Is it just me?

[Bkue]

Has this forum gone from semi regional and helpful to worldwide extreme exotics? I cant find anything in between. I scroll pages of cool stuff but nothing I can get or grow here. Nothing I can contribute to either. The whole board is littered with google search terms of unicorn palms in places so vastly different than I could even think of growing. I’m in cfla and should have a ton of interest but I see almost nothing. Can there not be regional boards or what? I feel like the main page discourages anyone searching and looking for guidance or inspiration. Inspiration is what first brought me here. 
 

all I see is scientific names in far corners of the world now. Any old timers (5+yrs) feel the same? 

[Harry’s Palms]

I haven’t been here 5 years but I have seen plenty of helpful advice on growing of all palms , whether exotic or common. Scientific names are helpful to me as that is what I normally go by . Harry

[Jonathan]

I think you've gotta make your own connections...there are people posting here from all over the world and after a while you figure out who posts stuff relevant to your situation and you hook into that community.

As for scientific names...have a look at this current thread to understand why most of us prefer them 

 

[tim_brissy_13]

I’ve been on here most of my life and I’ve always found it helpful. I agree with the above,  I think the key is to filter through to find the stuff relevant to you. 
 

Being in CFla, there should be some regular poster who can help. I know I’ve always admired photos from Leu Gardens. 
 

Another suggestion - starting a topic with a particular request often helps,  e.g if you’ve got a spot in the garden you want to fill with something interesting snd obtainable that would do well in your climate. 

[happypalms]

Palm growing has changed over the 35 years I have been growing them for. Once rare and exotic lytocarum weddlianum is now that common you can’t give the seeds away 35 years ago they were that rare. Now once common is replaced pretty quick by new rare exotic varieties. There are the true exotics from the past thay always remain exotic Johannesteijsmannia, licuala orbicularis, mapu, kerriodoxa iguanura palms Calyptrocalyx they are here to stay as exotics that are not rare. Nowadays growers want the rare unobtainable stuff that is super exotic looking. You could join a gardening club or other type of society’s that are more specific in your interest. They are always looking for new members w are more than willing to share or sell thay specific plant that takes your interest. Think outside of the greenhouse and there is plenty of content material just waiting to be posted! 

[donpachino1983]

I think that probably faraway places have become more reachable Thanks to the internet. Sort of how national geographic and other nature shows. I've helped me travel the world from the comfort of my couch.🤷‍♂️

[sonoranfans]

Ive been on palmtalk since 2007.  Posters have changed but it was always worldwide.  There are less floridians as a percentage of posts perhaps but you are in 10a, you should be able to grow what I grow.  Of the vast thousands of palms in the world perhaps 10-20% are good in zone 10a Florida.  Scientific names prevent confusion, trade names are often confusing to me., in a world of thousands of palms the trade names are not specific enough to identify a palm.  Many have no trade name as they are not common in general nurseries.  I believe kinzyjr has a cold hardy list you should be able to choose from.  WHen I look back many of the most experienced palm growers are not posting much these days.  People get older and their garden mature so they are not searching for potential palm information so much.  Get the list of 10a palms and do a search for the scientific names.  Some palms are referred to as partial scientific names like for instance a search for bismarckia will turn up bismarckia nobillis or roystonea will turn up roystonea regia etc.  WHen I started the names seemed difficult to memorize so go with a 10a list from kinzyjr(pm him)

[Bill H2DB]

10 hours ago, Bkue said:

Has this forum gone from semi regional and helpful to worldwide extreme exotics? I cant find anything in between. I scroll pages of cool stuff but nothing I can get or grow here. Nothing I can contribute to either. The whole board is littered with google search terms of unicorn palms in places so vastly different than I could even think of growing. I’m in cfla and should have a ton of interest but I see almost nothing. Can there not be regional boards or what? I feel like the main page discourages anyone searching and looking for guidance or inspiration. Inspiration is what first brought me here. 
 

all I see is scientific names in far corners of the world now. Any old timers (5+yrs) feel the same? 

