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Looking good! That C. Decaryi sure took on some size ….as did the others. Harry

If you had told me what the weather would be like and the location I would’ve never thought there would be this damage. I don’t know what to say about it really, just reporting what I’m seeing. I thought I had some damage to the Bismarckia fronds and the Sabal causiarums only. I felt good and then this last week I started seeing damage on so many palms. I forgot to mention I also lost a Brahea moorei. That one showed damage right away and went downhill quick, even though it survived 19F last year. I also saw Katy got like a tenth of an inch from the storm on Saturday night and I got 4.5” with the additional rain on Sunday. Totally opposite. I expect next year most of these palms will be established enough that I won’t be seeing this again. But who knows I feel you can never predict how palms will do over winter. Further to your point all the palms around me and Houston for the most part look great. It’s only when I get up to Tomball that I see damage from this past winter.

Looks like my 2 good Washingtonias might just make a steady recovery, almost certain the first one will but iffy about the second one as it has white at the bottom of the spears but won’t pull. Replaced the dead windmills in new spots with better holes this time. Good luck to everyone else, apparently we will be seeing the 30s again later this week hopefully not below freezing though.

These are my dypsis decipens f2 hybrids and one normal dypsis decipens that I’m gonna grow in Lancaster California zone 9a I got them from floribunda palms I hope they are going to survive we almost only get to low to mid 20s in winter only 1 -2 times a year I hope they do well any tips I know I guy from Modesto grew them so I’m confident I’m also gonna try the coco queen palm next

I am growing a couple of different Puya species, but not the one you have. As Jonathon mentioned, give them room; like other bromeliads they want to form a colony. The genus is known for having very aggressively armed leaves. Weeding around them is dangerous, particularly the larger growing species. Flowers on some species can be spectacular, but require years of patience in between flowering. Mine are grown without direct irrigation, they get water from adjacent plants on drip, rain (we get about 10" /year here on average) and a little hose squirt once in a while. I grow with Aloes, Encephalartos genus Cycads and other drought tolerant plants. I'm growing in fast draining soil too, so water doesn't stick around long when they do get a drink. Here is a little background on some different Puya species I'm growing and their blooming history: https://www.palmtalk.org/forum/topic/74913-puya-bloom-after-12-years-in-the-ground/#comment-1076416 You can see a little about Puya Yakespala on iNaturalist too: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/847372-Puya-yakespala Good luck and get some welding gloves if you ever plan to weed around it... my wife has me get out my safety glasses too.

I was searching for something and this thread popped up. I decided to update this phot of the entryway, since it has changed a bit during the intervening period from March of 2018 to March of 2026. 8 years will do that... to gardens and people. This is the Leucadia house. I will have to get some updated photos of the garden in Carlsbad at another time.

It's like we live in alternate realities. I'm not seeing anything remotely like the damage you're describing. I drive by tons of mostly abandoned Chamaerops and Butia every day and there isn't a scratch on any of them. Maybe the frost cloth is hurting your palms? All no protection: Livistona nitida - zero 0.0% burn on all leaves except for spear pull on 2 newest leaves, already pushing up growth. Livistona decora - 16-18 inch high seedlings, slight tip burn on a few Livistona chinensis - mostly undamaged Sabal rosei - no damage Sabal causiarum - no damage Sabal guatemalensis - tip burn to 30% burn on older leaves Bismarckia - mostly defoliated but pushing growth Queens x2 - one is only 30% burned, another is mostly defoliated but pushing growth Chuniophoenix nana - defoliated but pushing growth Bonus Lytocaryum hoehnei covered with a cardboard box (no heat) - no damage

A true gardeners paradise!

Our daytime highs were well above freezing, sunny and dry. No way I could take them all off and put them back on, it took 8 hours with my wife helping so I left them on. We had one cold day at 36 and the rest were in the 60s and 70s with only two nights below freezing at 23 and 26. Next year I'm not protecting anything other than the Bismarckia and newly planted small ones. Some of the palms will be going into their 3rd winter, and if they can't handle a brief dip to mid 20s then too bad for them. Aside from the Bismarckia all of my palms are rated for growing well below my zone. I'm trying to be conservative and still getting burned. The good news is that beside the one Chamaerops it looks like all will survive and have plenty of time to put on some good growth. The period between our average first and last frost date is 2 months, but each year I've had about 330 growing days.

