Yeah jim I noticed the geese flying north and days getting longer. As far as palms I always get that itch around this time too. I dont uncover anything until april. Usually this time of year I am planning my spring break vacation for the whole family.

I am getting the fever as well Jim. We have had a few spells of 60 and 70 degree weather here and is suppose to be in the 60's later this week. Ive already started planning and cant wait!

I've been eyeing the 10 foot Majesties at Lowe's already and contemplating what I'll plant in the ground this year. Thinking either a trachy or a Robusta.

are you going to try the Majesty in the ground?

It has been below average once again for another week, but the week before last was well above average, going into the 60's for several days, and even the 70's for a couple days.

Other signs...

The maple trees are either in full bloom.
Daffodils, Crocus, Snowdrops, and some early spring weeds such as bittercress, and some dandelions are starting to bloom now as well. We also now have a POLLEN COUNT here. woo hoo!

A few pics of sure signs of spring I took last week in my neighborhood....

Mastiff, I'm going to pot plant them, so when fall comes, I can just lift them out of the ground and bring them in to try to overwinter. No way would I try to overwinter even a queen palm, nonetheless a majesty.

Jim...it's still february....you live in Iowa.....it's still cold...go back to sleep for another month.... ;-)

"Hey boo boo no pic..nic baskets a hey " !!!!!

Hey Mike, I don't do to much with the palms this month either,I was looking at the heating requirments for march and there was only one night the trachys needed heat and that temp was pretty unusual for March,the reason I was talking about taking the protection off the cactus is that it is already getting to hot in the big"g/house",today was 62F and for the second day it hit 90F in there!the way its built it will not tolerate wind if I take down a wall so.I will just strech a cover over them to keep the rain off as by about March 10th heat is not needed anymore-

Nova,nice pics!good to see spring springing somewhere already!I noticed today that the crocus are polking up here,pretty cool.B.T.W. I talked to Jeff he has 3 K.wags left,he says the adult plants are purer than the ones you get here and are probably more cold hardy(Korean,Japan)e-mail me if you want his contact info jimpdelaney@yahoo.com

Ryan,I think you should go for both!get a nice big trachy and small washy,washys grow so fast anyway!the thing I think helps the most is to make a good sized area around the base with mulch are whatever as I am noticing that the bigger the area around the plant the higher its possible to keep the ground temp-

What else is everybody planting?

I feel like i'm being cocky by posting this, but i've been creating a low maintenance, low water succulent/palm garden since late December. I've been adding tons of different succulents and a few palms (mainly dypsis decaryi, but also two phoenix canariensis). Within this time, i've added the following succulents (which I am really excited about):

Aloe Arborescens
Aloe Striata
Pachypodium Lamereii
Aeoniums
Aloe Congolensis
Agave Americana
Agave Desmettiana Variegata
Agave Angustifolia
Aloe saponaria
Aloe Ferox
Aloe Marlothii
and TONS of succlent groundcover from sedums, to iceplants...etc

Some of the Aloes are sending up flower spikes too, since they are dormant for the most part in the summer. And a majesty palm (which is marginal in my climate) came through this winter better than it did last winter. This week, I pulled off some dried frond boots and found some trunk underneath! this summer, i'm going to fertilize the heck out of it. I've already given it it's second dose of fertilizer this year.

Sounds awesome central,would love to see some pics when you get a chance!

Here you go Jim. I went out and took some pictures with my phone so they aren't the best quality. Here they are anyway:

the first one is a general view of a couple of succulents. That narrow path leads to a water faucet and hose.
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Here's a closer look at some of the plants there. The limited amount of water and the direct sunlight are really bringing out the color in some of these succulents. I really like the purple of the Aloe Striata (upper right), the blue of Senecio (center) and the red of the sedum (lower left). The spotting in the closest aloe (A. Saponaria) is also caused by direct sunlight. Also notice that theres an Aloe (unk. hybrid) sending up a flower spike near the center.
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This one is Agave Desmettiana Variegata (and some monstera deliciosa in the background)
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They're hard to find, but there are two agave americana there, and some orange flowered ice plants. The double trunk in the background is Erythrina Crista-Galli
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This is one of the two Phoenix Canariensis that i told you about. Just planted this month.
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And here I am holding a "weed" (Phoenix Canariensis) lol. I'll pot this one up soon. I've got four already in pots for giving away.
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And here's a random picture of African daisy's liking their spot in the shade.
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