I updated the plant sales list with the South Florida Palm Society and the Plant-a-Palooza sales both occurring next weekend (April 27-28). The Palm Society sale which includes some incredibly hard to find cycads, occurs at the Gifford Arboretum at the University of Miami and will feature both very rare species for sale and two tours of the Arboretum on each day. Preliminary plant lists from some of the vendors have been posted on the SFPS website and the list should be complete by Wednesday, April 23. (see disclaimer at bottom)

The Plant-a-Palooza sale takes place at Mounts Botanical Garden in West Palm Beach. If it can be grown in South Florida, you will find it at the Mounts sale. Beware, the sale closes at 3:00 pm on Sunday, so plan accordingly. Details of both sales have been posted on the Plant Sales page.

Now onto Pato de Gallo (chicken’s foot) palm which is absolutely in the “easy-to-grow” category. I had them in pots for years. Perhaps a decade or so. It is a slow grower, and it is just about 5 ft tall at this point. It is particularly resilient to neglect, as I have proven. A shady location and a large hole for drainage are always good. As it is now fairly tall, I piled pea pebbles around it, in hopes that it might not need to be staked. So far, so good.

This is a second one I have. It is supposed to be a solitary palm, but it does have the appearance of a clumping (multi-trunk) palm. Not ready to dig up the palm to find out.

For some reason, it seems fairly difficult to find in South Florida, perhaps because it grows very slowly. This palm is from Central America and northern part of South America, from Belize to Colombia.

Below is the Verschaffeltia splendida, which I’ve posted before, and looking great. I’ve got a light underneath, so the fronds will light up at night. It is commonly called a Seychelles stilt palm. It is cold sensitive, so a sheltered area, if possible, is best.

This palm will be for sale at the South Florida palm sale. The yellow trunk palms in the background are Pinanga adangensis, another easy to grow palm. And yes, (for just one more plug) it will be for sale next weekend at the SFPS sale.

I’ve mentioned several other palms which start off small and stay that way. I will try to post more on this topic.

If you hear of a sale that I’ve missed, please let me know.

Happy gardening,

Dave

Disclaimer: I am a member of SFPS, and while I will not be selling palms this time around, I hope to help them with their sale at the Gifford Arboretum next week, 9 to 5 pm.