Planted a Hedycepe

[pogobob]

[pogobob]

Finally I have a good canopy to be able to plant these as they can’t handle the sun in the San Diego hill country 

[Urban Rainforest]

Just a little rootbound lol! Good looking palm and one of my favs! That one you had in San Clemente was legendary🤙

Stevo

[pogobob]

Hi Steve! Long time! 

[Foggy Paul]

That will look great next to the Rhopie! (Said as someone with the same combo)

[happypalms]

Nice one! Plant more of them!!

[tim_brissy_13]

4 hours ago, Foggy Paul said:

That will look great next to the Rhopie! (Said as someone with the same combo)

Reckon it might be Chrysalidocarpus. C prestonianus? But I agree with the sentiment, will look great there with some canopy pogobob! Hedyscepe remains my favourite species and this is a perfect specimen at that size. 

[Tracy]

That is a great addition to the garden.  I failed so many times, and the one remaining one I have is across from one of my Rhopalostylis in Carlsbad.  The Rhopalostylis continue to get taller but the Hedyscepe looks stalled in time after nearly 15 years.  I've never been able to figure out how to grow this species.

[Billeb]

That’s a perfect size to plant out and looks to be perfectly grown. Good luck with it @palmbob

 

33 minutes ago, Tracy said:

I've never been able to figure out how to grow this species.

This is shocking to me cuz both the ones I have in the ground are doing well and I’d say I have similar climate to you. Guess I’ve got dumb luck. 
 

I’ll post a few pics when I get home in a few days  

-dale 

[Urban Rainforest]

5 hours ago, pogobob said:

Hi Steve! Long time! 

Hi Bob! Yeah its been a minute! Your garden is looking awesome! Hope all is well!

[Rob123]

10 hours ago, pogobob said:

That‘s a beauty! I’d have a heart attack if I ever found one that large for sale haha

[pogobob]

I miss these from my former San Clemente days 

[pogobob]

[Harry’s Palms]

There is a couple of super tall ones in Ventura at one of the Sullivans apartments . Harry

I've posted this before but worth a second look!

[pogobob]

Before and now. New owner turned off irrigation 

[Urban Rainforest]

Super sad! The person who bought my last house did the same thing! He kept asking me what was wrong with the palms and I told him…uhhh you could start by watering them! One by one they keeled over to the point I could’nt go over there any more. Ambositrae, Decipiens even the giant two headed white Dypsis I had🤬Only the bullet proof palms survived.

[Urban Rainforest]

1 minute ago, Urban Rainforest said:

Super sad! The person who bought my last house did the same thing! He kept asking me what was wrong with the palms and I told him…uhhh you could start by watering them! One by one they keeled over to the point I could’nt go over there any more. Ambositrae, Decipiens even the giant two headed white Dypsis I had🤬Only the bullet proof palms survived.

All gone🙁

[pogobob]

Truly sad! The people who live at my former home fell for Jerry Browns fear mongering climate change propaganda. "its going to be 130degrees and there's never going to be snow in the mountains!"

[Urban Rainforest]

Yeah things be crazy right now! Where I live in Clairemont there want be anyplace to plant palms anymore because they are slapping together ADUs/apartments in backyards all over the area! Im trying to buy another house/garden but up against investors driving the price to over a million dollars! 
 

Im glad one of the OG gardens of Jim Wright is Still intact looking like the Amazon popping out of suburbia. I drive by it often as its close to where im living and it brings back some good memories! He used to give me tours of his garden and sell me seeds like you did Bob when I first was getting started🤙

[Tassie_Troy1971]

On 11/7/2025 at 6:32 AM, Urban Rainforest said:

Just a little rootbound lol! Good looking palm and one of my favs! That one you had in San Clemente was legendary🤙

Stevo

Hi Steve  in 2010 pogo sent me seeds from his biggest Hedyscepe 

Today I proudly show the results of those seeds as Hedyscepe grow like escapees in the ground in my coastal Tasmania garden.

I also have a smaller one from San clemente garden 

 

[Tassie_Troy1971]

3 minutes ago, Tassie_Troy1971 said:

Hi Steve  in 2010 pogo sent me seeds from his biggest Hedyscepe 

Today I proudly show the results of those seeds as Hedyscepe grow like escapees in the ground in my coastal Tasmania garden.

I also have a smaller one from San clemente garden 

 

 

[Urban Rainforest]

3 hours ago, Tassie_Troy1971 said:

Hi Steve  in 2010 pogo sent me seeds from his biggest Hedyscepe 

Today I proudly show the results of those seeds as Hedyscepe grow like escapees in the ground in my coastal Tasmania garden.

