Spring Plantings

[Ben OK]

So 18 months after I moved in, I am finally getting around to putting some more of my potted palm collection in the ground. I have a large L-shaped bed that goes around two sides of my garage. So here's what I've got so far (mulch to come tomorrow) 
 
The North side has four azaleas alternating with 3 needle palms. On the East side I've got a small yaupon holly, two trachycarpus wagnerianus (with little zebra grass clumps still dormant in between them), and my larger birmingham sabal on the Southeast corner. I included some closer shots of the individual palms. All are probably happy to get in the ground after years in their pots.  
 

[Ben OK]

I was really tempted to put my 3 trachycarpus takils in the ground on the wall where I used the waggies. They are still only about 2 gallon size though. In my experience, trachycarpus seem to get quite a bit hardier with size. Although the takils have performed better for me than regular fortunei, nanitals, and even waggies of similar size, I want to give them the time to get tougher before I chance them in the ground. I feel they may be my best shot at a long term trunking palm here, so I want to give them the best chance I can. 
 
Thanks for looking! 

[Chester B]

I've heard mixed reviews on Takil. I have one but it doesn't get cold enough here to bother the three Trachy species you have.  All I can say is that the one I have with about 6" of trunk grew slowly throughout the winter but we rarely go below freezing even at night.

I think in your climate microclimates will make all the difference, but I would expect you would have to do some sort of protection during extreme events.  looking good so far, and I wish you the best of luck.

[Ben OK]

2 hours ago, Chester B said:

I've heard mixed reviews on Takil. I have one but it doesn't get cold enough here to bother the three Trachy species you have.  All I can say is that the one I have with about 6" of trunk grew slowly throughout the winter but we rarely go below freezing even at night.

I think in your climate microclimates will make all the difference, but I would expect you would have to do some sort of protection during extreme events.  looking good so far, and I wish you the best of luck.

I don't know how the takils will perform long term, but they have been promising so far. I have kept all of my trachycarpus in pots until they reach the 5 gallon size (or more). At those small sizes in pots my 3 takils have taken less winter damage than the other trachycarpus varieties I mentioned above.  I eventually lost all of my other trachycarpus except for the waggies pictured above (and one regular fortunei that was too big to move when I left OKC about 2.5 years ago. 

Our climate isn't ideal for trachycarpus though, so I have lots of sabal minor and needle palms. They are both easy reliable growers here.

[Chester B]

I just had a look at the takil I have outside.  The frond it was putting out over the winter looks completely dessicated and dead.  Fortunately the current spear looks nice and healthy.  I did plant it pretty late in the year so it may be from  transplant shock.  Do you have a picture of your takils?  There are many being sold that aren't the real deal.

[Ben OK]

6 hours ago, Chester B said:

I just had a look at the takil I have outside.  The frond it was putting out over the winter looks completely dessicated and dead.  Fortunately the current spear looks nice and healthy.  I did plant it pretty late in the year so it may be from  transplant shock.  Do you have a picture of your takils?  There are many being sold that aren't the real deal.

I snapped a few pics today for you. I bought these from a palm grower in Alabama who sells cold Hardy palms and cycads on another gardening forum I participate with. I got them when they were just starting to split leaves, so I didn't get to see how many ridges their leaves had when they sprouted. They do seem to have less fiber than other trachycarpus I've owned. 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 24, 2019 by Ben OK

[Ben OK]

[Ben OK]

[Chester B]

No papery ligules is another sign.  I've found the one I have has differently shaped fronds from a fortunei with narrower more curved leaves.  I'll snap a picture later today.  Your's do look similar to mine although not exactly identical.

[Chester B]

No papery ligules is another sign.  I've found the one I have has differently shaped fronds from a fortunei with narrower more curved leaves.  You can see the crispy frond in the last pic, which I think is from transplant shock.  The newest spear looks nice and healthy.

[Chester B]

Update: I cut the desiccated spear off and left the new green one.  Yesterday I noticed the new green spear that has been pushing has desicated also.  A gentle tug and the spear pulled out in one piece.  It was black at the bottom.  It will be treated with peroxide and we'll see what happens.  The rest of the fronds are still a healthy green

Needless to say I'm not impressed.  This is the only healthy palm I've ever had do this.  This winter the coldest was 25F, only about 4 nights dipped below freezing and the longest duration below freezing was maybe 4 hours.  I had date palms in blue plastic cups outside survive the winter.

[Ben OK]

That is definitely not a great sign. I have lost a lot of small trachycarpus (2 gal size or smaller) at temps that were not usually very low. Like your palm, mine usually spear pulled late in the spring followed by decline and death. I've had a lot pull through also, so I would definitely hold out hope for yours. I don't really understand why but trachycarpus and rhapidophyllum tend to be much less Hardy at small sizes. Or maybe just when they are in pots or newly transplanted? 

I just know that small sabals have always seemed just about as hardy as larger ones in my experience, so this isn't the case with every species. 

So far my three takils have taken the least damage of all the trachys I've had of a similar size. I am still playing it safe and waiting at least another year before planting them out though. I hope yours pulls through and toughens up for you.

