where in georgia should I not live for palms?

[Mr.SamuraiSword]

Family has been looking into moving to georgia.  while its still in the idea stage, They have been suggesting towns to each other such as richmond hill, flowery branch, columbus etc.  where in georgia would meet this criteria.  I would like to grow sabals, pindo, and other 8a stuff but maybe ribbon fan palms and date species and ideally queens.  where in georgia would be a good bet for growing these and where in georgia would sabal palmetto NOT be good to plant due to cold?  thanks everyone

[kinzyjr]

You'll want to stay away from Atlanta and interior GA.  The closer you are to Savannah, Brunswick, etc. the more palms you can grow.

[Mr.SamuraiSword]

1 minute ago, kinzyjr said:

You'll want to stay away from Atlanta and interior GA.  The closer you are to Savannah, Brunswick, etc. the more palms you can grow.

I have seen pics of sabal, and lots of windmill in atlanta, i assume thats part to do with urban heat effect and outside of the city  the palms dont do well?

[kinzyjr]

Just now, Mr.SamuraiSword said:

I have seen pics of sabal, and lots of windmill in atlanta, i assume thats part to do with urban heat effect and outside of the city  the palms dont do well?

They do have some.  I've seen them by the airport, trachies especially.  Atlanta can and has gone below 0F, however, and that has a very good chance of killing sabal palmetto and trachycarpus.  Once you get down I-16 toward Statesboro the climate gets a little more like the southeast that we all know and love. 

[RedRabbit]

Why Georgia?

Jeckyll Island, St. Simons (ideally East Beach), and Sea Island are the best places for palms in Georgia. That area is probably boarderline 9b with some Queen palms living there. It’s a charming area but too rural for my taste personally. If it were me, I’d go with Savannah’s historic district or forget about palms and go with the Buckhead part of Atlanta. 

Edited March 18, 2019 by RedRabbit

[Neil C]

"Forget about palms", I'm not sure we like that kind of talk on here! :0)

[NC_Palms]

1 hour ago, Mr.SamuraiSword said:

I would like to grow sabals, pindo, and other 8a stuff but maybe ribbon fan palms and date species and ideally queens.  where in georgia would be a good bet for growing these and where in georgia would sabal palmetto NOT be good to plant due to cold?

You'll be able to grow all that along the Georgia coast and probably in southern Georgia as well. 

[kinzyjr]

1 hour ago, Neil C said:

"Forget about palms", I'm not sure we like that kind of talk on here! :0)

Bordering on thought crime

The above being said, I agree with @RedRabbit and @NC_Palms - from Statesboro south and east  or bust. 

[RJ]

Lets be honest, from a Palm growing perspective and and economic perspective anywhere in Georgia is a step up from CT. To really get into the variety for palms The above posts pretty much nailed it.  For me growing palms is a side gig I'm learning about. My real passion a lot of deciduous trees that become much more limited for me if I go much further south. I would stay away from the Atlanta area, traffic is brutal and they certainly get some cold snaps. 

Good luck, and from someone who grew up in New England you won't regret the move. 

[Mr.SamuraiSword]

14 minutes ago, RJ said:

Lets be honest, from a Palm growing perspective and and economic perspective anywhere in Georgia is a step up from CT. To really get into the variety for palms The above posts pretty much nailed it.  For me growing palms is a side gig I'm learning about. My real passion a lot of deciduous trees that become much more limited for me if I go much further south. I would stay away from the Atlanta area, traffic is brutal and they certainly get some cold snaps. 

Good luck, and from someone who grew up in New England you won't regret the move. 

haha thanks  yeah I just want to at least be able to be in 8b zone.  

[RJ]

23 minutes ago, Mr.SamuraiSword said:

haha thanks  yeah I just want to at least be able to be in 8b zone.  

A solid 8b opens a lot of doors from 8a up in terms of Palms IMO., Cold snaps seem to be much shorter/quicker etc. I'm always amazed how much colder and snowier Charlotte is then we are, and they're only 2 1/2h north of me. Then I look at Charleston and what can be grown there compared to where I'm at, again pretty substantial. My saving grace is my property is close to water, which moderates my low temps in cold snaps by several degrees.  Around here to get into 8b and be away from water influence you get into the low country, which certainly has it's charms but it's like Florida to me, flat and sandy everywhere. I like a little terrain variety. 

 

Does work bring you down here, often that is the ultimate deciding factor into location.  

[PalmatierMeg]

You want to be as far south and as close to the coast as you can get. If yours is like most families you will have to move close to jobs for those still working. If your family is self-employed (like we were in 1993), you have the benefit of being able to establish yourself in an area you chose rather than obeying dictates of an employer. If the move comes first and job hunting coincidentally or later, consider seeking work in Jacksonville, FL but living in SE GA. The area just north of the GA/FL line looks to be less urban and more relaxed. I really like Brunswick, GA right along the Atlantic Coast and you should be able to grow more species of palms than in N. GA. Whatever palm species grow in NE Jacksonville should grow in deep SE GA. And if you can find a house there with acreage, think of the gardens you could grow.