I also have a smaller one from San clemente garden 

Troy, Your Hedescepe are looking epic and grown to perfection! Its good to see the lineage of Bobs legendary palm survives! I used to get the tour of his garden and buy bags of seed and germinated many myself. I sold many of them so Im sure they are out there somewhere.

Is that baby tears groundcover you have around your palms? My whole front yard at my last house had baby tears ground cover and it worked out great!

3 hours ago, Tassie_Troy1971 said:

 

[Billeb]

On 11/8/2025 at 12:45 PM, pogobob said:

 

Wow! Complete black thumb or stupidity. Both unfortunate for the impressive garden. Such a shame. 

 

On 11/8/2025 at 1:18 PM, Urban Rainforest said:

All gone🙁

The countless hours spent in the garden, gone so quickly. Frustrating. 
 

-dale 

[Billeb]

6 hours ago, Tassie_Troy1971 said:

 

This plant is the reason I have 2 Hedyscepe. If one looks anywhere close to this, it’ll be worth it. Praying to the Palm Gods 🙏 

-dale 

[Darold Petty]

9 minutes ago, Billeb said:

This plant is the reason I have 2 Hedyscepe. If one looks anywhere close to this, it’ll be worth it. Praying to the Palm Gods 🙏 

-dale 

Two is not enough, I have six in the ground !  

[mnorell]

I don't understand why this beauty isn't mass-planted all over the coastal fog-belt and near-fog-belt (UC/Sunset z17/24 and fringes) from the Bay Area to San Diego...despite production issues perhaps tied to slow growth (and that hasn't stopped the production of Howea). Meanwhile people spend their time planting coconuts at the coast just to make a mountain to climb for themselves, destined to crumble under their feet... There was a time when Hedyscepe was as exotic as any new discovery in the forests of Madagascar or Southeast Asia, and their seeds were like gold to many. At least what goes around, comes around, and what is old becomes new again, so there is hope.

Noting Tracy's comment above, is this species known for stalling or otherwise failing erratically even at the coast? Perhaps a soil reaction issue? Root sensitivity? Or is it just that they do need copious water?

[Tassie_Troy1971]

3 hours ago, Urban Rainforest said:

Is that baby tears groundcover you have around your palms? My whole front yard at my last house had baby tears ground cover and it worked out great!

 

Yes Steve baby tears

[tinman10101]

On 11/8/2025 at 1:16 PM, Urban Rainforest said:

Super sad! The person who bought my last house did the same thing! He kept asking me what was wrong with the palms and I told him…uhhh you could start by watering them! One by one they keeled over to the point I could’nt go over there any more. Ambositrae, Decipiens even the giant two headed white Dypsis I had🤬Only the bullet proof palms survived.

i remember that two headed dypsis ... it was certainly the talk of the town (forum).  so sad to hear everything is now lost.

it would be painful for me to visit my home if i sold it to witness that all the palms had perished.  i think i would avoid it then be consumed with disappointment.  i feel your pain steve.  

[Urban Rainforest]

28 minutes ago, tinman10101 said:

i remember that two headed dypsis ... it was certainly the talk of the town (forum).  so sad to hear everything is now lost.

it would be painful for me to visit my home if i sold it to witness that all the palms had perished.  i think i would avoid it then be consumed with disappointment.  i feel your pain steve.  

Thanks for the kind words tin👍. I basically experienced a massive rug pull which took me several years to sort of navigate so at the time the palms were not my biggest concern😐. Thats why I was MIA from this website. While I do miss the palms and my old houses I have always kinda been forward looking and try not to dwell to much on the past. Im trying to buy another house now so I can do it all one more time but in the interim time since I had my last house/garden home prices have tripled in my area! Yes that two headed Dypsis was legendary. Glad I still have a pic of it. Thanks again🤙

steve
 

 

[Stevetoad]

On 11/6/2025 at 4:57 PM, Tracy said:

That is a great addition to the garden.  I failed so many times, and the one remaining one I have is across from one of my Rhopalostylis in Carlsbad.  The Rhopalostylis continue to get taller but the Hedyscepe looks stalled in time after nearly 15 years.  I've never been able to figure out how to grow this species.

I’m in the same boat. I figured maybe I’m too far inland but I’ve had them die in winter, spring and summer, shade and morning sun. Bummer too because they are a beauty. 