  Here is a link :    https://www.palmtalk.org/forum/tags/cfpacs/

[aztropic]

 

[Silas_Sancona]

A bit of perspective from over a decades worth of observation regarding this….

Reflecting on it, while happy not to be there, i can say ..without a doubt, that in Florida, there is no shortage of knowledge to be gained in how to …or what.. someone can grow anywhere out there. 
 

aside from all the knowledgable folks id cross paths with .. who knew their stuff, palm — wise,  …some connected to palmtalk/ others gaining their palmy knowledge on their own,  absolutely no shortage of public parks and bot. gardens to access full of a wide diversity of species to look at and research and play with in ones own yard - if they chose to.

PLENTY of nurseries growing all sorts of stuff to purchase from too. 
 

Yes, in recent years, some growers have retired / nurseries closed .. thus making stuff that might have been easier to find in 2015 slightly harder to track down but,  most of it can still be found .. if determined enough / make an effort to cross paths with the right folks.
 

As is the case here …or in California,  only limiting factor in accessing anything someone might want to grow is how far one is willing to travel to access what they might be interested in.  If i couldn't find it locally.
 

Two or 3 hour drive to the Miami / Homestead area from Clearwater and Bradenton were well worth the adventures / hours on the road ..when i couldn't find something interesting at which ever local plant sale event i would attend each year i lived in each area.

Plethora of un-ending plant sale events …big and / backyard sized = …Another big plus for Florida. Miss those drives to Homestead myself.

If someone chooses not to capitalize on all these  in - your - face / easily accessible resources / sources for interesting  things to plant,  that is their own fault,  not anyone elses..

Pretty silly to grovel about how hard it might be to find stuff if someone chooses not to look around.

 

Not to parrot others thoughts on this but, as mentioned,  times change / people ..and their gardens age.  Collector’s lists are filled and the collector might move on to new things…

…or maybe they move somewhere else entirely.

new place,  …in a completely new area = totally different palate of stuff to play with.  

 

As far as the “ regionally -focused “ aspect,

that has always waxed and waned here…

 

Can remember when Hawaii was the big focus on the board.

 

Then both Fl.  and CA. battled for the top spot in the spotlight for awhile.

 

Now,  other areas,  with far limited options than the 3 places above, …here in the states at least, are rising to the occasion and making their mark in their specific areas ..and the scope of knowledge of the board / forum itself.

 

Rest of the world?  Is doing the same thing. 
 

Just another day, really…

 

Regarding the use of scientific names?,  imo,  choosing to ignore  using them / don't want to accept when they're changed?   = just a gardener / can’t call yourself a knowledgable plant / nature loving person if you don't use them / learn them.  
 

Some homework perhaps, but, it isn’t a hard thing to learn either …i mean, we use many botanical names already ( Eucalyptus, for example ) some are fun to say too, esp. when you finally stop butchering them, lol.  Best plant folks butcher plenty btw along the way..

 

…Is a “ code of conduct rule “ a couple of well known botanist / researchers, a biologist i helped conduct a survey with when i was 16,  and my high school biology teacher taught me decades ago  ..and what i live by..

 Don't give a s!!! about any eye rollers who don't know their names / choose to remain ignorant of why they matter,  esp. any that participate on any science - focused site / forum.
 

How to grow Plants,  …of any kind,  = Science 👍

[Las Palmas Norte]

I've been here off and on, close to 10 years. Joined sometime after the collapse of the Cloudforest Cafe. Nearly all of my activity is with the Hardy Palm forum, based on my knowledge and interests. There are countless times where I find nothing or little interest. That's to be expected at least from my perspective. This forum is named "DISSCUSSING PALM TREES WORLDWIDE" which indicates a planet wide invitation and as such, a tremendous variety of topics. Some areas have their own palm societies where locals can join and participate in meetings, events and garden tours specific to the region, networking along the way. @Bkue you may find that an avenue you could persue.

