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1895 and 1899 pretty darn coldest week ever but look how 2021 compares locally... look at the 7 day average of 25.9F for College Station.

Spring cleaning in the garden and I got a little surprise - my phoenix sylvestris (hybrid?) Is flowering . It looks super happy coming out of this winter as well. Ultimate low recorded at 24F with a bunch of nights in the 20s and a TON of rain. There is a touch of burn on the leaflet tips but other than that it looks unfazed. No protection given this winter. Pics below

Ha! Back in the day you best not remind my native Californian parents how their homeland was destroyed by non-Californian transplants from "Back East." Did you know people from "Back East" steal the best California produce for themselves and leave the dregs for Californians. It's true - gotta be! I heard it myself on a news report on a San Francisco TV station back in 1981.The prices of avocados and artichokes had soared to $1.00 for 10. Oh, the humanity!

Any thoughts on what might do something like this? In the end, it was "just a Queen" and I have a Sabal Riverside that has been dying (literally?) to get out of it's trash can sized pot and into the ground. The Riverside is an offspring of the one at the prior residence of Dick Douglas where he let me pick the seeds myself when I was out there for a visit, so it will be a nice thing to get into the ground.

I'm sure others are growing this species of Aloe. Mine seems smaller than some posted when I did a search on the species. I love the blooms. I planted this from a single in a 1 gallon pot that I got in probably 2013 or 2014. The flower color is said to range from orange to red, and mine seems best described as blood orange color.

It won't make as much of a difference there. The humidity negates a lot of the benefit of shade. I visited two years ago in May, and there was a decent rainstorm. After it cleared up we went to Little Havana for Thai food and had to wait outside in line for thirty minutes or so. I was amazed by how much water pooled in the streets and even the sidewalk in some spots. It probably wasn't much more humid than here, but it was pretty intolerable. And this was at night! Also funny how they mention "oak, ash, elm and sycamore." Ash, elm or sycamore in Miami? Hopefully they steer clear of live oaks too.

Took this photo from my office window on day one

Here is what my Sabal mexicana looks like in the aftermath. It was unprotected. I sprayed the crown with copper sulfate and Freeze-Pruf. I don’t know if that helped any. My low temp was -2 F. The crown and central petioles remain green and the spear bud is solid. I am just NW of Waco a few miles.

If by hottest you mean highest highs in the summer I'm not sure it's inland everglades region. Since there are few population centers it's a little hard to find data (after a relatively quick search). I do see that Immokalee Florida has an August average high of 92.6 for the warmest month, which is pretty warm for Florida. But the hottest summer temps I have found are in north Florida, closer to the continental landmass. Ocala July average temp is 93.2 with a record high of 105 while Immokalee record high is 102. The record high for the state of Florida was recorded in north Florida, Monticello registering a 109 degrees. As far as driest I do believe Key West is the driest with only 39.83 inches/year. Much of the rest of Florida get 50 inches a year give or take.

Wow. People are hating on this specie of palm before they even see it in its full nighttime glory!

Not many yards have the space for an attalea cohune, but amongst the mansions in Snell Isle is one such place. Quite surprised to see one of these not at Kopsick.

Forget P. wrightii in FL. Not adapted to the climate, no matter how much heat it might take here.. Not doing so great in areas of the state where the water table has been dropping as it is. Don't think even the eastern U.S. native P. occidentalis reaches further south than about central FL. Don't feel sorry for anyone who'd willingly plant an evergreen Ash.. Horrible tree. Much better choices.. As far as the suggested choices made in the article... If they're going to do more shade trees, why aren't they looking over natives -first- vs. looking at the worst options possible - Temperate Eastern U.S./ European -type choices. S. FL has several great natives that are adapted to the area ..and will withstand hurricanes, and look tropical. Add in other native trees from the Caribbean Basin and.. Heck, Allspice, Pimenta dioica, is native there ( unless S. FL has bulldozed all of them, along with all of the other natives.. ) Plant a ton of those.. Whether in Fl. here, or back in CA. Will never understand what motivates some of the street tree choices made.. Numerous are among the worst possible, or at least are utilized for poorly thought out applications.

If they want northern trees, why couldn't they just move to a colder climate than Miami, like Atlanta or Spartanburg. Spartanburg? I like your thinking.

You see this same behavior in Arizona. People who want lush, green lawns but whose yards are nearly 100% sand and caliche will plant things like apple trees and then wonder why they're dying. I think they should plant Banyan trees. They're great for the small spaces in road medians and the little squares in sidewalks...

