Anyone in the NY,NJ,CT area?

[palmhort]

Just wondering how many other members are in the NY Tri-state area and what are you growing? Most successfull palms? Biggest disappointments? Protection methods/materials that seem to work the best?

Here in NJ (coastal 7a-, I was a bit shocked to loose my two large Windmills last winter with a low of 4F on two different occasions. While I realize it was brutaly cold, I thought since they had been established close to 10 yrs and over 4ft tall with a mound of leaves around the base, they would make it....wrong!! However I was surprised to see my Sabal minors make it through unprotected with no damage whatsoever! This year I am using clear dome greenhouse umbrellas I purchased on Amazon....so far, so good.

I'm considering planting a 3Gal Mule in the spring as well as replace my C.cerifera, however they will get extensive protection next winter. Also considering planting my Cycad revoluta with extensive protection too.

Just curious as to who else is in the area and your feedback. Thanks!!

Jeff

[Alicehunter2000]

Hey Jeff, we used to have a guy from New York that posted very regularly. Not sure if he moved or got out of the hobby. There are several others on here that come from climates that are as cold or colder than yours so you can glean some information from their threads. This cold hardy forum is a good place to start, both northern folks and cold European climates post.

[njoasis]

I live in the immediate NJ/NYC Metro Area (Zone 7), I also lost my outdoor planted Trachys last Winter. So far, this Winter, mine looks fine (unprotected). Last Winter was not only record cold, it was long-lasting cold and very, VERY WET. I have many protected/containerized Trachys coming along though (mostly 'fortunei'). Yes, I also found S. minor sailed though last Winter just fine. I like minor now that I have them in the ground. They don't seem to grow at all in containers. In the ground, growth is slow, but is faster. You might want to consider Sabal 'Louisiana'. It is faster growing , but a tad bit more tender than 'minor'. My Needle clump also pulled through but have not been satisfied with its Summer growth. I put them into containers in the Fall and want to plant them in a somewhat more shaded position, as their Summer site had been super hot without shade. Btw, my minors do get some partial sun protection by being planted in an island of Eastern Hemlocks---which also add a layer of cold protection. I have had Chamaerops humilis overwinter in the past in another residence, and might experiment with that again as I have a very large specimen that is getting to be a pain to protect. My collection of tropical and subtropicals is large (but not limited to palms or cycads). Most of my palm species need protection from about December 1 to some time in March...depending on the year. So, I guess the largest part of my palm and cycad collection is Zone 8 or 9 (Phoenix, Queens, Mules, Butia/Pindo, Dioon, C. revoluta, etc...), and then, there's the Citrus collection.

Edited January 22, 2015 by njoasis

[palmhort]

Hey njoasis, where in NJ are you? I'm about 5 miles from Sandy Hook. Yes, last winter was especially brutal with back to back storms. Hopefully it won't repeat itself anytime soon. I believe I do have a Sabal 'Louisiana' I got from a Steve in South Jersey (Willingboro?). It's a 1 gal but I may plant it out this coming summer. He has exotic palm/plant meetings every spring/Fall at his place with some great mature specimens of Palms, Camellias and cold hardy exotics. He even had a Cycas revoluta planted in the middle of his woods but not sure if it survived last winter or not.

I had my small C.humilis die back on me and if it makes it thru this winter I'm going to dig it up, pot it and keep it in my greenhouse a yr or so. I planted a 1 Gal Needle and it grew fairly well but since I placed a protection "dome" over it for the winter it has browned out some leaves which is a bit of a concern.

I have a good collection of tropicals as well in my greenhouse....small Coconut Palm, Date palms started from seed, Veitchias started from seed from Fairchild, Hurricane palm (which I have found grows VERY quickly!) two Pritchardia palms I grew from seed from the British Virgin Islands, some Gaussia maya palms, two sprouting Bizmarckia seeds from the Palm Society's Biennial last May and a bunch of other random plants (a tropical Begonia, a Brunsfelsia, Agave, Agapanthus).

Looking to purchase and plant out a Mule this summer....I know it will be a challenge but I'm up for it. What kind of Citrus do you have? I got a small Meyer Lemon last summer and have had a Blood Orange plant for a few years....no fruit yet. I have found that Logee's has some great stuff.....it's very difficult to not spend all my $ with them.

[sarasota alex]

Trenton, NJ has palms planted all over by a gentleman named Steve. He works for the NJ Dept of Agriculture. There are Trachycarpus, Sabals and Rhapidophyllum. I was last there to see the palms in Fall of 2012 and looking at Steve's album at http://s117.photobucket.com/albums/o58/SteveNJ7-a/ the palms took a beating since then. At the time there were quite a few Trachys with 4-5' of trunk, that've been in the ground for 6 years or so.

[CumberlandPlants]

Just wondering how many other members are in the NY Tri-state area and what are you growing? Most successfull palms? Biggest disappointments? Protection methods/materials that seem to work the best?

Here in NJ (coastal 7a-, I was a bit shocked to loose my two large Windmills last winter with a low of 4F on two different occasions. While I realize it was brutaly cold, I thought since they had been established close to 10 yrs and over 4ft tall with a mound of leaves around the base, they would make it....wrong!! However I was surprised to see my Sabal minors make it through unprotected with no damage whatsoever! This year I am using clear dome greenhouse umbrellas I purchased on Amazon....so far, so good.

I'm considering planting a 3Gal Mule in the spring as well as replace my C.cerifera, however they will get extensive protection next winter. Also considering planting my Cycad revoluta with extensive protection too.

Just curious as to who else is in the area and your feedback. Thanks!!

Jeff

Your revolta should do well. If planted in a protected spot. Had two of 4 newly planted pups survive -3 during the 2013-14 winter. The one exception to hardy palms and cycads is do not purchase the box store ones. The growers for the box stores over fertilize and possibly hormone treat. As most of you probably already know, This spells certain death for palms and cycads once winter comes. Planted two more revolta outside last fall. One of them being an experiment from the shawty box store growers. As expected, it died pretty quick. The revolta from the good grower is still doing well. Be warned, it might be August before you see new growth on the revolta the first year. Might be able to get it to push growth sooner if dark stone or mulch is used around them to help inflate surface temperatures As you all probably know the warmer it is, the quicker palms/cycads Break dormancy!

[palmhort]

Good to know! Thanks for the info!

[Exotic Life]

There is a guy from Brooklyn as well which is growing some Trachycarpus palms in his garden.