Hello Everyone, Joey, What a beautiful display of gorgeous pictures. I just really enjoyed the show of all of the great pics. As i was looking, i was thinking i love this one, then the next pic...and then the next!!! They are fabulous! My favorite is the royal and especially the CIDP. I would love to have one of those. What do you do for protection during the winter for them? How long had the CIDP been in the ground? Love the layout of your backyard and what you have done to the front beds as well! Great Job...the pool looks very inviting too! Thanks for all of the wonderful pictures and again, Great job!!! Take care, Laura in VB

Thank you for being patient with me about my wish list and for doing this swap, Lisa. My late wish list is: flowers - Favorite Flower #1 - Silene coeli-rosa (synonyms Viscaria oculata, Lychnis viscaria) I winter sowed this one year, and it bloomed in its milk jug like a sky-blue creeping phlox. Best festival of blue among flowers I have known, ever. Angelonia - white Hibiscus mutabilis Impatiens balsamina - Camellia Flowers - would really like some seeds of what is known as the camellia balsam, which I hope the bees will cross with Peppermint Sticks to obtain something like the hard-to-find Blackberry Trifle. Do not send seeds of Blackberry Trifle, because I don't want to take a chance with someone else's rare seeds. Petunia 'Aladdin's Nautical Blues' - also love old fashioned FRAGRANT petunias Plectranthus argentatus, seeds - species or any cultivar of P. argentatus Nicotiana - any of the chocolates; mutabilis; any that are petite, greenish & fragrant Flowers that will cope with shade, like Rehmannia elata Zaluzianskya capensis - - - - - -- - - - - - - Herbs - Basil - Lime, Red Lettuce Leaf Chamomile, German (Matricaria recutita) Chives (Allium schoenoprasum) Cilantro Dill - dwarf, but any would be fine Parsley, curley Santolina tomentosa p66 Thyme - including Thymus vulgaris, French thyme, any Winter Savory - - - - - - - - - - - Vegies - Favorite Flower #2 - Radicchio Rosso di Verona - really want this one - The magnificent second year 6'x3' inflorescence of flowers is blue like no other. This is also known as a chicory. After fall frost, the leaves change from green to very dark maroon, and the whole plant makes a kind of cone, not a ball...really too beautiful to eat. Shallot - any from seed

It is normal for palms to get above ground roots at the base of the trunk. Some species get more than others. That "branch" growing out is actually an inflorescences (flowering structure). It will eventually open up out of a sheath revealing the flowers. That is a Spindle Palm, Hyophorbe verscheffeltii. The other palm is a Pygmy Date Palm, Phoenix roebelenii. That is an inflorescence but it doesn't appear to have any fruit/seeds forming. It also appears to be somewhat deficient. Use a good balanced palm fertilizer on it, one with micronutrients included.

That's something that has to be done year round. Queen palms (syagrus romanzoffiana) will flower and fruit throughout the year. If the palm that is dropping the seeds is actually a queen palm, you should be able to pick up the seed/fruit when it falls, thus preventing that they sprout in your garden bed. Queen palm fruit is rather large (the size of large grapes) and each fruit contains a large seed that resembles a mini-coconut. Raking them up and disposing of them should be an easy task. I do wonder if your neighbor has a Royal palm (roystonea), phoenix canariensis or washingtonia robusta. These have rather small seeds that can get easily lost in mulched garden beds and all three are rather prolific seeders. In any case, cutting off immature fruit or cutting off the inflorescence is the only way to stop them from producing viable seed. With any of these, it would take constant, year round monitoring.