some old palms at the FIT campus in Melbourne,FL

[Eric in Orlando]

Saturaday I went over to Melbourne to the FL Institue of Technology. There was a spring plant sale being held so went to that and walked around the campus. The campus has a 15 acre botanic garden. This area is in amoist hammock area where Crane Creek runs through and is referred to as "the jungle'. The college was started in the ealry 1960s. It has no botanical program but the founder, Dr. Keuper, wanted to landscape it nicely and plant lots of palms. he enlisted the help of Dent Smith who lived in Daytona Beach. Dent is one of the founders of the Intl. Palm Society. He helped plant the campus and by the late 60's/early 70s it had several hundred species, one of the largest palm collections in FL. By the 1980s the collection was being neglected and many of the tender species were wiped out in the freezes of the 80's.. Survivors remain and in the last few years the botanic garden has been cleaned up and is being restored.

here are some of the old survivors planted prior to the 12/1989 freeze

Arenga engleri in full sun

Attalea cohune

Bismarckia nobilis- this one is probably the oldest specimen in central FL, planted back in the 1960's. It has been neglected for years so is not as big as it would be with care. It is also one of the tender silver forms. About halfway down the trunk you can see damage, probably from the freezes of the 1980's

Elaeis guineensis- African Oil Palms, they look rough after the past 2 winters. These survived the 80's freezes and seed heavily. The adjacent swamp area have hundreds of seedlings naturalizing

[Eric in Orlando]

Hyphaene thebaica- 3 of the 4 trunks are branching

2 old Livistona decora (decipiens) Ribbon Palms

old Livistona mariae

[alex_7b]

Eric,

I'm curious about your remark regarding the Bizzie. I thought the more glaucous ones were more cold hardy. The tender ones are the greens that I see between Miami and Homestead.

Alex

[Eric in Orlando]

large Phoenix canariensis

old Roystonea elata-Florida Royal Palm

Sabal bermudana

Sabal mauritiiformis

[Palmə häl′ik]

Nice.

Edited March 7, 2011 by Palmə häl′ik

[Eric in Orlando]

and some recent plantings

Astrocaryum mexicanum

Attalea butryacea

Borassus flabellifer-recently planted

[Eric in Orlando]

Sabal causiarum

Wodyetia bifurcata- Foxtail Palm

Dypsis leptocheilos

Livistona saribus

[Eric in Orlando]

a few other non-palms

Cycas rumphii- Queen Sago Cycad, an old specimen

Lepidozamia peroffskyana

Pandanus utilis

Araucaria bidwillii- Bunya Bunya

[Eric in Orlando]

Eric,

I'm curious about your remark regarding the Bizzie. I thought the more glaucous ones were more cold hardy. The tender ones are the greens that I see between Miami and Homestead.

Alex

There are some tender forms of blue Bismarckia that burn in the upper 20sF

[Dave-Vero]

I missed you, and also failed to tour the palms. It was a nice sale. I went home with a small Kentiopsis oliviforme. Maybe I should have been looking for Dypsis leptocheilos. That's a nice specimen.

Non-palm, the Native Plant Society had some very nice Yucca filamentosa, a nice plant that isn't cultivated nearly enough.

[edric]

Great photos Eric, you must do a lot of walking, that's a lot of trees, Ed

[ariscott]

A. cohune looks different to mine.... Hhhhmmmmm....

[Mandrew968]

Eric,

I'm curious about your remark regarding the Bizzie. I thought the more glaucous ones were more cold hardy. The tender ones are the greens that I see between Miami and Homestead.

Alex

There are some tender forms of blue Bismarckia that burn in the upper 20sF

"burn in the upper 20sF" Dang! How cold tolerant are the blue not tender palms?! If they get hardier than what you are saying, then they should be seen all around Panama City beach, Fl.

[Eric in Orlando]

I missed you, and also failed to tour the palms. It was a nice sale. I went home with a small Kentiopsis oliviforme. Maybe I should have been looking for Dypsis leptocheilos. That's a nice specimen.

Non-palm, the Native Plant Society had some very nice Yucca filamentosa, a nice plant that isn't cultivated nearly enough.

I was there around 10:30. Thats a good sale over there. 3 different palm vendors with a good selection of hardy and tender.

[Eric in Orlando]

Great photos Eric, you must do a lot of walking, that's a lot of trees, Ed

Thanks ! I love walking gardens !!! or trails

[Eric in Orlando]

A. cohune looks different to mine.... Hhhhmmmmm....

I'm just speculating, I don't think it has been positively ID'ed. I was also thinking it may be A. rostrata.

[Kumar]

Nice photos Eric, - very informative

[Eric in Orlando]

Eric,

I'm curious about your remark regarding the Bizzie. I thought the more glaucous ones were more cold hardy. The tender ones are the greens that I see between Miami and Homestead.

Alex

There are some tender forms of blue Bismarckia that burn in the upper 20sF

"burn in the upper 20sF" Dang! How cold tolerant are the blue not tender palms?! If they get hardier than what you are saying, then they should be seen all around Panama City beach, Fl.

In the early/mid 1990's when Bismarckia first started trickling into central FL I remember hearing reports that some people were having their palms (blue forms) burn at 28-29F, almost as tender as the green forms. But as they got more popular I didn't hear this anymore. I don't know if a different strain/source of seed started being grown but now most of the blue ones tolerate lower than 28-29F without damage.

The big one here at Leu Gardens was planted in spring 1990. I have been here since 1992 and it has never been damaged. Not the last 2 years and not Feb. 1996 when it dropped to 26F. Thats the coldest temperature since I have been here. The one in the previous photos in Melbourne has survived long durations of low to mid 20s in the 3 big freezes in the 1980's including 2 back to back (12/83 and 1/85 then 12/89). Maybe some are growing in PCB.

[Eric in Orlando]

Nice photos Eric, - very informative

Thanks !

[palmsOrl]

I can confirm that there are genetic weaklings among silver Bismarckia out there. I acquired mine around 1997, and it fries to a crisp at 28-29 F. The last two winters have completely defoliated it, though it comes back each time (a bit slower to do so this year, I'm guessing from repeated defoliations).

-Michael

[Central Floridave]

thanks for the photos. I went to the sale. It is a good one and developing into well attended event. We need more stuff like this in Melboring.

Dent Smith had pretty good vision on starting things!

[Tassie_Troy1971]

A nice collection - Kudos to Dent and his contribution !

[LauraAnu]

Eric,

Great pictures. It is always good to see neglected plantings being restored.

Laura

[Dave-Vero]

Thinking of Bismarckia, a tall one at Heathcote Botanical Gardens in Ft Pierce is looking unhappy, though it looks as though it'll be putting out normal new leaves. This, in a garden where Satakentia under canopy was undamaged, spindle undamaged, etc.

[AggiePalms]

That garden looks great! I didn't even know FIT had a garden. Next trip south, I will have to stop. Thanks for the introduction.