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W. filifera in Albuquerque


ChrisA

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 I am still at the same place.  Best blue oak I have seen is in the median on paseo just east of Louisiana.  True blue! Got one in my yard, but tiny and slow.  Haven't figured am out yet, soil?? I think the foothills one are actually grey oak, not sure.  But they do have a blue hinge.

 

This is my spot.  Could I buy some seed from you? Drive by your place every other month or so, but no dice......... 

Here's the spot, South facing, 80-100' lower than us, 200'(?) above Corrales. Thermal bowl with datura all over.

Oops, gonna have to work on the pic.....

 

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7 hours ago, jwitt said:

20200726_075115(1).thumb.jpg.775f223e65677c6af5e02b8017d98f79.jpg

Looks like a good spot to me.. lol..  want to go for a hike??  I dunno but that could also be a microclimate with the dam keeping colder air out. Do you think there is enough time for the seeds to sprout? I could start soaking them.... should get plenty of water. I have some trachy seed also.. haha.

I drive on paseo all the time ill need to keep my eye open for that oak.  Do they irrigate the median??

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Not sure on the median irrigation. No high water use plants needing it tho.. Watch for that oak, altho I like observing em in winter, easier to spot!

 

Microclimate indeed.  Blocked from wind in all directions.  Midway up the escarpment! SE facing slope! I think now would work, but Feb prob best.

Good spot to go when the winds are howling!

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Where is that exactly? Is that off of Palmas Altas..  (would be funny if it was)...

When are you back in town? I have plenty of seed.. we can go in February too.

 

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On 7/30/2020 at 7:51 PM, jwitt said:

Yeah, Palmas Altus.  

lol..nice...  High Palms may mean something else...  perhaps a high 5?  shrugs...  

 

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On 7/29/2020 at 2:54 AM, jwitt said:

 I am still at the same place.  Best blue oak I have seen is in the median on paseo just east of Louisiana.  True blue! Got one in my yard, but tiny and slow.  Haven't figured am out yet, soil?? I think the foothills one are actually grey oak, not sure.  But they do have a blue hinge.

The oaks in the medians on Paseo are the same as those in the foothills below 6500-7000 ft -  Quercus grisea / Gray Oak. I forget when that streetscape was planted, but it was before 2010. Driving around the foothills and seeing gray oaks and Quercus turbinella in 1991, checking out if Albuquerque is where I wanted to live, I wondered why most landscapes were so uninteresting and didn't use their own native plants and oaks.

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On 7/28/2020 at 6:15 PM, SailorBold said:

Have you moved??  The bougainvillea blooms late..although it blooms lightly stating in june... so this year I'm pinching the stems to see if i can trigger more blooms.. im thinking about using bloom fertilizer as well.. but haven't tried that yet.

Live oaks do pretty good here.. although they are a little slow. I did see that blue oak you talk about at homes near the tram way... thats still the foothills right?  That area is really really mild considering the elevation.. even for there..  some interesting cactus as well.

Is that what they are calling being a plant Ninja? Haha.. i still have thoughts of doing this around abq freeways...lol

Bougrainvillea is impressive for the same reason as red bird of paradise - the former is also used in Las Cruces as a perennial, too.

The secret to live oaks of any species is light interior pruning, and deep-infrequent watering once established. More water than a desert willow, so like a pinon pine but less than an ash or sycamore.

Plant ninja - I often call it guerilla planting. In 1998-99, I did a guerilla planting on 2 medians by my former home at the edge of the canyon, S of I-40. Broad daylight wearing an orange vest, temporary water via a now-defunct system called Driwater - unirrigated since. Then I adopted both medians and even have a thank-you plaque from then-Mayor Baca. My then-wife and later a contractor friend helped me prune and weed them every year, or so. Much of it still looks OK, though some of the honey mesquites on the high, east end look rough and stunted... possibly drying up plus have less soil for root development. There are 2 native mesquites in ABQ but a few people bad-mouth them, and they have been slow to catch on, slower than even the oaks. Those trees need more pruning. Pics from May 2020.