[BS Man about Palms]

On 11/6/2025 at 4:57 PM, Tracy said:

That is a great addition to the garden.  I failed so many times, and the one remaining one I have is across from one of my Rhopalostylis in Carlsbad.  The Rhopalostylis continue to get taller but the Hedyscepe looks stalled in time after nearly 15 years.  I've never been able to figure out how to grow this species.

Wow! Nice to bounce back in and see what looks like old home week!!

First off, a term started by Dean Ouer and I was 'the Hedyscepe complex" referring to these palms probably 15 years ago. Through much observation and tries by many, success of these seem "random" rather than providing the correct culture. Dean and others I have talked to over the years would (if infatuated enough) plant more than 3.. maybe 6 or more through a property and the great ones were "random" at best.  Say you planted 10, it seemed you would have 1 or 2 be rockets, hardy, big etc. , then 3-5 that would be okay.. not big, not fast, but growing.. the rest seemed to languish.. barely alive.. almost shrinking until dying.  I have seen nice ones in places where the growers are almost clueless and people that grow well struggle to get a nice one going... thus "the Hedyscepe complex".  You could plant two 5' apart and one might be fine and the other dies no what you try.  If yours dies or languishes, get some more and try again.
The Bentinckia condapanna is one that also follows the "Hedyscepe complex" with random fantastic ones, many of the others languish.

But great to see Bob, Steve,  Tin, Troy, Darold, and the "newer" guys pop in.

As far as my Hedy sitch... I had a decent one in front from Clark that I thought died... but it is starting to grow again.  One in the back yard from Josh is actually looking pretty good considering how little care I lavish on it. (FAR better than the sad results at PogoBobs old place!!)!  🥵😭🤬

[Darold Petty]

I agree completely with Bill's observation about the 'Hedyscepe complex'.  They are erratic, even within the same seed lot.  I have a slender trunked one that makes excellent, strong seedlings and a thick trunked one with poor seedlings.  They are not like Howea or Chamaedorea, where all the seedlings are quite regular.

A strong Hedyscepe seedling will have a fully pinnate eophyll with 3 or 4 leaflets on each side of the rachis.   Also, they dislike pot culture beyond the 1 or 5 gallon size,  this is one reason,  (besides the basic slow growth), that large plants are so expensive. 

 

 

[richnorm]

Spot on Bill, Darold.  A good one can go from seed to seeding in 10 years but most are much slower. Sadly they are about to be banned here along with many palm staples.

[Jonathan]

2 hours ago, richnorm said:

Spot on Bill, Darold.  A good one can go from seed to seeding in 10 years but most are much slower. Sadly they are about to be banned here along with many palm staples.

As potentially invasive Rich?

That seems a looong stretch...I think maybe NZ might be swinging a bit too hard on all that stuff at the moment, I would have thought conservation of existing ecosystems would be a much higher priority than obsessing over the next highly improbable invasive species?

[Foggy Paul]

Y’all are scaring me! I guess I should plant a few more! Here is ours, 7 years in the ground from a mediocre 15g. What do you think? Hopefully the scale reads, it’s maybe 6’ high, but falling behind the R. Chatham planted 3 years later. It’s always seemed slow to us. Does this seem like normal growth? If not, I’ll start looking.

 

[Darold Petty]

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/nov/24/new-zealand-to-eradicate-feral-cats-by-2050

(Sorry, John )

 

[Darold Petty]

@Foggy Paul,  yours looks OK, keep up the good work !

[Tyrone]

On 11/9/2025 at 4:45 AM, pogobob said:

Before and now. New owner turned off irrigation 

That’s heart breaking. 

[Tyrone]

5 hours ago, richnorm said:

Spot on Bill, Darold.  A good one can go from seed to seeding in 10 years but most are much slower. Sadly they are about to be banned here along with many palm staples.

Why are they banning them, along with other palms??????

[tinman10101]

16 hours ago, BS Man about Palms said:

But great to see Bob, Steve,  Tin, Troy, Darold, and the "newer" guys pop in.

As far as my Hedy sitch... I had a decent one in front from Clark that I thought died... but it is starting to grow again.  One in the back yard from Josh is actually looking pretty good considering how little care I lavish on it. (FAR better than the sad results at PogoBobs old place!!)!  🥵😭🤬

LMAO ... Tri, Len, George, and Gary always said Bill has this crazy palm sixth sense that when something palm related was happening ... he would pop up out of nowhere.  Well you are doing it again Bill but virtually LOL.  Good to see you back!

On another note, I can contest to this Hedy Complex.  I have over 20 plants in my greenhouse all grown from seed (same age) and some are crazy rockets and some are languishing.  Not sure what i am doing wrong ... they all get neglected equally.