Clinostigma samoense Clinostigma with Astrocaryum, Pritcharia, and Attalea in the foreground. Tim

It was actually by my Sabals that’s what I thought it was probably 200’ from my Butia!!

Right now, it's 78° tomorrow it will be in the 80s i'm not complaining at all! lol

No kidding!!! The area in the 3rd picture looks like great mulch, until you kneel down on it. Then you discover that it's all Encephalartos Whitelockii leaves, which are covered in thorns. It'll be fine by the summer when the rains help break down the stabbiness.

@Merlyn Don't drop a match unless you want to start from scratch LOL. Glad some of the stuff made it and/or is coming back.

@Eric in OrlandoThank you for taking the time to document all of this, painful as it might be. Speaking of Leu, is the staff selling anything this weekend?

Not familiar with this particular species Richard, but quick google search says they're native to the Andes in Argentina and Bolivia. I've got a couple of other species, and they like full sun, good drainage and plenty of space, because they get big and very spikey. True xerophytes, so don't over water them.

it's about 11 inches caudex in 25 gallon pot.

I had a cool idea, I really want to get into agriculture, and agricultural science I think it would be a cool idea to try to domesticate or select Sabal minor for fruit flesh production. Or, larger flesh the outer black coating is very bitter but the thin flesh is actually kind of sweet if you have tasted it. Kind of tastes like a date to me if you have tried them. Would be cool to see Sabal minor as a cold hardy date or also get the outer coating less bitter if you think this is a cool idea or have ideas or any sabals that have this trait of larger fruit flesh please leave a comment!!

If possible if there is no ice it is best to take off unheated frost cloths during day so sun can warm plant but still your temps weren't that bad so I'm still a little shocked

Indeed, the warming is quite intense! It`s currently 12.3 C on the balcony fortress here in Arbon/Stachen Lake Constance! I`ve checked the tissue, and so far, everything remains stable. I haven`t applied a fungicide yet, but i have it ready in the fortress to prevent any rot-error during this spring eruption! Thanks for the heads-up, Konstantinos🤗

My minimum temperature was 13F this year, accompanied by freezing rain. My results were as follows. Chamaerops humilis (unprotected): No damage, actively growing. Chamaedorea microspadix (unprotected): Burning where ice accumulated, but actively growing. No damage to leaves that did not ice over. Chamaedorea radicalis (unprotected): Burning where ice accumulated, but actively growing. No damage to leaves that did not ice over. Sabal minor (unprotected): No damage. Sabal miamiensis (unprotected): No damage. Sabal miamiensis Leu garden hybrid (unprotected): No damage. Sabal uresana highlands form (unprotected): No damage and actively growing. Sabal uresana green/silver form (tarp wrapped around the spear base): No damage and actively growing. Brahea dulcis (covered by a tarp): Minor discoloration, but actively growing. Cycas revoluta (unprotected): Exposed leaves are burned, normal for temperatures below 14F.

I dont have any at my house but a few at Leu Gardens. I will do an evaluation soon for those. I know B. gasipaes are 100% burned, not sure if trunks are putting out growth or if they got killed back to the roots.

White and green. Ones in green got burnt a bit from afternoon sun, as we went hot two days later and then were supposed to drop back down but it never happened. Frost cloth was on for a few days. The frost cloth was all the way to the ground with bricks and rocks to hold in place, mulch piled over the edges, and the cloth or bags were slightly wider than the base of the palms, to allow for radiational heat from the ground. I have been protecting palms for over a decade so do have experience. My Bismarckia was the only one that had supplemental heat, and it took damage to exposed fronds but everything else came through fine. I'm almost of the opinion that frost cloth is waste of time for palms without supplemental heat. Frost cloth was put on when we were still warm. The air was warm and so was the soil. We were in the 70s before this hit. I truly believe it was the lack of a cool down that causes all the damage here. All of my perennials were still blooming. The plants don't get the signal to stop growing. Texas weather is very Bipolar.

What is the temperature right now in the region around Bodensee? With real and permanent warming up there is a slight risk, that all severely scorched plants collapse. Have you applied any fungicide preemptively?

Update 2026, it’ s getting bigger, but still the trunk is still lagging behind a bit.