Nice photos. Tulips and palm trees, an unusual mix. Those coconuts look good for having been indoors. I like the Licuala ramsayi, I have 2 very small ones, they've been small for years. But my Licuala grandis have grown much faster in the same time. Licualas are great palms, but patience is needed.

Your spindle is looking really nice and developing that characteristic trunk. I could never get mine to do well.

I think that cherry might be a Kwanzan cherry.

Your oleander and med fan palm look great! I like the blue pansies too.

Looking good Alex

I think thew warmer weather will sneak up on us this year-if it comes 0:

Will be fun to watch the Saba this year,mine rooted in better than any other Banana plant and was the most vigorous over winter.

I bet they would be able to overwinter with a little more
attention then Basjoo..........................

Something you and I will need to consider,if not this year
then next for sure!

Click for weather forecast

Great pics, glad your minor did well this year. I'll be happy when our pindos fill out like that one in Orlando.

Thanks tropicbreezent! Yup, tulips and palms are definitely not seen too often next to each other in true tropical climates. Maybe during the winter since some places in Florida plant Tulips as winter annuals (they dont survive there because there isnt enough chill to allow them to store up on nutrients). Licualas are one of my favorite palm families. Saw my first ones in the Carribean and they were beautiful there! Dont think I have the patience to grow them around here though.

Thanks Islandbreeze! Im really happy that my spindle palm is getting a nice swollen trunk now! Its definitely fatter now than it was this time last year. They grow pretty fast. Your definitely right about the cherry tree ID, thanks!

Thanks Jim! Sunday and Monday are going to be miserable days here with temperatures only in the mid 50s and a high chance for rain, but at least the plants will get a good soaking. Right now 4 days in the forecast are at or very near to 70F (not including today) so its getting warmer, but the really hot weather is not here yet! I think your right, the hot weather will definitely sneek up on us all. I think we will just get a nice warm front some time in May and the warm air probably wont go away after that.

I cant wait to watch my Saba grow this year. Hopefully it's a giant! I think I will be able to manage to dig it up again this fall, but after that I might have to consider overwintering it outside as well. I'll probably winter it the same way I winter my palms since Sabas are actually pretty hardy.

Thanks for looking everyone! I'll post some more pics later tonight. My Plumeria Divine is going to be flowering soon (maybe earlier than ever before) and I'll post pics of my mandevilla blooms too and a few other plants!

-Alex

Sorry for missing your post Chadec! I cant wait for our pindo palms to look that nice. Too bad I cant have ferns growing on it like that, but getting it to that height around here would be a huge accomplishment. There is a large Butia in the area that will probably get to that height long before mine since its already over 10 feet tall (still dont think it fruited yet though!)
Thanks for looking!
-Alex

The Sabal and the Butia look awesome. I need to try a Camellias my garden.

Thanks Chicago Palm! You definitely should try camellias. The one in my pic is more for zone 8 and up, but there are some hardy ones that survive into zone 6b so with protection they should do good for you! You should get an autumn blooming one so you wont have to worry about the flower buds being nipped by cold weather during the winter.
-Alex

Pretty much a text book April here in regard to temps.....
feels a little chilly after March though.......

Maybe some frost this weekend again.

Yours already has the jump on mine(-:

Click for weather forecast

Looking good. Do you plant your shrubs/plants fairly close together?

It's also been a pretty average April here Jim. So far the verge temperature in my yard is 67.6F and the average for the month is the mid 60s. Probably will end up a bit above average by te time the month is over though.
And even though April was mostly average (even the little heat wave we had this week was nothing unusual for April), the plants are still way ahead. My yard is definitely ahead of where it was last year. Maybe not ahead of 2010 though! Hope you don't get a frost! This weekend will be very cool and cloudy, but night temperatures should be well above the danger zone. When is your average last frost there?

