I just got one from coconut climber on ebay. They have a wide selection and their prices aren't too bad. I think i payed about 8 dollars for a seedling. Just planted it last month.

Man, these are such gorgeous palms. I bought one on eBay 2 years ago, planted it in my garden in Southern NM where it is doing well, and despite its reputation for slow growth, has actually grown a lot. We're zone 8, but last winter --- and so far this year have been zone 9. I have seen 2 good size specimens in El Paso, TX just 40 miles away, so I expect mine shoud survive..... you being in the CA Central valley should have no problems there.

Im hoping mine will grow faster than expected. We are z9b, but this year has been a 10a winter - 30 was my lowest.

Central Cali -- they say you plant them for the next generation, but they're even beautiful small. There is one growing at a palm nursery in Point Richmond (near the bridge to Marin County on I-580) that is about 75 years old and is towering --- you can see it from the freeway as you head towards Albany. One of the best. There are also 2 huge specimens in front of the De Young Museum in SF Goldengate Park.

One thing to be wary of larger palms of this species is that many unscrupulous dealers on ebay upsize the pot and when you go to pot it you find that only 20% of the soil has roots. Ask me how I know! My ebay palm was bought this late summer on ebay and after the damage due to being shipped in a pot that was way too big, it lost its spear and I ma unsure whether it will recover given that it is being overwinterd for the next two months in a house that won't get over 70F for that duration. the other remaining leaves are still very healthy.

Anybody know my chances of recovering from this? Be very wary of ebay palms of this species. If I had to do it again I would have bought a seedling. The one I bought is just entering the palmate stage of youth.

What an awesome palm. What's the rate of growth once there is trunk?

they are sloooooooow growers even with a trunk. To check out a really huge, gorgeous specimen in Point Richmond, CA, go to the nursery's website: www.goldengatepalms.com. Way cool. dl

As followup to my reply above, I just wanted to say that in no way should one associate Collector Palms mentioned above with the bad ebay sellers. I have ordered from Collector Palms and they are a quality seller! Caveat emptor on the others, though. If anyone has some online sources for seedlings chime in!

Here's a group of these on the east side of Mission Bay, San Diego, CA. Taken Feb 14, 2005.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v293/ccroulet/Calif%20Natural%20History/DSCN3283.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v293/ccroulet/Calif%20Natural%20History/DSCN3285.jpg

Second try (inadvertantly posted in the "tall robustas" thread):

Those are some nice palms. Im guessing those are some 20-30 years old?

I don't know how old they are. I lived in S.D. from 1959 to 1993, but in the later years I didn't go by Mission Bay very often, and I might not have noticed the installation of these palms in any case. I would guess these were already pretty good size when planted.

Man I want one of those. Talk about a specimen tree.

They definitely are beautiful trees. I have seen the ones in Mission Bay, but at the time I didn't know what kind of palms they were. I was introduced to them when I was studying landscape architecture and we toured the Capital Arboretum in Sacramento. They have a specimen that is close to a hundred years old - very impressive.

Does any one have access to seed? That might also be worth a try.