Cold hardiness of Roystonea borinquena?

[Walt]

Over the course of last Fall and into the winter I germinated approximately 50 Roystonea borinquena seeds. Some have grown faster than others. I recently potted 25 of them up to 3 gallon pots. But my question is, how less cold hardy is Roystonea borinquena than Roystonea regia/elata? I recall reading somewhere R. borinquena was about 3 degrees less cold hardy than R. regia. However, I talked to a friend who grows both and he said he found no observable difference, and he experiences frosts and ocassional freezes.

In the spring of 2010 I had ordered 50 Roystonea regia seeds online and not one of them germinated. In fact, I posted photos here of the float test I gave the seeds because every one of the seeds floated. As I recall, some here said that was normal. It obviously wasn't normal in my case because nary a one germinated. When I couldn't find fresh R. regia seeds online I settled for R. borinquena; but if they are 3 degrees less cold hardy, that's not going to be good.

My elderly parents live on a large lake and while they do at times get some light frost, it rarily ever freezes there, and has only dropped to 32 degrees F one time in the last 14 years, and that was a radiational freeze. There's lots of Cuban royals, foxtails, and trunked coconut palms growing in my parents subdivision on the lake. My step father would like to line the west side of his lot (350 feet long down to the lake) with many of my R. borinquena palms once they get up to some size. The Cuban royals made it fine over by the lake this year, but I'm wondering how R. borinquena would fare under the same conditions, assuming we were comparing equal sized palms.

Does anyone reading this post have cold/frost experience with R. borinquena that might help anwser my questions?

Below are two photos taken today of my recently re potted to 3 gallon size R. borinquena palms.

Edited October 2, 2011 by Walt

[Gtlevine]

Borinquena is much hardier than Regia at least here in San Diego. My large borinquena had been battletested and looks beautiful, probably 40 foot tall now.

[quaman58]

Walt,

I've got two in the ground & my next door neighbor has a regia that's a few years old; there's no noticeable difference in cold tolerance between the two. They both look a bit tattered coming out of winter, but then grow right out of it. We both think the borinquena is a bit prettier; they've got an awesome emerald green crownshaft & the crown is more upright, whereas the regia crownshaft is kind of scaley & the crown's a bit messier looking. Hope this helps a bit.

Bret

[Tyrone]

If you're growing regia I think you'll have no trouble growing borinquena.

Best regards

Tyrone

[Palmateer]

I agree with Tyrone. My borinquena has done well here in St. Petersburg.

If you're growing regia I think you'll have no trouble growing borinquena.

Best regards

Tyrone

[Walt]

Thanks all, for your encouraging replies. That's what I was hoping to hear! I like that consenses, especially because all of you are growing R. borinquena in different geographical locations.

Further, it's nice to hear Bret's assessment of borinquena's emerald green color, a I had forgotten about that.

Truth be known, the first royal palms I ever saw was in San Juan, Puerto Rico, when I first visited there while in the U.S. Navy. My ship went there for the month of February of 1969. I was doing some sight seeing and saw a couple of very old and large royal palms flanking a wide sidewalk and steps leading up to an old, historic Spanish architecture government building. I stood there in awe and amazement, just admiring the glossy emerald green crown shafts and column-like trunks and beautiful fronds. It was then and there I fell in love with the royal palm, and it has been my favorite palm to this day.

[Eric in Orlando]

Walt, we are growing R. borinquena here along with R. elata, regia, violescens, oleracea, and princeps and all show about the same hardiness. R. oleracea seems a bit more tender but not much.

There are also 2 R. borinquena growing well in downtown Orlando that I planted back in 2004.

[Walt]

Walt, we are growing R. borinquena here along with R. elata, regia, violescens, oleracea, and princeps and all show about the same hardiness. R. oleracea seems a bit more tender but not much.

There are also 2 R. borinquena growing well in downtown Orlando that I planted back in 2004.