And here I thought only LA goes all wiggy over palms. Don't these people know elm trees were ravaged by Dutch elm disease? My bet is these transplanted Yankees don't realize their precious Northern avenue trees are totally unsuited to life in Miami. Those grand, beautiful trees need cold winters and to go dormant for X days/hours of chill to survive. Palms may slow their growth in cooler weather but they don't go dormant. This issue comes up periodically in Miami whenever the influx of transplanted Yankees reaches a tipping point. BTW, I am a transplanted Yankee because to a native Floridian, everyone from north of the GA line is a Yankee. I've just got 28 years residency here to see other transplanted Yankees go all stupid trying to make FL remind them of home.

I know this is a photo thread. Will post photos later. Down here in my backyard in Brownsville, we had 2 nights below freezing. Sunday/Monday, was below 32 for about 12 hrs with the bottom at 28. Mon/Tues got 14 hrs down to 27. Tues/Wed bounced off the 32 mark for about 8 hrs. So far, almost everything is brown. Queen palms are fine, Sabal and Washingtonia look like nothing happened. I am concerned about all the tall Royals. The leaves are completely burned, however crownshaft and petioles still are still green. Kentiopsis olive and pyri are questionable as are my Chabeyroinia . Surprisingly, the Carribean stuff looks like most will survive, including many Coccothrinax, all of the Copernicia, including some almost trunking fallaensis. The thing that really surprises me are the Tahinias. Althought the leaves are burned and curled up, the new spear is growing like a champ. Will send a pic later but the 2 that I marked 1 week ago have already grown at least 5cm. Even the 2 I have remaining in pots look good!

As mentioned back in part 1, Boyce Thompson's collection of Australian natives is pretty big. Moving between various areas, i didn't get to explore that part of the garden in too much detail. Regardless, some good stuff to be seen. Forest of Eucalyptus is impressive to stand beneath/ wander among. In the Wallace Garden, came across two Eucs. i hadn't heard of, nor seen in person. Both appear to be smaller species that would fit in smaller gardens.. much better fit than the monsters that many people think of when Eucalyptus comes to mind. Anyway.. ***Faw, Yes, realized i messed up the order of/ miss spelled a couple things in the last thread, ~after ~ i couldn't edit. lol.. Is part 5, not 4 oof! Some views as you approach the forest from the Wallace Garden, and while wandering through the forest. Reminds me of exploring similar groves of Blue Gum back in California: Drover's Wool Shed and Windmill.. A supposed replica of a Sheep Pen out in the Outback. Red Gum, Eucalyptus camaldulensis Random Euc. sp. Die Hardy Mallee, Eucalyptus formanii.. Doesn't appear these get all that large. Like the foliage, color/ texture of the bark. Book Leaf Mallee, Eucalyptus kruseana. Another appears-to-stay-small Euc. Cinnamon brown bark contrasts nicely w/ the bright powdery blue leaves. Yucca heaven, and some interesting Legumes/ other unexpected tropical trees tomorrow..

2016 Better times. Bismarckia and Everglades palm in there. Also a skinny phoenix. All lasted till 2021. Armata, Sabal Uresana in there too.

A few more pictures of last season's colossal harvest... These are the late season peppers, which came down in October-November, so they don't look as great as the earlier August-September ones... Corno Di Toro Yellow Monster Kaibi Round Dulce De Espana AKA 'Spanish Mammoth' I'm forever picking these things off my plants here... Shishito Zimbabwe Black 'Galician' Padron Padrons and Jalapeno's Peach Scorpion 'Early' Jalapeno's Buena Mulata's and Apache in late October... Serrano doing what it does best... The Paper Lantern is an excellent producer here The Douglah is probably the second hottest official pepper after Carolina Reaper, and since my Reapers did so poorly again this season, here is the next best thing... Gunsmoke Some late plant out peppers... Trinidad Perfume I was harvesting peppers aplenty well into November last year as the first frost didn't come until 10th November. My very last harvest was some Scotch Bonnets which hung on until early December, despite losing most of its leaves in the cooler temperatures. You can see the empty raised pepper bed in the top right of the background, which had been stripped out a few weeks earlier. The plant labels are still sticking out. Onto this coming season, most of my 2021 peppers have now germinated and are being planted up tomorrow. I'm hoping to have them all above soil by this time next week, although I can't plant them outside here until early May at the soonest. I don't want to risk a late spring frost getting them, although typically my last frost is around mid April here. I'll update again soon. Lots of interesting new varieties for this coming season.

As much as I love palms I also get this from a practicality perspective. Part of why I love my neighborhood in AZ is that we’re in an oasis, so we have a full tree canopy in the summer. Even when it is 118-120, my kids are still outside playing - albeit quite literally with a gallon of water. The shade makes it all possible. They also only play on the shady streets when days are that hot.

