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Just wanted to share how proud I am of my germinated Sabal Causiarum seedling from @PalmatierMeg. Little guys germinated pretty quickly and have started to put up strap leaves. WOOT!

My lowest Low was 16F , and the next coldest nights were 7 Lows of 21F-24F , and all days were above 32F . Not bad for here . Below is a picture of my Butia and one of my Washy . The Washy is only frond hardy to 24F , but the petioles are green and there is even a little green on the fronds near the petioles . The trunk is probably hardy to 15F so I didn't have to protect anything this year , including my Chammy ( it's in the Butia picture , but the Butia has grown over it so it's hard to see ) . I'll cut off the damaged Washy fronds soon . This first picture shows my Ensete maurelii with a solid trunk up to about 5 feet . It often dies close to the ground but this coming season it will be huge with such a great start .One of my Musa basjoos has a solid trunk up to about 8' , so it will have a great start to the season too . I was worried about that Arctic air move east from Texas but it never got here . Sorry to those who lost really nice palms out that way . Thanks for looking . :

Some ( of the countless ) Oputia, and Barrel- type cacti, .and some great looking Boojum ( Fouquieria columnaris ) ..and a few other " this and thats.". Various interesting Opuntia.. Purple hearts n' pads ( Opuntia chlorotica " Santa Rita " ) Arborescent, " Tree " Opuntia Ferocactus robustus Ferocactus platyacanthus Ferocactus pilosus.. Don't recall seeing so much "hair " on other specimens i have seen.. On the " to acquire list " regardless. Gold Barrel and Juniper sp. Random Senita ( Pachycereus schottii ), & Boojum among Saguaro ( in the Baja Garden ) Trichocereus terscheki Little of everything Boojums Sea Squill, Drimia maritima ( **formally Urginea maritima** )

Bam!! Ready to replace one of my Robusta later this year should any of my Robusta die.

Just went outside to take some pics with the headlight. First pic is how it was protected and what it looked like after the storm last Saturday. It was literally the last unprotected palm left and all frost cloth was used up. I just stuffed it with leftover hay and, to keep the center dry, I placed some old plastic bags (punched a small hole) in circles around the spear held in place by some clips (this worked as all the hay underneath was dry). As you can see in the second and third pic, the leaves are still green but it does look battered. The 'inside' of the palms still looks fine. The main spear is firm with no sign of discoloring (see pic 4). So far, I am expecting a recovery!

Windmills roots won't damage the pavers and you can plant them as close as 12-18" of the pavers if you want to. When mature they will produce flowers and eventually seeds but they can be cut off easy if you don't want that. Palms in general are the cleanest plant you can have around a pool. Since you are 7b I'd stick to Windmill palms (Trachycarpus). Sabal minor are a great companion plant as well for your area. Your 3 goto palms are Windmills, Sabal minor and needle palms. That is your base then experiment with others if you want. With your photo I see in my mind a lush tropical planting area. A palmetto would be pushing it and you may have to protect the windmill in super cold events. You have many other tropical plant choices that will work in your pool area as well. Here is a pic of my even colder zone 7a pool.

Thanks to everyone for the advice! Think I have a good plan now, this forum/site is fantastic. Attaching better pictures of the palms across the resaca from me for those who were interested. Going down to UT-RGV this weekend and will post pictures of the Royals from there soon.

Good idea Kim, I could certainly flood this thread, my phone is packed with too many rainbow photos. Yesterday afternoon.

All the Texas wild olives in the RGV are completely fried which I didn't think would happen. I have never seen them damadged by cold like this. My wild olive was completely defoliated by hurricane Hannah. I think it was a combination of too much water and just being jostled by the wind. It was just staring to recover when we got hit by this arctic cold. We'll see if it recovers.

Texas olives are not very hardy. They are pretty much 9A plants. I've had them freeze back on me in the lower 20s. I have three. I don't know if any survived. (I covered one completely)...The other, I covered the base because it was it was surrounded by a bunch of rosemary. If it can grow back from roots, I'll be OK with it. My next door neighbor has a Hong Kong Orchid. She did not protect it.

