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Palm Plans for This Year


LasPalmerasDeMaryland

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Hello!

I am absolutely elated to finally be a part of the palm community! I gained an interest in hardy palms around 2 years ago and was enamored with the idea that palms could possibly grow here. However, I was a bit "over zealous" and did not consider the other factors that would limit palm growth and thus, many perished the first year. The fatalities were 1 Trachycarpus Fortunei, 1 Rhapidophyllum Hystrix (died due to transplant shock before the cold even began), 2 Butia Capitatas (I don't know what possessed me to believe that these were going to survive), and Sabal Tamaulipas. The survivors were 2 Trachycarpus Fortunei (1 spear pull), 1 Sabal Minor 'McCurtain', and 1 Rhapidophyllum Hystrix (Lowe's Blue Pot from DeLand, FL). All of these eventually croaked the next winter. Many of these were in bad spots to begin with (due to my own ignorance) and in poor soil.

I am deciding to try again this year and learn from my mistakes. I want to try Sabal Minor 'McCurtain' and 'Louisiana', Sabal Brazoriensis, and maybe Sabal Etonia. I have a South facing wall along the foundation which seems to be a microclimate; as snow often melts quicker near said wall than the area further out. I live in Central Maryland, Outside of East Baltimore. The 2012 USDA puts me in 7b and the Arbor Day 2015 has me in Zone 7-8 (however I think zone 8 is a bit of a stretch :(). Maryland Winters here are "interesting" to say the least. The usual highs hover around 45 and usual lows are around 25-30. It's not uncommon to have warmer or cooler periods with highs in the 50's or 30's. During storms, my area is usually on or below the freezing line and we get rain, wintry mixes, or freezing rain. It does snow here, but it's not usually very deep and melts within a day or two. Blizzards can occur, but are rare. Regarding Annual minimum lows, it's usually 7b temperatures with some winters flirting with 7a or 8a. If anyone here (or a climate similar to here) has any tips or experiences, I would love to hear them. Happy Palming!

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Welcome to PT Las Palmeras de Maryland! 

Sabal minor, Rhapidophyllum hystrix and possibly Trachycarpus fortunei should be bulletproof in 7b Maryland. You could also try planting Chamaerops humilis, which has a similar cold tolerance to Trachycarpus. Good luck though with the Sabal etonia! I don't think I know anyone growing those that far north.

I think downtown Baltimore qualifies as an 8a climate. When I lived in south central Pennsylvania, we would jokingly refer to Baltimore as "tropical" since the climate was muggier than anywhere else nearby. I am surprised palms aren't that common in Baltimore unlike how they are in Washington D.C. 

 

Zone 8a/8b Greenville, NC 

Zone 9a/9b Bluffton, SC

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Are you protecting the fortunei?  If not I can show you how to.  The sabals should be ok there.  No experience with etonia but I have the other ones. 

YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@tntropics - 60+ In-ground 7A palms - (Sabal) minor(7 large + 27 seedling size, 3 dwarf),  brazoria(1) , birmingham(4), etonia (1) louisiana(5), palmetto (1), riverside (1),  (Trachycarpus) fortunei(7), wagnerianus(1),  Rhapidophyllum hystrix(7),  15' Mule-Butia x Syagrus(1),  Blue Butia capitata(1) +Tons of tropical plants.  Recent Yearly Lows -1F, 12F, 11F, 18F, 16F, 3F, 3F, 6F, 3F, 1F, 16F, 17F, 6F, 8F

 

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4 hours ago, LasPalmerasDeMaryland said:

Hello!

I am absolutely elated to finally be a part of the palm community! I gained an interest in hardy palms around 2 years ago and was enamored with the idea that palms could possibly grow here. However, I was a bit "over zealous" and did not consider the other factors that would limit palm growth and thus, many perished the first year. The fatalities were 1 Trachycarpus Fortunei, 1 Rhapidophyllum Hystrix (died due to transplant shock before the cold even began), 2 Butia Capitatas (I don't know what possessed me to believe that these were going to survive), and Sabal Tamaulipas. The survivors were 2 Trachycarpus Fortunei (1 spear pull), 1 Sabal Minor 'McCurtain', and 1 Rhapidophyllum Hystrix (Lowe's Blue Pot from DeLand, FL). All of these eventually croaked the next winter. Many of these were in bad spots to begin with (due to my own ignorance) and in poor soil.

I am deciding to try again this year and learn from my mistakes. I want to try Sabal Minor 'McCurtain' and 'Louisiana', Sabal Brazoriensis, and maybe Sabal Etonia. I have a South facing wall along the foundation which seems to be a microclimate; as snow often melts quicker near said wall than the area further out. I live in Central Maryland, Outside of East Baltimore. The 2012 USDA puts me in 7b and the Arbor Day 2015 has me in Zone 7-8 (however I think zone 8 is a bit of a stretch :(). Maryland Winters here are "interesting" to say the least. The usual highs hover around 45 and usual lows are around 25-30. It's not uncommon to have warmer or cooler periods with highs in the 50's or 30's. During storms, my area is usually on or below the freezing line and we get rain, wintry mixes, or freezing rain. It does snow here, but it's not usually very deep and melts within a day or two. Blizzards can occur, but are rare. Regarding Annual minimum lows, it's usually 7b temperatures with some winters flirting with 7a or 8a. If anyone here (or a climate similar to here) has any tips or experiences, I would love to hear them. Happy Palming!

