My Garden in Pyrgos...

[SouthSeaNate]

It is such a shame to see the damage to some of your palms after the previous photos, hopefully most will recover & replace the damaged fronds during the coming year

[Kostas]

Thank you very much Nate, hope so too! All seem ok enough to recover and the weather we are having is good for growth, so hopefully they all do recover and look good by the end of the year. I was very worried about Cyphphoenix alba, if they lost their leafs or not, as these produce leafs very slowly. Thankfully they all kept a good leaf each!

Can't wait for the spears to open and for new leafs on each and every palm!!!

[Zeeth]

That's a surprising amount of damage! I guess it's good that you didn't have a coconut planted there after all, as it would have likely died from that.

[Kostas]

Well, saw similar damage in Florida during my 2010 vacations there. Coconuts and Archontophoenix side by side, plus royals, all burned to a crisp. They were just starting to open new leafs after the shock!

The temperature reached was very close to the record low of the area but still, damage is indeed too much for it. Howea shouldn't have burnt like that, they never burned before and had seen -2,5C undamaged on another freak cold winter. Very young Veitchia joannis seems to have survived and Bentickia condapanna is undamaged.

It surely is good that a coconut was not in the ground already this winter. It would need 2-3 ok winters to grow and establish first before it could better handle such a bad winter. I was hoping the same for Veitchia joannis as well but no, this was only its second winter...still seems good enough to live.

[Phoenikakias]

Kostas, can you distinguish a certain part of your garden that has suffered most of the cold damage? If so, what is its orientation?

[Kostas]

Damage is everywhere Konstantinos and pretty random. I would want to say the NW area but then some species there damaged significantly less than in the middle of my garden So, there isn't any area that got the brunt of the cold, it's all random. I think that is the essence of a radiational freeze. It's not mediated by cold air currents, just heat loss. I found that the low lying areas(compared to the objects next to them) got the most cold damage, probably from cold air drainage.

[limoncik]

Rapid recovery of your palms Kostas!

[Phoenikakias]

Damage is everywhere Konstantinos and pretty random. I would want to say the NW area but then some species there damaged significantly less than in the middle of my garden So, there isn't any area that got the brunt of the cold, it's all random. I think that is the essence of a radiational freeze. It's not mediated by cold air currents, just heat loss. I found that the low lying areas(compared to the objects next to them) got the most cold damage, probably from cold air drainage.

Radiational freeze occures only when night sky is clear, doesn't it? Do you remeber if sky was clear, when freeze occured?

Edited February 25, 2015 by Phoenikakias

[Kostas]

Sky was crystal clear that night and a few nights before, that's what got me worried then that the forecast may come true. When I see clouds, I know there is no chance for freeze, no matter the forecast

[akaranus]

great garden in such short time, always love to watch your updates, pitty for this last cold breakthrough and damage, hope to see everyting back to life soon

speed of your bismarckia in mediterranean climat amazes me, it is so fast even for tropical climates, glad to see her without spot....

Edited February 27, 2015 by akaranus

[Kostas]

Thank you Ante!

Hope to see the first new leafs when I visit again in a week or two, and things to start looking a little greener again.

Bismarckia is getting faster with each passing year and grows for more and more months each year, it's no more as heat dependent for growth as it was when younger. Maybe it will grow adult leafs and start trunking this year!

[Axel Amsterdam]

Kostas, hope to see an update this summer with great regrowth.

It absolutely amazes me to see the difference between the washingtonia robusta fronds and the bismarckia fronds. The bizzy is an absolute winner.

[Rafael]

I also wish you bring us good news after getting back to this wondefull garden, Kostas

[Kostas]

Thank you very much for the great wishes Axel and Rafael!! I will be going there in one week and a half, I really hope to see things better than the photos I saw. Some open new leafs and vigorous new growth would certainly cheer me up!

I was surprized to see Bismarckia so perfect when Howea burned so badly. I never expected to see Howea so burned in my climate, caught me by surprize, an unpleasant one...

[Rafael]

Thank you very much for the great wishes Axel and Rafael!! I will be going there in one week and a half, I really hope to see things better than the photos I saw. Some open new leafs and vigorous new growth would certainly cheer me up!

I was surprized to see Bismarckia so perfect when Howea burned so badly. I never expected to see Howea so burned in my climate, caught me by surprize, an unpleasant one...

