I am grateful if 23F is all I get. This year we had 24 for one night and I did get some damage to some of my in ground aloes but they are still alive. I forgot to throw the freeze cloth over them. It has been very mild. Winters like these makes me think that I can grow aloes outside like a Californian, and then I get two years like the last two and I get to weep and grieve and tear out my hair for my plants. What was I thinking.

It's not actually "on" the whole time. The ambient temp in the house is 65, so the toaster only comes on every so often to heat up 5 degrees (which takes less than two minutes). The heating bars don't ever get red. Im only going to keep them in there for two weeks at most, then i'll put the seeds outdoors (our highs are in the 60s now with lows in the 40s, so in two weeks or so, it should be warm enough to finish off the germination process --at least i hope, im no expert) bestdank, Im not at home right now, but im sure if they havnt arrived yet, they will by the end of this week. Thanks

Both of the ones I have, I purchased when they were very small. One was bought on ebay, the other I saw on the sidewalks of Manhattan (regret not buying the lot of them then). They are terrific palms indoors (probably my favorite as a true indoor palm).--Mine do, however, spend the growing season outside. Large ones are relatively expensive when you do see them sold. If you can't wait until they get big, you'll just have to shell out the money when you find one. Although they may be slow they are reliable growers, and being I have a lot of palms, it wasn't as though I was sitting around waiting for them to grow. See what you can find on ebay. Good luck!

Hey James, thanks. When i first planted my kentia outside, the existing leaves were burned really bad. We have very hot and long summers, often staying above 100 degrees Farenheit for weeks at a time. The emerging leaves weren't harmed by the sun though. I have seen 10 meter + kenias in full sun in the inner valleys of Los Angeles where temperatures are similar to ours and they seem to tolerate the sun just fine. I think it's all about aclimatizing the palm to the sunlight. You know, there are many queens here that continuously fruit and produce seed. I MIGHT be able to find and collect seeds for you. Again, I MIGHT. I'll keep my eyes out for a couple of large clumps of fruit that are hanging on palms that are planted at the local McDonald's. About the strelitzia, i would think that they are both equally hardy. I have both in my yard. I can tell you though that mature reginae clumps are more common than mature nicolai clumps. I don't know if it is due to the availablilty of nicolai as opposed to that of reginae. There are some older parts of town that have nicolai clumps that are as tall as the two story houses they are planted outside of. Here are two of the four reginae that i have here at home.