happypalms Another day in paradise in the garden

[happypalms]

1 hour ago, PalmBossTampa said:

NICE CROP ! 

Thanks, the  crazy thing is I just purchased another 100 seeds for something to do, I just love them that much! 

[Phoenikakias]

16 hours ago, Harry’s Palms said:

I guess it is possible . That trunk on yours is almost as large as my Tepejelote! Interesting to see if seeds are viable and if they carry the gene. My “big boy “ has the same size fruit as the others , it’s just a larger specimen. The fronds were almost twice the size of the others before it got a trunk. It isn’t quite as large as yours but noticeably more robust. I also have a Howea Foresteriana that grew in my courtyard , it  grew more than twice as fast as my others and has a swollen foot that is huge . I dug it up from a Kentia farm where they used to process thousands of seeds. It was just  seedling and it was noticeably different than all the other volunteers. It now has some seeds on it and I am planning on germinating those to see if the genetic anomaly follows . Sometimes it is just a “ one off “ occurrence. I sure love my “ Super Kentia” , take care of your “ super Radicalis” ! Harry

Believe it or not , there is less than two years , maybe a year and a bit,  difference from these two Kentia palms . Both dug up from the same place. The one on the right just took off immediately. The first year , right after planting the shorter one , they were close to the same size! This photo was some time ago  ( a year or so?) it now has seeds hanging on it. Harry

This is right after the base started to swell , even bigger now. Just an anomaly? Who knows. Harry

Yeah this can occure in almost all palm spp, I suppose. The more offspring are propagated and nurtured by people, the more the odds for appearance of such 'monsters'. In nature an overwhelming percentage of produced seeds and seedlings die quite fast, so chances are considerably reduced. I think I have such a 'monster' Chambeyronia in my cold frame. It displays a phenomenal rate of growth compared to other individuals grown  in identical conditions.

[peachy]

My little joey on a stick (J perakensis) has survived a year that killed so many of my other young palms. Not only survived but has grown a lot and looks fantastic.  I bought sight unseen from the internet from a man called @happypalms if you are looking for a tough and unusual little palm.

Peachy

[gyuseppe]

the seeds are double compared to seeds of radicals forms small 

[Harry’s Palms]

15 hours ago, Foggy Paul said:

They were seedlings. Darold gave them to me in May 2023 and I planted them out on October 2024. I have seven, so I think they will be a nice little grouping when they gain some size.

I agree with @happypalms , a bit more time . Once they go full pinnate they seem to gain speed . I have not noticed any difference in speed on my full shade Radicalis. I have had tight groupings such as that and usually 3-4 will take over and the others will fade. They are easy to separate but it is winter for us now so best to let nature take its course. They will be lovely as they grow. Harry

[happypalms]

8 hours ago, peachy said:

My little joey on a stick (J perakensis) has survived a year that killed so many of my other young palms. Not only survived but has grown a lot and looks fantastic.  I bought sight unseen from the internet from a man called @happypalms if you are looking for a tough and unusual little palm.

Peachy

Nice one my possum, they are actually tougher than magnifica. I have had less trouble with perakensis than magnifica, they are trouble magnifica but iam working them out, one thing with a Joey I know is once they get a setback they take a long time to recover from any ailments. 
There’s a seller called @happypalms out there I must get his number, but between you and me I hear he has killed a lot of exotic palms in some kind of zone pushing experiments. But you know what good on him for giving it a go the world needs more happypalms,. 
Richard 

[richnorm]

Do you find that there is a quite a long gap between leaves on altifrons?  Mine seems to have made it through its first winter in-ground and is pushing petiole at a reasonable pace but there is no sign of the new leaf.

[happypalms]

5 hours ago, richnorm said:

Do you find that there is a quite a long gap between leaves on altifrons?  Mine seems to have made it through its first winter in-ground and is pushing petiole at a reasonable pace but there is no sign of the new leaf.

