Yes, hills make a lot of difference!! I am in a low spot in Nashoba Valley and I woke up to 22 degrees this morning!! On the Worcester radio station they were reporting upper 30's. I wish the weather folk would have alerted about that last night. They only predicted "around 30". Probably too excited about Red Sox! I might have brought in a few other things if I knew it was going to be that cold. My impatiens were gone a few weeks ago, but some of the tougher stuff hung on. I'm sure its all gone now. I love the cleanup phase. Its so low-key compared to the hustle and bustle of the growing season.

I read a wonderful book last winter called BEAUTIFUL MADNESS by James Dodson. Dodson is a golf writer who developed an interest in gardening and wanted to learn all about it. He was planning to take classes in horticulture but was advised that he'd get a more thorough education if he traveled around and talked to gardeners and toured their gardens. This book is based on that and I really enjoyed it. One of his trips was a trip to Africa with Dan Hinckley and others to look for new and unusual plants. These guys are a little crazy and think nothing of hanging off cliffs or climbing mountains just for a glimpse of a beautiful plant. He also visited a lot of gardens along the east coast including the annual Philidelphia Flower Show and Tony Avent's, the owner of Plant Delights, gardens. If any of you have time to read during this busiest of all garden seasons I highly recommend this book.

tropicalzone, I didn't even think they could flower at this age/size. Upon a closer look, I saw that even the smaller ones in the clumps were flowering. tnwindmill, I'm glad someone else chimed in with some information on growing these indoors in the winter. I've only seen these potted out in patios but there's no need here to drag them in unless we get a severe cold blast. Thanks Topher, this is actually the first summer for my succulent garden. The pygmy dates were planted last spring, and the majority of the succulents were added later on in the summer and the fall (most were cuttings that I stuck in the ground). It's really cool to finally see them start to fill in after spending the whole winter months sitting idle. I was kind of tired of seeing bare ground between young plants. Now that we're getting some heat, they're growing super fast.

I swear I posted a reply to this thread! Somehow it never made it in though. Anyway, Yeah, please post a photo of the whole palm! Id love to see it! Looks like yours is a boy. My bit 7 footer is a boy and it bloomed rather profusely for about a month. It just opened its last bloom spathe about 5 days ago. I think it was the 7th or 8th inflo that it put up. My other one that has about a foot or so of clear trunk has not bloomed yet. I'm hoping that it is a female so I can pollinate and get seeds. SO what caused the spear pull? Cold? If so, how cold did the palm get? Just wondering. That info is valuable to those of us who also have large trunked ones. Theya re one of my favorite palms too! I love how graceful they are, and I also love that they are the complete palm tree look, but in miniature. Although I have seen a few in Florida that were approaching 15-20 feet tall. Cant wait to see the photo of the whole thing! =o) Here are a couple photos of both of mine, and the blooms from the big one. Small, three trunked one. This one I've had for exactly 12 months and it has put on a good 6" of clear trunk in that time. Bid Daddy Big Daddy's flowers