Sabal Minor 'McCurtain' is still the popular sabal minor on the block, but the new Cherokee variety has the potential to unseat it as the most favored for palm enthusiasts in the Midatlantic since it is native to a 7b area in Alabama.  I think @TexasColdHardyPalms has seedlings.  I can't speak to how their growth habit might differ from the other cold-hardy varieties from Arkansas and North Carolina or the aforementioned McCurtain.

Glad to have you here and welcome to the forum!

Lakeland, FL

USDA Zone 1990: 9a  2012: 9b  2023: 10a | Sunset Zone: 26 | Record Low: 20F/-6.67C (Jan. 1985, Dec.1962) | Record Low USDA Zone: 9a

30-Year Avg. Low: 30F | 30-year Min: 24F

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Welcome to PalmTalk.

You should do well with needles and Sabal minor, perhaps Chamaerops (of which there are a number of interesting variations) and Trachies. Sabal etonia may be iffy but worth trying if you want to zone push. But if you can't grow Sabal palmetto, etonia may present a problem. Still, I say go for it.

Sabal minor has a fascinating number of varieties, including uber dwarfs that stay as small as 18" x 30" and are easy to protect. You could design a garden just around that species. There is a lot of info out there on them.

Meg

Palms of Victory I shall wear

Cape Coral (It's Just Paradise)
Florida
Zone 10A on the Isabelle Canal
Elevation: 15 feet

I'd like to be under the sea in an octopus' garden in the shade.

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21 hours ago, NC_Palms said:

 You could also try planting Chamaerops humilis, which has a similar cold tolerance to Trachycarpus.

Seriously!? I happen to have a small/medium Chamaerops Humilis in my sunroom. I was going to try it last year as an annual but I decided not to plant it. I'm very intrigued now :rolleyes:

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49 minutes ago, PalmatierMeg said:

 But if you can't grow Sabal palmetto, etonia may present a problem. Still, I say go for it.

I have a pot full of small Sabal Palmetto seedlings that were left outside during a snowfall and low 20 (maybe high teen) temperatures. It was full of water which had frozen. They look a little damaged but are still alive. I was thinking about planting them as an experiment to see how long they would last haha 

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I just got my Plant Delights (NC) spring catalog and they have Sabal etonia on sale for the first time. They claim that etonia grows in 7b for them as does S. palmetto. So, maybe on both. Otherwise, their Sabal selection is way down. Too bad.

Meg

Palms of Victory I shall wear

Cape Coral (It's Just Paradise)
Florida
Zone 10A on the Isabelle Canal
Elevation: 15 feet

I'd like to be under the sea in an octopus' garden in the shade.

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1 hour ago, LasPalmerasDeMaryland said:

Seriously!? I happen to have a small/medium Chamaerops Humilis in my sunroom. I was going to try it last year as an annual but I decided not to plant it. I'm very intrigued now :rolleyes:

In your climate chamaerops may die to the ground if you get temperatures below 10ºF but will come back green by the spring. I've seen these quickly come back from temperatures below 0ºF in Eastern NC. 

Zone 8a/8b Greenville, NC 

Zone 9a/9b Bluffton, SC

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Welcome

I live near Olney MD (7a) and am in my second year of Palms.  Last July I planted one Trachy from the local big box store (blue pot) and kept a second Trachy in the pot.  I made a Silo out of 4 ft high welded wire fencing and wrapped it with frost cloth (two layers) and added a lid made from welded wire covered with clear plastic.  I left the planted Trachy mostly uncovered.  I used the Silo if i) the low at night was predict to be 12 F or below, ii) if it was going to be very windy (sustained 10 mph winds) iii) if it was going to snow, or iv) if we were going to have rain followed by a significant drop in temperature below freezing.  I also had some christmas lights on a circular wire stand around but not touching the stem.  I plugged them in only if it got below 10 degrees, which was only 3 times all last winter.  I really think the most important thing I did was iv) above, protect it from getting wet and then being encased in ice when the temperature dropped.  That happened several times in March and it actually killed some bamboo in my neighbor's yard.  Below is how the Trachy looked early this summer.  Also note the fence provides some protection from winds from the west and there is also a fence that protect from the north along with some wooded area.  I used frost cloth on the side of the silo instead of plastic because an all plastic silo can turn into a green house in the sun during the day and its bad for the palm to be in warm temperature during the day and really cold temps at night.  I figured the frost cloth would let air circulate and not build up heat during a sunny day.

The one in the pot I simply left on my driveway in the sun (My Driveway has a southern exposure) and moved the pot into the garage at night if the temperature was going to be low twenties or lower, or if snow was expected.  The potted Trachy  is now bigger than the planted Trachy and produced a couple more new fronds than the planted one.  (With only two plants there is not really a big enough sample to draw conclusions about how much of this was due to the fact that the potted palm experience less harsh temperatures.  However if I buy smaller palms I will keep them in pots for a year or two and winter them as above before planting)

This summer I added a fifteen gallon needle and a 10 gallon sabal minor to my plantings.  I read "Palms Won't Grow Here and Other Myths" by David Francko.   That book put me onto leaf mulching in the winter.  Each of my three plants has about 8 inches of oak leaf and pine straw mulch around them .  I also build wind barriers around the new plants for the first year.  Their roots are not well establish in the first years after transplanting and so there is not much water absorption, so lots of wind will tend to dry palms out.  I did not cover these larger plants when it snowed a few days ago and they seem to be fine.   

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