Travelers Palm in So CA question

[mcjdawg]

My only travelers palm is throwing 3 inflorescences.   Should I remove them or let it flower?  I thought I remember someone suspecting their traveler died due to cold stress and flowering stress during a winter cold spell.  Thanks in advance.

 

Justin

[GottmitAlex]

I was under the impression those palms are cold hardy for anytown, CA.

 

[Gonzer]

You're not going to have any problems with Ravenala in SC (lived there 40 years). Let it grow as is without removing anything.

[Ben in Norcal]

12 hours ago, GottmitAlex said:

I was under the impression those palms are cold hardy for anytown, CA.

 

I thought these couldn't take much of a freeze?  That would rule them out of most of CA?

[Chris Chance]

8 minutes ago, Ben in Norcal said:

I thought these couldn't take much of a freeze?  That would rule them out of most of CA?

They really don't take frost well. I have one that always gets beat up. I plan on moving it up against the house in spring to see if it has any chance there.  

[Jdiaz31089]

1 hour ago, Ben in Norcal said:

I thought these couldn't take much of a freeze?  That would rule them out of most of CA?

I've read that they are less tolerant of frost than strelitzia. You could probably grow it in a sheltered spot for several years and get that awesome fan with the long petioles/leaves. I'm tempted to try one under a canopy.

[Josh-O]

15 minutes ago, Jdiaz31089 said:

I've read that they are less tolerant of frost than strelitzia. You could probably grow it in a sheltered spot for several years and get that awesome fan with the long petioles/leaves. I'm tempted to try one under a canopy.

I would try it where you live Josh

[GottmitAlex]

14 hours ago, mcjdawg said:

My only travelers palm is throwing 3 inflorescences.   Should I remove them or let it flower?  I thought I remember someone suspecting their traveler died due to cold stress and flowering stress during a winter cold spell.  Thanks in advance.

 

Justin

Does San Clemente see Freezing temps? Or close to it?  

[Gonzer]

San Clemente sees frost about every hundred years or so. Now, if you live out in Talegaville, that's a different story as many of us don't recognize that as part of SC and neither do Talegans.

 

[cagary]

I am about 10 miles from the Pacific in south Orange County and have a 20 foot giant that produces a few inflorescences every year. I never cut them off, but they also never give me any seeds. We see high 30's almost every winter, but I've never seen any cold damage on it at all. Its pushing new growth right now.

[mcjdawg]

Awesome.  Thanks for the responses.   I was advised not to grow it, but now on its 3rd winter it is getting huge!   Purchased from floribundas at about 12" tall. No trunk yet, but pushing 12' now.

[Walt]

Don't even bother to remove inflorescences. I have three clumps of traveler's palms. I'm in a 9b climate. My biggest clump has been completely defoliated on at least two occasions, and partially defoliated on many occasions. Like others have said, they don't take well to frost, at least frost. But a mature specimen with trunk can take at least down into the low 20s for short duration and survive. I know, as mine are living proof of it. In December of 2010 I had 11 nights below 40 degrees, with six of those nights below 30 degrees, and three of those nights below 25 degrees! I also recorded my all-time low of 20.8 F degrees in my open yard. It was probably a degree or two warmer where my largest traveler's palm clump is. In any event, after the freeze I cut off all the dead fronds, leaving only a trunk. I figured it was a goner, but I was wrong -- it came back strong.

I have photos of my traveler's palm showing it's condition after the December 2010 freezes. I will try to upload one or two for proof that these plants are more cold hardy (survival wise) than what some folks think. I certainly didn't think I could grow them at my location long term. But I lived and learned.

Also, I have a clump of white bird of paradise planted adjacent to my traveler's palm. From my experience they are only slightly frost hardier than the traveler's palm. At best three degrees F hardier. They are not a full 1/2 USDA zone rating hardier, at least from my observations.

Below are  my traveler palm clumps I took video off late last year. Again, I will try to post some photos showing them totally fried by cold and frost.

 

[Walt]

Below are two photos. The first was from a hard freeze I had during the winter of 2009. As the photo indicates, my traveler's palm was totally fried. My traveler's palms average about 12 fronds per year, and seem to hold a complement of around 24 fronds. So, if totally defoliated it takes approximately two years to fully replace the crown of fronds where they span about 180 degrees.

 

 

[Walt]

The below photo shows one of my traveler's palm after again being totally defoliated from the horrid freezes of January of 2010. January of 2010 was almost as bad as December of 2010, except the duration of days of freezing nights was less.

Note the white bird of paradise to the left of the traveler's palm. It's also severely defoliated.

