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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.

Happy new year everybody. A small update of my coconut palm in Cyprus. It's still alive for another winter. I increased the water in the summer and it started to make a difference in the growth.

Upon request by the owners and IPS president Andy Hurwitz I am posting information about a one of a kind legacy property available for sale in Hawaii. PT is not normally the correct venue for real estate ads, but I believe when you read more you will see why an exception is made here. Although memories of my visit there in 2022 will forever be etched in my mind, please address inquiries to the owners, not to me personally. Please see information and photos from the owners: A New Chapter for Casa de Las Palmas We purchased Casa de Las Palmas in 2017 from the estate of legendary nurseryman Jerry Hunter. Jerry was the owner of Rancho Soledad Nurseries in California, Palms of Paradise in Hawaii, and Mount Soledad in Pacific Beach. Dubbed the "Dean of California Landscape Architects", he held license #33. His designs are found throughout the San Diego area, including San Diego Zoo, Balboa Botanical Gardens, and a host of other public and private venues. Along with collecting and hybridizing many new plant varieties, he built the first plant tissue culture laboratory in San Diego. Casa de Las Palmas was Jerry's private Hawaiian retreat. Over the course of 35 years, Jerry transformed seven acres of upper Hilo farmland into a true garden masterpiece, creating a magical realm of exotic palms, waterfalls, meandering lava-rock paths, water gardens, and flowering tropical plants. Now over 45 years since planting began, it's a vast and mature botanical collection of rare palms, cycads, philodendrons, bromeliads, anthuriums and orchids. We have been honored to be the caretakers, but the time has come for us to move on, so we are offering the property for sale. Before we list it on the open market, we want palm and garden lovers to know it is available, in the hope that we can find a custodian for the future. The property has a 2-bedroom, 2-and-a-half-bathroom house with a separate apartment, and potential for additional dwellings. We currently do private garden tours, film shoots, and small events, and there is plenty of room to grow a successful business here. We had the delight of hosting IPS members for a lunch and tour during the 2022 Biennial in Hawaii. Please do contact us if you would like any further information. Irene Francis & Lars Woodruffe 646-338-7882 irenefrancis@hotmail.com https://houseofthepalms.com/

If you’re interested in observing some very tall Windmill palms (Trachycarpus fortunei) in the Sand Hills ecoregion, check out Gullys Nursery in Southern Pines, NC. Some of the ones there were 25ft + and looked really well.

Went thrift shopping for som fishes for the kitties when I saw this set of four. Hadda have em! How about you?

January 2026 update:

Another update on this one, sorry. It caught my eye this morning opening a new frond. It’s been growing great. -dale

thanks for looking

A few new plantings to close out the year, first up is one of my mystery Chrysalidocarpus (possible hybrid) that I grew from seed from my old garden. I now have 2 of these planted out here with hopes that it will look like the parent plant from my previous garden. next up is Hyophorbe India hybrid from Floribunda. last planting is a small Coccothrinax Crinita:

It's wintertime in Holland with snow and a few degrees below zero C.. Nothing to worry about, just enjoying the view of the garden with some Trachy. fortunei, a Chamaerops humilis vulcano, laurels with winterprotection for the stems and a few date palms! By the end of the week, it will all be over again!

You guys get a few more points in California for Rhopalostylis, Ceroxylon, Hesyscepe, etc. hah! Here’s my Blue Decipiens. Still a ways off from trunking when they seem to speed up. I’m guessing this one is 8-9 feet tall from ground to tip of newest leaf.

I’m happy to report that the Tahina I planted in memory of our dog Gracie, and also the first palm planted after finishing construction and moving into the house, is doing well. After planting it, it experienced another spear die off, but this time in the ground. I wasn’t going to dig it up and mess with it and just hoped that it would send up a new push. It did and now it’s finally showing good growth with each leaf being larger than the previous.

