Hi Chad,
I have only been growing palms since last summer. I live in Utah and have to overwinter them in the house or garage. So far I only have 5 palms, but I'm sure I will get more. The ones I have are a Pygmy Date Palm, Mexican Fan Palm, cat palm, spindle palm and today I just received the bottle palm I ordered off of ebay. Today I saw a Blonde Flame Thrower palm on ebay that looks really cool, may have to get one of those too! What palms are you growing? BTW I think its really cool that you are interested in plants at your age! My son couldn't care less about any plant.
Linda

I've been growing palms for about 10 yrs. My first palm was a Mexican Fan Palm that I bought from Home Depot while on vacation in Daytona Beach. After that palm, it got kind of addicting. Now I have about 20 palms, including Pygmy dates, Needle palms, several windmill palms, a waggie, a butia, sabal brazoria, a spindle, a few sabal minor, a sabal tamualipas, some washingtonia seedlings, and a parlor palm that is the only one that doesn't come outside because of the risk of sunburn. Luckily some of my palms have died off, so that at this rate, I'm only gaining on average 2 palms per year LOL. The only dead palm I really regret is my original Mexican fan that started me on the whole craze. The others just made room for new palms!

Hey, theres always been palms around since i was a kid. I lived in Los Angeles, and later Los Banos and palms are just part of the everyday landscape. Right now i have the following palms:

Phoenix Canariensis
Phoenix Roebelinii
Washingtonia Robusta & Filferia(these sprout like weeds all over the yard)
Jubaea Chilensis
Dypsis Decipiens
Archontophoenix Cunninghamia
Ravenea rivularis
Howea Forsteriana
Syagrus Romanzoffiana
Butia Capitata

by the way, im 21 years old

I first started in the spring of 2004 after a trip to Florida the previous winter. I'd been to Florida, California, and the carabean many times but for some reason that trip got me going. I bought a Christmas palm (dead now) and a Roebi (still kicking).

Hey chad
I am 36 yrs old.
I've been growing palms for about 3 yrs now.
And my addiction started like everyone else's with a trip to florida. My first palm was a bismarck and as andy said mine is dead now too. I can tell you growing palms is quite rewarding and very addicting ! You always want more no matter how many you already have :) Good to see some one
else getting interested in growing tropicals . Don't get discouraged as i can tell you you will kill some no matter
what you do. Some types are just very picky and you can't seem to satisfy them no matter what. Happy growing !!

Hi there Chad, nice to meet you and learn that you are just starting to get into this 'palm growing lark!!' I agree, it's very addictive so watch out! They GROW on you!
Well let's see...guess I've been TRYING to grow palms for several years now, but being from the UK it's not that easy at times as no doubt you have heard our climate can be a bit unpredictable to say the least!!
I have a flourishing Phoenix Canariensis from seed I picked in Lanzarote in 2004.
Several seedling Washingtonia Robustas from seed collected in 2007 in Fuerteventura. (These are an easy one for you to try from seed...they grow real quick)
2 remaining tiny Sabal Minor seedlings also from seed I bought off eBayUK in late 2007.(these are painfully slooooooow)
A 5ft Phoenix Dactylifera from a DIY store which is probably 7 yrs old now.
One Chamaerops Humilis also from a store, which I bought this spring...
...and finally a small Dypsis Lutescens also store bought this spring.
I have always found it very interesting to grow all manner of plants, especially those which I'm 'not technicaly supposed to grow here in the UK' such as tropicals, which I have quite a collection of. Of course they are all potted and have to spend the winter (and a lot of the summer!) in the protection of the heated greenhouse or even the house.
Keep up the good work and keep in touch here on GWeb!
Gill : )

In the lower center of this photo, taken in 1982, is my first palm - Washingtonia robusta - that I had received as a wedding present from a friend in the trade two and half years prior. It eventually went in the ground when we moved to Florida in 1998 and grew to almost 30' before lightning killed it three years ago. The photo was taken on our sun porch in West Orange, NJ.