[kinzyjr]

1 hour ago, Silas_Sancona said:

Then both Fl.  and CA. battled for the top spot in the spotlight for awhile.

Yeah, it has been cyclical depending on the players in the game.  @aztropic mentioned the Orlando thread since it is geographically consistent with what @Bkue can expect.  When @palmsOrl and his alias accounts stopped posting and @RedRabbit took off for Texas, there was less posting from Central Florida since they were the original posters of the Orlando and Tampa area threads:

• https://www.palmtalk.org/forum/topic/59360-zone-10-palms-in-the-orlando-area-mega-thread/
• https://www.palmtalk.org/forum/topic/61172-remarkable-palms-of-tampa-bay/

This friendly back-and-forth went on for a while and was one of the big drivers of interest for communities near the two cities, like Lakeland-Winter Haven, Deland, Daytona, etc.  A bunch of the people who were interested in these threads have joined a WhatsApp chat that @Bkue or others are welcome to join (PM @EPaul) and typically come to CFPACS meetings and/or comment on the CFPACS Facebook page.

https://www.facebook.com/p/Central-Florida-Palm-Cycad-Society-100064719099155/

@Bill H2DB + @sonoranfans mentioned CFPACS and me, specifically, so it is important to understand the impact of threads like the above.  There had not previously been a CFPACS meeting in Lakeland to my knowledge, but after the Remarkable Palms thread became popular, we had two meetings here in two years and have a booth at the Plantae-palooza sale at Hollis Gardens each year.  Just going off what I see in CFPACS, we have a LOT of new members from the Jacksonville and St. Augustine areas.  There's been a lot of interest in the coconuts and other tropicals around New Smyrna Beach.  We had our four quarterly meetings this year, and attendance was through the roof.  Our publications page is very helpful as well:

https://cfpacs.com/org/palmateer/

Freeze events also tend to spark engagement.  Back when PalmTalk became a thing, the forum was very active with posts from California, especially after the 2007 Freeze.  When 2010 came, Florida became an area of focus as folks wanted palms that looked tropical, but could survive those types of events.  Texas has gotten hit the last couple of years, so a lot of the activity in the Cold Hardy forums is from Texas.  In that regard, I guess I'm good with little to no attention LOL.

The posts from @happypalms have renewed a lot of interest from Australia and folks not accustomed to some of the stuff he is able to grow that we either can't or have a tough time with here in the SE USA.  @Than and @Phoenikakias have a lot of content from Greece, and thankfully, @gyuseppe is back in the game.

Overall, yes the forum has changed a bit with different players dominating the field, but that is normal.  If there's specific content that you desire, consider creating a thread for it if none exists currently.  Many of the users use Google searches like the one below to find something of interest:

www.palmtalk.org: central florida palms

In my own case, I keep a spreadsheet of direct links to content I found informative or interesting in the past so I can visit those links to refresh my memory.

[JohnAndSancho]

3 hours ago, Silas_Sancona said:

 

Regarding the use of scientific names?,  imo,  choosing to ignore  using them / don't want to accept when they're changed?   = just a gardener / can’t call yourself a knowledgable plant / nature loving person if you don't use them / learn them.  
 

Some homework perhaps, but, it isn’t a hard thing to learn either …i mean, we use many botanical names already ( Eucalyptus, for example ) some are fun to say too, esp. when you finally stop butchering them, lol.  Best plant folks butcher plenty btw along the way..

 Don't give a s!!! about any eye rollers who don't know their names / choose to remain ignorant of why they matter,  esp. any that participate on any science - focused site / forum.
 

