My experience with W. filifera in NC

[NC_Palms]

Washingtonia filifera may not the the best palm for the Southeast, but my experience with it has been fantastic. I planted this W. filifera last summer and it survived the winter with only minor leaf damage; while my W. robusta completely defoliated and later died at the low temperature of 17°F. 

I try to keep my W. filifera as dry as possible, since these palms aren’t big fans of wet (soggy) soil and humidity. Thankfully, this dry spring has been keeping this palm very happy. 

 

 

[NCpalmqueen]

My winter this year (2018-19) in the piedmont was mild ( zone 8b), so it wasn't a good year for me to gauge the hardiness of palms here.     Washys (and palmettos)  are fairly good  when they're young and their buds are still underground.   When they trunk up, they are more inclined to damage from cold.  I've never been able to keep a filifera alive for more than 4-5 years even with winter protection.  You are definitely a zone warmer in Greenville, a big plus for your filifera.  I would love to see a semi-mature filifera here in NC, so fingers are crossed yours will make it through a couple more winters.

 

 

 

[frienduvafrond]

Taken today. This palm is in Wilmington, only filifera I know of. There are still some nice size Robustas around as well.

[frienduvafrond]

A nice Robusta in a sheltered location.

[NCpalmqueen]

15 hours ago, frienduvafrond said:

Taken today. This palm is in Wilmington, only filifera I know of. There are still some nice size Robustas around as well.

 

Thank you for posting this filifera.  I totally forgot about that one at the old nursery.   Still kicking after our vortex winter 2 yrs ago.

Now, to find one in z7.....

[NC_Palms]

On 5/17/2019 at 8:12 AM, NCpalmqueen said:

My winter this year (2018-19) in the piedmont was mild ( zone 8b), so it wasn't a good year for me to gauge the hardiness of palms here.     Washys (and palmettos)  are fairly good  when they're young and their buds are still underground.   When they trunk up, they are more inclined to damage from cold.  I've never been able to keep a filifera alive for more than 4-5 years even with winter protection.  You are definitely a zone warmer in Greenville, a big plus for your filifera.  I would love to see a semi-mature filifera here in NC, so fingers are crossed yours will make it through a couple more winters.

 

 

 

I think the trick is to keep W. filifera as dry as possible for longterm hardiness. I try to keep my W. filifera dry in the winter by covering it with a tent when heavy rain is forecasted in the winter. 

 

On 5/17/2019 at 8:31 PM, frienduvafrond said:

Taken today. This palm is in Wilmington, only filifera I know of. There are still some nice size Robustas around as well.

Thanks for sharing those pictures. I was down in the Wilmington area last week and I saw a few W. Robusta that looked unphased from the past winters. 

[frienduvafrond]

9 hours ago, NC_Palms said:

I think the trick is to keep W. filifera as dry as possible for longterm hardiness. I try to keep my W. filifera dry in the winter by covering it with a tent when heavy rain is forecasted in the winter. 

 

Thanks for sharing those pictures. I was down in the Wilmington area last week and I saw a few W. Robusta that looked unphased from the past winters. 

You are very welcome. Yes keeping them dry is key. The sandy soil in Wilmington is perhaps the advantage. Individuals also display more hardiness. This is a photo of the above Robusta, after the vortex winter. The 4 other Robusta near it died, all about the same maturity, all in the same spot. 

[PalmTreeDude]

Collect seed from the surviving Washingtonias! Start a hardy North Carolina variety! 

[NCpalmqueen]

5 hours ago, frienduvafrond said:

This is a photo of the above Robusta, after the vortex winter. The 4 other Robusta near it died, all about the same maturity, all in the same spot. 

Nice find.  That looks 'filibusta' ish to me, and probably the reason it lived and the others perished.  

[frienduvafrond]

Another filibusta?

[NC_Palms]

1 hour ago, frienduvafrond said:

Another filibusta?

I think I've seen that palm before. It looks like it has some filibusta characteristics but I am not 100% sure.

[PalmTreeDude]

So it looks like filifera and filibusta are the way to go if you want to have a chance at growing a Washingtonia in DEEP Southeast N.C. Someone should make a map of N.C. that show the areas where Washingtonia could possibly survive. 

[NC_Palms]

18 minutes ago, PalmTreeDude said:

So it looks like filifera and filibusta are the way to go if you want to have a chance at growing a Washingtonia in DEEP Southeast N.C. Someone should make a map of N.C. that show the areas where Washingtonia could possibly survive. 