1298911813_Rt66Medians02b_2020-05-18-SML.thumb.jpg.43da430e5c0d47adbccca96d0d058751.jpg

894884371_Rt66Medians01a_2020-05-18-SML.thumb.jpg.44d0956dc418704bfd23efb884c07081.jpg

2105087434_Rt66Medians02a_2020-05-18-SML.thumb.jpg.de4ef544ebf950df00978fa2e8673d03.jpg

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That looks really good.  I have some guerilla planting to do as well, but I've been procrastinating.

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On 8/17/2020 at 5:58 PM, Desert DAC said:

The oaks in the medians on Paseo are the same as those in the foothills below 6500-7000 ft -  Quercus grisea / Gray Oak. I forget when that streetscape was planted, but it was before 2010. Driving around the foothills and seeing gray oaks and Quercus turbinella in 1991, checking out if Albuquerque is where I wanted to live, I wondered why most landscapes were so uninteresting and didn't use their own native plants and oaks.

Funny how you dont notice things until you look...  I traveled on Tramway on the way home tonight.. the north side.. and noticed those oaks in the arroyos/washes closer to mountain.  They look a bit stressed at the moment... but nice....they are a beautiful gray color.

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On 8/17/2020 at 6:28 PM, Desert DAC said:

Bougrainvillea is impressive for the same reason as red bird of paradise - the former is also used in Las Cruces as a perennial, too.

Thank you..  it is pasted up against the house tho.. so its in a microclimate for sure.  They could be utilized here more Id think.. if they were protected for a year or two.. and maintained with the yearly pruning..  I protected it for one winter with a wall o water.. and planted as a 1 gallon.  Its pretty thick underground now..so better able to handle the freezing... if it even freezes at all ??  I dont know..  Id think the same would go for the red bird of paradise..  That was planted as a 5 gallon tho.. never protected that one.  I want to add more of those..

 

On 8/17/2020 at 6:28 PM, Desert DAC said:

Plant ninja - I often call it guerilla planting. In 1998-99, I did a guerilla planting on 2 medians by my former home at the edge of the canyon, S of I-40. Broad daylight wearing an orange vest, temporary water via a now-defunct system called Driwater - unirrigated since. Then I adopted both medians and even have a thank-you plaque from then-Mayor Baca. My then-wife and later a contractor friend helped me prune and weed them every year, or so. Much of it still looks OK, though some of the honey mesquites on the high, east end look rough and stunted... possibly drying up plus have less soil for root development. There are 2 native mesquites in ABQ but a few people bad-mouth them, and they have been slow to catch on, slower than even the oaks. Those trees need more pruning. Pics from May 2020.

Looks beautiful...  I really like those trees.. the green is nice and the ferny foliage great...  Ill have to check out the median.. where is that exactly??   If that doesnt get any water they look great.. especially with the stamped concrete directing water away (unfortunately)....   in many of the newer medians they have changed the grade to direct the rainwater to the center of the median.. it reallly works.. just that one change and alot of the plants are doing much better..  sadly they are mostly uninteresting plants lol...   I like your style.

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15 hours ago, SailorBold said:

Funny how you dont notice things until you look...  I traveled on Tramway on the way home tonight.. the north side.. and noticed those oaks in the arroyos/washes closer to mountain.  They look a bit stressed at the moment... but nice....they are a beautiful gray color.

I know that stand where Tramway curves west, but I never did get pics there. I bet they're stressed with this drought and 2 weak monsoon seasons.

Before Tanoan was built, an arroyo or two there were said to have some nice live oaks. Same with Glenwood Hills, and probably a few arroyos before everything was built up above Eubank.

In the west side of the Sandias mostly below 7,000 ft, aka the Sandia foothills, 3 species of evergreen oaks occur. Quercus turbinella / Desert or Shrub Live Oak, Quercus grisea / Gray Oak, and some Quercus arizonica / Arizona White Oak. La Cueva picnic area and parts of Sandia Heights are less arid and have all 3; High Desert and south to Four Hills only has the first 2. Those plus beargrass, large Opuntia, evergreen Mountain Mahogany, and all the granite boulders, made my years of mountain bike rides and hikes Indian School and south even better.

Oddly, the only palms I've seen planted and doing OK in the NE Heights are several Trachys and a few Washingtonia filifera. In the SE area, there are a number of Trachys around UNM to Ridgecrest.