I've been to Savannah, which is historic and very pretty but also tourist-trappy and expensive and way north. I was born in and lived in the Washington, DC, area, one of the great tourists traps in the universe, and now live in SW FL a few miles from Ft. Myers Beach. Trust me: tourist traps are vastly overrated if you have to live in one year round.

I suggest you avoid Atlanta and environs at all costs. It's one megacity surrounded by interstates. Besides, it's not very palm friendly compared to the coast.

Good luck with your deliberations.

[kinzyjr]

@Mr.SamuraiSword For planting inland, I'd recommend looking at some inland plantings in the book Designing With Palms by Jason Dewees.  The book has pictures from Columbia, SC's Riverbanks Zoo and Botanical Gardens as Well as Mary Alice Woodrum's garden in North Augusta, SC.  There are images from a few other spots in SC and GA sprinkled throughout the book, but these two gardens have their own spread.

You should check out Joe LeVert's in Augusta, GA.

 

 

[Jcalvin]

On ‎3‎/‎18‎/‎2019 at 4:17 PM, Mr.SamuraiSword said:

haha thanks  yeah I just want to at least be able to be in 8b zone.  

I live in Nahunta, Ga. It's a small town about 25 minutes from the coast, outside of Brunswick, ga. and about equal distance to the Florida line. We're considered zone 8b, but I grow everything they grow along the coast.

I have Butias, Sabals, Chamaerops, mule palm, robustas, sagos, a phoenix syvestris, theoprasti, livinstonia chinesis, rhapsis excelsa, Phoenix roebelenii (with canopy protection) and Syagrus Romanzoffianum. And, though I don't grow any myself, a neighbor of mine has 3 CIDP's. Most of these palms will grow further in land except for maybe Syagrus Romanzoffianum and Phoenix roebelenii  .

The cold snaps here are relatively short. If it does drop below 20f, it's usually early in the morning before the sun rises. So, it doesn't stay below 20 for too long. The last time it dropped below 20F was in 2014.

 

Attached are two queens growing in Waycross, Ga (about 30 minutes inland from Nahunta). These have been growing nicely for about a decade until the freak snow storm 2 years ago killed the one on the right. The other one pulled through, nicely, though.

 

Edited September 6, 2019 by Jcalvin

[palmsOrl]

The far northern part of Georgia where the mountains start.

If I was set on Georgia and palms were a priority, I would move on or as near as possible to the coast.  The farther south the better.

Jcalvin, Chamaedorea microspadix and Chamaedorea radicalis should do well for you in some warmer parts of Georgia.  The botanical garden in Atlanta had some healthy ones up against a building when I was there in 2006.

Edited September 8, 2019 by palmsOrl

[Jcalvin]

On 9/8/2019 at 4:57 PM, palmsOrl said:

The far northern part of Georgia where the mountains start.

If I was set on Georgia and palms were a priority, I would move on or as near as possible to the coast.  The farther south the better.

Jcalvin, Chamaedorea microspadix and Chamaedorea radicalis should do well for you in some warmer parts of Georgia.  The botanical garden in Atlanta had some healthy ones up against a building when I was there in 2006.

Thanks, Palmsorl. 

I have a tiny one I transplanted last year. I had it in a pot and forgot to water it, so the upper part of the plant died back. 

I’ve thought about buying a bigger one from Home Depot and planting it in yard somewhere, though. 

[Jcalvin]

On 3/17/2019 at 7:36 PM, Mr.SamuraiSword said:

Family has been looking into moving to georgia.  while its still in the idea stage, They have been suggesting towns to each other such as richmond hill, flowery branch, columbus etc.  where in georgia would meet this criteria.  I would like to grow sabals, pindo, and other 8a stuff but maybe ribbon fan palms and date species and ideally queens.  where in georgia would be a good bet for growing these and where in georgia would sabal palmetto NOT be good to plant due to cold?  thanks everyone

Here’s an older Canary growing in Waycross, Ga.  It’s well within the 8b zone (about 25 miles) and about 40 miles from the coast. 

It isn’t well taken care of at all, but still seems to be doing fairly well. It’s about a mile or so from the queen palms I posted above. 

[GottmitAlex]

21 minutes ago, Jcalvin said:

Here’s an older Canary growing in Waycross, Ga.  It’s well within the 8b zone (about 25 miles) and about 40 miles from the coast. 

It isn’t well taken care of at all, but still seems to be doing fairly well. It’s about a mile or so from the queen palms I posted above. 

Wow! Amazing! And the leaf bases have been cleaned off.  Impressive!

[Steve in Florida]

On 3/18/2019 at 3:17 PM, Mr.SamuraiSword said:

haha thanks  yeah I just want to at least be able to be in 8b zone.  

Check out Brunswick, GA.  The annual average low is 25F based on 30 years. data.  I visited and saw all kinds of Phoenix palms,  Livistona chinensis loaded with seeds, large Bizmarkia.  A couple of gardens had some zone 10a stuff that hasn't experienced dieback in the last two years.