Hardiest Syagrus

[Xerarch]

What about Syagrus comosa? It is rare in cultivation but I was under the impression that it is one of the hardiest of the whole genus

[Matthew92]

Wow, this thread has a lot of valuable and interesting information on S. romanzoffiana's cold hardiness. I found the discussion of the S. romanzoffiana's performance in the Orlando area especially interesting. Here is a large/robust queen palm I saw at the Polynesian Resort at Disney World. I get the impression it is quite old- and maybe a 1980's freeze survivor. This also would go along with what was mentioned about the large stature/robust queens usually being more hardy than the more "petite" ones. Also notice how there is a small but subtle notch higher up on the trunk- maybe from a hard freeze. One of my goals is to find a cultivar that can survive zone 8b winters reliably enough. I also would like to check out the ones growing near Tallahassee mentioned on this thread. I think I may be doing more queen palm seed collecting over the next few years.

[Matthew92]

Did a somewhat extensive search on Google Earth streetview in Orlando through some older neighborhoods (mainly on the South and East side) for Pre-1980's Syagrus romanzoffiana. Did find some that were possibly that old. Interestingly, many of them have quite skinny trunks.

Aerial view of locations where I found the palms

Streeview photos:

[Matthew92]

Continued: streeview images of possible Pre-1980's Syagrus romanzoffiana in Orlando.

[Matthew92]

Recently saw this old queen in front of a club/bar just south of Clermont on US 27. I wonder how long it's been here and if it is a survivor of the 1980's freezes. What peaks my interest about this is that it has quite a skinny trunk. And if this one did survive very hard freezes in the past, it may confirm what another user alluded to earlier in this thread that there is a variety of queen palm that has more of skinny trunk and is quite freeze tolerant (the aforementioned user saw such trees growing successfully around Tallahassee!).

 

[climate change virginia]

Oh none of these can grow in a very warm 7b that's a bummer