Since this is a palm board, I wonder if non-palms should be discussed where Chris A set up a thread for that? It's at: 

 

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On 7/29/2020 at 10:36 PM, jwitt said:

20200726_075115(1).thumb.jpg.775f223e65677c6af5e02b8017d98f79.jpg

Looks like a spot for some "range extension" palms or especially other native arroyo trees the consultants ignore. Plants far more interesting than, let me guess, valley cottonwood and some volunteer Siberian elms. But is it possible that low, protected area is colder at night than surrounding areas, too?

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16 hours ago, SailorBold said:

Looks beautiful...  I really like those trees.. the green is nice and the ferny foliage great...  Ill have to check out the median.. where is that exactly??   If that doesnt get any water they look great.. especially with the stamped concrete directing water away (unfortunately)....   in many of the newer medians they have changed the grade to direct the rainwater to the center of the median.. it reallly works.. just that one change and alot of the plants are doing much better..  sadly they are mostly uninteresting plants lol...   I like your style.

Thanks - not bad for a 20 year old, low budget planting! I wish I could have done large saw cuts into the stamped, raised concrete and depressed grades for stormwater infiltration and overflow. I learned how to design streetscape plantings at my first job out of college with a landscape architecture firm in San Diego: by massing plants and spacing the masses for traffic speeds.

Plus many years and projects by myself and others mainly not in ABQ. Though ABQ has some good streetscape projects, too. 

I noticed the newer medians are graded to catch water, and yes - too bad they use so many uninteresting species. A retired horticulturist jokes how ABQ wants to be Denver so bad in plant choices - xeriscape without native plants. My guess is the trees are all mesic (moderate to high water-use) hybrid elm, ash, bradford pear, etc. with bubbler irrigation. That may be partly caused by growers lacking interesting plants, city directives, and an often-needless minimum tree size requirement.

Years driving to client appointments or with fellow plant nerds taught me many plants that should be used more. I quickly observed and photographed neglected, older front yards and used more of those plants. Almost always a couple different sotols,  ocotillos, yuccas, etc. Never aspens, maples, spruces, or ashes!

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On 7/27/2020 at 12:57 AM, jwitt said:

I think DAC is the live oak king!  If ABQ was into green, live oak is the answer. Blue live oak are my favorite, a couple around.  My opinion is live oak should be used like desert willow, on second thought.......maybe not that much!

Ha ha! I tend to stay far off the radar, but maybe someone used my name ages ago! I named my former landscape architecture practice "Quercus" for a stand of 2 species of live oaks down in the spring-fed arroyo bordering my then-home's property line, and how durable native oaks are. This stand is Quercus turbinella and Q. grisea, plus there are a few hybrids of those:

1711761467_LiveOaks-SerenityHillsArroyo-Google_2014.thumb.jpg.7a515e6de41cfe78a63fe717f14acd8e.jpg

More than one fan of a local author questioned my business name and the oaks, and I pointed at that stand to one of them while our home was on a garden tour...

I often specified Quercus fusiformis / Escarpment Live Oak native to the Texas Hill Country. It's more available and thrives in ABQ...has for decades, but should be more common. Some LAs are increasingly using that oak, mostly in the last 15 years or so. So, I guess I do like live oaks!

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17 hours ago, SailorBold said:

Ill have to check out the median.. where is that exactly??  

The median I did the pirate landscape on is on NM-333 (called Central Ave W of Tramway), just east of the intersection with Four Hills Drive. I also planted the tiny median west of that intersection and E of Tramway, but only the mesquite is left.

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On 8/19/2020 at 1:08 PM, Desert DAC said:

I know that stand where Tramway curves west, but I never did get pics there. I bet they're stressed with this drought and 2 weak monsoon seasons.

Those are the exact ones I was talking about...I never noticed them before.. Do you know of any in the city that are irrigated? I wonder how much better they could look in landscapes with some training etc...  Thats pretty neat..  I always wondered why they had the street named "Live Oak"....    lol...smh..  Ive known about some live oaks in town for years now.. but before that I never knew they could grow here...  obviously until Ive seen them.  They arent available readily in the nurseries.. although Ive seen them sometimes available like at lowes and Home Depot.  Nice trees!

