It would be amazing to see , in habitat. I remember , back in 1990 or so , I was visiting my palm mentor and he had one that was just getting ready to trunk . I didn’t know what it was , even after touching the sharp edges(ouch!) , it was huge , shade grown. Now that I look back , and after my experience with this one , I know why they call them giants in the cycad community. It took many years to go from a 10” pot to where it is today . If it was in shade instead of sun it may even be larger! I thought I spaced it perfectly but…… Harry

This was about a month ago , as it was getting its annual growth spurt(flush).Those little spines are super sharp! The center gets packed with debris from nearby palms , I clear it out from time to time , WITH GLOVES!

PS, I love seeing your new garden additions, you have quite the collection of rarities. Even the more common varieties look “happy”.😂

On 7/4/2026 at 11:07 PM, Harry’s Palms said:

It would be amazing to see , in habitat. I remember , back in 1990 or so , I was visiting my palm mentor and he had one that was just getting ready to trunk . I didn’t know what it was , even after touching the sharp edges(ouch!) , it was huge , shade grown. Now that I look back , and after my experience with this one , I know why they call them giants in the cycad community. It took many years to go from a 10” pot to where it is today . If it was in shade instead of sun it may even be larger! I thought I spaced it perfectly but…… Harry

This was about a month ago , as it was getting its annual growth spurt(flush).Those little spines are super sharp! The center gets packed with debris from nearby palms , I clear it out from time to time , WITH GLOVES!

PS, I love seeing your new garden additions, you have quite the collection of rarities. Even the more common varieties look “happy”.😂

The dioon you have is a spectacular example of one.

They do get a little spiky and even when dry on the ground as mulch they still spike you.

Shade or sun they are both equally as good. But I prefer the shade growing ones.

And I just love my gardening it’s that simple for me when iam in my garden, it’s my dream land!

Richard

Throwing a few in the ground mid winter, a few common easy growers for the hard places and a couple good ones for those special places in the garden. Raphia feriniferaArenga engleri

Chambeyronia pyriformis Livistona chinensisKentiopsis oliviformis

Some nice ones there! That Livistona will , in time , get very large . Mine was about that size about 20 years ago . Harry

Livistona Chinensis just started trunking about 5 years ago. Mine got super wide (still is) before trunking.

7 minutes ago, Harry’s Palms said:

Some nice ones there! That Livistona will , in time , get very large . Mine was about that size about 20 years ago . Harry

Livistona Chinensis just started trunking about 5 years ago. Mine got super wide (still is) before trunking.

They may be common the chinensis, but a palm is a palm and it will help create that microclimate. Plus they grow in some hard conditions, time is great at revealing the best in Mother Nature and 20 years ago you had that vision!

Richard

9 minutes ago, happypalms said:

They may be common the chinensis, but a palm is a palm and it will help create that microclimate. Plus they grow in some hard conditions, time is great at revealing the best in Mother Nature and 20 years ago you had that vision!

Richard

They were much more common in nurseries 20 years ago. Now I rarely see them available. I got it from a big box store on clearance , they had dozens in 10” pots. Harry