Not a surprise they're considered an invasive and banned in some places. I wonder whether anyone's tried to 'engineer' a variety with infertile flowers. I could see that becoming popular.

OMG! Impressive!

Wow, that is a huge inflo! I can definitely see why they are invasive palms.
-Alex

woa! But where are the bees? They love queen flowers.

That is beautiful!

Jane

Hi
i love queens because they are so easy in my area and adaptable to various grow methods though I've never matured one under 5 feet in this case the seeds were planted touching , While they actually did join they form a very sharp V in stead of a graceful U shape only two survived of the original five.
This seed stalk is at least twice as big as any ever produced by my trees . I think the main reason is the very
mild winter rather than being conjoined though the other has a "sheath" that is over 8 feet long and the stalk has yet to emerge
tropic i usually just cut off the stalk of all my palms to avoid the mess. While they seem to florish in this area it requires encouragement to get them past seedling stage IME.
Eric I think the entire bee population of the Se was in the yard lol Hover flies seemed very attracted also especially as the flowers dropped i use these two palms as a bed base for Vandaceous orchids I find the trunks an almost ideal "media" but the crown is throwing too much shade but as they mature that is correcting . Will see what the ton of organic matter dumped on them does.lol
I'll try to get a pic of the developing stock,particularly if it's bigger The sheath is already a foot longer than this one !!! gary

Gary, can u take a pic of the whole tree? I'm amazed at your photo. I've never seen this before.
Jane

Hi
Here is a pic of the Vanda bed that ic contained between the two conjoined queens. this was started in a pot ,originally there were 5. goal being to form a circle but three died. One on the left produced the huge stalk.
gary

Gary, (fortunately) Queens won't grow here, otherwise they'd be all over the place. But I have lots of Carpentarias with rapidly, ever increasing numbers. There's too many that are too tall to cut off the inflorescences. And besides, birds and flying foxes bring more in from elsewhere.

Nice pics! That orchid is probably beautiful when it's blooming. I think they look great mounted on palms!
-Alex

Tropic
Aren't carpentarias native in your area?? Have no fruit bats,,bird problems except for raptors Only palm that tries to escape are Arecas biut not too serious as easily pulled . The queens do sprout occasionaly but seem to die during formation of second frond . Like most palms the seeds fall at the base in a huge pile . I assume in the "wild"
something disperses the seeds which is missing here though we do have a lot of escaped parrots . If they are spreading the seeds i don't see it?? I have seen what appear to be naturally germinating Coconuts but seem to die before trunking without care. Climate is close but not quite I guess??
Tropical
here is a pic of a hybrid terete Vanda that decided to grow on the ground rather than climb(ignore the weeds!!) lol
i have eight kinds in the group all hybrids largest is a tere te/strap Vanda it is pushing 7 feet but is starting to "climb"
Hoping the raising of the canopy of the palm will slow that habit. The palm allows me support for frost cloth during cold spells ,slight shade. and of course an ideal "media" Whole concept is less than 10 years old ,getting fantastic growth but disappointing flowering
so far .Since the winter has been very mild hoping for a spectacular display come summer!! I refuse to believe "orchids " are not garden plants!!!lol gary

Great bloom! A lot of people are afraid to keep orchids outside, I think they do a lot better in a shady and humid area than they ever would inside and they are a lot more willing to bloom for me outdoors. Your's looks really healthy, I'm sure it will have lots of blooms this summer!
-Alex

Hi
here is a Cereus growing on a cluster of Arecas. have added some day flowers as well as some nepenthes to the group. Trying some twig orchids but additions are only on second year. Takes time and patience as well as a LOT of work lol But is glorious when it works!!! gary

Gary, Carpentarias are native here, and I like them. But I'm still constantly pulling out hundreds of seedlings every day (when I'm home). I have to work out a way of cutting off the inflorescences before the seeds start to develop. The main dispersers of seed are pigeons and doves. They swallow the seeds whole, then deposit them elsewhere with a 'little package of organic fertiliser' around them. The exotics brought in by birds at my place are mainly Caryota mitis, Ptychosperma macarthuri and what I think is a green Bismarckia or maybe a Sabal. We do have native Ptychosperma macarthuri close to here but they're a variety (previously thought to be a separate species) that grows almost like a vine. The birds don't bring that one in (which I want) they only bring the exotic one.

I started putting Vandas in trees but found they needed more moisture than my climate afforded them. Later I put some on an African Oil palm and others on a pole wrapped in hession with irrigation on both. Turned out what I thought were terete Vandas were Arachnis. They rarely flower (only the real Vandas have), I think you need to fertilise regularly, which rarely happens at my place, LOL.

Hi
I'm lucky that i don't have much of a seeding problem except for arecas(don't ask which onelol0 i have a very small grow area so even that is verys manageable. i often let them grow a couple of feet then. pull them.
You have fruit eating doves in your area??? All the locals are grain eaters even the exotic ones so don't have that problem. HOORAY!!
As to the orchids ,it's actually too cold and too dry to use as garden plants but the Vandas were bits and pieces o fthose grown in the shadehouse and since the queens were maturing i gave it a shot lol palm trunks are almost ideal as a media for epipytes BUT rot in short order unless alive. The pink flower above is a hybrid terete vanda called" Miss Joaquin" chose to grow on the ground rather than climb the palm lol Very hardy. but it's an "emergent" likes its roots in the shade and head in full sun. Flower 10 months of the year when happy They grew through the roof of the shadehouse but you have to get on the roof of the house to see the flowers lol
The strap forms I'm using in the group are the very hybrdiized types which produce 6 inch flowers in clusters
had to remove them twice due to sunburn and drought
The last pic is an epiphytic cactus has florished on the
arecas BUT flowers at night . have added some day flowering in red and lavender . Responding well but the white is taking up all the space.
i love that growth on growth that you only see in rainforests but area is too cold,dry for tropica ltoo hot for temperate or high altitudelol
I'm old and retired so have the time plumbing and frost cloth to fiddle with lol gary