 

On 8/19/2020 at 1:08 PM, Desert DAC said:

Oddly, the only palms I've seen planted and doing OK in the NE Heights are several Trachys and a few Washingtonia filifera. In the SE area, there are a number of Trachys around UNM to Ridgecrest.

 Yup.. just ok... Its the water..and to another extent the soil. and then we get those bad freezes that can wipe everything out and damage them.  They need to be carefully planted and properly cared for.. I still just recently figured out the water pH problem..   Trachies dont like alkaline water.. im learning Butia doesnt either..  Washgingtonias tolerate it but they also grow in washes..so Id suspect they would perform better with more rainfall..  The hybrid washingtonias issue Ive noticed recently..  Robusta is a no go palm in my opinion.. although people can get them to grow up to15' or so before they get wiped out...  The Robusta x Filifera hybrids that survived 2011 and look good with quick recovery were planted at larger sizes.....that would be a good palm to plant even with the burn at 20f.. but where can you get 20 foot hybrids??  The Filifera x Robusta hybrids survive.. but burn at 20f.. and they are more massive and the recovery slower..  My TorC filiferas start to burn at 14.. but even at 8-9f petioles still had quite a bit of green... so I think there are a few issues going on with the palm climate...not just denial haha

I haven't been to the Zoo in years and years.. but they have trachies planted all over from what I remember.. they all looked great...and for being in the valley also..  makes me wonder where they get their water from as well being so close to the river. They also have a nice Sabal Mexicana that is doing well.. Ive never seen it though.

 

On 8/19/2020 at 1:16 PM, Desert DAC said:

Looks like a spot for some "range extension" palms or especially other native arroyo trees the consultants ignore. Plants far more interesting than, let me guess, valley cottonwood and some volunteer Siberian elms. But is it possible that low, protected area is colder at night than surrounding areas, too?

Will have to check it out.. Im thinking I may get a thermometer and just place it down there for the winter.. and then see what the recorded low would be.  That photo is facing north.. and the other side of that bluff where the houses are drops off to the north... kind of like a peninsula... which im assuming would be a cold air drain..  For reasons stated above the water may grow some decent trachies??  I dunno..  

Do you still work designing landscapes?

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On 8/19/2020 at 3:03 PM, Desert DAC said:

The median I did the pirate landscape on is on NM-333 (called Central Ave W of Tramway), just east of the intersection with Four Hills Drive. I also planted the tiny median west of that intersection and E of Tramway, but only the mesquite is left.

Im working in 4-Hills tomorrow... Ill drive by and check them out...Ive seen mesquite around town.. too......Its a cool area.. but isnt it a colder part of town being close to the canyon?? On a side note.. I may pirate plant some argentine saguaros on that curved on ramp for i-40 west.. ha ha

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On 8/19/2020 at 2:04 PM, Desert DAC said:

I noticed the newer medians are graded to catch water, and yes - too bad they use so many uninteresting species. A retired horticulturist jokes how ABQ wants to be Denver so bad in plant choices - xeriscape without native plants. My guess is the trees are all mesic (moderate to high water-use) hybrid elm, ash, bradford pear, etc. with bubbler irrigation. That may be partly caused by growers lacking interesting plants, city directives, and an often-needless minimum tree size requirement.

Yup.. the interchange... smh... its beautiful with those led lights but..

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18 hours ago, SailorBold said:

Those are the exact ones I was talking about...I never noticed them before.. Do you know of any in the city that are irrigated? I wonder how much better they could look in landscapes with some training etc...  Thats pretty neat..  I always wondered why they had the street named "Live Oak"....    lol...smh..  Ive known about some live oaks in town for years now.. but before that I never knew they could grow here...  obviously until Ive seen them.  They arent available readily in the nurseries.. although Ive seen them sometimes available like at lowes and Home Depot.  Nice trees!

Do you still work designing landscapes?

I'm taking a long or permanent break from landscape architecture and even consulting, as I put my 3 licenses in NM, TX, and NV on inactive status.

Looking through some old tree photos, I did capture the live oaks SW of where Tramway curves. Photo from Feb 2006.