This is the luckiest palm in my garden. Twice it has been narrowly missed by huge falling trees, surviving without so much as a scratch. It even seems to like the decaying Cecropia trunk 1/4" from its base. Love watching this beautiful baby grow. Do you have Johannesteijsmannia magnifica in your garden? Or a photo of one you have admired on a palm tour somewhere in the world? Post your photos here! Not kidding about it being "in the jungle!"

A nice summer swim and a walk along a beach, with absolutely no body on the beach for miles, except for a few seeds!

My biggest surprise was my two veitchia arecina. They propably becoming my fastest palms. When I put them in the ground last summer they were 2 feet overall height. Now they are about 7 feet with a few rings of trunk. I'm glad they survived in the summer heat. I lost some palms in the heat waves, and some don't happy under the summer sun. I increased the watering for all the palms and it helps a lot.

Golf course at Lajitas Resort, which borders Big Bend and the Rio Grande.

Hi Tracy! Yes that is Ravenea Julietiaes, or at least purchased as that from Floribunda. A slow grower here (not any faster than California from my experience there as well) but always looks good. Nice to have a palm that is a slower grower here as most are too fast! Here’s a zoomed in photo of it from the opposite angle:

Get your traps built. I catch 10-20 a week.

Lacospadix, kerriodoxa and a nice little dypsis lantzeana all seem to get my attention!

@juju95 I would say Elaeis Guineensis, but a rare mutation called "whole leaf" or "Idolatrica." ...and welcome to Palmtalk!

I went walking in Crescent Bend Nature Park today. The area was a residential area until it flooded in 1996 and 1997. It was then made into a park with lots of trails. There are a couple of old Washingtonias in the park that were likely in someone's backyard at some point. They blend in nicely in the savanna environment of the park though:

And here are some year end updated photos of the garden. I’m not going to list out IDs for all of these but am happy to give IDs if interested, just ask. I’m also happy to post photo updates if there’s something you don’t see in this batch of photos. Just ask. Thanks for looking and happy new year.

Chambeyronia oliviformis powering on and opening a new frond yesterday despite a maximum of 44C/111F with 75km/h (46mph) winds. Tough palm. The nearby Chrysalidocarpus lanceolatus which also decided to open up a frond in the oven wasn’t so lucky. The heat and wind sucked the moisture from the frond and it wilted quickly.

Nice new Lepidorrachis leaf, always eye catching.

I was lucky enough to snag a couple of these and working on having the ability to offer these in our Etsy shop.. until then, I have always wanted to get my hands on these. It's been a multi-year process and finally happened! I'm going to grow these out, try them both here in DFW and at my ranch in ETX as well. Really excited to see what happens. Sabal antillensis Sabal lougheediana

Planted 3 L weddellianum together about 4 years ago and they caught my eye today.

I hope you're right! Another year for Theo! I'd say, it's been a reasonably good year. I had a low of 14F in the winter and that is the highest its been in several years. Its almost like I was actually in a zone 8b (I am ignoring the new laughable 9a classification for my area). No severe drought or really insane temperatures in the summer for extended periods. The fall was exceptionally dry though, with no rain for over 2 months (but luckily temps were not hitting 100s like the previous 2 years). The drought did kill some plants but many boar, attracted by the more moisture/life-retaining conditions in my garden, destroyed several beds (never seen it this bad!!). Theo was untouched, though. I guess the spikes helped!! As you can see by the stats, Theo appears to have benefitted from these relatively good conditions (or at least wasn't held back). Both trunk diameter and height have increased rapidly. I note that Theo receives no care other than some weeding around the trunk. I added a pic with from a different angle with some counter-light (looks great in real life). I have been experimenting with vining and waterwise roses that can climb up on it, however, this year was not a success. Probably because they do need water to get established the first year (and I have ignored that spot most of the year). I may get once of the exceptionally drought tolerant climbing rose this year from the rose emporium (these are NOT your typical roses). ~ S

I acquired this lithograph at the Paris flea market, L'Illustration Horticole, circa 1880, It is not labeled but almost certainly is Howea belmoreana.