My howea is my main disapointment too. But in the meanwhile i replaced it in early january (against all the advices) and began the planting work of future canopy. After being transplanted the howea started growing almost immediately

[Phoenikakias]

Thank you very much for the great wishes Axel and Rafael!! I will be going there in one week and a half, I really hope to see things better than the photos I saw. Some open new leafs and vigorous new growth would certainly cheer me up!

I was surprized to see Bismarckia so perfect when Howea burned so badly. I never expected to see Howea so burned in my climate, caught me by surprize, an unpleasant one...

You shouldn't if you had paid attention to my damage report back from 2004!

[Kostas]

Great to hear it started growing fast afterwards Rafael! Canopy is good to have for preventing damage

My Howea have seen -2,5C undamaged during a previous bad winter, so I definitely did not expect defoliation at -3C. You can also see a perfectly green leaf on the Howea all exposed there!!! That one did not have any protection and did not burn at all while all other leafs except the ones under canopy, burned. Go figure...

[Axel Amsterdam]

Hi Kostas,

how is the bizzy doing now it's warming up again?

[Kostas]

Hi Axel!

The Bismarckia has already grown a good deal since last time i saw it in January. It grows considerably almost yearound now and the faster growing months are ahead of us! It didn't damage at all and its one of the nicer palms to see in the garden. Its 3m tall already with a base only 25cm wide, i imagine the leafs will grow huge as it thickens up and i expect to see leafs grow to almost double the size as it prepares to trunk. I think it will get to be of impressive size this year!

[Kostas]

Casualties so far:

2 adult,flowering Chamaedorea tepejilote(Blanco)

1 Reinhardtia paiewonskiana seedling

1 young Prestoea acuminata var. montana

1 Dictyocaryum lamarckianum seedling

1 Areca vestiarea seedling

1 Alcantarea imperialis

1 other tropical bromeliad

Spear pull:

1 Allagoptera caudescence

1 adult Chamaedorea tepejilote(Blanco)

1 adult, flowering Chamaedorea elegans

...

Most are recovering thankfully...

[Phoenikakias]

The loss of the Tepejilote has touched me most!

[Astrophoenix]

The loss of the Tepejilote has touched me most!

Thats two of us!

[Cikas]

I'm sorry to hear that. Strange that Chamaedorea tepejilote is that cold sensitive.

[dalmatiansoap]

It is. Mine are also all gone.

[Kostas]

Pretty much all my 3 adult tepejilote were badly affected while my many ground planted tepejilote seedlings were almost unaffected, no or very little damage on them. I have 5 or more of these in the ground, so in a few years I should have flowering specimen again. Just hope they fare better during a future cold event. What's crazy, they had seen -2C undamaged before and they died at -3C from internal rot, the whole upper trunk rotted. I hated seeing them like that and I hated see my Prestoea acuminata so badly affected cause they had become awesome palms that would reach big sizes this year had it not been for last winter. I will try them again

[Kostas]

A few new photos:

Pritchardia schattaueri, all 3 are doing very well and growing fast even after the -3C they saw

Sobralia macrantha

Bismarckia nobilis(silver) is growing fast already, didn't stop growth much this year at all, and it was a cool winter

Newly planted Thrinax radiata. Planted right atop an underground cement wall I dented to accommodate the rootbal at the proper depth, in sandy silty clay/loam with some organics added in.

[Kostas]

There is a second plant in the pot as well that arrived cut close to the base and with the center rotting, but I cleaned the center from the rot as soon as I unpacked and it seems to be growing as well!

[Kostas]

A Pseudophoenix vinifera was also planted at the edge of the same patio. The patio is gonna be enlarged quite a lot as it grows closer to the edge, or even before that

Kentiopsis oliviformis, undamaged after -3C. The dried edges are from it's trip from Florida last summer

Native Aristolochia sempervirens

[Janni]

Γεια σου Κώστα,

this is very sad what happened to your garden. But I think you are too reasonable and rational to be dissapointed I think you knew the risk of the marginal palms you planted and you´ll go your way and keep up the good work! Do you know if there are casualties at the other exotic gardens in your area (southern suburbs in Athens or the one of our fellow PT-member in Katakolo)? What happened to your plumerias?

The past winter was indeed some kind of strange in greece with many short cold spells and mild to warm weather in between. Exactly this is the reason I believe, why it hit your palms so hard. This happens here in central europe almost every spring. When there is a couple of days or for one or two weeks mild and warm weather (10 - 15°C, this is mild in our sense here...), the marginal palms start growing again. If there is a frost occasion after that mild weather, palms can be hit very severe, because they are hit just in that vurnerable time. During winter, when there is no sign of growth, they can withstand -10°C or colder temps with minor to no damage. In spring, -5°C is sometimes just too much.