2006_0211(006).thumb.JPG.68cb3eed1cb1a69e0187da0e8c2dd6ce.JPG

That stand appears to be mostly Quercus grisea and a few Q. turbinella. Those are a downhill extension of the larger stands of the same live oaks NE of that curve in Tramway.  In Spanish such a stand of evergreen oaks is called an "encinal". To me those native oaks sure beat the browns of the ABQ urban forest, or the north woods look of Austrian pines. I'll need to post those and other stands of more "exotic" southwestern natives on the Miscellaneous Subtropicals New Mexico thread that Chris started. 

I've only planted Q. grisea once, 3-4 of them at a home in a gated community west of Old Town. On drip irrigation. Most other ABQ live oaks, as I may have mentioned, are drip irrigated or in lawns. I'll post some of my and others' live oaks on the Miscellaneous Subtropicals New Mexico thread. Q. ilex, Q. suber, Q. palmeri, Q. fusiformis, and Q. virginiana included.

Yeah, the name Live Oak Road in Sandia Heights is telling! But it's still odd to me how few notice all the evergreen oaks in the Sandia foothills (west side), namely all the hikers and mountain bikers who use those trails. The La Luz trail is so heavily used, and #365 from High Desert and ending by Supper Rock is loaded with live oaks though drier and slightly lower in elevation. A landscape architect I worked under (1993-1995) even snickered I referred to them as "live oaks"!

It's odd how the arcticist* narrative took over the horticulture in ABQ starting at least in the 1970's, given how many "subtropical" or "warm temperate" species are native or that grow well up there or have been used at least 50-75 years. Though that's been changing, evident the more one looks around town.  (*Arcticist is a word coined by my late friend in Georgia, Nick Bettner.)

 

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On 9/12/2019 at 3:38 PM, SailorBold said:

Oh no way. Really? They do look very real!  I've never seen them for sale.. the only ones I've seen were metal ones. Neat..

Here are the fake saguaros in Carnuel, by a commercial horse stables. They look almost real to me, even if they are in a foothills juniper savannah!

FauxSaguaro-Carnuel01-SML.thumb.jpg.a8fc0803390998a0e058ec5e8e2b0099.jpg

FauxSaguaro-Carnuel02-SML.thumb.jpg.8e40cecb57e8e87532de9702544c6046.jpg

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On 7/29/2020 at 2:54 AM, jwitt said:

 I am still at the same place.  Best blue oak I have seen is in the median on paseo just east of Louisiana.  True blue! Got one in my yard, but tiny and slow.  Haven't figured am out yet, soil?? I think the foothills one are actually grey oak, not sure.  But they do have a blue hinge.

 

This is my spot.  Could I buy some seed from you? Drive by your place every other month or so, but no dice......... 

Here's the spot, South facing, 80-100' lower than us, 200'(?) above Corrales. Thermal bowl with datura all over.

Oops, gonna have to work on the pic.....

 

Here's the Quercus grisea plus another nice planting vignette in the Paseo del Norte medians above Louisiana in ABQ. Too bad whatever was under the oak in those boulders is gone. Sites Southwest was the landscape architect. I took these pics on a muggy Sept evening in 2017:

PaseoDelNorte-ROW02a-Q_gris-SML.jpg.c30c9991763c7671d484b7c8ca658a63.jpg

PaseoDelNorte-ROW02d-Q_gris-SML.jpg.3e9f4249dd98cf6bbbe16c0e93456ce2.jpg

PaseoDelNorte-ROW04e-SML.jpg.47b520396eb641eb492a065a63891931.jpg

.

Also nearby, these interesting and decidedly non-Denver / Santa Fe / midwestern plantings:

LaCuevaTC-Retail02a-SML.jpg.0234652b9cc910f5572ac973bbabacf9.jpg

LaCuevaTC-Retail01-SML.jpg.6de4d453c45a45f359e3747aa2a29a74.jpg

LaCuevaTC-Retail03b-SML.jpg.7c68adbf2ad4ac848218a168e8c70e76.jpg

.