Sounds like you have done pre winter protection, it’s up to Mother Nature now, welcome to the zone push club where you get to watch palms die and you also get to watch new palms live. See socratea rostrata picture below for a zone push winner!

I love the cocos but I also wanted to give priority to palms that can more easily grow in my climate. Here are some photos. Sorry for the mess. I have a lot of cleaning to do, but I've been very busy lately with work.

Finally got a bloom, overeating lookin inflorescence. Tim

These are the first seedlings from my most robust Hedyscepe palm, with a trunk diameter of 6.75 inches. I offer these sprouts for $20 plus $15 shipping, via USPS Priority Mail anywhere in the 48 contiguous United States. I can put two sprouts in the small flat rate box, or more in the medium flat rate box for $20. I have twelve sprouts available. PayPal only, PM me for my PayPal address and your mailing address. I may not mail these immediately, in order to make fewer trips to the post office. Thanks

I hope everyone is having a great new year so far! Here are a few pics from today.

They would have been In my shopping bag faster than you can blink. Pillaging Peachy

A fantastic time to be germinating palm seeds in summer, for those tropical heat loving palms. A few new varieties have popped up along with a few late comers. I will say licuala palms are slow and sporadic and like heat to really get a move along!

Some happy plants in winter after a few freezes, just some chlorosis from sun or chill. The current project is a greenhouse, so no photos of other stuff yet till it's done in the next few weeks. After the summer slaughter things calmed down and the potted plants are mostly happy, so once they are organized into a good look I'll get more photos of them too. In order: cyphophoenix (I think Alba), chrysalidocarpus lanceolata, leptocheilos, basilongus, carlsmithii, B. alfredii, and chrysalidocarpus titan and Prestonianus to finish. All in ground two seasons and starting to get going a bit faster than the start. Losses were all due to heat and wet after the January freeze deaths, so learned to give more shade in summer planting spots, and less water with the high humidity even if they drain super sharp. Not pictured are a bunch of others, cold damaged and recovering from the cold last year, like hyophorbe and chambeyronia. Chrysalidocarpus lastellianus is not a good 10A palm for looks, it chill spots in the low 30s, but could survive a warm 9b event most likely under good cover (like a Christmas palm would do I think). Hoping the two cold events this November and new years are the two this year (average is 1 or so) and we are done but that's a stretch being January 7th.

Doing a spot of landscaping, and as usual I need to plant palms in the new garden. I will see how this one goes all i know is I had choose carefully where this one went, not a palm you plant next to path with thorns thorns that would stop Alcatraz escapes!

Planted a 1 gallon pot from FB in November of 2021. It's growing nicely. BUT this summer all the fronds got fried. Just spotted a new bright red today. Had it under shade cloth at planting Took the shade cloth down in February of '23. Looked ok for a few years. Then this summer I noticed the fronds getting "toasted". But it's still pumping new RED fronds. This summer was VERY DRY. From June to Sept. only had 1.48" of rain. Irrigation twice a week at night for 40 minutes each session. Might have to do some weeding and increase length of watering. But I think it was just TO HOT in the full sun this summer.

Tracy, I’ve never used peroxide while cleaning seed, usually just a good 24 soak, let them dry, and either pot up or slip them in a baggie. I forego cleaning difficult seed and just put them in a pot and let them germinate on their own. I’m only looking for a half dozen seedlings of a particular species to make it rather than a high percentage that a grower would expect. Tim

I kept some seeds and decided to germinate them myself. I had a nice, sunny, warm New Years Day to pot up 86 newly germinated seeds. About 8-9 of them are doubles, and there was one triple. Nice way to start the new year! I will probably be selling seedlings later this year, if anyone is interested in them.

Checking out my garden in between rain storms. Picking up debris from all the wind , I noticed the coloring on my Rhopalostylus Bauri Cheesemania. The green of a newly opened frond and the pinkish red of the petiole really caught my eye. It seems to be luvin it’s home here in Santa Paula . This one is from @DoomsDave about a year and a half ago. Harry