How to grow Plants,  …of any kind,  = Science 👍

Sir, as this forum's most prominent dumbass, I'm gonna have to respectfully disagree with you on this point. I mean, on one hand there's a few threads about how to get new blood into the hobby and bring younger people in - but expecting everyone to pick up on Latin and biological names isn't really gonna do that. If someone says spindle palm, cat palm, or bottle palm, we all know what they're talking about. I mean, as long as we can understand each other is it really that important? I mean sure, we can Google it and copy and paste the scientific names pretty easily, sure, but as long as we all understand does it matter? Like, I can say hamburger or I can say grilled ground chuck portion in patty from from Bos Taurus (and yes, I googled the scientific name for a cow). 

I'm not trying to start an argument by any means here, I'm just saying that everyone isn't as educated and knowledgeable as most of y'all and that's okay. I've got stuff I don't even know it's common name and I've got stuff I'm not even gonna try to spell it's Latin name. If this hobby is gonna experience a revival, we're gonna have to accept people that buy plants at Home Depot. 

And don't get me wrong, I've learned tons of stuff from my 5ish or so years on here, but (here's where I'm gonna rustle some jimmies) if we really want a revival to grow this hobby, it's gonna have to branch out to become more than an exclusive travel club of people well versed in botany. 

It's not much different than cars as a hobby. I can tell people my old truck was lowered about 5" in the front and 7" in the back, or I can say that yeah, up front I flipped the ball joints and used Eibach coil springs and modified 69 Camaro shocks and in the rear I used a set of dearched 4x4 leaf springs with the middle spring pulled and the ends chopped off of the overload springs and bolted on some 18x7 Japanese Rays Payton Place Knight Barons on 225/40/18 tires. There's levels to this and it's ok to be a rookie. We need to embrace them. As long as someone doesn't say like fluffy green thing or whatever, it's cool. The 4x4 springs are shorter but the trucks sit higher because the shackles and hangers are mounted lower on the frame. 

[SeanK]

I guess folks have moved away from using names like C.plumosa or C.australis. King Palm is applied to a couple different species. That's likely driven people to use Latin names. 

Unfortunately, with the recent shuffling of genus assignments, even calling out Dypsis or Chrysalidocarpus is not a sure bet. Luckily, you have good resources in your local CFPACS club.

[Than]

I wish I could find as many relevant stuff to my zone in this forum as someone who lives in cfla can! I always felt that members from Florida have access to huge amounts of information among this forum's threads and I'm a bit jealous of them. They seem to be the luckiest in this respect. Coming from Europe I have a hard time detecting info that is relevant to me here sometimes but overall I have learned so much here from people living in areas with similar climate to mine but also from those who don't! The amount of knowledge I've gathered from palmtalk is incredible.

I do realise that sometimes things I post don't get as much attention because many people live in areas with vastly different climates and conditions than mine so perhaps they find my observations, troubles or questions irrelevant. I've accepted the fact. I also don't pay as much attention to the experience of people living in say, Hawaii for the same reason, although i love travelling through the photos of their stunning gardens. 

Efortlessly scrolling through lots of threads with relevant info sounds dreamy indeed but in real life we have to use the Search function to find what we need. Thankfully, it's easy to do even for the not so tech savvy.

If it helps, my climate and even soil type are identical to those of the area north of Sacramento! 😁 Perhaps I should add this in my profile info so more American friends can relate and compare.

When it comes to using scientific names I second every word @Silas_Sancona has written. 

[Silas_Sancona]

6 hours ago, JohnAndSancho said:

Sir, as this forum's most prominent dumbass, I'm gonna have to respectfully disagree with you on this point. I mean, on one hand there's a few threads about how to get new blood into the hobby and bring younger people in - but expecting everyone to pick up on Latin and biological names isn't really gonna do that. If someone says spindle palm, cat palm, or bottle palm, we all know what they're talking about. I mean, as long as we can understand each other is it really that important? I mean sure, we can Google it and copy and paste the scientific names pretty easily, sure, but as long as we all understand does it matter? Like, I can say hamburger or I can say grilled ground chuck portion in patty from from Bos Taurus (and yes, I googled the scientific name for a cow). 

