Voyage to the Mega Tahina

[knell]

@Hilo Jason and i have had an annual tradition three years running to visit a palm that makes my eyes water, a specimen of Tahina spectabilis in Hawaii that has thrived in its planted location

2023:

2024:

2025:

seems to have fully grown out of those rough leaf pushes

Jason has some great photos of years prior to this that they might post, thankful for the opportunity, the owner for letting us nerd out in their yard, and @bgl for the plant origin

[JohnAndSancho]

Hooooooooly 💩 that's amazing. 

[Rick Kelley]

Jason took me on a pilgrimage to see this monster six months ago. It was a humbling experience. I thought I had given mine plenty of room. Nope. Not even close. 

[Husain]

Holy what a monster palm 😮

[happypalms]

Couple of palm nuts like kids in a candy shop if I have ever seen one! 🤣

[Hilo Jason]

The first time I saw this palm was Dec. 31, 2021. We were staying at an AirBnb in the neighborhood that our land was in and a neighbor invited us over to see their house and garden. We were in the early stages of designing our house and I wanted to get ideas from other homes in the neighborhood. This neighbor told me he had a lot of plants so I was also curious to see the garden. I couldn’t believe it when I saw the Tahina in his yard! 
 

The planting location seems about as ideal as possible for a palm like this. There is a river / stream that runs year round through the property and the Tahina was planted fairly close to that. So it’s getting year round water in a warm climate. This neighborhood is about 11 miles north of Hilo, right on the ocean in a sunbelt area. So it gets quite a bit more sun than other areas of windward Hawaii. 
 

Here are the pictures from Dec 2021 of that first visit:

 

As a side note: 2025 has been an abnormally dry year here with less than half of our annual rainfall. The river behind the Tahina (not visible in any of these pictures) is almost completely dried up. The current owner has lived at the home for the past 10 years and has never seen the river so low. Really hoping our rains return soon.

[realarch]

OMG is appropriate here as well as another OMG! Planted in a location where it can reach its full potential. 

Thanks for the PRA.

Tim

[knell]

thank you for the backstory and photos Jason! truly a special place/palm

it also seems like it is being pruned less heavily each year, probably because it made that whole section unwalkable when the trunk was shorter, but i like to think part of the reason is that the owner knows it has a fan club (pun mildly intended)

[JD in the OC]

Did you check it for any seeds? 😁

[96720]

I believe you wouldn’t have to check for seeds as they have an enormous bloom and then die!!!

[donpachino1983]

Absolutely amazing. Thank you for these pictures.🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