Again, my climate is rated 9b, but it's a warmer (far more wintertime daily heat) than Califorinia 9b. My lows can get lower, but it's generally not more than one/two nights each winter. Average January day time highs are 74 degrees. However, the past three winters have been slightly above normal, and I only had one or two nights of light frost that didn't hurt my traveler's palms. So far this December 2016 and January 2017 have been way above normal. My lowest low was about 41 degrees, and that was back in November. Last December I had 18 days 80 degrees F or higher. So far this January most days have been in the 80s for high. This winter has, so far, been the warmest winter since I moved here in 1997. I'd actually prefer this winter to be cooler, but if that's what it takes to prevent a hard freeze, I will take it.

 

 

[Chris Chance]

I gotta say it's impressive that Travelers can come back from the low 20s and Walt thanks cor sharing your experiences. Having one in my garden and now knowing it can take a bit more frost than expected. I may have to just keep it and I really think if it's next to the house it will keep it looking a lot better. Years ago before I was growing plants my parents took a trip to Belize and they showed me a picture of a Travelers Palm. After that I started researching then finally found out what it was. After that I had to have one. I know it will never look as good as it would in the tropics but it's still nice looking in the summer.

[Walt]

1 hour ago, Chris Chance said:

I gotta say it's impressive that Travelers can come back from the low 20s and Walt thanks cor sharing your experiences. Having one in my garden and now knowing it can take a bit more frost than expected. I may have to just keep it and I really think if it's next to the house it will keep it looking a lot better. Years ago before I was growing plants my parents took a trip to Belize and they showed me a picture of a Travelers Palm. After that I started researching then finally found out what it was. After that I had to have one. I know it will never look as good as it would in the tropics but it's still nice looking in the summer.

Back in February of 1993 my wife and I and six friends took a Carnival cruise to the eastern Caribbean. I saw my first traveler's palm while on a bus tour on the island of Dominica. It was huge and very impressive to me. Naturally, I thought such a plant would be limited to the tropics. But when my wife and I moved to Lake Placid, Florida, back in 1997, I saw a mature traveler's palm growing up in town, plus a clump of them growing at a residence on a large lake. Naturally, I determined that if I ever found a traveler's palm for sale at one of the local nurseries or big box store garden department, I would buy one. As it was back then, they weren't available. However, I got the garden manager at Home Depot to order me one. This is the one you see in the photos totally fried from cold and frost.

Then, maybe 5-7 years ago Home Depot had a couple of pallets of small traveler's palms (the one and only time they ever had them to this day) and I bought three of them. Two survived to start forming clumps (as shown in my YouTube video), while the 3rd one was killed during the bad freezes of December of 2010.

All I can say is that a trunked traveler's palm can take more cold than I first thought. My plants are proof of that. I'm talking about the trunk and growth points, not the foliage. The foliage will start to damage with frost. But that is mainly on the leaves that lie more flat and open to the sky. If the leaves are more vertical, frost doesn't form as readily on them, and I believe a vertical leaf can probably take short duration temperatures down into the upper 20s F.

[Chris Chance]

48 minutes ago, Walt said:

Back in February of 1993 my wife and I and six friends took a Carnival cruise to the eastern Caribbean. I saw my first traveler's palm while on a bus tour on the island of Dominica. It was huge and very impressive to me. Naturally, I thought such a plant would be limited to the tropics. But when my wife and I moved to Lake Placid, Florida, back in 1997, I saw a mature traveler's palm growing up in town, plus a clump of them growing at a residence on a large lake. Naturally, I determined that if I ever found a traveler's palm for sale at one of the local nurseries or big box store garden department, I would buy one. As it was back then, they weren't available. However, I got the garden manager at Home Depot to order me one. This is the one you see in the photos totally fried from cold and frost.

Then, maybe 5-7 years ago Home Depot had a couple of pallets of small traveler's palms (the one and only time they ever had them to this day) and I bought three of them. Two survived to start forming clumps (as shown in my YouTube video), while the 3rd one was killed during the bad freezes of December of 2010.

All I can say is that a trunked traveler's palm can take more cold than I first thought. My plants are proof of that. I'm talking about the trunk and growth points, not the foliage. The foliage will start to damage with frost. But that is mainly on the leaves that lie more flat and open to the sky. If the leaves are more vertical, frost doesn't form as readily on them, and I believe a vertical leaf can probably take short duration temperatures down into the upper 20s F.

They definitely get beat up in the cold but soon after warm days start they start to grow. Mine is a long ways off from trunking and got a little beat up last month from frost. I never even bothered to protect it and now I see that the bigger they get the better they can recover.  

Funny thing is they were selling these at Home Depot a few years back. They were large and obviously shipped in from Florida.