I designed these landscapes within a couple miles, and they still looked good in 2017 though "maintenance" is a shame. Both even use Quercus fusiformis / Escarpment Live Oak:

PaseoNuevo-S01a_2017-09-17-SML.jpg.b70ce2b96fe03add28cfb8cf6cd498a2.jpg

PaseoNuevo-N01a_2017-09-17-SML.jpg.7ab0145f70afb145eb8cc941a5a77ce5.jpg

1821300028_CNMWTC-N02_2017-09-17-SML.jpg.437925ba0147a90396b390d031fe1325.jpg

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On 8/20/2020 at 11:54 PM, SailorBold said:

Im working in 4-Hills tomorrow... Ill drive by and check them out...Ive seen mesquite around town.. too......Its a cool area.. but isnt it a colder part of town being close to the canyon?? On a side note.. I may pirate plant some argentine saguaros on that curved on ramp for i-40 west.. ha ha

Yes - one of the coldest areas of town. Though spots in the valley and High Desert might be colder at times. Still a solid zone 7 or 7b. Some mesquites were native there, and old-timers told me there used to be more mesquites, plus small stands of creosote bush on the gravelly terraces above arroyos up to about Montgomery, like they still grow along the Manzanos. Often warmer by day than the Sunport, along with much of ABQ.

2 species of mesquite are native in central NM, honey mesquite native to far W Oklahoma and SE Colorado, Amarillo...all colder. SW mesquites have a similar hardiness to desert willow, though they seem to need more heat.

Argentine mesquite freezes regularly down in Las Cruces! I have old pics of native Prosopis torreyana growing on the Big-I with snow-capped Sandia in background. More there at one time.

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1 hour ago, Desert DAC said:

Yes - one of the coldest areas of town. Though spots in the valley and High Desert might be colder at times. Still a solid zone 7 or 7b. Some mesquites were native there, and old-timers told me there used to be more mesquites, plus small stands of creosote bush on the gravelly terraces above arroyos up to about Montgomery, like they still grow along the Manzanos. Often warmer by day than the Sunport, along with much of ABQ.

2 species of mesquite are native in central NM, honey mesquite native to far W Oklahoma and SE Colorado, Amarillo...all colder. SW mesquites have a similar hardiness to desert willow, though they seem to need more heat.

Argentine mesquite freezes regularly down in Las Cruces! I have old pics of native Prosopis torreyana growing on the Big-I with snow-capped Sandia in background. More there at one time.

I thought Velvet Mesquite were hardy enough for ABQ also.. Maybe just the warmest parts of town? 

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1 hour ago, Silas_Sancona said:

I thought Velvet Mesquite were hardy enough for ABQ also.. Maybe just the warmest parts of town? 

Oops, I forgot. Yes, Velvet Mesquite / Prosopis velutina is hardy in parts of ABQ. Even in Feb. 2011 they didn't suffer and grew fine at the Natural History Museum near Old Town, continuing to reproduce there. I do recall some freezing back badly on Montano W of Coors and up by Supper Rock in 2010-2011. No clue on their sources, though.

Texas Honey Mesquite / P. glandulosa also grows well in ABQ, but it's native mostly on the eastern plains below 5,000 feet. 

Western Honey Mesquite / Prosopis torreyana and Screwbean Mesquite / P.  pubescens are the two native mesquites to ABQ, which of course are hardy. 

So, that's 4 species of mesquites that will grow in ABQ, with 2 native. But no mesquites seem hardy in the east mountains, Santa Fe and north, or the western highlands.

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@Desert DAC Off topic question for you, or anyone else there in ABQ/ rest of N.M.  Anyone know of a local source for seed of both Quercus grisea and /or Q. turbinella? 

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On 8/21/2020 at 6:20 PM, Desert DAC said:

Here are the fake saguaros in Carnuel, by a commercial horse stables. They look almost real to me, even if they are in a foothills juniper savannah!

FauxSaguaro-Carnuel01-SML.thumb.jpg.a8fc0803390998a0e058ec5e8e2b0099.jpg

FauxSaguaro-Carnuel02-SML.thumb.jpg.8e40cecb57e8e87532de9702544c6046.jpg

lol..  crazy.  Ive never seen anything that realistic. Must be quite expensive.. considering they must weigh alot and need to be anchored with concrete let alone the detail that was put into them.  

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On 8/21/2020 at 5:46 PM, Desert DAC said:

m taking a long or permanent break from landscape architecture and even consulting, as I put my 3 licenses in NM, TX, and NV on inactive status.