You can expect around 3 leaves per year depending on your winter, they are slow in the ground in my climate. And they love water the more the better in the ground with good drainage. And they love warm soil temperatures. But they are slow regardless of conditions, definitely a super hot tropical lover! 

[happypalms]

14 hours ago, gyuseppe said:

the seeds are double compared to seeds of radicals forms small 

Nice one gyuseppe good looking palms! 

[happypalms]

13 hours ago, Harry’s Palms said:

I agree with @happypalms , a bit more time . Once they go full pinnate they seem to gain speed . I have not noticed any difference in speed on my full shade Radicalis. I have had tight groupings such as that and usually 3-4 will take over and the others will fade. They are easy to separate but it is winter for us now so best to let nature take its course. They will be lovely as they grow. Harry

Most palms sulk if planted from containers in the ground. But water is one trick in the warmer time of the year, some winters I hardly water my garden and in the nursery I try not to water all winter if I can help it. 
Richard 

[Mazat]

On 12/4/2025 at 10:19 AM, happypalms said:

They seem to be pretty popular with the cool climate growers and just about everyone who grows palms would have one or two around their house. 
So easy to grow and propagate there fast becoming the modern day chamaedorea elegans. Very tough dry tolerant cool tolerant and fast to grow, is one reason they are popular, from medium amounts of sun to deep shade there a palm that fits into any garden or container! 

Amazing specimens, indeed Richard 🤗 

[Mazat]

18 hours ago, gyuseppe said:

the seeds are double compared to seeds of radicals forms small 

Beautiful, Gyuseppe 🤗 

[Mazat]

20 hours ago, Phoenikakias said:

Yeah this can occure in almost all palm spp, I suppose. The more offspring are propagated and nurtured by people, the more the odds for appearance of such 'monsters'. In nature an overwhelming percentage of produced seeds and seedlings die quite fast, so chances are considerably reduced. I think I have such a 'monster' Chambeyronia in my cold frame. It displays a phenomenal rate of growth compared to other individuals grown  in identical conditions.

Wonderful, Konstantinos 🤗

[Mazat]

On 12/4/2025 at 1:41 PM, Phoenikakias said:

How thick can be the stem of a trunking specimen? I understand there must be some variation but I am interested in the potential of the sp. I have one specimen, that it has an exceptionally robust stem compared to other three specimens in the same group. It is the one in foreground.

Powerful trunk, so thick 🤔🤗

[happypalms]

A nice time to be watering the garden, with temperatures set be close to 49 degrees Celsius, water as much as I can now for the humidity, that’s one trick with growing some of the super jungle varieties I have! 

[happypalms]

Love them or dislike them, there here to stay in a garden near you. We all know how tough they are and the yellow colour is what sets them as winner. The only fault they have is drop leaves like a hot potato in butter fingers. 
But they are proven in the palm kingdom as the magical beauty of a palm up there with the coconut as picture of tropical holiday by the sea or poolside. I still grow a few and will still a few around as pioneer palms to help establish new plantings. Theres even a dwarf form worth tracking downl to grow! 

[Harry’s Palms]

I have a couple that are fairly large . They grow well in my climate and I like the colorful look of the golden canes and lighter colored fronds . Harry

[happypalms]

1 hour ago, Harry’s Palms said:

I have a couple that are fairly large . They grow well in my climate and I like the colorful look of the golden canes and lighter colored fronds . Harry

The trick with golden canes is plant them out as singles, the standard dozen in a container from the plant store doesn’t work well when mature, one great big ugly clump, but plant them out as single ps it’s a different story!

Richard

[peachy]

49c dear ?  We had a 39c a couple of weeks back but mainly mid to low 30s lately. Very humid of course but the rain only comes with nasty storms.  I am using the sprinkler again, even though we had so much rain in the past few weeks, the soil just dries out in no time.  Your bird nest fern looks good. I had 2 that were enormous at my old house but I can't get them to grow here for some strange reason.