I think the map would vaguely look something like this. Atlantic Beach in Carteret County is the northernmost place in North Carolina (and the Eastern U.S) where I have seen mature specimens of Washingtonia.  

 

[PalmTreeDude]

18 hours ago, NC_Palms said:

I think the map would vaguely look something like this. Atlantic Beach in Carteret County is the northernmost place in North Carolina (and the Eastern U.S) where I have seen mature specimens of Washingtonia.  

 

Good map! I remeber when I was a little kid and we were driving through somewhere in Columbus County and we passed a house with a Washingtonia coming above the roof in the back of it, it had a nice sized skirt and everything (I had a map with me and checked where we were when I saw it, hoping to know when to look out for it on our way back). I remember I was wondering why that one was so much bigger than the other ones (palmettos), I didn't exactly have the "palm bug" at the time, but I did soon after! I wonder if it is still there. We were on our way to the beach. 

Edited May 22, 2019 by PalmTreeDude

[Mr.SamuraiSword]

Wrightsville beach has a big filfera.  https://www.google.com/maps/@34.1894402,-77.8096497,3a,75y,347.9h,89.4t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1swPKdwzIyJl0Fd5XKTSzl7w!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

[NC_Palms]

6 hours ago, PalmTreeDude said:

Good map! I remeber when I was a little kid and we were driving through somewhere in Columbus County and we passed a house with a Washingtonia coming above the roof in the back of it, it had a nice sized skirt and everything (I had a map with me and checked where we were when I saw it, hoping to know when to look out for it on our way back). I remember I was wondering why that one was so much bigger than the other ones (palmettos), I didn't exactly have the "palm bug" at the time, but I did soon after! I wonder if it is still there. We were on our way to the beach. 

Thank you! I wonder if that palm is still there too.  I've actually never been to Columbus County before but I'll have to play around and see if I can find that Washingtonia on Google Maps. 

 

5 hours ago, Mr.SamuraiSword said:

Wrightsville beach has a big filfera.  https://www.google.com/maps/@34.1894402,-77.8096497,3a,75y,347.9h,89.4t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1swPKdwzIyJl0Fd5XKTSzl7w!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

I think I've seen that palm before in Wrightsville Beach. I wonder what it looks like now 

[Mr.SamuraiSword]

On 5/22/2019 at 11:46 PM, NC_Palms said:

Thank you! I wonder if that palm is still there too.  I've actually never been to Columbus County before but I'll have to play around and see if I can find that Washingtonia on Google Maps. 

 

I think I've seen that palm before in Wrightsville Beach. I wonder what it looks like now 

https://www.google.com/maps/@34.1894278,-77.8096389,3a,31.3y,352.32h,99.55t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sAF1QipMNVrjOSDeZBjl8Dt__UflogyuTyF06IdHU0dBR!2e10!7i8192!8i4096

good news it made it!

[NCFM]

@NC_Palms  How's your filifera doing?

[chad2468emr]

I’ll never understand the hate this palms gets. YES I know they grow like weeds out west and YES I know they get obnoxiously tall obnoxiously fast. (The latter is actually a GOOD thing to me so long as people realize this shouldn’t be planted where a fallen giant palm could cause home damage.) 

Nursery owners as well as a few PalmTalkers have always guffawed when I mention that I continue to love these in addition to all the other species that we deem “desirable” in FL and CA. I had a nursery owner in the Orlando area go on a 20 minute tangent about how they make such dangerous lightning rods here in FL - you’d think he and his entire family were stuck in a grove of them in a hurricane or something at one point with the passionate hatred he’d had for them. 

Few things beat the look of a sturdy, tall filifera as a focal point or a backdrop of a clump of 40+ foot tall robusta contrasted against a sunset if you ask me.

Power to you NC folks!! May your filifera continue to prosper.  

[Yeehova]

Finally scored some Filifera seeds.  From what I understand, there is a high probability that Filifera seeds are actually Filibusta since most locations with Filifera have many Robustas and hybrids.  I live under the red line in the map above.  Do you think seed sown directly in the ground will survive without protection?

[NC_Palms]

On 5/15/2021 at 12:29 AM, NCFM said:

@NC_Palms  How's your filifera doing?

Im assuming it is still alive, I did move and so I left it, but last time I visited the property it was doing alive. That was last year so fall 2022. Im trying to find another one to plant but idk why I cant source this species again