Started planting palms here in 1967 (OldNed)...
lost my 1st two to hurricanes...Washingtonia robusta and Butia capitata.

These are what I have growing now:

Acrocomia aculeata.........................................
Actinorhytis calapparia..............................
Adonidia merrillii.........................................
Aiphanes caryotifolia...................................
Archontophoenix alexandrae........................
Areca vestiaria.....................................................
Arenga engleri............................................................
Astrocaryum alatum ..........................................
Beccariophoenix madagascariensis......................
Bismarckia nobilis..................................................
Brassiophoenix drymophoeoides.........................
Burretiokentia hapala..........................................
Calamus caryotides...................................................
Carpentaria acuminata.............................................
Caryota mitis...........................................
Chamaedorea cataractarum.....................
Chamaedorea elegans.............................
Chamaedorea ernesti-augustii...............
Chamaedorea metallica............................
Chamaedorea oblongata...........................
Chamaedorea radicalus.........................
Chamaedorea seifrizii............................
Chamaedorea tepejilote..........................
Chamberyonia macrocarpa.......................
Clinostigma savoryanum...........................
Cocos nucifera ......................................
Copernicia prunifera..............................
Corypha umbraculifera............................
Cryosphila albida...................................
Cyrtostachys renda..................................
Dypsis albofarinosa...............................
Dypsis ambositrae..............................
Dypsis decaryi.........................................
Dypsis lastelliana.....................................
Dypsis onilahensis......................................
Dypsis pinnatifrons
Elaeis guineensis..........................................
Hyophorbe lagenicaulis.........................
Hyophorbe verschaffeltii........................
Hyphaene petersiana...................................
Kerriodoxa elegans..................................
Latania lontaroides..................................
Licuala peltata (var. sumawongii).............
Liculala ramsayi.........................................
Livistona mariae........................................
Livistona saribus.....................................
Lytocaryum weddelianum...........................
Normanbya normanbyi............................
Phoenix robelenii...................................
Ptychosperma elegans..............................
Ptychosperma sp.......................................
Rhapis excelsa........................................
Roystonia regia.......................................
Syagrus botryophora............................
Wallichia disticha..................................
Wodyetia bifurcata

Its so funny that so many people's love of palm trees started after they went to Florida.

I have loved them since I was little. They always represented this far away tropical locale to me. The way they looked made me happy. Upon arriving to Florida in April of 2007, when we got to the hotel, the first thing I did was run out of the car, and hug a palm tree. I then proclaimed, "I hugged a palm tree!". I always knew that I liked them, but after getting home, I realized how much I did.

Now I've got two washingtonia robustas, and a sabal minor. I've also got a trachycarpus fortunei and a queen palm coming in the mail. haha

My mom says no more until I move out hahahaha

(Which I'm doing in two years and going to Miami! Woo!)

Chad ....Are you like sure you're like 15?

Many people your age like usually kant spel stuff gude and like usually write like this way:

"I hav luvd dem since I wz ltl. dey alwys represNtD DIS fR awA tropical locale 2 me. d way dey lookd mAd me :-). Upon arriving 2 Florida n April of 2007, wen we got 2 d hotel, d 1st tng I did wz run out of d car, & H a plm trE."

Glad you are becoming a palm guy...they are waaaaay cool!

Oh...and palms are way cool too.

Here's my Lipstick Palm....Have to bring it in when temp goes below 45ºF (Rare, but does happen here)

Well I guess I am the odd one out! I fell in love with palm trees and other tropical plants after many trips to San Diego and also Kauai, Hawaii. I haven't been to Florida yet but I am planning a trip next February to Daytona Beach. We are going to the Daytona 500 but we will be there the entire week so I'm sure I will have plenty of time to check out all the plants! I'm very excited about that! Oh, and I just bought another palm today at Lowes, its a Chinese Fan Palm. Things are getting out of control on my end! Ha Ha! Oh well, I can always find room for another plant.
Linda