Peachy

[Mazat]

3 hours ago, happypalms said:

A nice time to be watering the garden, with temperatures set be close to 49 degrees Celsius, water as much as I can now for the humidity, that’s one trick with growing some of the super jungle varieties I have! 

49 degrees Celsius, that's really high 🌴. In Switzerland, we had 40 degrees Celsius and slightly more measured in the shade by a colleague in Quinten SG Lake Walen...

I think that's a great trick, Richard 🤗 

[Mazat]

12 minutes ago, peachy said:

49c dear ?  We had a 39c a couple of weeks back but mainly mid to low 30s lately. Very humid of course but the rain only comes with nasty storms.  I am using the sprinkler again, even though we had so much rain in the past few weeks, the soil just dries out in no time.  Your bird nest fern looks good. I had 2 that were enormous at my old house but I can't get them to grow here for some strange reason.

Peachy

I would swap immediately; we have that at the moment, and it's on the rise and raining ...

[Harry’s Palms]

Yes , both of mine started as single clumps . They didn’t get too big a footprint , although one is still putting out pups after 25 years. The other one just keeps getting taller with above ground “ branches” forming near the base. I have seen what you described where the pot will have so many individuals that they will eventually choke each other out . One of mine  came from a wholesale Howea nursery . It was the owners personal potted palms from one of the offices. The other one was my own personal house plant from my old house . I got tired of maintaining it so I planted it in the ground. Harry

‘This is the gift from the Kentia farm I used to frequent . It was in a pot as a single , clumping palm . You can see below it is still sending out pups after 25 years. Then , a Radicalis volunteer joined the party. ( small trunk in the middle) 

It hugs the side of the house and a couple of stems have grown above roof , into the sun.

This one quit sending pups once it started trunking , that young one is a branch.

There are about three branches coming off this one but the branch , in this case , decided to make a u-turn! It looks like I missed a weed there! ( shame on me ) Harry

[Harry’s Palms]

Super Jungle is a good description. I just love your garden pictures , so many “ I spy” features like the happy Joey and the Dioon Spinalosa making friends with the Birds Nest fern that @peachy pointed out.. Wow , 49c ! That’s quite warm. Harry

[Frond-friend42]

I haven't tried any other than magifica but from my experience, and the ones that didn't make it, they do NOT like extra water.

[happypalms]

7 hours ago, Harry’s Palms said:

Yes , both of mine started as single clumps . They didn’t get too big a footprint , although one is still putting out pups after 25 years. The other one just keeps getting taller with above ground “ branches” forming near the base. I have seen what you described where the pot will have so many individuals that they will eventually choke each other out . One of mine  came from a wholesale Howea nursery . It was the owners personal potted palms from one of the offices. The other one was my own personal house plant from my old house . I got tired of maintaining it so I planted it in the ground. Harry

‘This is the gift from the Kentia farm I used to frequent . It was in a pot as a single , clumping palm . You can see below it is still sending out pups after 25 years. Then , a Radicalis volunteer joined the party. ( small trunk in the middle) 

It hugs the side of the house and a couple of stems have grown above roof , into the sun.

This one quit sending pups once it started trunking , that young one is a branch.

There are about three branches coming off this one but the branch , in this case , decided to make a u-turn! It looks like I missed a weed there! ( shame on me ) Harry

The best palm is a gifted palm tree. I love the colour of the trunk and the spacings on the one you have there, almost bamboo like the look. 
They where so popular back in the day, imagine if they had been discovered yesterday the palm world would flip over them and they would be worth a fortune with everyone wanting them from tropical to temperate zones. 
Your allowed to miss that weed, but you better get out there and get it today for the next photo shoot🤣

Richard 

[happypalms]

5 hours ago, Frond-friend42 said:

I haven't tried any other than magifica but from my experience, and the ones that didn't make it, they do NOT like extra water.