Thats too bad.. but good for you...  I was gonna say.. we need to put some bids on median landscaping.. lol

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On 8/24/2020 at 10:45 AM, Desert DAC said:

es - one of the coldest areas of town. Though spots in the valley and High Desert might be colder at times. Still a solid zone 7 or 7b. Some mesquites were native there, and old-timers told me there used to be more mesquites, plus small stands of creosote bush on the gravelly terraces above arroyos up to about Montgomery, like they still grow along the Manzanos. Often warmer by day than the Sunport, along with much of ABQ.

Its why its interesting to live here due to the varied microclimates..  with alot of different areas with temperature and precip. variances... lots of zone 8 plants that can take the longer overnight freezing. It has a touch of everything...

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On 8/27/2020 at 8:39 PM, Silas_Sancona said:

@Desert DAC Off topic question for you, or anyone else there in ABQ/ rest of N.M.  Anyone know of a local source for seed of both Quercus grisea and /or Q. turbinella? 

DAC would be the master with that...  how would one do that?  Just go collect acorns??

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4 minutes ago, SailorBold said:

DAC would be the master with that...  how would one do that?  Just go collect acorns??

Collect 'em, throw em in a pot, then let nature do the rest, w/ maybe a soaking every 2 weeks, less often once cooler.. When collecting, always look for the plumpest/heaviest Acorns. Any that rattle in the shell have likely dried out and won't germinate.  ..And  -i only say this because i know people who have done so- don't remove the shell..

Should germinate pretty quick and shouldn't sit in their "starter" pot(s) any longer than say this time next year due to development of the tap root ( want to avoid any circling roots as much as possible..) Maybe keep in a sunroom/ protected thru the winter.  Should be fine out in the elements next year, unless still small.

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  • 6 months later...
On 4/21/2018 at 7:32 PM, ChrisA said:

4/21/2018:

0CE5CA0F-60C4-4ED6-87DA-0BA94A204CDB.jpeg

Wonderful palm and a great place, too (for winter protection)! Chris, what is distance between this Washy and the walls? 

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Thank you!  It’s about 4-5 feet from the wall.  Close enough that the palm fronds bend into the wall and window there.  But it’s growing taller so eventually, if it survives, it’ll be over the roof. Then it’ll be exposed to the elements.

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I would love to see an update on the washy Chris. I really like that hybrid form with those huge plane fronds and long straight petioles. While doing a street view trip through El Paso I found a similar beauty. 

 

https://goo.gl/maps/7B5DEVSyutSDT5dJ6

Edited by Axel Amsterdam
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Hey Axel, I will post an updated picture once I get back to NM, sometime in the next few months.  I know this winter has been hard on it, and it continues to be cold. This winter doesn’t want to quit yet.

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  • 1 month later...

Hi everyone, I just saw something I think you’d like to see, saw some dates and robustas I think down in the cottonwood area. I’m pretty sure they are very newly planted but they look pretty good.

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I think that’s the same neighborhood that has the filiferas at several houses that have been there for over a decade that I know of. I have a picture somewhere of the palms.  I’ll post sometime 

Edited by Jtee
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Woah, will those get defoliated every winter there? Washingtonia Robusta is around 20F, Dates maybe 17. 

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Current Texas Gardening Zone 9a, Mean (1999-2024): 22F Low/104F High. Yearly Precipitation 39.17 inches.

Extremes: Low Min 4F 2021, 13.8F 2024. High Max 112F 2011/2023, Precipitation Max 58 inches 2015, Lowest 19 Inches 2011.

Weather Station: https://www.wunderground.com/dashboard/pws/KTXCOLLE465

Ryan (Paleoclimatologist Since 4 billion Years ago, Meteorologist/Earth Scientist/Physicist Since 1995, Savy Horticulturist Since Birth.)

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7 hours ago, Collectorpalms said:

Woah, will those get defoliated every winter there? Washingtonia Robusta is around 20F, Dates maybe 17. 

Who knows?  Got large filiferea living decades unprotected in a warm zone 6b mere miles from these palms.

 Seen thin trunk washingintonia survive -11f in 2/2011 but succumb to -1f that happened in 12/2011.

Many robustas and date palm survived -5f south of this location. 

Oh, don't forget these palms will be in a location with about 170 day growing season.  I'm guessing this locale, is a zone 7a if it is where I think it is.

What do you think?

 

 

 

 

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