I actually fell in love with palms with my first trip to California, although I had been to Florida as a child. The first palm I planted was a Trachy while living in Seattle. When I finally had a garden in California, I only planted the ubiquitous Washingtonia Robusta, partly because I love them, and, they grow extremely fast. Now I live in Southern New Mexico where we have a couple of acres, so my obsession has grown to include: W. Wiliferas and Robustas, Trachycarpus wagnerianus and fortunei, Sabal Mexicana and Riverside, Jubaea chilensis, Butiagrus nabonnandii (Mule palm), Butia capitata and eriospatha, Brahea Armata, Phoenix dactylifera and canariensis, and Chamaerops humilis. Thinking about a Bismarkia nobilis, but would need to winter protect here in Zone 8b. Everything else is on its own, thriving without protection.

Three years ago on a trip to North Carolina. I bought a 1 gal Med fan which is now flowering. After this past trip to Carolina, I'm up to 37.

Yes, haha I'm fifteen. Upon finding out my age, every forum I join always questions my age haha. I'm REAAAALLLLY good at english class haha ;) hahahahaha I love to write!

I can't wait until I move to Miami, get out of college, and get a house with a huge yard in which to plant many many palms!

I'm jealous of all of you guys!

I was bit by the palm bug this year after visiting my local farmers market this spring. Picked up a Fox Tail and Pygmy Date. After visiting the coast twice in the past month I noticed the coastal nurseries were loaded with palms. Not enough money and room in my car to bring back what I wanted. However,I did manage to bring back some.I now have six different palms and plan on shopping for more my next visit to the coast in July. My plan is to take a larger vehicle and more money.

Hello Chad. Having not ventured abroad till our children had flown the nest, as far as I'm aware, the FIRST palm I ever saw (maybe I HAD seen one in a UK Botanical Garden greenhouse, but I'm NOT counting that!!!) would have been in Ibiza in 2001. That was on our 'test flight' so to speak, (to see if we liked flying) .....it worked as next year we ventured a bit further afield, to travel round Australia!! Since then we have been lucky enough to go to places such as North Africa, Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong, Spain and the Canary Islands where I have seen (and envied the growers of) lots of fantastic tropical palms and other plants. However, I have to be satisfied with trying to grow the ones that are more cold hardy here in the UK, so as I mentioned before, it's the trusty old Washys and Trachys for me! Ubiquitous they may be, but they're certainly 'tropical' for me!!
It's nice to look at all the pics, epecially on here...and wish! So, if ever you get the chance to travel and see the world, go for it, you are young and have the world in front of you! It's amazing...and you get to see loads of plams too!
Gill.

Jealous of us? I'm jealous of you. Oh, to be 15 again, movin' to Miami, and know what you know about palms now. I didn't start until I was 31 and live in a cold climate. If I can ever get a palm to a respectable size here, it's going to take a long time and a lot of work.

I guess I was bitten by the palm bug 3 years ago when visiting my parents in Florida. The great thing was the fact that you didnt need expensive grow lights to germinate the seeds. All you need is a warm spot to place the seed baggy. I have a pygmy date, triangle, several wash/filf seedlings, queen, bottle, and many x-mas seedlings. When I visit my folks in Florida I am always checking to see if the palms have seeded and therefore try to collect as many as I can!! I am DYING to get a fiji fan palm. Have tried to germinate by seed but have yet to be successful. Due to my climate I am unable to plant any in the ground, but it is a great hobby to have. Chad- maybe you have found your calling. A palm nursery owner perhaps?!!

No doubt bradley you took the words right off my keyboard !!

Chad, Im 16 and I have 2 sabal palmettos,1 parlor palm, 1 majesty palm at school in the process of dying(who cares? It's just a frickin majesty), and 1 musa basjoo. My banana has grown like gangbusters and its biggest leaf is as wide as my 1st finger. I have killed 1 Wodyetia Bifurcata,one 2 gallon majesty palm, 1 guzmania because I was messin around with the plant, and 1 aechmea fasciata. I'm going to order about 8 palms this summer. They are as follows: 1. 2 calyptrocalyx Hollrungii,2. 2 Ravenea Hildebrandtii, 3. 2 Calyptrocalyx forbesii, and 4. 2 Hyophorbe Lagenicaulis. The all together total for 8 palms is $250 including shipping and taxes.