Update Going to give approx germination %. Remember Australia takes ages for postage time would have impacted the freshness. Plus biosecurity opened the Veitchia spiralis bag and never sealed it again so seeds were super dry... This isnt final figures as will wait as some might still germinate later Seeds: Basselinia gracilis = 0% ordered 200 seeds. I still have hope. Caryota ophiopellis – Approx 70-80% germinated. I beleive this % will increase as some still popping. Drymophloeus oliviformis = Approx 40% I ordered 10 seeds. Couple germinated in transit but were dry on arrival. Still have 2 plants about 4cm tall. Dypsis ambositrae = Appox 90-100% I ordered 200 seeds. Didnt expected this germination success. Ill have a forest soon. Kentiopsis pyriformis = Approx 0-10% as one did germinate in mail but since died. Hoping 1 or 2 will eventually germinate. Pinanga malaiana = Approx 40% germinated. Ordered 10 seeds. Have 4 plants. Ptychosperma cuneatum = Approx 30-40% germinated. Ordered 10 seeds. Did notice another one germinated today so believe this number will increase. Veitchia spiralis = 1% ordered 100 seeds. Package was opened when in biosecurity and left unsealed. Most seeds bone dry. Don’t have hope on anymore germinating. At least I got 1. Some others looked like they started to germinate but they didnt. Wallichia disticha = 0% these were from old order that was rejected and sent back to Germany. Was nearly 6months between orders. Seeds were too old/dry and all rotted. Some photos. Tray of Dypsis ambositrae and my 1 Veitchia spiralis

I have had good luck cutting tree level with ground. Get a few bags of charcoal briquettes. Start a pile on stump and slowly burn stump and roots over a period of a few days. Always worked well for me, not sure if you can do it in your area.

Only difference for me is I'm going to make sure I have a yard generator by next winter. I think my protection was pretty solid, I was just missing the heat source because of the outages. If I have to spend a weekend wrapping everything every 5 years I'll be fine with it.

The USDA cold hardiness zones are now based on climate with 30 year averages, not shorter periods or just weather. Most plant ratings by reliable sources seem to account all but the more extreme cold or mild winters, so a range. This may have been among the most extreme freeze events since it was so lasting and occurred so late. As a former landscape architect who designs taking long-term into account, one cannot plan for losing even a few tougher natives in the worst winters. While we're in different parts of zone 8A, there's little need to be so concerned with planting a full zone colder - if a plant is rated correctly. Zone 7A includes cold spots in the Albuquerque valley or Oklahoma City and Tulsa. Just consult good info and helpful people, so you don't miss out. Best of luck as spring starts!

Confident on some, wabbly on the ID of others.. anyway, Enjoy.. Agave shrevei ssp. matapensis Random Agave sp. Cedros Island Agave, Agave sebastiana Near the top of my top 10 list of favorite species. Agave macroacantha, mee' thinks.. Agave ocahui, victoriae reginae, ferdinandi-regis Agave lophantha Agave palmeri ..or chrysantha Nolina matapensis Nolina beldingii Hechtia texensis, just for fun.. Yucca, Aloe, etc later...

We have threads for sunsets, sunrises, pets, clouds, and so on. Let’s add rainbows.

Hola! Wanted to share the batch of mature seeds we started recollecting from an adult Corypha Umbraculifera It’s been a year since this palm fruited and now its the time when all fruits are mature and start falling to the ground. And we set ourselves on the mission to gather as much as we can. We collected one part pf the whole production, there are still a lot that have not fallen yet. Last year we recollected from another adult palm, having a lot of success in germinating them, we tested two different kinds of soil, one was more sandy and the other one was more clay. They liked the sand way better than the other clay soil, where most of the seedlings died. Can anyone share tips or recommendations on germinating these talipot seeds? Does anyone have experience shipping seeds or plants from Costa Rica? We are very new at this so any suggestion or comment would be appreciated. We have so many seeds and won’t be able to plant all of them, but want to preserve and reproduce this amazing palm. Here some pictures:

Polyandrococcus caudescens = Allagoptera caudescens around 40 available, these have large root systems. $1.50 each Copernicia hospita - from super silver unusual upright plant- see photo. 2 pots with 7 plants each. $25 / per Pot. Clinostigma warburgii- pot if about 30 nice one leaf seedlings $1 each Dictyosperma album v conjugatum - pot of 15 available. $1 each (Plus Shipping) which has gone up again. These require a box also. I may break these up so you can mix and match if you want. Shipped bare root in moist spaghum. Beachpalms@cfl.rr.com .

Just stay away, far away from the brown or black crap sold in bags. The dyes used are not copacetic with living tissue.

Tuscany, Italy. Taken November 2019.

I'm surprised that you haven't had luck germinating these. I have found that they are fairly easy. I just put them in a community pot water them and they germinate. I don't do anything special before. I was watering one of my potted plants yesterday or the day before and found a tiny texas olive poking it's head above the soil.

It does look awesome, doesn't it? That plant is Tropicanna™

Looks like old dead brown fronds to me

Fungal and bug buffet coming now! Cloudy and rainy. Not hot sunny and dry. For here March 10-15 normally the soil temperatures warm into the mid-60s where you start seeing new growth, on some palm like washintonia sp. Sabals around 70F soil. You can use nitrate form of nitrogen as a calcium nitrate drench at lower soil temperatures for plants.

