Syagrus Hardiness

[palm tree man]

The Filabusta palm is truly superior to both Washingtonia. Many of the robusta that are in circulation do have some filifera blood in them I am afraid. The most pure robusta will be the most cold tender but also by far the fastest growing. An F1 hybrid exhibits "hybrid vigor" there are some horticulturalist that believe in this and then some don't but I do because I have seen it in many different plants including corn. A filibuster palm despite the name is one tough, large, American native. In colder or marginal areas this is an excellent palm to grow. The one that I have has a huge trunk that is massive at the base and grows like a robusta and has the same nice green leaves of the robusta but it is one tough palm. This was one of the very first palms that I bought as a 5 gallon from a nursery back around 98 and it has not ever disappointed me. It is now around forty feet tall and takes the best and worst that the south has to offer in strides. Highly recommended right next to Livistona Decoa "decipiens as I have always known it" .

[palm tree man]

I have two syagrus that lost their labels in transit to the greenhouse and I was wondering if someone could help me with the ID. I have pictures posted and started a thread on it. They are both varieties that were grown from seed and that I have limited to no experience growing. Thank you.

[Brian Bruning]

One should pay attention to seed provenance.   S. romanzoffiana from Rio and from Uruguay have quite different cold tolerance.  I suspect all early introductions were from near Rio de Janeiro.  Later Inge Hoffman & Eugenio Pingatore went north of Buenos Aires up to areas in southern Brazil, Uruguay and Argentine Mesopotamia (between the Paraná and Uruguay Rivers) to look for palms.  Inge returned with seed of S. romanzoffiana var. rivularis from Uruguay.  It is cold hardier than the older introductions and looks a bit different.  Rivularis refers to rivers.  There south of Brazil it is somewhat drier and it is a grassland or scrub with trees only in riparian (riverside) locations with only a few drought tolerant trees such as the Umbú (Phytolacca dioica) and Chorisia species in these open brushy areas. She lived in zone 16/17 in San Leandro CA on level ground and her S. romanzoffiana didn't suffer in the horrid 1989-90 freeze (nor did her King Palm) when she had temps in the mid 20s.  We don't get a lot of heat accumulation here so for us the high elevation races or those from areas towards the poles grow better than most coastal or equatorial forms of palms.  

[Brian Bruning]

And a pic of the Syagrus romanzoffianum var. Rivularis  

[Josh-O]

another syagrus hybrid?? Oh boy..lol

[Alicehunter2000]

Any more experiences with S. schizophylla cold hardiness since they appear to becoming more common?

[RedRabbit]

7 hours ago, Alicehunter2000 said:

Any more experiences with S. schizophylla cold hardiness since they appear to becoming more common?

I know of a couple in my area and they seem to do well. Based on what I've read they can come back from about 22f... If I had more space I might get one, but I don't really care for the trunk on them so I rather get something else. 

Syagrus amara and botryophora are the two I like the most. Amara is a really good looking palm and I'd argue a good coconut lookalike. Unfortunately it is just about as intolerant of the cold as a coconut, so I've heard at least.  

Edited July 2, 2016 by RedRabbit

[Ben in Norcal]

17 hours ago, Alicehunter2000 said:

Any more experiences with S. schizophylla cold hardiness since they appear to becoming more common?

I've heard they are very frost intolerant, but I am growing a few out to bigger size in pots before trying them.  They are tough to get big out here.

The Coco Queens are a nice substitute - much of the look with a schiz mother, and super hardy.

[Matthew92]

Here's a queen (picture below) that survived more than one freeze into the upper teens, but is now succumbing from complications a couple years later.

Not many queens in my area of NW Florida, and our 8b winters makes sure to eliminate many of them every few years. Still, some full sized mature trees have managed to live in certain microclimate areas with complete defoliation in the 8b temps. 2014 put an end to the luck of many of these surviving trees. I can count on one hand how many queens survived that winter of multiple lows to the mid and low 20's, freeze to 17 degrees during which next day hardly got above freezing, light freezing rain event where the next day it didn't get above the high 20's. 

The one queen palm that survived without any lingering damage was on the south side of a large restaurant near the beach. It was defoliated but has had no lingering damage from what I can see.

There are 2 other queens I know of that "survived" that winter. They are in a neighborhood that is fairly close to the large bay to the south. I've speculated this neighborhood is in a slight microclimate as several queens there survived cold winters in the past. The 2 that survived were full sized. It took them about 2 years to really recover the crown. It was hard for them since the next winter was 8b as well. While the crowns seemed to be recovering, I started to notice damage on the trunks. What started as a couple holes started to rot away more and more over the next 3 years. Only one of the 2 is left now, and here's a picture of it I took today (likely before it will be removed shortly).

Edited October 14, 2017 by Opal92

[Kekoanui]

Aloha gang, I am fairly new to the forum and have yet to share my Syagrus cearensis and Syagrus botryophora.  I live in a notoriously colder part of St. John's county in North Florida. My neighborhood is approx. 10 miles inland from the ocean and 10 miles from the St. John's River.  Both specimens are planted on the south side of our house. Fortunately for me this micro-climate does not  see much frost.  

Cheers!

[Scott W]

On 10/15/2017 at 12:59 PM, Kekoanui said:

Aloha gang, I am fairly new to the forum and have yet to share my Syagrus cearensis and Syagrus botryophora.  I live in a notoriously colder part of St. John's county in North Florida. My neighborhood is approx. 10 miles inland from the ocean and 10 miles from the St. John's River.  Both specimens are planted on the south side of our house. Fortunately for me this micro-climate does not  see much frost.  

Cheers!

 

Any updated pics of these two?  What kind of temps do you see in your microclimate?

Thanks.