Here are the conditions of choosing palms:
-The palms height must not exceed 10 feet
-The palms must not have stilt roots
-The palms must have a growth rate of moderate to fast
-The palms must not be intensely thorny. Think Phoenix palms,Deckenia Nobilis, Phoenicophorium Borsigianum,Verschaffeltia Splendida,Acanthophoenix rubra and crinita, Acrocomia, Bactris, Astrocaryum, Mauritiella Armata, Desmoncus, Calamus etc.
-I should be able to go online, add the palm to my cart and checkout instead of calling someone, saying what I want, than I don't know how to pay, either send money or check? I don't want to go through that BS.
-The palms leaves must not be wispy, plumose, or fluffy (think queen palm)
-The palm shouldn't be as picky about water quality as Chamaedorea Tuerckheimii.
-It must not be as hard as Cyrtostachys renda, Juania australis, Dictyocaryum Lamarckianum or a fricken coconut to satisfy.
Those are my conditions as to which palms I grow indoors before I Jet off to where my relatives in Sebastian Florida live.

Well we sure do have a variety of experience here. I have only been growing palms for 5 yrs now. With 30 palms planted and 11 more potted.

Being so young, dont get discouraged if you loose a few. I have kiled more than I can count.

I got my oldest potted palm, my queen palm as a seedling at a trip to Florida when I was around 8. Once I got that palm I was definitely hooked and every year when my mom planted annuals, I'd pick out a palm or 2 to go by the pool. So if you include that, I've been growing palms for over a decade which is kind of hard to believe for me! I learned about cold hardy palms during that time, but I didn't plant my first palm in the ground until I was probably about 14-15 which was only about 5 years ago. I've killed lots of palms in the process, I lost one of my favorites this winter, my butia because I'm not home a lot during this time of the year. I also let a lot of plants die outside this winter because I don't have the room for them all indoors, but I still brought in around 100 plants so there will be more than enough to take out in a few weeks!
It's a hobby of losses and gains, the only thing that I can say for sure is that my yard gets fuller and fuller every summer. The difference from 2009 to now is incredible but I still have a lot to learn (but not a lot of space left!). My goal for this spring is to try and increase my palm and plumeria collection, I have a lot of plans for this summer! haha
-Alex

I grew up with palms, but have no recollection of when I first became conscious of them. Remember, though, of one place I used to pass on the way to school that had all these very tall palms on a normal sized suburban block. From the picture in my mind, there were Washingtonias and Syagrus, others are a bit too hazy to ID. They were out of proportion to the land/house size and I thought that looked great. It wasn't until my teens that I first got into the real tropics and absolutely loved the rainforests. Ironically, I got work in the equatorial savanna rather than the equatorial rainforest, but a bit of irrigation fixes that. So I now have over 50 different species of named palms, plus several with no ID. And a lot of other tropical plants. Unfortunately, the "deceased list" would fill a large book.

I have about 6 years on the palm growing, sadly the washy I started with, yes I got it in florida LOL, just died. I am going back to FLA in June so I hope to pick up a couple more. Its all trial and error in these colder climates and we all learn from each others mistakes. If I started when I was 15 I could have some monsters by now.

2004 for me, I had been to Florida dozens of time but for some reason I got the itch to grow them after my trip there in February of 2004. That April I bought a Christmas Palm and a Roebi.i had no idea what I was doing and they are long dead but I kept at it and all of my currect palms are between 2-6 years old.

The seeds for my palm and cycad 'hoard' were planted about 35 years ago in Queens, NY.

My first palm was an Areca (Dypsis).

Thats great Chad!

I have been growing them for about 40 yrs,also cactus Pachy's and other stuff