens and installed them out front. During one of those " complete idiot " moments, i completely forgot to mark where i dropped them in the ground so, fingers crossed, they'll pop once the heat really kicks in. Emphasize carefully.. roots are easily damaged, which can lead to them completely rotting. So touchy you are, Blondie. 😁 When large enough to plant out, some of the Cochlospermum will join them in the same beds. Pappophorum vaginatum after com pot separation.. First few weeks after separating / transplanting = always a touchy time with young native grasses.. Due to how popular they seem to be with those i have shared them with, and because the mother plant may be nearing the end of her productive life span, starting more Ital. Long Peppers.. Likely not the only pepper grown this year either.