Thanks, Eric. Hearing that is music to my ears, for I was very concerned about my R. boriquenas being a few degrees less cold hardy than R. regia. I feel better now after hearing all the positive feedback from everyone.

[Manolitus]

Over the course of last Fall and into the winter I germinated approximately 50 Roystonea borinquena seeds. Some have grown faster than others. I recently potted 25 of them up to 3 gallon pots. But my question is, how less cold hardy is Roystonea borinquena than Roystonea regia/elata? I recall reading somewhere R. borinquena was about 3 degrees less cold hardy than R. regia. However, I talked to a friend who grows both and he said he found no observable difference, and he experiences frosts and ocassional freezes.

In the spring of 2010 I had ordered 50 Roystonea regia seeds online and not one of them germinated. In fact, I posted photos here of the float test I gave the seeds because every one of the seeds floated. As I recall, some here said that was normal. It obviously wasn't normal in my case because nary a one germinated. When I couldn't find fresh R. regia seeds online I settled for R. borinquena; but if they are 3 degrees less cold hardy, that's not going to be good.

My elderly parents live on a large lake and while they do at times get some light frost, it rarily ever freezes there, and has only dropped to 32 degrees F one time in the last 14 years, and that was a radiational freeze. There's lots of Cuban royals, foxtails, and trunked coconut palms growing in my parents subdivision on the lake. My step father would like to line the west side of his lot (350 feet long down to the lake) with many of my R. borinquena palms once they get up to some size. The Cuban royals made it fine over by the lake this year, but I'm wondering how R. borinquena would fare under the same conditions, assuming we were comparing equal sized palms.

Does anyone reading this post have cold/frost experience with R. borinquena that might help anwser my questions?

Below are two photos taken today of my recently re potted to 3 gallon size R. borinquena palms.

Walt,

I just recently purchased two R. borinquenas from Stan Wood up in Broward County. I live in Miami, so that's why I say "up." Anyway, the borinqueana's I bought were mature, field grown palms. probably around 30 ft. He got the cold worse than we did the last two years and they were obviously doing fine. And they have transplanted well too. So that's my experience thus far with this species. It looks like they are comparable from a cold hardiness perspective to the more common regias.....

Manny

[Walt]

Over the course of last Fall and into the winter I germinated approximately 50 Roystonea borinquena seeds. Some have grown faster than others. I recently potted 25 of them up to 3 gallon pots. But my question is, how less cold hardy is Roystonea borinquena than Roystonea regia/elata? I recall reading somewhere R. borinquena was about 3 degrees less cold hardy than R. regia. However, I talked to a friend who grows both and he said he found no observable difference, and he experiences frosts and ocassional freezes.

In the spring of 2010 I had ordered 50 Roystonea regia seeds online and not one of them germinated. In fact, I posted photos here of the float test I gave the seeds because every one of the seeds floated. As I recall, some here said that was normal. It obviously wasn't normal in my case because nary a one germinated. When I couldn't find fresh R. regia seeds online I settled for R. borinquena; but if they are 3 degrees less cold hardy, that's not going to be good.

My elderly parents live on a large lake and while they do at times get some light frost, it rarily ever freezes there, and has only dropped to 32 degrees F one time in the last 14 years, and that was a radiational freeze. There's lots of Cuban royals, foxtails, and trunked coconut palms growing in my parents subdivision on the lake. My step father would like to line the west side of his lot (350 feet long down to the lake) with many of my R. borinquena palms once they get up to some size. The Cuban royals made it fine over by the lake this year, but I'm wondering how R. borinquena would fare under the same conditions, assuming we were comparing equal sized palms.

Does anyone reading this post have cold/frost experience with R. borinquena that might help anwser my questions?

Below are two photos taken today of my recently re potted to 3 gallon size R. borinquena palms.

Walt,

I just recently purchased two R. borinquenas from Stan Wood up in Broward County. I live in Miami, so that's why I say "up." Anyway, the borinqueana's I bought were mature, field grown palms. probably around 30 ft. He got the cold worse than we did the last two years and they were obviously doing fine. And they have transplanted well too. So that's my experience thus far with this species. It looks like they are comparable from a cold hardiness perspective to the more common regias.....