I'm not trying to start an argument by any means here, I'm just saying that everyone isn't as educated and knowledgeable as most of y'all and that's okay. I've got stuff I don't even know it's common name and I've got stuff I'm not even gonna try to spell it's Latin name. If this hobby is gonna experience a revival, we're gonna have to accept people that buy plants at Home Depot. 

And don't get me wrong, I've learned tons of stuff from my 5ish or so years on here, but (here's where I'm gonna rustle some jimmies) if we really want a revival to grow this hobby, it's gonna have to branch out to become more than an exclusive travel club of people well versed in botany. 

It's not much different than cars as a hobby. I can tell people my old truck was lowered about 5" in the front and 7" in the back, or I can say that yeah, up front I flipped the ball joints and used Eibach coil springs and modified 69 Camaro shocks and in the rear I used a set of dearched 4x4 leaf springs with the middle spring pulled and the ends chopped off of the overload springs and bolted on some 18x7 Japanese Rays Payton Place Knight Barons on 225/40/18 tires. There's levels to this and it's ok to be a rookie. We need to embrace them. As long as someone doesn't say like fluffy green thing or whatever, it's cool. The 4x4 springs are shorter but the trucks sit higher because the shackles and hangers are mounted lower on the frame. 

All i can say is yep, perfectly ok to disagree .. 

 

….Otoh,  with 432k followers  ….wayyy more than the total  # of members here,  …and counting by the day …  i think someone i know is doing a bang up job of getting plenty of new, younger,  ( .. and older,  too ) green behind the ears skin into the plant and natural fields world game using  those dreaded “ proper “ terms …rather than stooping to the disconnected /  “ dumbing down “ / home depot level of intelligence ( lack there of in that respect )  to spark new interest / engagement  …here   ... or anywhere else. . 

…isn't just his bold, no holds barred honest views of / on humanity  …good chunk of it anyway…  that people tune in for / respect / find tremendous, refreshing inspiration in.  
 

If i were 15-20 again / had kids in that age range who were just starting to really get their plant / nature related - anything feet wet for the first time, he'd be among the first go - to folks id go to / direct my kids to observe and study for relevant perspective in our pursuit of credible knowledge gained. 

  As far as cars, fun to learn the technical stuff rather than the watered down ( on purpose ) version.

Even if to me, cars are just hunks of metal with round, rubbah shoes …often wayy over priced …on purpose,  that get me out into the field 10  or 1000 miles away to look at plants, bugs ..and/ or rattlesnakes .. let alone further expand my knowledge and perspective of the world i am but a puzzle piece within while simply taking in views while hiking somewhere.  

Far better than any dumbed down / acceptance of a dumbed down version of …anything…
 
 

[sonoranfans]