On the other hand, I do not have any explanation on handy, why your Kentia lost all leafes but that single one... Is there a possibility to make clones out of that leaf? By cell division, in vitro propagation or something like that? I´m not familiar with this science, maybe you know more, you have the better background for that questions

Keep us updated with the recovering of your palms.

Best wishes,

Janni

[Kostas]

Γεια σου Γιάννη!

Indeed, i knew the risk and i am happy the vast majority survived and should look good again after some recovery time. Some surprised me though with more damage than expected, and some of the casualties were out of the blue for me(the Chamaedorea, especially since seedlings of these in the ground are untouched by the cold!!!), but there were also positive surprises too. The garden's canopy is still not closed and still seems far from closing, something i look forward to and that should cut down on winter damages and increase survival chances for everything should a record cold event happen(-3,6C is the record cold of the area but data don't go too many years back, so it could possibly get colder long term). Many species came close to their limits with this event, and i am definitely not happy with that cause they would be hard pressed with even colder weather. However, i am pleased to see that this cold event did not shock them much and they have grown some already, a few already opening a new leaf and most have green tissue previously hidden underneath the damage.

It seems Katakolo escaped the cold and Dimitris didn't see any unusual damage this year, which is great! The southern suburbs of Athens also did not get too cold temperatures and frost cloth cover prevented much damage to the more sensitive palms. Had i also covered the palms that single cold night, i bet many would be totally fine afterwards but i am not there to do that and it rains way too much to leave palms covered for a month, i fear they would rot.

Plumeria are damaged to varying degrees, we shall see when the time comes for them to leaf.

Temperatures in Pyrgos are always high enough for growth, palms don't stop growing there. This particular winter had a week or more of cold winter nights, so i don't think it came that much as a surprise to them compared to other winters. There were a few other heavy frost events, unusual for Pyrgos, but with much higher temperatures, just close to 0C maybe. These could have come as a surprise but with them seeing -3C, i really don't know which event did more damage. Temperature was nice and warm inbetween.

I do remember that a -0,1C event in early December(which means full growing mode in Pyrgos, it was 25C every day and palms in fast growing mode...) was about as damaging as a -2,5C event another year during the proper ''freeze danger'' period(Mid-late December to mid-February).

I am just happy the vast majority survived and should live to look good again in a few months

That Kentia did not lose all leafs, it retained 3-4 green ones on the inner side, close to the wall and under the roof, but this particular green leaf you see is every bit as exposed as the leafs that got fried. And its flawless!!

Not all leafs are created equal. Plants produce a certain, minimum amount of leafs they want survive during tough times, reinforced and better built. These are the leafs that will survive drought and cold better, as well as insect attacks, etc. They are more costly to the plant to produce and thus plants only produce a minimum number of these and the rest more lightly built. These leafs also live longer and its the reason one sees a green leaf retained while other newer leafs are already dead. That is the theory on this matter. Now, cloning a palm from a leaf is not yet feasible, palms do not respond very well to cloning and do not readily give new plants from cell cultures except from meristem tissue. It would also most probably not give a hardier plant as its just a better built leaf. Sure wish all leafs were like that one... Was sad to see the kentias burn, they had never cold burned before. But they also seem capable of enduring colder temperatures thankfully, so long term survival is looking good so far. Archontophoenix alexandrae came close to their limits, which i definitely did not like but as they grow taller, they should remain in warmer air masses. Canopy would help big time too...

I will keep you updated!

All the best,

-Κωνσταντίνος

[Kostas]

Washingtonia robusta(Sonora) and Cycas revoluta(male)

Bismarckia nobilis(Silver)

Encephalartos munchii(Blue) and Acanthophoenix rubra got little damage from -3C

View from the veranda with Archontophoenix alexandrae trunk and Howea forsteriana leaf

[Kostas]

Washingtonia robusta(Sonora), 6,5year old from seed

[Alicante]

That Bismarckia didn't get any damage during the cold spell, right? It's very beautiful and it's growing fast.

[Janni]

That theory of plants growing leafes of different strength is very interesting and absolutely logic, from an evolutionary point of view. On the other side it is a pitty for us, that we cannot take any advantage out of this...