It's currently 18c in Jandakot, it's pouring with rain, it's cool and I'm loving every minute of it!

My pineapple guava looks pathetic. Most of the plants above should recover. My pittosporums are still green, although they dropped leaves...similar to a hail storm causes leaves to drop. I have purple heart which is fairly dense, a beschnorneria (agave family) and Viburnum suspensum all close to each other. They do not smell good. The viburnums were blooming, the purple heart is a mushy succulent, and beschnoreria goes without saying. The beschnorneria is hardy to zone 6, but it developed rot. I'm trying to save it. Two pups are goners....I just hope the snout weevil hasn't gotten to it already.

Was thinking how hilarious it would be if even the fake palms succumbed to the ice.

Surprising to see the Pyramid lake area of NV being 8a, the lake is about 3,800' in elevation which believe it or not is pretty low elevation by Great Basin standards, for example another real "low spot" in the Great Basin would be the Great Salt Lake, which is about 4,200'. As far as northernmost 8a in the west. You could follow the Pacific coast all the way up well into Canada before it fell below 8a. For inland areas 8a, I've seen some 8a blips in far western central Idaho along the Snake River.

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 .

updated pics

S. Brazoriaensis and s. Palmetto after the big Dallas freeze Some of the few arborescent palms not defoliated or protected in My Dallas garden

Silver serenoa growing.

Don't spray any cold damaged palms with fertilizer. You will encourage damage to the damaged tissue

Sabals are taken for granted because they're so common in the south. People in SC take great pride in the Sabal palmetto though. I suppose such a hybrid would be like a brazoriensis.

More from the office. Tahinia, Psuedophoenix, small and tall Coccothrinax. Btw the tall one was completely exposed at the top and still looks green although hard to tell in photo.

The driest uninhabited spot in Florida is the Dry Tortugas, west of the Keys, but it's not on the mainland. It gets about 37 inches of rain a year. It is called 'dry' because it lacks fresh water; this is unrelated to the lack of rainfall but rather to its absence of ponds or streams since it is reef-based. While it may not have the highest mean temperature in Florida, it has the least contrast in temperature seasonally. Even so, a cold wave in the winter of 1977 devastated its branching coral, an event from which it has not fully recovered.

Palm looks fine to me. I wouldn't cut any leaves off until they turn brown. Washingtonias are tough palms and this won't set it back..

It is interesting to have different opinions. I have always watered/fertilized them like crazy ( defoliated ) once the soil temperature normally averaged 65F and above. That is Usually March 15. In 2011 the cold was followed by drought. I think you are referring to washingtonia, they can come back even in drought. For other less drought hardy palms I still plan to do what I have done in the past in regards to palms, not necessarily other tropical like plants. 2010. 1980s Survivors Sabal Mexicana. Survived low single digits. Albeit, very well protected spot. Maybe one of the best seats in town.

I think my peach buds got nuked, but the plums seem okay. Not an expert, but if the ground is wet or moist, I wouldn't. Without functional leaves to draw excess water the roots could rot.

Nice! Hopefully things work this time! Phil also has the Baby Queens on sale this week and I'd really like 2 more L. Weddellanium. This hobby gets expensive.

@NickJames I agree with @Allen Let them recover for a while first before resuming a fertilization routine. Also, Despite the cold damage, the yard still looks nice!

The smaller palm featured in the thumbnail is not the 30 year old specimen, if that's the one you're referring to. The larger palm is shown later on in the video, and the apparently the owner claims it has been there since the house was built about 30 years ago.

I have 3 bare root Kentia palms heading my way that I’m going to experiment with. phil at Jungle Music has some on special for $90 those would be $600.00 here! So have to figure out how to make them live here.

I suppose this is possible. I don't know that there's a ton of info on them, because they're not super common in the trade. I am going to pick up a five gallon one I already paid for with two growth points in about a month. Gonna stick it in a cold sink in my backyard. Will definitely hit 21-23 a few times a year. Will also probably hit 75-80 in the middle of the same day. I'll let you know in a year how it fairs. My guess is that it's a solid zone 9A palm for dry climates like Cali & AZ. Probably a solid 9b palm for wet climates like Florida & Texas. Could certainly be wrong, though.

As Derrick mentioned, I use whatever arborist mulch is on offer in the back yard - mostly pine and oak at this stage. I do try to avoid species that have allelopathic qualities (e.g. eucalyptus, black walnut) out of an abundance of caution. The difference in my yard since I started mulching is night and day, and I no longer fertilize anything outside of pots. Out front I do still use expensive fir bark for the curb appeal...it's expensive as hell, so no way I could do the whole yard in that.