Thanks jacklord! The shrubs that stay in the ground year round are not planted very close, but the tropicals that are dug up every fall are usually very close! I like the lush look so planting close really helps achieve that and not planting close isn't really an option for me since most of my yard is deck and I only have a little bit of useable space in the ground.

I will try to post some more pics tonight or tomorrow!
-Alex

Nice pics alex. The spindle palm looks great. Where did u get that ice plant? I have pink ice plant if you want to trade a cutting.

Thanks Dennis! The spindle palm got really fat over the past year!
Here it was in May 2011 the day I first got it!...

The trunk definitely got a bit fatter now. And ignore the broken petioles on the bottom of the trunk, I have to get a sharp knife to clean that up a little bit!

I'll send you an email about those Ice Plants!
-Alex

Here's my newest plant, Alocasia "Stingray". Cant wait to see this one grow this summer! I'll make another full update of all the plants in early May!

Looks like the weekend will be a bad mix of rain, wind, and cold. Temperatures 10F below average and probably little if any sun until Tuesday. I know the plants will not be liking that too much, forecast almost looks like something you would see mid winter in coastal Cali.
Im bringing the annuals under an overhang so the flowers dont get damaged by the rain. The Desert Rose, Coconut, and sprouting spiral ginger will go inside after they get a little bit of rain. I will take those outside again when temperatures return to the 70s, hopefully by this time next week!
I guess the rain will be a good thing, at least now we wont be have to worry about a drought before even going into summer.
-Alex

Hey Alex, Yesterday I stopped at a Nursey in Brooklyn and saw 4 Mediterranean fan palms for sale. 1 was $50 the other 3 for $100. The $50 one was a female with (Pre)seed, I wanted to get it and one of the larger ones, but I dont think it can handle Brooklyn. And I hate to see it die on me in 2 or 3 years.

I think you should try them! Glad that they are being sold in Brooklyn!
They are pretty easy palms with some protection. I just give mine Christmas lights and a garbage bin (not even a frost cloth like my more tender palms) and they havent had any winter damage yet. Its now going into it's 3rd summer. In 2011, it came out of winter looking better than my trachys. My trachys werent damaged, but the tips were all bent out of shape from the protection whereas the med fan palm's fronds were still nice and stiff.
During this year's mild winter, even my siliver saw palmetto survived and thats more of a zone 9 palm. Come to think of it, I should do a palm only update soon, maybe tomorrow!
-Alex

Thanks for looking!

Alex,

After seeing your Camellias, I went ahead and purchased two Camellias. They are small about 8" tall. Should I wait until they get taller (next year) to plant in the ground or plant now? Thanks Keith

Impressive! Keep up the good work!

Thanks Keith! I'm glad my camellias encouraged you to get some of your own! I would plant it in the ground now only because Camellias can be finicky in pots because they can't dry out too much and they arent really crazy about being indoors.
But if you give it really good soil and make sure to water it well then potting it up might be better. If you have an unheated garage that doesnt really get below freezing too much during the winter than you can put it in there. What kind of camellia is it? Once yours gets to be close to the height of the one in my pic (probably by next spring) you can plant it in the groun). Remember they really dont like sun!

Thanks Mastiffhoo! The yard is already looking a lot fuller and its only been about 2 weeks since I took these pics so I cant wait to see what another 2 weeks will do!

-Alex

Alex, I bought a CAMELLIA HIEMALIS DIXIE BELLE and a CAMELLIA SASANQUA MINE-NO-YUKI. Thanks for the info. I may just plant in the ground and provide winter protection similar to the palms. Keith

Nice! Those are about zone 7 hardy, probably can handle worse when established (the zone 7 hardy camellias here have survived the winters of the 1980s which got down to record low temperatures). I think if you protect them like your palms they will be fine! They dont grow too fast usually so they wont outgrow their protection for a while. And the great thing about camellias is you can always prune them back if you want to keep protecting them and they get too big!
Good luck! Definitely update on them next spring!
-Alex