Monday "mourning" quarterbacking

[tropicalb]

6:30 am and it's 33F in the coldest part of my backyard.

Going over to Dad's place a little later to uncover the damaged kings, and hope not see any more newly damaged plants, given the effort put forth to protect them last night...I can bet you that it got down into the low 20's over there again last night. I'll post photos on this thread later.

due to a combination of location and cold-hardiness I believe, species there that showed only slight damage as of yesterday include :

Brahea armata

Brahea nitida

Livistona chinensis

Livistona decipiens

Livistona australis

Dioon spinulosum

Cycas taitungensis

Cycas revoluta

Trachycarpus fortunei

Chamaerops humilus v. cerifera

[tropicalb]

pic just taken at 7:20 am in San Marcos:

you can see the thermometer leaning up against the dead king palm (oh and the king palm has been dead for a long time now...it wasn't killed by this cold spell..)...this is pretty much one of the coldest spots in my backyard:

[BobbyinNY]

Those King Sagos sure look unfazed by the cold.

[STEVE IN SO CAL]

My biggest regret is not covering more plants Saturday. Like Greg, I think I was lulled into denial by Friday nights non-event. My bad...

[tropicalb]

Steve...also my only regret.

As promised, here are some pics of the devastation. this is what 22 degrees fahrenheit did to our palms at my Dad's place last night:

Crispy kings:

and the group of about 150 kings NOW under a tarp (a day late...):

Crispy C. gigas:

the only reason for any hope for these poor gigas is that the trunk area still looks good:

[tropicalb]

Crispy howea:

Crispy front yard D. baronii:

lovely looking pandanus:

melted datura:

[tropicalb]

Here is a little study in microclimates...notice that in this area at the top of the hill and a little more protected, there was almost no damage at all:

yet just behind the chinensis, here are the guava trees:

and less than thirty feet to the west of the chinensis, the allspice trees got hammered (notice to the right the big black bulge of the 15gal triple kings that also got covered a day late...crispy critters are they:

[tropicalb]

yet another oddity:

the big butia on the lowest corner of the property:

and less than 10 feet away, a C. urens:

I know that the butia is WAY more cold hardy than the urens, but you would think that there would have been some damage to the butia given the fact that the cold nearly destroyed the urens less than 10 feet away.

[tropicalb]

ending on a bright note...the plants that I had given some coverage to did very well:

bizmarkias under the allspice trees:

L. saribus protected by 80+ year old pepper tree:

the area just below the pepper tree was least affected:

and here is a Cycas thourasii pushing new leaves in 22F winter weather:

[tropicalb]

Bobby...

yeah, the revolutas and the big Macrozamia moorei that you see on the far left in the picture did really well...none of the stuff at my house got hit at all.

[Shon]

Same with me Steve and Burt I would have covered  everyting. In hindsight a couple of more sheets would have saved me many palms.My only solace is I have many palms to take the place of the ones I loss.

[epicure3]

(tropicalb @ Jan. 15 2007,18:21)

QUOTE

yet another oddity:

the big butia on the lowest corner of the property:

and less than 10 feet away, a C. urens:

I know that the butia is WAY more cold hardy than the urens, but you would think that there would have been some damage to the butia given the fact that the cold nearly destroyed the urens less than 10 feet away.

Burt:

My guess on the butia/caryota question is that the butia is waaay hardier than pretty much any caryota. Also, the butia is a lot older looking in that picture than the urens.

[tropicalb]

Yes...all that is true, but you would think that given the fact that the butia is at the very bottom of the cold drain on the property, it would have had at least some cold damage to the foliage...i was surpised it showed no damage at all.

You have to hand it to the blue palms....the butias and braheas i have growing at my Dad's were the only palms left out in the open that showed very little to no damage.

[ZoneTenNut]

Just gives you a knot in the stomach seeing this kind of damage. What a shame and sorry for your loss.

You mentioned you had some slight hope the C. Gigas might pull through, as it had green trunk still, but the kings, pandanus, and even that large Howea, looked in really rough shape. You wonder if they will make it or not.

Your observation about the stuff under the pepper tree canopy, was least affected. We also find this often in our area, where we get the occasional frost, and the plants under live oak canopies show no damage or ill effects at all. Those large trees really moderate the climate in a big way.

[NBTX11]

(tropicalb @ Jan. 15 2007,10:24)

QUOTE

pic just taken at 7:20 am in San Marcos:

you can see the thermometer leaning up against the dead king palm...this is pretty much one of the coldest spots in my backyard:

32F killed your king palm??????

If they are that tender, then I might as well forget ever getting one.

[tropicalb]

NO no!!!

should have explained that one...that king has been dead for a while now....

i edited the original post at the top so no one else thinks that 32F killed that poor palm.