It will be interesting to see how the Cordia boissieri handle this freeze. I've had a similar experience with @PricklyPearSATC. I bought mine as a 5-gal in October, 2017 which was only in the ground 3 months before it hit 20° which defoliated it. Came back strong and grew to a height of around 10' since then and has been pruned to shape. Not sure if it was just due to the small size and lack of establishment that knocked it back the first time or if that's a good gauge for it. I'd think it could certainly survive a brief dip down to 17° but would defoliate. 9° might be asking too much though.

@rhallford826 @DoomsDave If yall started to sell/ship palms you would definitely get rid of some inventory in a hurry haha

They all are burned here where it was 4-5F, ultimately bud hardiness may decide for zone 8a/8b Austin and Dallas arborescent. I have fully mature Palmetto, Mexicana and Uresana (Glaucous). San Antonio to Houston did not reach the duration or ultimate low of 1983, 1989, respectively. However, generally north of these cities in 8a/8b it did...or even exceed. Dallas was coldest in over 72 years. Not to be outdone, Austin stayed at or below freezing for exactly 6 days, the longest EVER recorded. This was mostly due to the depth of snow and timing of snow in relation to when the Arctic ridge was overhead. You can see the infrared and the snow cover during the coldest. Had the heavier banding of snow been about 30 miles further south, San Antonio and Houston would have been in mid single digits. I had Thunder Snow and Thunder Sleet.

There probably will be 2 Bismarckia back in central CS. Also a Queen litoralis, mules, jxs, bxpt, bxps. They were saved in my Garage. I wouldn’t buy them today, but since I saved them they will be planted or sold. May be a year until my yard can be replanted, for the razing and clearing. Since I can go 5 years without a 25F, I can probably get some crowns.

Have a wild Texas Olive, try checking the one to the left of the front door of the Alamo. Mine came back in 2018. I also had a Hong Kong Orchid Tree because I saw one on the Riverwalk And liked it. It would come back from the roots up until 2018. But only made flowers on years it never went below 27.

I have two coonties clumps that I Gave a buzz cut to, placed a couple towels and frost cloth over, then a box over. Then it snowed On box. They look good after unearthing several days later. Otherwise their leaves toast below 20s. They are keepers.

Interesting.. Thought these could tolerate a touch more cold, say a brief dip or two down to 17-18F-ish for some reason.. ( Thinking related, but shrubbier growing Cordia parvifolia can take cold down to 15F or so ) Definitely handles drought.. Planted everywhere here, and many are neglected, but they survive ( look much better when watered/ in more humid places though ).. Would hate to loose a Hong Kong.. long shot, but maybe it will come back from the roots.

Yes, my crinums were probably damaged from all the warmth we had going into the cold. Crinums don't have a natural dormancy. I've had them since 2007 and they have never frozen back, despite getting into the low 20s almost every winter. They are hardy to Zone 6. We're lucky this didn't happen this week, because it is not unusual for Mountain Laurels to be blooming already. Cedar Elms usually leaf out on March 1st. Can you imagine if trees had leafed out already? There goes the shade for the entire summer!

Roger that, Brahea edulis..

Here are a few pics of how mine fared the storm. The fronds look like they are toast, but, if you look at the trunk, you can see a better color where I had the trunk wrapped with quilted blankets with heat tape underneath. I'm hoping that means that the tree itself will be ok, just a little short on fronds for a while. The small cluster looks real bad, not sure if they will make it, they were covered, but not heated except for a few lights under them. Any thoughts on the bigger one? Think it will make it? BTW, I've been told its a Texas Sabal, does that correct to you guys?

I'm rethinking how I'm doing my garden. Since I moved here six years ago I planted white birds of paradise, queens, bananas, monsteras, philodendrons and all kinds of tropicals for the zone thinking they would grow with no problem. But with this event I'm going to consider my area a zone 8 now. I live in Westchase/Alief area of Houston. So it's just gonna be hardy bananas, maybe I will try filiferas (if I can find any) and elephant ears, etc. I'm not gonna push it anymore with zone 9 stuff. I was able to save my giant birds of paradise by ripping them from the ground and bringing them in. Now they are planted out again but man those were large and heavy. I'm not doing that again. I realize next time I'm just gonna let them go. I also cut a piece of my monstera and put it in water but it is rottening... not really rooting. So I'm gonna stop with the tropical obsession until I can save enough money and move to south Florida. Real estate is too hot right now, so it's no good for me to go and buy. As far as palms, if my queens make it I think I'm gonna take them out anyway, they are small and I think they will have a lot of damage since I recored 14 degrees as the lowest temp in my backyard. Even if they make it they will probably not look very good. I might plant a ravenea rivularis just for show, knowing it will melt in another freeze, but they are cheap so whatever.