I have some of them sitting in trays of water all year and they don’t mind it, provided they have good drainage. I have a lot of Altifrons in the ground and will drink any amount of water I give them, but my soil is  black sandy loam derived from sandstone, so actually to much drainage that has a drawback in the summer droughts. 
The big amount I have in the nursery I do monitor the amount of water they get to avoid the fungal disease. Being careful not to overwater them. 

[Phoenikakias]

This part of my garden is decorated with red color near Christmas.  That's what I like more in radicalis and microspadix as well.

[happypalms]

3 hours ago, Phoenikakias said:

This part of my garden is decorated with red color near Christmas.  That's what I like more in radicalis and microspadix as well.

They have an amazing colour fruit like a rainbow almost at times.

[happypalms]

A couple more of the exotics go in the garden, with some good rainfall about the humidity will help them along. A few years there will be a bit more of a tropical look in the garden. 

[Harry’s Palms]

Nice understory palms in your jungle that will appreciate the company of the larger plants. Harry

[happypalms]

A nice bit of rain and some high temperatures has the Sabal moving along looking rather good. A nice easy palm to grow tolerant of a lot cool weather and heat like most palms just add water and good drainage! 

[Stevetoad]

Hands down my favorite Sabal. In my opinion you did it right by planting it in the shade. To me they look the best when shade stretched.  

[happypalms]

43 minutes ago, Stevetoad said:

Hands down my favorite Sabal. In my opinion you did it right by planting it in the shade. To me they look the best when shade stretched.  

I have another one that’s quite large in deeper shade and the petioles stretch to almost 3 meters, definitely better looking in the shade. Most people think Sabal it must have sun, not the mauritiformis. One nice palm they are and a bit rare in my area! 

[Harry’s Palms]

My favorite Sabal as well. Unfortunately the gophers liked “Marty” enough to make a meal of it. 🙁 Harry

[Stevetoad]

1 hour ago, happypalms said:

I have another one that’s quite large in deeper shade and the petioles stretch to almost 3 meters, definitely better looking in the shade. Most people think Sabal it must have sun, not the mauritiformis. One nice palm they are and a bit rare in my area! 

Agreed. Most Sabals look really good in shade as they get really stretched and tropical looking. Im sure it slows them down some but in thing the trade off is worth it. 

[happypalms]

1 hour ago, Harry’s Palms said:

My favorite Sabal as well. Unfortunately the gophers liked “Marty” enough to make a meal of it. 🙁 Harry

Pity you can’t make a meal out of the gophers 🤣But yes one nice palm!

Richard

[happypalms]

31 minutes ago, Stevetoad said:

Agreed. Most Sabals look really good in shade as they get really stretched and tropical looking. Im sure it slows them down some but in thing the trade off is worth it. 

Here’s the one I have in the shade,  super stretchy petioles. 

[quaman58]

Great palms; like Steve says, even better in semi shade. The white leaf undersides are are an added bonus..

 

[Phoenikakias]

I have one growing in full sun and I love it. It is perhaps my favorite Sabal in the garden, because it looks quite different from the rest. Unfortunately not very resistant to wind but even so it retains an interesting figure. In a worrying incident during past warm season it had its youngest fully developed frond dried out almost up to half the length of its petiole and further growth stalled. This has signaled a loud alarm in my mind, because it could be a symptom of rhizoctonia, which had killed many other smaller Sabal specimens around with similar initial symptoms. So I had to resort to very radical measures, I had nothing to lose anyway. I drenched the soil around the plant with 10 lt water containing 400 gr tolclofos-methyl. This is a horrific amount of fungicide. But no other young frond has died ever since and plant was growing all summer long at snail's pace but it was growing nonetheless! As weather has progressively cooled up and rainfalls started, plant has taken off and a huge new leaf has unfolded.

[happypalms]

16 hours ago, quaman58 said:

Great palms; like Steve says, even better in semi shade. The white leaf undersides are are an added bonus..

 

There absolutely gorgeous and as you say the silver white is an added bonus!