What kind of palm tree or exotic plant did you buy today, or seeds for one?

[Mazat]

We know the feeling: you're at the garden center or discount store and you spot an exotic plant. Sometimes the plant is in relatively good condition, sometimes not. 

Sometimes the price is too high, and sometimes it's a bargain.

Some of the plants are described, others are not...

Sabine discovered this plant today, undescribed but for 2 USD.

[Than]

2 USD is just enough for the small pot! Good find! I am also in the shopping rabbithole lately.. Just today I was checking my RPS basket, waiting for me to click "proceed to checkout". I managed to stop myself once again 😬

[JohnAndSancho]

In the last week, I've bought a Sabal Uresana (but I'm waiting on either an Amazon refund or an eBay shipment to pay for shipping), some seeds from a wild Cavendish banana, and @WaianaeCrider has mailed me seeds from another exotic Hawaiian papaya. 

[Mazat]

18 hours ago, Than said:

2 USD is just enough for the small pot! Good find! I am also in the shopping rabbithole lately.. Just today I was checking my RPS basket, waiting for me to click "proceed to checkout". I managed to stop myself once again 😬

Thank you very much, Than.

Yes, we know that feeling.

It's like a rush, a joyful urge to order something...

[Mazat]

3 hours ago, JohnAndSancho said:

In the last week, I've bought a Sabal Uresana (but I'm waiting on either an Amazon refund or an eBay shipment to pay for shipping), some seeds from a wild Cavendish banana, and @WaianaeCrider has mailed me seeds from another exotic Hawaiian papaya. 

Good choice, John. All very interesting exotic species.

It takes patience every time until they all arrive. The anticipation is always a great feeling 🤗

[peachy]

Between the heat wave, violent storms with tennis ball sized hail stones, my crumbling spine, a sick cat and 6 of the little dogs all needing dental work, need I say I have not been buying plants for a long time. Today I needed a fitting to put on the garden hose and ventured into the danger zone , Bunnings. (a hardware and garden chain of stores in Australia) Even though I stayed away from the plant section,  I went in for a peek, just to look of course. Well I found Licuala grandis,  in 20cm pots, about 1 metre in overall height for 22.95 !!  I have 3 or 4 of them already but at that price they were a give away and so I took. Then I saw a Thai Constellation monstera, only in a 13 cm pot and 40 cm overall height, but for $29 I wasn't saying no to that as I have wanted one for ages but wouldn\t pay $300 which is what the slightly larger ones cost.  It was money that should have gone on debts but I felt so good about getting new plants and great bargains that to hell with being responsible for once.

Peachy

[JohnAndSancho]

42 minutes ago, Mazat said:

Good choice, John. All very interesting exotic species.

It takes patience every time until they all arrive. The anticipation is always a great feeling 🤗

Lol it's at the point now where I don't know what I owe @WaianaeCrider - the messages are basically "I found another papaya and ate it, seeds are in the mail" 

[Mazat]

29 minutes ago, peachy said:

Between the heat wave, violent storms with tennis ball sized hail stones, my crumbling spine, a sick cat and 6 of the little dogs all needing dental work, need I say I have not been buying plants for a long time. Today I needed a fitting to put on the garden hose and ventured into the danger zone , Bunnings. (a hardware and garden chain of stores in Australia) Even though I stayed away from the plant section,  I went in for a peek, just to look of course. Well I found Licuala grandis,  in 20cm pots, about 1 metre in overall height for 22.95 !!  I have 3 or 4 of them already but at that price they were a give away and so I took. Then I saw a Thai Constellation monstera, only in a 13 cm pot and 40 cm overall height, but for $29 I wasn't saying no to that as I have wanted one for ages but wouldn\t pay $300 which is what the slightly larger ones cost.  It was money that should have gone on debts but I felt so good about getting new plants and great bargains that to hell with being responsible for once.

Peachy

Wow, what a bargain and beautiful plants, well done, Peachy.

Oh Peachy, I just told Sabine and she had to smile 🤗

We can understand that very well, but we also live to live and not just to constantly pay bills, especially not to the government 😁

The plants give life, joy, oxygen, and therefore much more than a paid bill...