Manny

Thanks, Manny, that is good to know; it only adds to the body of opinions stated in this thread thus far.

[BeaumontTropics]

Over the course of last Fall and into the winter I germinated approximately 50 Roystonea borinquena seeds. Some have grown faster than others. I recently potted 25 of them up to 3 gallon pots. But my question is, how less cold hardy is Roystonea borinquena than Roystonea regia/elata? I recall reading somewhere R. borinquena was about 3 degrees less cold hardy than R. regia. However, I talked to a friend who grows both and he said he found no observable difference, and he experiences frosts and ocassional freezes.

In the spring of 2010 I had ordered 50 Roystonea regia seeds online and not one of them germinated. In fact, I posted photos here of the float test I gave the seeds because every one of the seeds floated. As I recall, some here said that was normal. It obviously wasn't normal in my case because nary a one germinated. When I couldn't find fresh R. regia seeds online I settled for R. borinquena; but if they are 3 degrees less cold hardy, that's not going to be good.

My elderly parents live on a large lake and while they do at times get some light frost, it rarily ever freezes there, and has only dropped to 32 degrees F one time in the last 14 years, and that was a radiational freeze. There's lots of Cuban royals, foxtails, and trunked coconut palms growing in my parents subdivision on the lake. My step father would like to line the west side of his lot (350 feet long down to the lake) with many of my R. borinquena palms once they get up to some size. The Cuban royals made it fine over by the lake this year, but I'm wondering how R. borinquena would fare under the same conditions, assuming we were comparing equal sized palms.

Does anyone reading this post have cold/frost experience with R. borinquena that might help anwser my questions?

Below are two photos taken today of my recently re potted to 3 gallon size R. borinquena palms.

Walt,

I just recently purchased two R. borinquenas from Stan Wood up in Broward County. I live in Miami, so that's why I say "up." Anyway, the borinqueana's I bought were mature, field grown palms. probably around 30 ft. He got the cold worse than we did the last two years and they were obviously doing fine. And they have transplanted well too. So that's my experience thus far with this species. It looks like they are comparable from a cold hardiness perspective to the more common regias.....

Manny

Thanks, Manny, that is good to know; it only adds to the body of opinions stated in this thread thus far.

-Walt,

I recall an article Jim in Los Altos posted a while back in a PSSC Journal. He seems to have had much greater success with borinquena than regia. I think in the article he stated he lost two regias, and planted a borinquena, and has endured a light frost along with many cool (just above frost) nights but don't quote me on that. He gets cooler than san diego for sure, and from what I read, was under the impression that borinquena was actually hardier than regia. Hope that helps. Maybe JILA, will see the thread and expound further. Good luck, those palms are truly amazing..

-FINS--!

-eric

[nachocarl]

The little borinquena that could.

This palm (pic to follow) began its story as 15 gal back in 2003. I was relatively new to palms at the time and the staff at nursery spent a lot of time with me discussing the ups and downs of palm cultivation in Socal. I had done a little homework before hand and found that this species of Roystonea seemed to be a bit more tolerant of colder temperatures. This was agreeable to my situation as my particular location in Vista seems to be a little colder than most zone 23. I decided on this palm because it was the largest one they had at the time

The palm seemed a bit weak and in fact fell over on itself on the ride up the hill to the nursery check out. I still bought it because at the time I could grow ANYTHING! Ah, young enthusiasm. Also, in my young rebellious stage I decided to plant it in October, defying mother-nature and all her cold fickly ways. December 2003 a vicious winter storm bore down on Socal and blew my little borinquena over. I staked it up the next day and hoped for the best. It survived and after a few months felt nice and solid in the ground. I removed the stakes and waited for the luxurious growth during the summer 2004.

That same year my wife, kids and I all went to Denmark for 3 weeks to visit her side of the family. Upon our return in late July, I found my borinquena on its side again. My neighbor said some kids had been playing in our yard while we were gone and pulled it over. I believe a spanking is in order. Well I got the stakes out, again and tied it up again for the rest of the summer and it was solid in the ground by the end of 2004 but did not grow at all.

It seemed to sulk for the better part of 2005 and finally had some decent growth through 2006…Enter January 2007...You know story…completely defoliated by 24-25F temps 2-3 night in a row. At this point I was ready to give up, leaving it in the ground my enthusiasm wained. Well to my surprise it pushed out a spear that was half fried and half green. That was all it could manage for the remainder of the 2007, one fried half green frond.. It seemed to sulk for most of 2008 as well, but has since picked up speed and puts out about 3-4 fronds per year. This is the first year that it is noticeably bigger than the 15 gal seedling I planted….WOW, 8 years ago. If anything this is a tough little borinquena! Knocked over twice, and frozen, it survived. I just didn’t have the heart to dig it up after all it’s been through.

[Trishun]

Carl,

I just bought 2 15 gal Borinquena a couple of months ago but I was thining of waiting until the spring before putting them in the ground. I would really like to see photos of yours.

Walt I haven't seen a Roystonea in my area of California so I'm hoping my Borinquena does well here too.

[Walt]

Over the course of last Fall and into the winter I germinated approximately 50 Roystonea borinquena seeds. Some have grown faster than others. I recently potted 25 of them up to 3 gallon pots. But my question is, how less cold hardy is Roystonea borinquena than Roystonea regia/elata? I recall reading somewhere R. borinquena was about 3 degrees less cold hardy than R. regia. However, I talked to a friend who grows both and he said he found no observable difference, and he experiences frosts and ocassional freezes.

In the spring of 2010 I had ordered 50 Roystonea regia seeds online and not one of them germinated. In fact, I posted photos here of the float test I gave the seeds because every one of the seeds floated. As I recall, some here said that was normal. It obviously wasn't normal in my case because nary a one germinated. When I couldn't find fresh R. regia seeds online I settled for R. borinquena; but if they are 3 degrees less cold hardy, that's not going to be good.

My elderly parents live on a large lake and while they do at times get some light frost, it rarily ever freezes there, and has only dropped to 32 degrees F one time in the last 14 years, and that was a radiational freeze. There's lots of Cuban royals, foxtails, and trunked coconut palms growing in my parents subdivision on the lake. My step father would like to line the west side of his lot (350 feet long down to the lake) with many of my R. borinquena palms once they get up to some size. The Cuban royals made it fine over by the lake this year, but I'm wondering how R. borinquena would fare under the same conditions, assuming we were comparing equal sized palms.

Does anyone reading this post have cold/frost experience with R. borinquena that might help anwser my questions?

Below are two photos taken today of my recently re potted to 3 gallon size R. borinquena palms.

Walt,

I just recently purchased two R. borinquenas from Stan Wood up in Broward County. I live in Miami, so that's why I say "up." Anyway, the borinqueana's I bought were mature, field grown palms. probably around 30 ft. He got the cold worse than we did the last two years and they were obviously doing fine. And they have transplanted well too. So that's my experience thus far with this species. It looks like they are comparable from a cold hardiness perspective to the more common regias.....

Manny

Thanks, Manny, that is good to know; it only adds to the body of opinions stated in this thread thus far.

-Walt,

I recall an article Jim in Los Altos posted a while back in a PSSC Journal. He seems to have had much greater success with borinquena than regia. I think in the article he stated he lost two regias, and planted a borinquena, and has endured a light frost along with many cool (just above frost) nights but don't quote me on that. He gets cooler than san diego for sure, and from what I read, was under the impression that borinquena was actually hardier than regia. Hope that helps. Maybe JILA, will see the thread and expound further. Good luck, those palms are truly amazing..

-FINS--!

-eric

Thanks, Eric. All these positive responses, and so far nothing negative. I will be happy if R. borinquena just equals R. regia in cold/frost hardiness. If the former is even slightly more cold hardy that will just be icing on the cake!

[Walt]

The little borinquena that could.

This palm (pic to follow) began its story as 15 gal back in 2003. I was relatively new to palms at the time and the staff at nursery spent a lot of time with me discussing the ups and downs of palm cultivation in Socal. I had done a little homework before hand and found that this species of Roystonea seemed to be a bit more tolerant of colder temperatures. This was agreeable to my situation as my particular location in Vista seems to be a little colder than most zone 23. I decided on this palm because it was the largest one they had at the time

The palm seemed a bit weak and in fact fell over on itself on the ride up the hill to the nursery check out. I still bought it because at the time I could grow ANYTHING! Ah, young enthusiasm. Also, in my young rebellious stage I decided to plant it in October, defying mother-nature and all her cold fickly ways. December 2003 a vicious winter storm bore down on Socal and blew my little borinquena over. I staked it up the next day and hoped for the best. It survived and after a few months felt nice and solid in the ground. I removed the stakes and waited for the luxurious growth during the summer 2004.

That same year my wife, kids and I all went to Denmark for 3 weeks to visit her side of the family. Upon our return in late July, I found my borinquena on its side again. My neighbor said some kids had been playing in our yard while we were gone and pulled it over. I believe a spanking is in order. Well I got the stakes out, again and tied it up again for the rest of the summer and it was solid in the ground by the end of 2004 but did not grow at all.

It seemed to sulk for the better part of 2005 and finally had some decent growth through 2006…Enter January 2007...You know story…completely defoliated by 24-25F temps 2-3 night in a row. At this point I was ready to give up, leaving it in the ground my enthusiasm wained. Well to my surprise it pushed out a spear that was half fried and half green. That was all it could manage for the remainder of the 2007, one fried half green frond.. It seemed to sulk for most of 2008 as well, but has since picked up speed and puts out about 3-4 fronds per year. This is the first year that it is noticeably bigger than the 15 gal seedling I planted….WOW, 8 years ago. If anything this is a tough little borinquena! Knocked over twice, and frozen, it survived. I just didn’t have the heart to dig it up after all it’s been through.

Carl, there's nothing I value more than personal, empirical, and detailed testimony concerning palm growing. Thanks for your reply, as I found your story quite interesting.

[Walt]

Carl,

I just bought 2 15 gal Borinquena a couple of months ago but I was thining of waiting until the spring before putting them in the ground. I would really like to see photos of yours.

Walt I haven't seen a Roystonea in my area of California so I'm hoping my Borinquena does well here too.

I will wish good luck to the both of us that our boringuena prosper!

[Joe palma]

Well, I guess I'll be the one to post a negative hardiness comment on the boriquena, all be it experience w/ relatively small plants (nice 5g).

I had 10 boriquena in 5g at the highest (warmest) loaction on the property w/ some canopy from eucalytus trees.

I also had 30, 5g regias at the lowest elevation and w/ no canopy (but were blocked from wind).

These were all healthy and from the same grower, so they had relatively the same treatment before I got them.

During the Jan. 07 freeze, as Carl had mentioned above, I lost all of the boriquenas and 12 of the regias.

Obviously I am talking container experience and not in-ground, where everything should fare much better.

I did however, loose my two large 25g regias (over 2' of wood trunk) which had been recently planted out, at the same elevtion as the 5g regias, but they were completely exposed.

After that, I figured I wouldn't grow boriquena anymore and haven't.

[Walt]

Well, I guess I'll be the one to post a negative hardiness comment on the boriquena, all be it experience w/ relatively small plants (nice 5g).

I had 10 boriquena in 5g at the highest (warmest) loaction on the property w/ some canopy from eucalytus trees.

I also had 30, 5g regias at the lowest elevation and w/ no canopy (but were blocked from wind).

These were all healthy and from the same grower, so they had relatively the same treatment before I got them.

During the Jan. 07 freeze, as Carl had mentioned above, I lost all of the boriquenas and 12 of the regias.

Obviously I am talking container experience and not in-ground, where everything should fare much better.

I did however, loose my two large 25g regias (over 2' of wood trunk) which had been recently planted out, at the same elevtion as the 5g regias, but they were completely exposed.

After that, I figured I wouldn't grow boriquena anymore and haven't.

Well, sorry to hear about your losses. Yes, I wouldn't draw any firm conclusions based on your January '07 freezes, at least not with containerized palms. All bets are off concerning small palms, especially in pots. I've certainly been there and done that.

The basis I'm talking about concerning cold hardiness between R. regia and R. borinquena is two palms with identical amount of trunk (say 5 feet or more of trunk) exposed to exactly the same cold/frost conditions.

I've had several R. regia over the years and lost them all to freezes, but these were still small for the most part and didn't have much trunk. The only one with signifigant trunk (say about six feet) died of some kind of fungal disease, and it was never hurt by freezes.

Right now I only have one R. regia. It's been in the ground just over two years (planted in August of 2009). My royal palm has now has just over 8 feet of trunk and has gone through two winters, both being the coldest I've experienced over the past 13 winters I've lived here. And both winters my royal palm was totally defoliated. But it bounced back each time.

Below are two photos. The first taken on December 29, 2010, after some bad freezes that came several weeks earlier than usual.

The second photo is how my royal looks today, although it's only regrown about 50% of its normal canopy.

Photo above: My R. regia after several nights of freezing temperatures (all radiational cooling events). I recorded an all-time low of 20.8 degrees, and the official low for my county taken at Archbold Biological Station 8 miles south of me recorded 15 degrees the same morning I recorded 20.8. Note to the left of the regia and in the far background browned leaves on my large Ficus altissima variegata, and in the right back ground, burned Philodendron selloums.

Photo above: My R. regia today, October 5, 2011, having recovered about 50% of normal canopy. Note in the right background greened up Ficus altissima variegata and P. selloums. The traveller's palm in far left background was also totally defoliated but is coming back, but it will take another year to fully regrow a full set of fronds, providing it doesn't get defoliated again this winter.

[nachocarl]

The little borinquena that could.

This palm (pic to follow) began its story as 15 gal back in 2003. I was relatively new to palms at the time and the staff at nursery spent a lot of time with me discussing the ups and downs of palm cultivation in Socal. I had done a little homework before hand and found that this species of Roystonea seemed to be a bit more tolerant of colder temperatures. This was agreeable to my situation as my particular location in Vista seems to be a little colder than most zone 23. I decided on this palm because it was the largest one they had at the time

The palm seemed a bit weak and in fact fell over on itself on the ride up the hill to the nursery check out. I still bought it because at the time I could grow ANYTHING! Ah, young enthusiasm. Also, in my young rebellious stage I decided to plant it in October, defying mother-nature and all her cold fickly ways. December 2003 a vicious winter storm bore down on Socal and blew my little borinquena over. I staked it up the next day and hoped for the best. It survived and after a few months felt nice and solid in the ground. I removed the stakes and waited for the luxurious growth during the summer 2004.

That same year my wife, kids and I all went to Denmark for 3 weeks to visit her side of the family. Upon our return in late July, I found my borinquena on its side again. My neighbor said some kids had been playing in our yard while we were gone and pulled it over. I believe a spanking is in order. Well I got the stakes out, again and tied it up again for the rest of the summer and it was solid in the ground by the end of 2004 but did not grow at all.

It seemed to sulk for the better part of 2005 and finally had some decent growth through 2006…Enter January 2007...You know story…completely defoliated by 24-25F temps 2-3 night in a row. At this point I was ready to give up, leaving it in the ground my enthusiasm wained. Well to my surprise it pushed out a spear that was half fried and half green. That was all it could manage for the remainder of the 2007, one fried half green frond.. It seemed to sulk for most of 2008 as well, but has since picked up speed and puts out about 3-4 fronds per year. This is the first year that it is noticeably bigger than the 15 gal seedling I planted….WOW, 8 years ago. If anything this is a tough little borinquena! Knocked over twice, and frozen, it survived. I just didn’t have the heart to dig it up after all it’s been through.

Well she's not much to look at after 8 years but I hope she's seen the worst.

[spockvr6]

Walt-

I too am glad to hear that these borinquenas are at least, on average, as cold hardy as regias. I picked up a half dozen of them from Mike Allen in St Pete a month or so ago and plan to plant them out next year. Tarpon Springs is plum full of Roystonea at the current time, so these will go to Bokeelia.

I have been seriously impressed with Roystonea. These things have really been exposed to some nasty weather the past few years, yet they havent missed a beat. Their foliage is certainly not to be considered tough with regards to cold, but the palm itself just keeps on growing no matter what. After the past two winters, Id say they typically had 25-50% foliage damage (these are the tallest palms in my yard so are exposed) yet mine have never even thrown out stunted fronds or shown any trunk diameter reductions (and in Tarpon Springs I am definitely on the fringe of their possible northern range of FL).

They are definitely my overall favorite palm all things considered.

[Eric in Orlando]

This is our biggest R. borinquena, about 30ft. tall. It was planted June 1994, a big 1 gal. plant grown from seed collected at the university aboretum in Mayaguez, PR

[MattyB]

We both think the borinquena is a bit prettier; they've got an awesome emerald green crownshaft & the crown is more upright, whereas the regia crownshaft is kind of scaley & the crown's a bit messier looking.

Bret

Great description Bret! I totally agree. I have found R. borinquena to be about twice as fast as R. regia. If you want a canopy species and you're inland where Archontophoenix can look scorched by the sun then try R. borinquena.

[Walt]

The little borinquena that could.

This palm (pic to follow) began its story as 15 gal back in 2003. I was relatively new to palms at the time and the staff at nursery spent a lot of time with me discussing the ups and downs of palm cultivation in Socal. I had done a little homework before hand and found that this species of Roystonea seemed to be a bit more tolerant of colder temperatures. This was agreeable to my situation as my particular location in Vista seems to be a little colder than most zone 23. I decided on this palm because it was the largest one they had at the time

The palm seemed a bit weak and in fact fell over on itself on the ride up the hill to the nursery check out. I still bought it because at the time I could grow ANYTHING! Ah, young enthusiasm. Also, in my young rebellious stage I decided to plant it in October, defying mother-nature and all her cold fickly ways. December 2003 a vicious winter storm bore down on Socal and blew my little borinquena over. I staked it up the next day and hoped for the best. It survived and after a few months felt nice and solid in the ground. I removed the stakes and waited for the luxurious growth during the summer 2004.

That same year my wife, kids and I all went to Denmark for 3 weeks to visit her side of the family. Upon our return in late July, I found my borinquena on its side again. My neighbor said some kids had been playing in our yard while we were gone and pulled it over. I believe a spanking is in order. Well I got the stakes out, again and tied it up again for the rest of the summer and it was solid in the ground by the end of 2004 but did not grow at all.

It seemed to sulk for the better part of 2005 and finally had some decent growth through 2006…Enter January 2007...You know story…completely defoliated by 24-25F temps 2-3 night in a row. At this point I was ready to give up, leaving it in the ground my enthusiasm wained. Well to my surprise it pushed out a spear that was half fried and half green. That was all it could manage for the remainder of the 2007, one fried half green frond.. It seemed to sulk for most of 2008 as well, but has since picked up speed and puts out about 3-4 fronds per year. This is the first year that it is noticeably bigger than the 15 gal seedling I planted….WOW, 8 years ago. If anything this is a tough little borinquena! Knocked over twice, and frozen, it survived. I just didn’t have the heart to dig it up after all it’s been through.

