Summer is settling in on the Treasure Coast of Florida. Afternoon thundershowers are keeping the garden watered and everything is flourishing, even the weeds. Especially the weeds! Though it is very green. Palms and cycads are hard to resist planting in a tropical garden, so I have several to explore today. To see other Saturday garden explorations visit Jim at http://gardenruminations.co.uk
This is an Adonidia Palm (Veitchii merrilli). Grown from seed by my college friend Eddie, it has been in the ground for about 10 years. The off white things on the trunk are flowers, if left in place they make red fruits that look like Christmas ornaments – it is sometimes called Christmas Palm for this reason.
The Lady Palm (Rhapis excelsa). This one is starting to run in my Rainforest Garden. Super Fireball Bromeliads in the foreground.
A Bottle Palm (Hyophorbe lagenicaulis) just starting to make the bottle. The old fronds eventually fall off revealing a green bottle shaped trunk. The process takes about five years. This palm has been in the garden for at least that long, so I am hoping the fronds will come off soon. They are impossible to pull off now. One thing I have learned about palms – they are slow growing. This was a surprise.
The Dwarf Pygmy Date Palm (Phoenix roebellini). This is one of those plants that needs a friend to make dates. I have read that they will produce dates here, but have never seen any. One thing I did not realize when this was installed was the size of the thorns on the fronds, ouch!
This is a Coontie (Zamia integrifolia) an interesting cycad native to the state of Florida. These were harvested nearly to extinction in the quest to make arrowroot flour from the roots. The roots are deadly toxic and must be washed extensively before milling into flour.
Another near victim of extinction from the arrowroot flour quest is the Atala butterfly whose larvae host exclusively on the foliage of the Coontie. The butterflies were thought to be extinct until a small group was found on an uninhabited key in South Florida in the 60s. Gardeners embraced the plight of the Atala and planted Coonties for them. The Atala population has rebounded, while still considered rare, I see them in my garden from time to time.
The Atala butterfly laying eggs…
Atalas are around in January or June here; so I look for them every day. So far, I have seen some cicadas in the Coontie. Hope springs eternal.
That is all from palm infested South Florida this Saturday. I hope everyone is enjoying summer and experiencing garden happiness.
The Shrub Queen 
Wow, thank you, I don’t know much about palms, it is good to learn about other ecosystems.
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Thanks, I like to learn about other places too..
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The Dwarf Pygmy Date Palm (Phoenix roebellini) is so cute! Yes, we can grow date palms here too, but I was put off growing them with the thorns. Plus you need male and female plants to get fruit set. 💞🦋
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I am glad I have it but probably would have gone with something else if I had realized the thorn problem.
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You have a nice selection of palms. My first question was do the palms make figs and you answered it. People do grow a variety of palms here, but I never learned much about them. Many did freeze in 2021.
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I remember seeing a lot of Sago Palms in Houston. It is rare to see those here because of the bugs..
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Yes, we have lots of those and they come up in my wooded area.
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What a wonderful collection of what to me look like very exotic plants.
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Thank you, I think what you have is exotic!
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Hi! Great choice : I love them all. Among all these beautiful palms, I had a phoenix roebellini which I kept for 2 years but it didn’t like the humidity of our winters ( and it was frost-free!) I should have dried it out long before winter.
I love the red fruits of the Christmas palm because you are right they are very pretty. (I would have to try seedlings of this one)
At the moment I have been trying to germinate hyophorbe seeds for 2 months but so far nothing on the horizon….
last question, about the Rhapis excelsa is it completely in the shade?
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Thanks, Fred. There are a lot of bottle palms around here, I have never seen any seed pods? No idea why. The Rhapis is under a big Strangler Fig and gets a little dappled midday sun 1 or 2 hours. Very easy to grow here.
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I love all your wonderful palms Amy. And the butterfly is beautiful, what a success story. My only palm is one I grew from a Medjool date. It is quite tall now but has to stay inside.
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I’m laughing at ‘palm infested’ ! 🙂 They are all great – I really love the one started from seed by your friend, with flowers appearing halfway up the trunk – so unusual!
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years ago I designed mall interiorscapes and that was my favorite palm it still seems weird they grow outside.
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Do you notice physical differences between the genders of Phoenix roebelenii like with other species of Phoenix? They all look the same to me.
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No, I have wondered if it is the flowers. They are distinctive, though I only have the one roebellini.
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I never bothered to look for differences. I do not see the species often.
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I am surprised to find that I like palms more and more as I see them on your blog! In a hot and humid climate they clearly look a lot better than on seaside promenades in the south of England, or botanical gardens in Munich! And there are so many – I had no idea. The flowers are interesting on the trunk of the first one. Do palms always flower on the trunk? Or maybe I should ask if palms always flower? The fact that some have thorns is also a revelation. Thanks for sharing them Amelia!
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I am embracing palms more and more and thought they looked strange further north. The palms do flower – I think the green area on that palm is called a crownshaft and that is where some palms flower, others flower under the fronds. The thorns on some palms are wicked and dioons if you know those (a type of cycad)
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