Have you ever thought of planting one or two additional syagrus rom. to build up a bullet proof and fast growing canopy, which requires little space on the ground (in contrast to your giant washies)? One further possibility which comes in my mind is a kind of disposable canopy, made by bananas. Musa Basjoo is the species growing here in Germany absolutely reliable in the garden once you´ve planted it (my girlfriend´s mom has one in her garden, trying to get rid of it for a couple of years now, but it pops up again every year!). It withstands up to -2 with minor tissue damage, the rhizome survives even our coldest winters. It propagates by offshoots, making it an endless living plant in your garden. It can grow up to 5 or 6 m, giving shade in the summer and providing a cheap and superfast canopy for your smaller palms.

Greetings...

[Kostas]

Thank you Proeza Yes, Bismarckia remained undamaged from the cold!

Yes, i do plan on growing 1-2 more Syagrus romanzoffiana as its a pretty nice and tropical looking palm that trunks straight up, without blocking passage at the pretrunking stage like most palms do. But not so much for canopy, as for the looks. My Washingtonia are also for their looks, not for canopy. Once they grow up, they won't provide much of a canopy, i just like adult and tall W. robusta which act like landmarks from afar, and want to get a further 4 in the ground that i have waiting in pots some years now, from the same seed batch with my existing ones.

I have around 25 different varieties of edible bananas, most still waiting in pots for their planting spots. I have used them for canopy of small, sun-sensitive stuff and it works great. One is still used to shade my biggest Ceroxylon amazonicum somewhat, though its outgrowing its canopy fast. The biggest problem with using bananas as ground planted temporary canopy is that they tend to take over and become huge in no time at my place and i will then have to deal with removal or huge underground bulbs. My ''Kandrian'' has bulbs of 60cm diameter, almost all of which are buried underground. I don't even want to think the work involved in removing a heavy, adult pseudostem and its rhizome and i have to remove one as it crushed the irrigation lines last year while expanding....(i have rerouted the lines over the pathway for the time being, not nice). I think i also have a basjoo, but it was bought from a reputable seller as something else, so i am waiting for the flower this year before i call it and move it elsewhere(its in prime grounds, i would prefer a rare variety or species there, as it was supposed to be). It forms longish underground rhizomes and spaces the pups away, which i do like and its probably the reason your girlfriend's mother hasn't been able to get rid of it yet. Its pretty nice looking though.

I like your idea for a temporary banana canopy or even a permanent banana sub-canopy. I am not sure how doable it is in my garden as my spacing is pretty close and don't have enough clearance for pup removal/etc without risking damage to nearby plants, especially with the dimensions banana mats attain in almost no time once they start to pup. But its a nice concept and i do have banana canopy in certain areas and plants do well there, even a Pritchardia schattaueri planted between 2 banana mats in close spacing. I also have a few more banana varieties spread here and there in the garden that are still small to show, so a partial banana canopy is being created as a consequence to wanting to get certain cultivars in the ground and add some variety of shapes to the garden(plus get fruit).

Lets see how it develops. Its been 6+ years since i started planting the garden and most major plantings are done, but most plants are still too small to show their real characteristics or be anywhere close to impressive. Thats for starting many of them from seed and only being able to get most species small. I think the progress in the coming years will be faster as once the small ones eventually get some size on them, they can get big fast

[Tassie_Troy1971]

Kostas

Sorry to see the damage to your great palm collection . I was amazed to see the Kentia and Hedyscepe really fried from the freeze . I have never had below - 0.5 C here . Howea should recover easily give the palms liquid kelp as it really helps .

Bismarckia was a surprise they died in my loong cool winter for me .

Troy

[Kostas]

Troy,

Thank you very much for your sympathy Thankfully Howea and Hedyscepe got not lasting damage, all plants of those species are recovering at a good pace! It will probably be a while till they regrow a full canopy though.

Bismarckia has been relatively easy to grow in Pyrgos(every winter day is above 10C, most above 15C and some above 20C even in the dead of winter). I must say it didn't feel like a sure grow when young, but it proved itself to be. I planted it in the ground as a germinated seed with a rotten taproot that had already regenerated a new growing tip, and has grown there, without help or protection, all it's years It got me worried a little a few times, getting flattened by extreme wind and rain once and throwing a fungus invaded spear and partly eaten petiole after a very rainy winter(and a fungal ring on the first spear after every winter, though very faint), but it has proven reliable and grow more and more robust as the years pass.