I think when your zone limits choices, the names can seem superfluous.  I started palms in zone 9a where perhaps less than 2-3% of all palms can grow. trade names seemed to be sufficient, but now in a solid 10a the numbers of palms I can grow have increased dramatically and things like trade names for sabals, livistonas, dypsis, kings, chambeyronias, copernicias/yareys, etc all have a frustrating lack of specificity in trade names and make researching care for them more difficult and error prone.  How many have planted a palm in the wrong site and wasted money and more importantly time due to lack of information?   You want to push a zone make sure you have the right sabal, and some like being very wet while others hate it.  There are two that will kick it or be severely burned at 25-26F degrees in an advective event.  When I want palm specific growing conditions for planning my garden I want the scientific names so I can determine water and fertilizer or cold protection needs.  I dont buy palms from nurseries that dont even have the scientific names on the label because they often don't know what that palm is and I cant identify many palms at a young seedling stage that I buy.  How many of us have bought a misidentified palm and were frustrated when we didn't get what we paid for?  I have planted half a dozen misidentified palms that didn't grow or thrive as expected.  Im not wasting my time with sellers that don't even know what they have, the expense of caring for a palm eventually exceeds the purchase price so I want to know how to care for them.   My favorite palms have almost invariably come from sellers that know the palms so I can research them and care for them properly.  I used to get frustrated by the names too, I don't like being forced to memorize anything I cant use, so I understand if you are in a cold zone or are not that interested in palms as a hobby.    I lived away from my garden for 7 years and rarely posted as I was not taking care of them week to week.  I also saw old friends disappear from this forum, sometimes by choice and sometimes not by their choice(RIP).  I got tired of the redundancy and all the coconut palm posts but you can zoom right past the really basic or redundant posts if you are not interested, or don't have the time to help someone new.  Personally, this forum has been a goldmine of information for my #1 hobby, and I want to give something back, as there were experienced people who did that for me.  I was one of the ones that insisted on the cold hardy palms forum, if you are zone 8 or 9a that might be the best forum here for you as you will be able to find what you want faster with less effort.   When you live in zone 10 or 11, its different and you cannot get a lot of information without reading about and asking about palms, and if you are serious the scientific names really matter.  I have looked at several other sites, and found them lacking in at least one of several areas I wanted to explore.  I am not looking to sell anything or for the off topics that often contain just gabbing or trolling.  Palmtalk is a well moderated site that I can get away from all the $%^ out there in the world that is often represented by a small number of the population that is angry or frustrated with their lives.   I am too old to let someone I don't know drag my day down and kill my qi.  I can come here for information, or to help someone, who like myself at one time, needed it.   Palmtalk may not be for everyone and that is ok, there are other sites that cater to various degrees of involvement and content people may desire.  This one is more about the rich information and help available almost nowhere else in help for selecting and growing your palms.  You can be starting at square one and get help, or more experienced and looking to branch out in your garden.   I sometimes ask myself what would my garden look like if I had not joined palmtalk?  It would probably be a pretty boring garden I might have never been bitten by the palm bug.  I may have chosen the low maintenance approach everyone else around me has.

Bkue you can grow this one very well in your zone.  I never would have known it but for palmtalk when I had it planted it in 2011.

peace

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Patrick]

On 12/29/2025 at 12:15 AM, Jonathan said:

I think you've gotta make your own connections...there are people posting here from all over the world and after a while you figure out who posts stuff relevant to your situation and you hook into that community.

As for scientific names...have a look at this current thread to understand why most of us prefer them 

 

Yeah the guy at Moon Valley, when I was there the other day, said their most popular palm is the "Pineapple Palm". 🙄

Don't threaten me with a g̶o̶o̶d̶ ̶t̶i̶m̶e̶ Phoenix canarensis! 

[JohnAndSancho]

[Bkue]

On 12/29/2025 at 8:11 AM, sonoranfans said:

Ive been on palmtalk since 2007.  Posters have changed but it was always worldwide.  There are less floridians as a percentage of posts perhaps but you are in 10a, you should be able to grow what I grow.  Of the vast thousands of palms in the world perhaps 10-20% are good in zone 10a Florida.  Scientific names prevent confusion, trade names are often confusing to me., in a world of thousands of palms the trade names are not specific enough to identify a palm.  Many have no trade name as they are not common in general nurseries.  I believe kinzyjr has a cold hardy list you should be able to choose from.  WHen I look back many of the most experienced palm growers are not posting much these days.  People get older and their garden mature so they are not searching for potential palm information so much.  Get the list of 10a palms and do a search for the scientific names.  Some palms are referred to as partial scientific names like for instance a search for bismarckia will turn up bismarckia nobillis or roystonea will turn up roystonea regia etc.  WHen I started the names seemed difficult to memorize so go with a 10a list from kinzyjr(pm him)

You are one of the ones that provided valuable information and inspiration for direction to me. I find less and less available without deep search and even then, the posts are decades or more old. Zone pushing,  new plants, architecture, growth progression was what brought me here. It just feels lately like who can sound like they know the most or have the most rare. Not much for the common man. 

