On 9/9/2023 at 4:03 PM, RFun said:

Lakeland is a nice area for many palms.  There are a bunch of nice ones planted by highway 570 on the south side.

I'd surmise you're referring to one of the following exit areas:

Exit 4 - Lakeside Village

Exit 7 - South Florida Avenue

Exit 9 - Lakeland Highlands Road

This is a decent, cold-hardy landscaping job with Washingtonia robusta, Sabal palmetto, Serenoa repens and Chamaerops humilis.  We keep all of the goodies downtown and in the city parks.  Lake Wire, the topic of this thread, is one of the city parks focusing on palms.  It will be getting some upgrades soon since there is a luxury development going in just across Sikes Blvd from it.

Some other spots and sites worth visiting if you ever get the chance:

• Hollis Garden: https://www.palmtalk.org/forum/topic/18482-hollis-gardens-in-lakeland-florida/
• Common Ground: https://www.palmtalk.org/forum/topic/61890-common-ground-lakeland-fl/
• Tigertown: https://www.palmtalk.org/forum/topic/75211-tigertown-lakeland-fl/
• Other locales featured on: https://www.palmtalk.org/forum/topic/61172-remarkable-palms-of-tampa-bay/
  • Downtown (especially City Hall and Orange St Parking Garage)
  • Cleveland Heights Golf Course - especially the enormous Roystonea regia
  • Lake Hollingsworth Boat Ramp Area
  • Main St. going west - lined with Archontophoenix
• Some other palm-specific links:
  • Coconuts in Lakeland, FL: https://www.palmtalk.org/forum/topic/55422-coconuts-in-lakeland-fl/
  • Trachycarpus in Lakeland, FL: https://www.palmtalk.org/forum/topic/56607-trachycarpus-in-lakeland/
• A thread from the Fall 2022 CFPACS Meeting: https://www.palmtalk.org/forum/topic/73966-central-florida-palm-cycad-society-fall-meeting-sat-10222022/

Yes, that is the area.  Everything looks nice there.  Thanks for those links!

Edited September 12, 20232 yr by RFun

Thrinax radiata setting mature fruit this year:

36 minutes ago, kinzyjr said:

Thrinax radiata setting mature fruit this year:

Nice.  Jeremy, do you know if all of the Syagrus romanzoffiana between the sidewalk and the lake are var. litoralis?  Several of them are labeled as Silver Queens from Argentina, but some aren't. 

Just now, Bigfish said:

Nice.  Jeremy, do you know if all of the Syagrus romanzoffiana between the sidewalk and the lake are var. litoralis?  Several of them are labeled as Silver Queens from Argentina, but some aren't. 

I'm unsure if all of them are silver queens, or just the ones labeled as silver queens.  I think the one labeled as a silver queen closest to the post office is going to kick the bucket soon, though.  The crown and flower stalk is brown and necrotic, and the entire crown is tilted.

9 minutes ago, kinzyjr said:

I'm unsure if all of them are silver queens, or just the ones labeled as silver queens.  I think the one labeled as a silver queen closest to the post office is going to kick the bucket soon, though.  The crown and flower stalk is brown and necrotic, and the entire crown is tilted.

I saw that.  It looks like a boron deficiency. 

On 6/12/2022 at 10:16 AM, kinzyjr said:

I think this is Attalea cohune:

I am convinced that this is a hybrid of Attalea and Syagrus.  I harvested an inflorescence just for curiosity’s sake last year and it was very short, upright, and ended up producing zero pollen.  Syagrus x montgomeriana produces a pretty good-sized pendant inflorescence and lots of pollen.  

12 minutes ago, Bigfish said:

I am convinced that this is a hybrid of Attalea and Syagrus.  I harvested an inflorescence just for curiosity’s sake last year and it was very short, upright, and ended up producing zero pollen.  Syagrus x montgomeriana produces a pretty good-sized pendant inflorescence and lots of pollen.  

That seemed to be the consensus at the CFPACS 2024 Summer Meeting last weekend.  It had another small inflorescence on it during the tour.

2 minutes ago, kinzyjr said:

That seemed to be the consensus at the CFPACS 2024 Summer Meeting last weekend.  It had another small inflorescence on it during the tour.

Sorry I missed the meeting!  I really tried to make it, but we had workers here replacing the ceiling in the garage.  
 

I couldn’t get a single grain of pollen out of that inflorescence.  That also makes me think it’s more likely to be intergeneric and sterile.  It would be interesting to find out the history behind it, if it was an intentional cross, who did it, what species, etc.!  I wonder if that old parks and rec guy knows.

With Leucothrinax morrisii now flowering here, all native palms have flowered in town: