Palmy day

[Jdiaz31089]

I paid my local palm grower a visit yesterday just to lust after -- I mean to admire - what they have growing. It was a perfect day with clear skies and a clear view of the snow-capped Sierra Nevada in the distance. Here are just a few photos from my afternoon. 

Sabal yapa. Such a beautiful palm! I bought a smaller one for myself. I had to. You get it right? Tell me you get the impulse purchase. 

 

[Jdiaz31089]

Some of the stuff they have in the ground here in Fresno is impressive. This archontophoenix pre-dates the infamous '07 freeze. The scar is from that dreaded week in January 07. 

[Jdiaz31089]

Caryota urens underneath an old, old jacaranda. They have a caryota maxima that's getting ready to go to seed, but I didn't get a picture of it. There's a field'o'brahea (clara and armata) in the background toward the right. They're getting ready to dig those out this summer. 

 

[Jdiaz31089]

Sabal riverside

[Ben in Norcal]

22 hours ago, Jdiaz31089 said:

Caryota urens underneath an old, old jacaranda. They have a caryota maxima that's getting ready to go to seed, but I didn't get a picture of it. There's a field'o'brahea (clara and armata) in the background toward the right. They're getting ready to dig those out this summer. 

 

Nice place!  That looks like gigas/obtusa to me.

[Stethoscope]

23 hours ago, Jdiaz31089 said:

Some of the stuff they have in the ground here in Fresno is impressive. This archontophoenix pre-dates the infamous '07 freeze. The scar is from that dreaded week in January 07. 

Which species of Archontophoenix is this? Are they really that hardy? 

[Jdiaz31089]

On 2/4/2017, 7:39:02, Stethoscope said:

Which species of Archontophoenix is this? Are they really that hardy? 

I'm not sure what species but I would guess this is cunninghamia. And they appear to be. I'm not sure how cold this exact location got to in 2007, but Fresno regularly sees low 30s during the winter. 

[Jdiaz31089]

On 2/4/2017, 7:39:02, Stethoscope said:

Are they really that hardy? 

Weather underground has some historical data. This is the data they have for a weather station near this nursery for 2007:

2007	Temp. (°F)
Jan	high	low
1	48	35
2	55	33
3	60	34
4	53	39
5	49	33
6	51	30
7	54	32
8	58	31
9	62	32
10	60	32
11	49	30
12	45	25
13	45	23
14	46	25
15	50	24
16	53	25
17	53	28
18	53	29
19	56	26
20	57	30
21	55	29
22	59	29
23	61	30
24	65	31
25	69	34
26	68	35
27	62	36
28	59	46
29	57	39
30	58	41
31	55	39

 

The scar on the Archontophoenix is from this cold event from January 2007. There were a 19 days or so of overnight lows at or around freezing point. These temperatures seem about right as the hardiness cutoff on this species - just around 25 degrees. Although they survived this stream of cold, I doubt this palm would survive at all if we got these temperatures every winter. We haven't a winter quite this cold since then, but there is always the threat of one.