[DoomsDave]

I’ve been on here for like 26 plus years before the baby g name change and the questions keep coming. 
 

Only now, FWIW, I can answer intelligently.

[Tyrone]

On 12/29/2025 at 6:19 PM, happypalms said:

Palm growing has changed over the 35 years I have been growing them for. Once rare and exotic lytocarum weddlianum is now that common you can’t give the seeds away 35 years ago they were that rare. 

You can send the Lytocaryum seeds to me. I appreciate them. There are zero of them for sale in WA too. 

[5am]

21 hours ago, sonoranfans said:

I dont buy palms from nurseries that dont even have the scientific names on the label... How many of us have bought a misidentified palm and were frustrated when we didn't get what we paid for?

This hits home. For roughly 3 years I was the very proud owner of some surprisingly speedy S. minor, only to realize they're something else as they put on size and their frond shape changed. Beautiful plants but the years lost on something that won't work for the space will forever be a sore point. 

[DoomsDave]

8 hours ago, DoomsDave said:

I’ve been on here for like 26 plus years before the big name change and the questions keep coming. 
 

Only now, FWIW, I can answer intelligently.

 

[sonoranfans]

13 hours ago, Bkue said:

You are one of the ones that provided valuable information and inspiration for direction to me. I find less and less available without deep search and even then, the posts are decades or more old. Zone pushing,  new plants, architecture, growth progression was what brought me here. It just feels lately like who can sound like they know the most or have the most rare. Not much for the common man. 

Brian, you can pm me with questions any time.  I am older so I dont hang on line all the time but I do answer.  I understand about the searching its more complicated these days it seems, I also have struggles there.  Your soil may well be alkaline due to limestone rock.  This you should know so you can make the best decisions.  If it is limestone base in your area, all the cuban copernicias will do even better for you than mine as I have to add dolomite to make the pH slightly alkaline.  Satakentia liukinesis( a must in our area) and chambeyronia oliviformis also prefer slightly alkaline pH and do better in those kind of soils.  Many who I have learned from seem to not be on here much theses days.  What I have learned from from them I share readily, that is what this site is about, IMO.  Teddy bears "chrysalidocarpus leptocheilos" are gorgeous palms and do well in our climate.  I still struggle with the name changes and spelling on the species that have name changes.  It used to irritate me that they changed the names, but as a scientist I feel compelled to follow.  I am not a botanist by any means but I do understand soil chemistry as a PhD chemist(dual undergrad degree with chemical engineering) with friends who did study transport of nutrients in soils(its complicated).  If you are ever in my area you are welcome to see my garden.  Its a small yard(about 12000sf(about 1300m2) with sandy soil so I am somewhat limited.

some of my species are

serenoa repens silver(really light blue)

bismarckia

copernicia: hospita, fallaense, magroglossa, baileyana and alba (blue)

BxJ, (BxJ)xJ

Roystonea Regia

archontophoenix species(4) these are not fans of alkalainity to my knowledge and are pretty leaf tender @ 30F

chambeyronia macrocarpa watermelon, hookeri, chambeyronia olvivformis , chambeyronia houilou

livistona saribus, decora and chinensis

dypsis madagascariensis, pembana, lutecens  (not sure if they are now renamed to chrysalidocarpus)

sabal causiarum, uresana

phoenix rupicola

dyctosperma album furfurcea, rubrum

I can offer you what I know about growing these if you are interested

I would suggest you visit palmpedia.com for descriptions, just paste the names in and you will get good information

If you want to purchase palms, a trip down to miami area would be good to get some better deals at "Redlands nursery" and some you can order at small sizes online from them.

Like I said, we can communicate through palmtalk personal messaging(best way) as my email is inundated these days with unwanted junk.

THe engineering side of me hates spelling these latin names( I never took latin), and memorization of unconnected facts.  Only my love of palms has motivated me to learn them as much as I have.

best

Tom