I've had this clump for 20 years, blooms like clockwork, nestled in with a clump of Sansevieria singularis.

Everything in the backyard is dead or frozen to the ground except for a water oak, Carolina jessamine, and maaaybe a pair of Livistona chinensis. Even the noxious oxalis and African petunias that I've cursed for years are dead LOL I'm restarting my quest to fruit a jackfruit (unprotected), got past 3 winters on the last run . Had a good chance of flowering this year if not for last week. Bring on the 9b/10a plants and zone denial !!!

Like the multi colored Succulents, this is another totally dumb marketing idea.. and for those that don't realize it, can ruin any new found enthusiasm for growing Cacti. Someone on another forum managed to find a couple AZ Rainbows ( Echinocereus rigidissimus v. rubispinus ) which have tiny spines.. Pulled off the fake flower attached to them and likely damaged the growing tip of one of them.. I'd be furious, lol The other issue is likely a result of what i call " lazy labeling " Most places/ people who work at X place often only provide the most general info.. ignoring other important aspects many people also want to/ need to know.. A good nursery will have such plants labeled by variety/ color of the flowers.. or as close to it as possible, on the label/ standing sign in front of X plants.. I myself would like to see digital touch signs where you can scroll over info/ pictures of a particular variety.

Sabal sp. as you approach the Tropical Garden: Brahea sp. Chamaerops.. Phoenix dactylifera, kind of hidden.. Brahea dulcis Sabal uresana, i believe Teeny weeny Brahea armata.. There's another much larger one lurking behind a tree behind teeny weeny.. Nanarrhops.. and ..a Jubaea?..

I took this one about 2 years ago.

Had a few good ones, among plenty of misses/ missed opportunities to be in an ideal location, at the right time of year here.. One of the best:

Not that beautiful background but a double rainbow. Brantley Lake September 2019

As far as the Filifera I germinated, I literally did nothing other than toss some seeds into some cups, pace in a window sill, and water occasionally and up every last one of them came. Nothing special, no baggie method, nothing. It's hard not to germinate these seeds.

Nathan, I have plenty of Texas Olive seeds but have not had any luck germinating them. Followed recommendations from a university study (can't remember if it was in AZ or not) but they're tricky. Do you have any tips to share on germination?

Wonderful pictures and gorgeous scenery. How old do you think the Trichocereus terscheki will be? Looking at my 1" baby like plant I don't think I will see this as big as this one. And all these nice barrels. Eckhard

I don't think the perception that "Houstonians don't like palms" is true across the board, probably just depends on what circles you find yourself in. There are plenty of people in Houston that like palms and the tropical look. If Houston was anti-palm, there wouldn't be such palm-heavy landscapes in some of the most prominent areas of the city i.e Highland Village, River Oaks Mall, NASA Rd 1, Hobby Airport, the Gulf Freeway, City Centre...(could go on and on). Sure River Oaks doesn't heavily promote the tropical look but go into any of the adjacent neighborhoods like Rice Military, Washington Ave, Southampton, and Montrose and you will see palms everywhere both as accents and as dominate landscape material.

All cities are going to have their bad areas / parts. It's just a fact of life around the world. I've never been to a mid sized - big city that didnt have those parts in some places. I think forming opinions on just those parts isn't the greatest idea personally. Hell even many small towns have them. I know I lived in a small town with a "bad area". Out of all the cities you mentnioned there is really only one I wouldnt live in and it has notning to do with any "bad areas". Jax is just too cold and too small (its urban area isnt large, it only is the largest "city" in FL becase it annexed almost an entire county within its city limits, so its really like the 4th or 5th largest or less) and there isn't much going on there. I think your advice to the OP is sound, but I can say also that I think they would be happier in a solidly warm climate while doing number 1. I know they dont want big city type area though, so its a bit of a catch 22. I suppose there is always commuting. I know lots of people that work in Tampa and live in not so crowded and fairly tropical Manatee County FL. Id vote they look at that area of southe centeral peninsular FL, or even around the Orlando area to the south. They can always save that money and move to an even more tropical area, but can also still enjoy a reasonbly tropical / palmy place while working too.

I'm in TX in a small town in the middle of nowhere My babies from Phil are pretty nice and growing like little green rockets though.

Update Some early shooters: Drymophloeus oliviformis (Photo 1) Dypsis ambositrae (Photo 2) Pinanga malaiana (Photo 3) Ptychosperma cuneatum (Photo 4) Veitchia spiralis (Photo 5)

These Windmill Palms look crazy healthy. Nice method!