Palms in Iowa

[Palmaceae]

Since it was mentioned in the California coconut thread about some coconuts in Iowa I thought I would create a new thread on the subject. I lived in Spirit Lake Iowa for the past 5 years, but recently moved back to Florida this past May.

I took these pictures of coconuts and other palms on West Lake Okoboji Iowa, which is located about 10 miles south of the Minnesota Border and about 70 miles east of Sioux Falls South Dakota.

At this resort they would let the coconuts freeze in the fall and just replace them the next summer, such a waste!

I took this picture of the coconut next to the Iowa state flag to prove I was in Iowa!

[Palmaceae]

This resort also had other palms, such as Dypsis decaryi and Wodyetia's. They also had some queen palms and bottle palms. They brought them in the winter. As mentioned by IHB1979 in the California coconut thread the Bare Foot Bar in Okoboji also had coconuts out in the summer, among many other species, but they kept them in the boat house in the winter. They would still lose some every year and the ones that did survive the winter inside would not look great when they put them out in early summer.

[Palmaceae]

These are from the BareFoot Bar that I took on West Lake Okoboji Iowa. I wonder if these are the most northern outdoor grown coconuts in the US, even though they are only out in the summer?

But not bad for 43 degrees north!

[Palmaceae]

[Palmaceae]

[WestCoastGal]

Hate to hear palms sacrificed like that but the place does look tropical and the photos look like they were of somewhere other than Iowa. Their palm atmosphere must attract a lot of business to make it worth doing every year. Just more northerners wishing they lived somewhere palmy. Totally understand having come from the midwest myself!

Nice little Bizzie there too.

[Mauna Kea Cloudforest]

I wonder why no one actually tries to get one of these big coconuts and brings them to California, seems a large one like that would have a good fighting chance in the right microclimate.

[Palmaceae]

Hate to hear palms sacrificed like that but the place does look tropical and the photos look like they were of somewhere other than Iowa. Their palm atmosphere must attract a lot of business to make it worth doing every year. Just more northerners wishing they lived somewhere palmy. Totally understand having come from the midwest myself!

Nice little Bizzie there too.

Yes I hated to see some of the coconuts turn to mush after the first few freezes in the fall. Spirit Lake Iowa has a population of approximately 4,000, then grows to over 100,000 in the summer, it is known as the Iowa Great Lakes. Great vacation place for boating and fishing.

[Palmaceae]

I wonder why no one actually tries to get one of these big coconuts and brings them to California, seems a large one like that would have a good fighting chance in the right microclimate.

I wonder the same thing, maybe the larger palm would have a much better chance there in California. The ones pictured here at the Barefoot bar would stay outdoors until late September or early October before any frost, sometimes after unfortunately, and it was pretty cool at that time.

[IHB1979]

Great pics! Visited Barefoot several times, there was something special arriving by boat. Pulling up to the dock and seeing palm trees in Iowa. I read a great story about the tiki bar there. Before being built, several family members took a trip to Florida and tried to hit every tiki bar from Key West to Miami for research. Pretty cool place. Thanks for sharing those pics.

[WestCoastGal]

Think it could have something to do with getting the palms registered for California?

Well if I lived in Iowa I know where I would hang out each summer.

[Hammer]

Can't be cheap to haul those palms year aftet year. I gotta think a green house for the winter would be more cost effective, no?

[Palmaceae]

Great pics! Visited Barefoot several times, there was something special arriving by boat. Pulling up to the dock and seeing palm trees in Iowa. I read a great story about the tiki bar there. Before being built, several family members took a trip to Florida and tried to hit every tiki bar from Key West to Miami for research. Pretty cool place. Thanks for sharing those pics.

I remember the first time we went out on the lake and saw those palms, it was one of those double take moments! After living in Florida in the 80's and 90's and having a palm collection, living in Spirit Lake Iowa was my little part of Florida, even only for a few months!

[Palmaceae]

Can't be cheap to haul those palms year aftet year. I gotta think a green house for the winter would be more cost effective, no?

