What a healthy bloom. Is it in a pot?

Oh yes, a big tub. Will take a better picture in coming days so you can see the trunk. I can't think of another palm that you can grow in a container and have it look like a whole palm tree but in miniature.

Looks great. Im hoping for blooms on mine some day!
Thanks for sharing!
-Alex

Looks great, I got one to bloom a couple of years ago. It died two springs ago. It was the first palm i ever bought and I didn't know what the hell I was doing. I have a new one I bought in October of 2008. It is doing GREAT and I have hopes it will flower soon. My first one actually bllomed in late winter. That shocked me. I have amde none of the mistakes with this one I did with my old one.

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

Yes, I thought it was a boy based on info from a poster last year. I think the duration of cold is just as important as absolute minimum temps. Two winter ago, this palm had to survive 32 F. on a night or two, but it was probably one too many days in the 40's that did the spear in.--Last winter was much milder despite the SNOW. Still, this is the most cold tender palm I overwinter in the gargare.--Others are more cold hary (Queens, Trachys other than fortunei, Phoenix, some Sabals and Chamaerops etc..) I'll post a pic as soon as it stops raining.

I just noticed last night mine is blooming. So you have to have a male and female to produce fertile seeds ? I have four but only one has bloomed. Bummer !

Yes, all date palms (Phoenix palms) are either male or female--you can't tell until they produce flowers (boy flowers will look like mine)--maybe someone will be kind enough to provide a photo of female flowers.

njoasis, has it stopped raining yet???? lol. =o)

You bet. I'm back in my Mediterranean garden today this morning (Med fan, rosemary bushes, roses, lavender, hardy cacti and agave, fig, bay laurel, and olive trees. Olives are containerized as I'm not sure of their hardiness--especially in a WET winter zone. Looking and smelling real good (rosemary hedges)as I got rid of lots of weeds. Now to move on the the area I call "the Island" it's an area of hardy East Asian plants mostly (Acuba, Pieris, Fatsia, Skimmia, Cephalotaxu (plum yew) and containerized Cycads. Not looking forward to this as there a lot of weeds in there. Neglected it in the prior heat wave. Got to say that the ground is still very, very dry--surprisingly. I noticed this yesterday when I was working with the azaleas. On a funnier note, yesterday, I received an order for one 3 gallon sea grape (Cocoloba uvifera). First I noticed a lot of the leaves looked like they were eaten, then I saw it--a five inch long, fat, black, hairy catepillar.--Candidate for worst plant yet received by mail. How you ship a plant with a catepillar that size is beyond me. Take care.