[Harry’s Palms]

I have been in the seed mode lately . Putting a few species in soil to see what “pops up” . No plant buying for a while , since my full hip replacement and subsequent car accident ( nearly totaled my wife’s truck ….”hey , it wasn’t my fault!”)I have been gifted some interesting palm seeds , also collecting on my own with permission. Busy at work and no cycling for another two months so our garden is getting lots of attention . I have been known  , in the past , to frequent the clearance section of nurseries back when they carried more than just Queen palms and Pygmy palms. I used to come home with some real bargains and nurse them back to health . It may soon be time for a “ palm safari” . Harry

thank you @DoomsDave you are a kind person!

[Foggy Paul]

I posted this elsewhere on the forum, but this S. weddelliana arrived on Wednesday.  Just noticed that it has three flower spikes coming out…I think!

 

[Darold Petty]

Well done, Peachy, I am gratified that you have the correct priorities !!   

[happypalms]

On 12/5/2025 at 11:14 PM, peachy said:

Between the heat wave, violent storms with tennis ball sized hail stones, my crumbling spine, a sick cat and 6 of the little dogs all needing dental work, need I say I have not been buying plants for a long time. Today I needed a fitting to put on the garden hose and ventured into the danger zone , Bunnings. (a hardware and garden chain of stores in Australia) Even though I stayed away from the plant section,  I went in for a peek, just to look of course. Well I found Licuala grandis,  in 20cm pots, about 1 metre in overall height for 22.95 !!  I have 3 or 4 of them already but at that price they were a give away and so I took. Then I saw a Thai Constellation monstera, only in a 13 cm pot and 40 cm overall height, but for $29 I wasn't saying no to that as I have wanted one for ages but wouldn\t pay $300 which is what the slightly larger ones cost.  It was money that should have gone on debts but I felt so good about getting new plants and great bargains that to hell with being responsible for once.

Peachy

The bills are always going to be there, paid or not paid. But that grandis won’t be, and a Thai constellation for that price a bargain, they are still ripping us off down here and we don’t ever get grandis and as for Thai constellation $110 to $90 bucks! 
Richard 

[Mazat]

On 12/6/2025 at 9:37 PM, Foggy Paul said:

I posted this elsewhere on the forum, but this S. weddelliana arrived on Wednesday.  Just noticed that it has three flower spikes coming out…I think!

 

Wonderful, Paul 🤗

[PlantMorePalms]

Lady Fox hybrid (Veitchia arecina x Wodyetia bifurcata) showed up in the mail today 🤗

[JohnAndSancho]

56 minutes ago, PlantMorePalms said:

Lady Fox hybrid (Veitchia arecina x Wodyetia bifurcata) showed up in the mail today 🤗

That is niiiiiiiice. 

I dunno if this counts, but I hit the Mexican market looking for more mangos now that I've figured out the right way to prep and sow them. None there, but these MONSTERS at the Guatemalan market. Normal mango for scale. 

[Than]

OK I think I am hooked and I need to stop. I just bought seeds of Burretiokentia hapala and Lanonia dasyantha from rps. It says on the website that they have sprouted and this is why I bought them; I suck at making palm seeds sprout and I don't wanna wait for months too. Both are marginal in my climate but.. buying new plants is a mental condition, it doesn't know logic!

I also bought a pack of ficus auriculata, a massive stunner. I sprouted seeds successfully in the past but then all seedlings died within a couple of weeks. Let's hope I'll be luckier this time.

[JohnAndSancho]

Ha! I got got again. I ordered some "golden banana" seeds and they're the sterile worthless seeds from grocery store bananas. But they threw some lemon cucumber seeds in as a bonus so I guess I got cucumber seeds. And I ate another mango. 

 

I hope there's a market for mangos next season cuz I'm gonna have a ton of 1g. 

[Harry’s Palms]

@JohnAndSancho  Lemon cucumbers are very good . I had a friend that grew a bunch many years ago and gifted me some . I had never seen or heard of them . The flavor was very good and the size meant you could eat the whole thing . I asked why they are not commonly sold in stores and I was told they don’t keep as well as the conventional cukes. Harry

[Harry’s Palms]

I just received a nice pkg of Kentiopsis Oliivformis seeds . Harry