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The last 5-6 winters haven’t been conducive to growing coconuts in Flour Bluff or North Padre Island, where he was doing so. I lucked out and saw his house and a garden he helped plant out before this run of bad winters. If you talk to him his interest in palms is pretty much 100% coconuts. Maybe if things get milder he will come around.

To the north side of the house. C. lutescens, foxtail and Pygmy date. Less damage than my southern exposed backyard behind a two story house…

Papaya, dragon tree and canna lilly in a pot

C. macrocarpa, Rhapis excelsa

T. radiata, C. argentata

Lost the first preseason game to the White Sox, Cubs season is over 😂

Pathetic Adonidia that was starting to die before the cold this year, Roystonea regia

A lot of this is grass and weeds, but some of these are my Granny's winter flowers (I have no idea the species but they bloom in Jan/Feb and are white and yellow blooms) and they're looking great. The hope for most of the papayas was for quick shade in spring and summer since my bedroom faces east and has no shade. The other end of the house is shaded by an oak and crape myrtles and James room faces west. I also wanted to get a couple dwarf versions to try for fruit, so if I can keep them alive for another month then plant them and put the ones I wanna fruit outside we're good. After they're established they can propogate from branch cuttings but keeping them alive through that tiny seedling stage is the hard part, just like palms. Once they're established they're usually ok. I've got a few that should make it and an entire tray I'm still trying to get to sprout, even though I know the ones I plant for shade are doomed. I think regrowing them from branch cuttings will be A LOT easier than seed, too.

Ptychosperma elegans, Ravenna rivularis, C. lutescens, W. bifurcata, bottle palm

This area is wind sheltered from the north and northwest by my 2 story house. I think the wind sheltering just let more frost from and caused more damage. The zone 10 palms on the north side of my house look better as you will see later in this thread. I noticed that same pattern all around my neighborhood. I guess it just goes to show things don’t always go the way that we think it will. closeups of the previous two.

I guess it is time to show some of the aftermath in my yard from that last freeze before the next frost comes this week. I wanted to give a as much time as I could so that we can see the real damage as it sets in. The first week after the freeze looked mostly green in my yard. Ultimate low was probably around 30 or 31 here with a few nights of definite frost on my coconut and C. macrocarpa for sure. First is my small coconut and some sort of clumping Chrysalidocarpus, maybe pembanus or cabadi.

Time to get some new stuff in the ground. Since all the leaves are starting to push out on the trees I took a little time to put this chinese fan palms in the ground. Decided to go for a shady location since I think they look so good in the shade with elongated leaves. Can't wait to see what this thing does.

Just added this guy to a shady part of my yard. Hes been in a pot in the sun too long so I can't wait to see what it does in the ground under a tree.

To bad it’s in Florida!!!

Paul, I still believe that you have a better microclimate than I, your plants and the short period of your garden are the evidence !

@Darold Petty here is that hookeri you gifted me, probably a year and a half ago. It just threw its second leaf since being planted. All the leaves it had when you gave it to me succumbed to K deficiency, and the first new leaf was attacked by aphids while I was on vacation. This new leaf has faint red tinges so I have hope. Still, it’s so slow and this is a very visible spot in the garden, so I’m not sure it’s a keeper either. Incidentally, I’ve been watching Weather Underground closely during our cold spell and the station closest to your house has been consistently 3 degrees warmer than my new weather station reports. We bottomed out at 36.6 Thursday morning.

these two pics are 1 minute apart. first one is sun at the back, dark red as this p[alms has lots of anthocyanin. Second one shows transmitted light through the same leaf a minute later, like fire, not so dark. High sun intensity led to good intensity tramsmitting the leaf when compared with the first one a reflection which showed lots of deep red but low intensity. The back reflectance of light was low compared with the transmitted light coming through this leaf. first sun at the back of observer: second with the palm between the sun and the observer showing some transmitted light, that is actually a different color. then minutes later with less cloud cover flame on!

This will clear it up: https://www.palmtalk.org/forum/topic/44333-trachycarpus-sp-nova/?do=findComment&comment=985110 If you were searching with an engine that uses AI, it probably conflated him with a YouTube video at Dr. Rossi's place in Hastings, FL back in Fall 2018. Texas Cold Hardy Palms sent me a bunch of cycads to auction off as a thank you to CFPACS for taking care of an issue for him. It was mentioned in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dm-p_9NbkrE

There a lonely Coccothrinax crinita sitting in corner, at the Pompano Beach, FL Lowe’s on US-1, for $150, if anyone is interested…… Overgrown in about a 7g pot. If I had a spot in mind, I’d grab it.

Thanks for the explanation, Tom !

I like the forum format a lot more, it's too bad they're mostly dying in favor of places like facebook and instagram. It makes looking up old threads and posts a lot easier too.

Ive never bought one not showing a red leaf but my daughter bought me a bare root C. Macrocarpa watermelon that didn't show color for a couple years and then it was part reddish part green but quickly thereafter it went all rose color. My other (3) flamethrower palms all bought as 5 gallon size showing some red on a new leaf. I once saw a small nursery with around 30 chambeyronia macrocarpas grown from seed, 3/4 of them were showing some red or what I call transition color leaves(reddish). At the time I had not shade so I didnt buy one but if I did I would have bought the one with the most red showing. I do think there is genetic variation in the red ones. Some are just more stunning than others. I have two hookeri's and one is a spectacular red and the other is a nice red but not the same by a good margin. The red color does also depend on sun exposure and viewing position(sun at the back of observer or palm between observer and the sun. In low light epidermal layer reflection dominates the color as light passing further into the leaf is all absorbed. In high light the optical density is not enough to stop light from returning from the inner leaf or transiting the leaf in transmission. A somewhat analgous situation is in night photos the way they show enhanced white on lighter color palms. The light you see is dominated by surface reflection since the dimness(vs sun) means almost no light transits chlorophyll containing parts of the leaf and survives for the observer to view. I'd look for a red chamby if I were you. Mine always look better in the cool winters, happier and more colorful.

PalmPedia makes reference to this being a zone 8b palm, but indicates the threshold of hardiness at mid 20°F's (-5°C). That's realistically zone 9a.

Yesterday's high peaked at 91ºF after 92º on Thursday. Today is supposed to be upper 80's (currently 78ºF at 11:00 am) before the next cold front here in Rio Hondo, TX. Dropping to 68ºF high tomorrow and rebounding to the 80's again by Wednesday. Palm planting began a couple of weeks ago most recently a 7-gal Wodyetia bifurcata and a 3-gal Chrysalidocarpus lutescens. Others I grew from seed are currently in the on deck circle being acclimated to sun before planting.

After a slightly cooler than forecast start to the day, quickly rising through the 50s at 9:10AM, on our way to somewhere in the lower 70s later. Aside from some S.E. 'rly breeziness and perhaps a few high clouds passing through at times tomorrow, only thing to watch is just how quickly temps reach the upper 80s as we close in on the end of the month. Some morning readings, ..as of 6:58AM, just before sunrise. As mentioned, a touch cooler in some spots compared to the 39 - 40F suggested by a majority of forecasts but, not bad at all. Lightest touch of frost, at the house / in the neighborhood at least, was confined to west facing, shaded rooftops and the cold spot out back. Moment the first rays of sun hit those spots, it was gone. Probably be awhile before we see readings like this again. Locally / around the valley: Tucson area: