Royal Palms in Houston!?!

[epicure3]

(krisachar @ Jul. 24 2006,02:00)

QUOTE

Hi Epicure your post no39,the the top photo on royal palm is lovely and i like that baby.

and in the same picture i see a suscullent leaf touching your royal palm what is this plant,because i happen to love it.

nice pictures & keep it coming !

one man one tree..

Love,

Kris (from S.India).

Thanks very much but I hate to disappoint you. That is not a succulent, just a leaf from a philodendron.

Glad you like it though.

[Walt]

Rob Pittman:

I'm surprised you lost 30 gallon royals. About four winters ago I lost all ten 6 footers (overall) I grew from one-leafed seedlings. They all got cold and frost zapped one night when the weather folks blew the forecast  (I've never trusted them since).

All my royals took from about 3 months to two years to die. They just slowed down to nothing, growth wise, and as new fronds opened the quickly browned and died.

As far as tall royals, they are almost always going to fare better during a radiational freeze.

On the night/morning of 2/14/06 I was checking the Florida Automated Weather Network (FAWN) and the Belle Glade station was reporting a 14 degree air temperature difference between 2 feet and 30 feet above ground! Hell, that's almost 1-1/2 zones. This was no fluke as other FAWN stations were reporting differences of 8-12 degrees at those heights.

Height/elevation around my property on 2/14/06 made a big difference as my Ficus altissima's leaves were burned from the ground up to around 12-15 feet, but over that height there was little if any leave damage. The same goes with my pothos vines. I have many of them climbing 30-40 feet up slash pines. Leaves at the lower portion, say up to 15 feet were hurt but over that height they were fine.

Around here water (lakes) make all the difference in nighttime low temperatures. Folks lakeside on 2/14/06 saw 37-39 degrees while I saw 27 degrees, probably colder near the ground and on my outer property.

This is an aerial view of Lake Clay which borders my subdivision. The lake effect carries about 3-4 blocks. Unfortunately for me, I live about ten blocks from it.

by waltcat100

These royals went through all the freezes of the 80s (as per owner) and they are about 200 -300 feet back off the lake. If you view the entire album you can see the lake makes all the difference in climate as the USDA says my location is 9a.

by waltcat100

[Alan_Tampa]

1984-85 and 1989-1990 freezes left coconuts and royals standing which survive to this day on Siesta Key.  I collected on Christmas Day 1984 icicles from the Heron Lagoon sign on Siesta Key, just north of Turtle Beach.  I kept them at my grandma's house (later my great aunt's house) till they got a new fridge in 1992 or so.  At least one royal was also present for the 58' and 62' events as well.  Also, just south of 275 are a bunch of royals that made it through 84 and 89.

Alan

[Stan]

Hey Kris,when are we going to see your surroundings? You must have some exotic native Indian plants.

[palmsrgreat]

Ok, folks, just had to bring this thread up again.

As I went into work today, I took my alternative route to see how the Royal palms in Houston have held up. This was the second time I had looked in the past week and BOY was I suprised with what I found today!

A Valentine's Day Massacre!!

Only two are now left, everything else was buzzed by a chain saw, about 9 palms cut down total, only one was actually dead, as you can see in the pic below. The trunk was soft and you could squeeze it...

1st pic is 1 of 2 Royals left...

[palmsrgreat]

There were 9 of these throughout the parking lot. The fronds were getting into the power lines above and I guess that's why they were murdered.

How terrible...

[palmsrgreat]

This one got hit by the cold a long time back...

[palmsrgreat]

A final view into the trunk, I took these all with my cell phone...

[spockvr6]

Michael-

By the looks of one of those pics, it looks like the bases were about to spread some concrete as well.

But, its surprising that a landscaper didnt come in and try to remove any that were easily accessible and still alive (rather than them being cut down).  Unless they were very hard to access, those palms would have had significant value.

[Tad]

looking at the planter bed they were in digging them would be impossible.

reading the old part of the post was fun, yeah, just not built to last for the h-town market

[palmsrgreat]

Yes it was funny to read back on this thread.

As I sat and thought about this more today, I actually called the manager to see what the plans for the other two were that still remained in a large bed that could easily be dug out. He said all were removed beacuse of the overhead power lines but the other two would remain. He said the royals in the small bed you see in the picture will be replaced with smaller palms, most likely washies. I didnt inform him that he'll have the same problems in just a short time like this, oh well.

Just as a side note, there is a nursery no more than 1 mile up the road that is selling 45gal royal palms for $500 a piece, I stopped in to take a picture and here they are...

[palmsrgreat]

here are the $500 Royals

[Jeff Searle]

And a foxtail on the far left.

Jeff

[palmsrgreat]

Nice catch Jeff, that foxtail was looking to set someone back $300

[Tad]

matt hoopers world famous "big stuff" brand, the man is a retail GENIUS!!!

he is a legend in the houston garden center world!!!

[KatyTX]

Thanks for the update Mike.  I don't work in that part of town anymore, so I haven't been keeping tabs on them.  I found a ~15FT specimin growing in someone's backyard in my neighborhood.  It looks like it has survived thus far this winter.

I'll try to get some pics and start a thread called "Palms in Other People's Back Yards - DON'T SHOOT!"  

Wow - $500 for a marginal palm in 9a.  If I wait until October...70% off = $150...still too much...

Some guy in my neighborhood planted two large bottle palms in his front yard back in January.  If they survive to produce fronds again I'll get some pics of that too.

Matt

[spockvr6]

(palmsrgreat @ Feb. 14 2007,18:57)

QUOTE

here are the $500 Royals

Those are $500 Royals as long as they come with a $300 mail in rebate!

[palmsrgreat]

Actually, now that I think about it, the price tag might have made for a more interesting picture by itself, esp from what I hear you south FL guys get them for

[DoomsDave]

I think that the people who would have dug them out had no chance to do it.

Give a chainsaw to someone who's impulsive . . . . .

RNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN

eek!

dave

[Tad]

even for a good crew digging those things out of that concrete planter would have been tough, if not nigh impossible!!!!! as the spade planteth so shall the chainsaw and chipper truck taketh away!!!

[galveston1602]

500$  yikes!!

in 2-3 months they will be 250.  at that price ill probably have to get a couple as thats about average for these parts  

at least down here, they have a reasonable chance of making it quite a few years...

[NBTX11]

I can see selling smaller ones, but why sell large 500 dollar ones when they aren't permanent anyway.  Eventually they will be killed unless they are planted in Galveston.

[Tad]

(syersj @ Feb. 15 2007,21:29)

QUOTE

I can see selling smaller ones, but why sell large 500 dollar ones when they aren't permanent anyway.  Eventually they will be killed unless they are planted in Galveston.

because somone will buy them! duh, he is in the business to SELL plants, your question jim should be why buy the 500 dollar ones.

people buy annual color knowing its gonna die, whats the difference?

[NBTX11]

(palmotrafficante @ Feb. 15 2007,21:50)

QUOTE

(syersj @ Feb. 15 2007,21:29)

QUOTE

I can see selling smaller ones, but why sell large 500 dollar ones when they aren't permanent anyway.  Eventually they will be killed unless they are planted in Galveston.

because somone will buy them! duh, he is in the business to SELL plants, your question jim should be why buy the 500 dollar ones.

people buy annual color knowing its gonna die, whats the difference?

Well if someone has an extra 500 dollars to throw away, I guess...they'll look great in the mean time before being killed.

[Tad]

well, mr. hooper has made a pretty good living gambling on the fact that there is always someone willing to blow some coin on plants in the metro area, win,lose or draw! in fact i h town its not gambling its a cinch! like fish in a barrel!!

[spockvr6]

(palmotrafficante @ Feb. 15 2007,21:50)

QUOTE

people buy annual color knowing its gonna die, whats the difference?

The difference is that impatiens can be removed by a blue haired granny with a small hand shovel!

[Tad]

granny can afford to buy a palm, she can have the yard boys yank it out.

[spockvr6]

(palmotrafficante @ Feb. 15 2007,22:18)

QUOTE

granny can afford to buy a palm, she can have the yard boys yank it out.

On that note....what is the ballpark cost to remove, say a 40 ft tall Royal, if it were to croak?

I am curious about this in case I ever get hit hard down here.

[Tad]

given the day labor in houston, i bet 100 to 200 cash and a little espanol and its a memory.

[_Keith]

Where are they now, the Royals that is? Some of the people on the thread are gone, as well. Some we know where to, others maybe a mystery unsolved.

[Xenon]

Where are they now, the Royals that is? Some of the people on the thread are gone, as well. Some we know where to, others maybe a mystery unsolved.

Pretty sure they are all dead...mature royals in Galveston were completely defoliated by the 2011 freeze...still looked terrible after a summer...should be looking great now though.