I agree, especially the resort that replaced the 2 coconut palms every year. I was surprised how well some of the palms looked every year when the Barefoot bar brought the palms out of their boat house. The boat house was very tall but had a solid roof but the sides were all windows.Some looked good, some not too good.

I remember last year the Barefoot had a very nice trunking coconut out in the parking lot in a large container among several Foxtails, for some reason they left them out there, so October came along and froze the palms. It is a weird site to drive by there in the winter, deep snow, below 0 temps and several palms with dead, brown, broken fronds swaying in the arctic breeze!

Then the other resort that would replace their coconuts every year, you would see them out by the frozen lake all winter with their curved trunk and the dead fronds, strange site, I often wondered if they thought they would come back in the spring ;-)

But around Memorial Day every year there would be a couple new coconuts out where the dead ones were.

[Funkthulhu]

Very strange. . .

Too bad someone couldn't talk them into "saving" the palms in the fall. Because, hey, free coconut. But they you'd have to have a place to put them!

[Palmaceae]

Very strange. . .

Too bad someone couldn't talk them into "saving" the palms in the fall. Because, hey, free coconut. But they you'd have to have a place to put them!

I would have loved to take the palms off their hands but as you said, no place to put them! Very hard with 8 foot ceilings and a 14 foot coconut ;-) Thought about building a green house but it would have cost a fortune to heat it.

[Funkthulhu]

Very strange. . .

Too bad someone couldn't talk them into "saving" the palms in the fall. Because, hey, free coconut. But they you'd have to have a place to put them!

I would have loved to take the palms off their hands but as you said, no place to put them! Very hard with 8 foot ceilings and a 14 foot coconut ;-) Thought about building a green house but it would have cost a fortune to heat it.

I would love to have a solid top, but high angle slant roof (full winter sun) "green house"/Sun-room. But as you say, it's the climate control bills that suck. Of course, you could get double paned windows and insulate the hell out of the rest, but then your cost is up front with construction instead of doled out monthly as the meter turns...

But I can dream, Right?!?

Edited August 29, 2014 by Funkthulhu

[Explorer]

They let the other palms also freeze to dead? Pretty expensive then to buy each spring new ones! Would be cheaper then to take a palm like Phoenix canariensis or Howea belmoreana wich can overwinter at arround 10 C. So much less heatingcost then.

Alexander

[Bennz]

Amazing, gives a true tropical ambience.

Are these climate stats about right?

http://www.weatherbase.com/weather/weather.php3?s=394531&cityname=Okoboji-Iowa-United-States-of-America&units=us

Daytime temps are not too bad in summer, but I would have thought the nights were a little cool for coconuts. How long do they keep them outside for? The record low events for summer are low enough to be damaging, how many years do the palms just not get enough heat to look any good?

[Palmaceae]

They let the other palms also freeze to dead? Pretty expensive then to buy each spring new ones! Would be cheaper then to take a palm like Phoenix canariensis or Howea belmoreana wich can overwinter at arround 10 C. So much less heatingcost then.

Alexander

The Barfoot bar brings all the palms in, well most of the time, but they will sometimes leave them out for some reason. The other resort brings everything in except for the coconuts. Yes it has to be expensive but they make a lot of money from the summer tourist.

[Palmaceae]

Amazing, gives a true tropical ambience.

Are these climate stats about right?

http://www.weatherbase.com/weather/weather.php3?s=394531&cityname=Okoboji-Iowa-United-States-of-America&units=us

Daytime temps are not too bad in summer, but I would have thought the nights were a little cool for coconuts. How long do they keep them outside for? The record low events for summer are low enough to be damaging, how many years do the palms just not get enough heat to look any good?

That link did not work for me, but they bring the palms out around Memorial Day, which is the last Monday of May and bring them in in early September, sometimes later if the weather corporates.

The averages temps in Fahrenheit are:

June 80-55

July 83-60

August 81-57

September 73-48

We never had any frost in the months listed above except for late September. And they are all next to the lake which is a small micro climate.

Obviously on the lower end for coconuts.

The barefoot bar keeps the coconuts until they look really bad, but they keep them for a few years before they replace them. You will see some of the coconuts in the pictures above do not look that great.