Well she's not much to look at after 8 years but I hope she's seen the worst.

Your royal kind of reminds me of a Howea forsteriana I had. I think I grew it for 10 years and it just stayed small. I finally lost it this past winter. I think my howea was tramatized many years ago and just never grew normally after that. Possibly, that is the case for your royal palm. However, even at that size it doesn't look bad.

[Walt]

Walt-

I too am glad to hear that these borinquenas are at least, on average, as cold hardy as regias. I picked up a half dozen of them from Mike Allen in St Pete a month or so ago and plan to plant them out next year. Tarpon Springs is plum full of Roystonea at the current time, so these will go to Bokeelia.

I have been seriously impressed with Roystonea. These things have really been exposed to some nasty weather the past few years, yet they havent missed a beat. Their foliage is certainly not to be considered tough with regards to cold, but the palm itself just keeps on growing no matter what. After the past two winters, Id say they typically had 25-50% foliage damage (these are the tallest palms in my yard so are exposed) yet mine have never even thrown out stunted fronds or shown any trunk diameter reductions (and in Tarpon Springs I am definitely on the fringe of their possible northern range of FL).

They are definitely my overall favorite palm all things considered.

Larry, I lost my internet and email just minutes after I posted the photos of my royal palm, and just got back online an hour ago.

My royal palm has been totally defoliated two winters in a row now. Yet, both times it came back, and like you said, no stunted fronds. Yes, while the foliage isn't frost hardy, the trunk and meristem must be much hardier.

I had my coldest ever low this past winter since 1997. I'm betting now that I won't see that kind of low anytime soon, so my royal palm should survive long term.

[Walt]

This is our biggest R. borinquena, about 30ft. tall. It was planted June 1994, a big 1 gal. plant grown from seed collected at the university aboretum in Mayaguez, PR

Eric: What can you tell me from your years of observation concerning cold hardiness and growth rate between R. regia and R. borinquena? Any difference worth noting?

[Eric in Orlando]

No real major differences I have noticed growing both species.

[Walt]

No real major differences I have noticed growing both species.

That's good to hear. The 30 ft. borinquena in your photo is all the testament/proof I need.

[Eric in Orlando]

Coconuts have been planted several times nearby and none have survived.

[spockvr6]

Do you guys think this is a borinquena? For awhile now Ive thought this one looks different than regia/elata as the trunk is thinner and the crown is definitely more upright.

[MattyB]

It looks pretty large for a R. borinquena, but hard to tell with no scale in the photo. It's probably R. oleracea.

[spockvr6]

It looks pretty large for a R. borinquena, but hard to tell with no scale in the photo. It's probably R. oleracea.

Id guess its maybe 40-50 ft OA?

[Jeff in St Pete]

Larry, it's hard to tell in the photos, but if the leaflets are plumosely arranged it's probably not R. oleracea. R. oleracea holds its leaflets on a single plane. It could be R. regia, R. borinquena or maybe even R. princeps.

[spockvr6]

Larry, it's hard to tell in the photos, but if the leaflets are plumosely arranged it's probably not R. oleracea. R. oleracea holds its leaflets on a single plane. It could be R. regia, R. borinquena or maybe even R. princeps.

Jeff-

Ill walk over to this palm later today and take some better higher res pics and post them here.

[DavidLee]

Larry,

Wait for it to fruit, Compare the seeds to a known regia. It is a good time now. Alot of Roystoneas are fruiting now. My observation is that borinquena seeds are larger and oval comparing to a regia which seeds are smaller and round. I disagree on borinquenas having a smaller crown than the palm in question in the photo. The borinquenas at fairchild have a huge crowns and trunks. Although I seen some younger ones growing nearby in a shadier area looking little lanky. I believe the growing conditions and other factors like genetics have a impact on the size of the palm's crown and truck. I also disagree that it is a princep. Princeps have a thin trunk and have a thinner crown. I hope this helps. They have different Roystoneas fruiting everywhere. Good place to learn the subtle differences between them.