Madagascar has so much more to offer than Dypsis, so this post will highlight a couple of Raveneas. These are all recent additions to the garden, so are not very big. The first one I planted in 2016 was a one-gallon Ravena sambiranensis. While waiting to go in the ground, the pot had fallen over causing the palm to turn about 45o trying to grow upright. When I was ready to plant it, I had to choose positioning it with the fronds pointing up and the root ball laying on its side, or put the roots down and hope the stem would right itself. I chose the latter, and in fact the palm very quickly corrected its posture. I was amazed at the growth rate. It is under fairly thick canopy, and yet after 4.5 years in the ground it’s about 15 ft tall. And that is just the fronds coming out of the ground. No sign of a trunk, yet. I really like this palm and kick myself for not realizing this was a dioecious species. I should have planted a cluster of them. I'm especially proud of the Clinostigma photobombing the shot. This was grown from seed and has been in the ground less than five years. I'm hoping the Ravenea can withstand the heavy fronds that will start crashing down in a few more years. My others are still babies but beginning to take off. R. glauca was planted from a Floribunda 4” pot two years ago and it’s now about four ft tall. It's too soon to form an opinion on this species. R. krociana (of McDonalds hamburger fame) went into the ground as a 5-gallon plant 18 months ago. It has settled in and begun putting on larger and larger fronds. High hopes. I can’t plead ignorance regarding these guys. I only planted single specimens because I’m starting to run out of room. As the first palms I planted eight years ago are reaching their full dimensions, I’m increasingly concerned about how closely I’m planting the baby palms. My last Ravenea waiting to go in the ground is R. rivularis (Majesty). This was a seedling given to me by a fellow HIPS board member. I have an especially wet location picked out for this little guy. It is not that hard to find wet spots in the garden. As I type it is pouring rain. So far in 2021 I've gotten 34" of rain. My place is a mud pit.

Not far at the Naples Botanical Garden I wonder if they’re related!

@ahosey01's thoughts are pretty on target regarding how you might differentiate a " wet vs. dry " winter climate.. and would help certain things, that might suffer frost/freeze damage at higher temperatures in say Houston.. perhaps even San Diego, survive lower temperatures here or in Tucson. From what i have noticed, the most dangerous nights here for potential frost/freeze damage typically occur on nights it might have rained -most of the day-, then rapidly clears out after sunset, but humidity/dew points stay high. such a scenario happens more often in CA, outside the deserts, and occurred in FL. during the 09-10 freeze, from what i recall... Can think of numerous things that will survive extra degrees of cold if they are kept bone dry, that are hardy, but suffer damage/can die outright.. if subjected to the same degree of cold ( or slightly less ) in wet soil during the winter months. Remember, even during the winter here humidity and dew points are quite low on most nights so while it can get down to say 33-35F.. maybe even 32F, if humidity is only 15-20% and the dew point stays in the same range thru the night, on such a night.. real hard to get frost, except on rooftops.. a spot or two in the calmest spot in the yard.. Back in San Jose, which is dry, but not nearly as dry as Phoenix, there are more chances you will see more extensive frost when the low only hits that 33-35F range simply because the humidity is often higher there this tie of year.. Happened a few times in FL. as well. Again though, this is a generalization, many other factors can skew things one way or another. In the case of this event -in Texas- i'd suspect the duration, added moisture from ice/snow before/during, just how bleepin' cold it got, and the fact that it went from fairly typical/warm-ish winter weather to extreme cold so quickly plays into the damage being seen.. if it had been dry, ..the overall winter there cool-ish, giving things time to slowly harden off -before- suddenly being frozen, for several nights in a row.. there would be damage no doubt, but,.. suspect it wouldn't be near as extreme, or effecting even stuff that we'd consider quite hardy quite as much.. Just my thoughts however.. Thinking you're in the ball park.. and, thinking such cold days usually occur when it is cloudy/ wet, and breezy. If the sun is out on a cold morning, it will warm up pretty quickly.. Even the high only tops out in the upper 50s-low 60s, real hard to keep daytime temps below 50 when the sun is out. Not to say it hasn't happened though.

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...

Here are some Dallas images 7 days after the 3F night and basking in 74F sunshine

I should be in attendance

I like it. It’s an artistic piece that represents a palm but isn’t trying to fake anybody out since it’s not even green. It probably lights up at night to attract customers.

This is normal. I noticed they tend to do this especially after planting. Was it recently planted? It might be focusing on putting roots out. I find it normal for them to 'stale', but once it gets going there's no stopping it!

Those are stunning trees!