I know P. henryana is supposed to be extremely rare, besides the L. mapu, its among my "oldest" greenhouse palms. I got the L. mapu, P. henryana, L. peltata and L. grandis all at about the same time. L. mapu has not grown at all, its virtually identical to what it looked like when I got it. P. henryana has grown a LOT, you can't tell in that photo but its almost 4 ft tall. L. grandis has probably grown the most and fastest of any. I can tell the difference in some of the palms that I bought from Floribunda in HI already. Those pinangas have all grown well, they have about 2 new leaves each. The new leaves have a reddish cast when they come out. I'd say that those have almost doubled in size already. They are my favorites "at the moment". I took a photo of my Calyptrocalyx albertisianus red, its putting out a new red leaf, but the pic was blurry. I need to get another. I am really enjoying my greenhouse more than I ever have. It was a good decision to remove all those large growing heliconias and diversify. Once things (small accent plants) really get going and I get the main paths mulched, I will REALLY be happy! Then I can just piddle in there concentrating more on directing the way things grow and keeping pests controlled and see how things mature and fill in. I have an order of cork bark coming from Tropiflora that I am going to use to mount onto the steel posts to put some more orchids and bromeliads on, and maybe some dischidias and other epiphytes if I can get some cool ones. I have a few Rex Begonias that I need to get planted out in there and I just ordered some nice new ferns from the new Tropiflora Cargo Report. I found a neat gesneriad vendor..."The Violet Barn", have you ever seen their site? They have some cool stuff....

Hi Gary, If you have dappled shade, you have many good choices. If it were me, I would wait for the Searles Brother's sale (Ft. Lauderdale) in the spring. They have many beautiful, rare palms like nowhere else (if you get there early), and are very informative. You are bound to find something you can't live without there. I know I do. I wish it were closer to me. I've only been able to go a couple of times. I have a Kerriodoxa that has been in the ground a couple of years (was very small to start with). It is now still under 3 feet tall, but the leaves are already quite large. It does grow very slowly. Other things to consider for dappled shade: Pinangas (on occassion I have seen one at HD), Wallichia densiflora (I love this one, personally, but it is also slow-growing), caryota gigas, chambeyronia macrocarpa, chamaedoras (I have a very small chamaedora fragrans I would be willing to trade- it is rather interesting. I will plant another in the ground next spring), maybe gronophyllums (I think Ricky has one of these beauties, so you can ask him about this one. Licualas are very slow-growing at first. I have spinosa, peltata, and peltata var. sumawongi. The ones with the undivided leaves rarely look nice, because they get shredded by heavy winds. I don't have grandis, but would imagine any of these would need to be protected from wind to keep a nice look. Another consideration might be cycads. I absolutely love dioon spinulosum and encephalartos ferox. They are beautiful, have that palm-like look, do great in dappled shade, carefree, and always look good. They grow slowly, but in a couple of years turn into a nice looking specimen. Anna

Where do you live? I am chasing licuala peltata var. sumawongii plants or seed. Email me at bretley321@outlook.com Thanks Brett

It appears that 3 of the 4 Samoan seedlings sprouts are making some progress with new growth. Don't know why but the 4th one of them seems to be near death, almost completely browned out. :( I've read the strong sun/heat can crack the husk too much and cause the plant to have a reduced resistance to the environment. Maybe sunburn, overwatering, underwatering? Maybe 100% success rate is asking too much. If it dies, I think I'm going to replace it with a Satakentia liukiuensis rather than another coconut palm.