[Chester B]

I had a needle spear pull because I kept moving it around and neglected it completely.  Moved from shade to full sun with not enough water, so it really shocked it.  It came through with flying colors.

[cm05]

The frond my potted Takil is pushing up is partly desiccated, but it’s moving and I’ve been applying peroxide as a precaution. Don’t know if it was the cold, it’s seen as low as 20F (in a pot), or if it’s the incredibly wet spring we’ve been having, or sunburn.

Got mine from the same source as Ben OK.

[Ben OK]

Planted a couple of new palms out this week. These are both "for fun" plantings. I'm tired of having large potted plants, so these went in the ground even though they aren't hardy in my zone. I'll cover them during Dec, Jan, and Feb, and hope for the best. washingtonias can get pretty big here using this method. I'm not sure how the butia will like it though.

 

[Ben OK]

[Ben OK]

The rocks are to keep critters away. Any freshly disturbed soil (along with mulch and fertilizer) around here gets dug up immediately during their first night in the ground. I suspect armadillos are the culprits, so I put large rocks around the base to limit their ability to damage my plants.

[Ben OK]

And some updated pics from another bed near the house. There hasn't been a lot of noticable growth since my last pics, but this bed now has mulch and a nice drop system I set up today.

[Ben OK]

[Ben OK]

[Ben OK]

[Ben OK]

[Ben OK]

The bed in the above pic has three little needles alternating with four azalea bushes. I'm hoping those will grow to be a good combination as the get larger.

[Ben OK]

Another year, another update on these beds: 

First needle looks terrible, but never spear pulled.

 

[Ben OK]

Next one doesn't look as bad, also held on to it's spear.

[Ben OK]

Last needle from last year looks pretty good, but spear pulled at least a couple of months ago. No sign of a new spear yet, but it's also not turning brown. Not sure what this one is doing.

[Ben OK]

Waggies both fared well, older fronds could look better, but no damages spears on either palm.

Edited May 20, 2020 by Ben OK
Typo

[Ben OK]

I also put my three Trachycarpus takils in the ground early this spring.

 

[Ben OK]

My bigger Birmingham sabal:

[Ben OK]

I also put a few more of my little needles in a big bed in the middle of my circle drive:

[Ben OK]

I have five acres in the woods here, so I've also started planting some of the rough areas of my property with Sabal minors. I've even planted hundreds of seedlings I sprouted last season though our woods along a trail we made.

[Ben OK]

I also had a Washingtonia filibusta that survived my bad wrap job during January and February. The butia wasn't so lucky.

[Chester B]

I find it surprising the needles took some damage where the other "less hardy" palms look better.  Were the needles more exposed?

[Ben OK]

2 hours ago, Chester B said:

I find it surprising the needles took some damage where the other "less hardy" palms look better.  Were the needles more exposed?

They are on the north side of my home, but I have this problem with needles and Trachycarpus here. When they are small they pull spears easily and about a quarter of the ones that pull spears will decline and die. Sometimes this happens even when the temps are only in the low 20sF. Once they hit 5 gallon size or so, I see a marked increase in their hardiness. They just don't seem to tolerate any freezing precipitation in their crown without pulling a spear until they are a bit larger. I have no trouble with sabals in this regard. I plant them out whenever and even if a bad winter hits when they are small, they will bounce right back.

That is actually the main reason that I held off on planting my takils in the ground until this year. I wanted them to be a bit bigger and I wanted them to have a full growing season to settle in before they get tested.

[Ben OK]

Grey tree frogs are pretty common visitors on my palm fronds this year, so I thought I'd get a couple of pictures to document them:

[Ben OK]

[Ben OK]

I know this isn't a palm, but it is certainly a tropical-looking native passion flower. I didn't even know these existed here, and I have spent most of my life in Oklahoma. I found this right at the edge of the forest maybe one foot outside of my backyard. Now that I know what the leaves look like, I found some more in other parts of my property. Most of them are just growing in enough shade that they probably won't flower.

[Chester B]

Looks like a maypop (Passiflora incarnata), they are a north american native.  The fruit are edible.  If you look up Maypop you'll find tons of info on them.

[Ben OK]

On 9/21/2020 at 10:43 AM, Chester B said:

Looks like a maypop (Passiflora incarnata), they are a north american native.  The fruit are edible.  If you look up Maypop you'll find tons of info on them.

That appears to definitely be what it is. I'm just a little surprised that I had never seen one before now. I've now found at least three of them on my property just by identifying leaves. There could be way more, but I'm not getting into the woods until we have a hard freeze and the ticks won't be an issue.

[ESVA]

Yep, it's a common maypop (Passiflora incarnata).  They get a large egg size fruit hollow on the inside filled with seeds and make a popping sound when mashed or thrown at another lad.  Spread easily.  There's also the yellow species (P. lutea)  which grows here in Virginia, too, but is less common. It's more cold hardy than the maypop but its fruit is marble-sized. 

I like where you've planted out hundreds of sabal seedlings along your woodland path.  Braved ticks and chiggers last month to run about 16 miles of  trails in 100 degree heat and 90% humidity. Packed some sabal seeds along for naturalizing but no canteen  and near about died from thirst.