I think it has a chance for you in a very sunny, mounded and exposed area with excellent drainage. It's ok with sleeping many months per year, as long as its roots don't rot. I would plant 10 in the ground from seed and wait. I think at least one will make it and get easier and more reliable with each year

[Phoenikakias]

Kostas, I thought that water table in your garden during winter can rise to only 20 cm below soil level. How is this compatible with your advice of excellent drainage and mounded planting? Troy, winter in my garden is also cool to cold for a looong time, still I have not lost a single Bismarckia either in pot or in the ground. Search for another detrimental factores either alone or in combination with prolonged cool winter.

Edited April 29, 2015 by Phoenikakias

[Kostas]

My soil has great drainage, regardless of the high water table. The water table does rise to 20cm from the soil surface but the good drainage/aeration my soil offers prevents rot problems mostly, plus the temperatures are also pretty warm compared to Troy's winter, so soil/water should remain warmer over the winter as well. A high water table is advantageous as long as the soil has good drainage/aeration, and the warmer the weather, the more useful it is, though as shallow as mine is, I consider it excessive for Bismarckia's preferences, but survivable. I think the adjustment period is the most dangerous one for any Bismarckia, after a year or two of good growth, it should be adjusted enough to survive cool winters without rot

Troy's climate is very rainy, everything remains wet long enough that tree ferns thrive, unlike southern Attica. So drainage is important for the establishment period in such a climate, as the establishment period will be as long as a few years in a cool climate that does not allow a young seedling to grow many leafs per growing period

[Kostas]

Went to Pyrgos 3weeks ago and planted a few stuff. Among others, I got the second Thrinax radiata in the ground! The first Thrinax radiata pair i had ground planted a month before my visit, was looking somewhat rough from establishing in the ground from a bareroot plant and adjusting to more sun, but was strong and smaller one had clearly started to recover. I really hope this and all Thrinax establish in the ground well and fast!

I also ground planted a Cycas micronesica that had overgrown its bottle-pot i had grown it from seed for some years now. Here it is after pulling it from my nursery area, you can see its roots are all over!

And in its spot in the ground! I have 3 growing in the ground now and want to eventually have a whole colony of those

I was pleased to see both of my Archontophoenix alexandrae opening their second green leaf after winter. Both new leafs were partially damaged but not stunted and the palms seem to be growing fast, though they were clearly stressed by the cold as they dropped an unusual amount of leaf. The trunk is undamaged though and they seem to have suffered no lasting damage from the -3C event.

Dictyosperma spears pulled though, so i will probably need to replace those. Bud rot got them, they didn't damage more than Archontophoenix but were significantly smaller. It hurt to lose my 1,5m tall one after 2,5years in the ground.

Veitchia joannis succumbed to bud rot as well. This was its second winter in the ground...

Carpoxylon died of bud rot too.

No more fatalities so far.

Howea fosteriana's have opened their first leaf after winter and range from having minor damage to almost complete defoliation with a green new leaf(with some damage on it too). The worst affected one shows a prominent fungal ring at its first spear to emerge after winter(now an open leaf), which seemed pretty much like a close call...I totally don't get why that specimen damaged and stressed so much. The others didn't take the freeze anywhere near as badly. They are all recovering and the first rings of trunk will be revealed this year on my bigger ones

Cibotium glaucum grew an awesome, huge new leaf, totally unfazed from the defoliation the freeze caused. I love this fern!

Hedyscepe are close calls, they have some fungal infection going on at the outer leaf sheath. The spears are good and growing so far but i am unsure if they have made it. Now the weather is drier, so if they held on, they should be ok from now on.

Pritchardia statuary virtually started recovering from day 1 after the freeze. They have 2 new leafs now i think and are already starting to look good. They didn't fully defoliate either.

Acanthophoenix rubra is fine. Hope to see it big sooner than later as its established now.

Bentickia condapanna survived the free as a very young seedling in the ground and it actually still has a perfectly green leaf, just spotted! Its growing and i hope to see a new leaf pushing soon.

Acrocomia aculeata is finally pushing a new spear! It was undamaged by the cold but was planted in early fall after arriving from Florida barefoot, so i was anxious to see it push some new growth!

Beccariophoenix alfredii all survived, 1 undamaged, 1 with little damage and 1 totally defoliated and opening its first leaf now. Go figure...

Looking forward to see the plants green again, the general look of the garden is still quite brown....