Most tropical looking hardy palm

[climate change virginia 158]

Requirements Zone has to be tolerable of 7b or 8a either one is fine (Does NOT have to be feather palm), Has to have a nice amount trunk. Thanks.

[climate change virginia 158]

Also why does it say i'm germinating i'm pretty sure i'm alive

[Allen 556]

Unprotected? Butia probably.  Sabal Palmetto.   Trachy planted in groups is your best bang for buck.  

Edited October 23, 2020 by Allen

[CodyORB 175]

Trithrinax campestris may not look tropical but sure is striking; the leaves are as tough as sheet metal! And a cool blue color.

Jubaea chilensis is downright incredible when mature, but is slow and a bit picky with the soil in humid subtropical climates (though with a well-draining raised bed it should have better luck). They don't mind wet cold; they grow deep into BC in Canada! (PS they're even in the same tribe as Coconuts, believe it or not)

Edited October 23, 2020 by CodyORB

[PalmTreeDude 1,710]

I would say Sabal palmetto, in my opinion they are a very tropical looking palm, especially when left with a full crown of fronds. I don’t know where you are in Virginia but if you are not in the southeastern part or maybe right along the Chesapeake Bay they probably won’t grow long term. 

Edited October 23, 2020 by PalmTreeDude

[climate change virginia 158]

12 hours ago, CodyORB said:

Trithrinax campestris may not look tropical but sure is striking; the leaves are as tough as sheet metal! And a cool blue color.

Jubaea chilensis is downright incredible when mature, but is slow and a bit picky with the soil in humid subtropical climates (though with a well-draining raised bed it should have better luck). They don't mind wet cold; they grow deep into BC in Canada! (PS they're even in the same tribe as Coconuts, believe it or not)

Its like an extra hardy bismark just what i was looking for THANK YOU SO MUCH

[climate change virginia 158]

8 minutes ago, PalmTreeDude said:

I would say Sabal palmetto, in my opinion they are a very tropical looking palm, especially when left with a full crown of fronds. I don’t know where you are in Virginia but if you are not in the southeastern part or maybe right along the Chesapeake Bay they probably won’t grow long term. 

im near dc but we get urban heat we are like zone 8a

[climate change virginia 158]

2 hours ago, PalmTreeDude said:

I would say Sabal palmetto, in my opinion they are a very tropical looking palm, especially when left with a full crown of fronds. I don’t know where you are in Virginia but if you are not in the southeastern part or maybe right along the Chesapeake Bay they probably won’t grow long term. 

I'm on the Potomac 

[ESVA 31]

I see cabbage palms grown on Chincoteague Island (Z 7b/8a) but they need winter wrapping to protect the trunk and crown. The leaves get burned so they look ragged till summer gets warm enough for new  fronds.

Chinese windmill pams do well once they get some size and perhaps with some protection or micro-climate. Fast growing too.

Pindo palms on Chincoteague are short lived.

The trunking Sabal minor hybrids are slow growing. I've got a Louisiana that's hardy here in Z 8a/7b but we'll see how hardy it it once it's trunk pushes out of the ground. 

I've got on chilean wine palm in the ground doing well so fat but we've had two warm winters after the brutal 2018 blizzard. Hoping it will get some size before we get another polar vortex to test it. I planted it in a spot with poor soil but baking hot sun. The winter/spring is our rainy season and so far the wet winters haven't fazed it. Think it rained nearly every day for 2 months straight this past year in late winter / early spring.  Haven't tried any of the mule or super mule hybrids between jubaea, butia and syragus. 

 

 

[climate change virginia 158]

1 minute ago, ESVA said:

I see cabbage palms grown on Chincoteague Island (Z 7b/8a) but they need winter wrapping to protect the trunk and crown. The leaves get burned so they look ragged till summer gets warm enough for new  fronds.

Chinese windmill pams do well once they get some size and perhaps with some protection or micro-climate. Fast growing too.

Pindo palms on Chincoteague are short lived.

The trunking Sabal minor hybrids are slow growing. I've got a Louisiana that's hardy here in Z 8a/7b but we'll see how hardy it it once it's trunk pushes out of the ground. 

I've got on chilean wine palm in the ground doing well so fat but we've had two warm winters after the brutal 2018 blizzard. Hoping it will get some size before we get another polar vortex to test it. I planted it in a spot with poor soil but baking hot sun. The winter/spring is our rainy season and so far the wet winters haven't fazed it. Think it rained nearly every day for 2 months straight this past year in late winter / early spring.  Haven't tried any of the mule or super mule hybrids between jubaea, butia and syragus. 

 

 

I have date palm outside and they are seedling I don't think they will make it in a makeshift greenhouse from a letuce box so thats why I am looking for some hardy alternitives and I was really considering a Jubea but they grow slow and I grow everything from seed. :)

[ESVA 31]

I visited the How Sweet It Is Nursery in Fruitland just south of Salisbury, MD this summer. They had canary island date palms growing outside in the pot-in-pot in ground method with individual drip irrigation. Asked the salesgirl if they grew them like that  through the winter, but alas no. They were all imported for sale as summer annuals and they were just growing them in pots-in-pot in ground method just to keep them from blowing over. 

Did grow some Cretan Island date palms from seed once. Very easy and quick growing but they weren't cold hardy in my unheated hoop house in pots. Not sure if I over watered, under watered or just got too cold during one winter. 

 

[climate change virginia 158]

On 10/23/2020 at 11:33 PM, ESVA said:

I visited the How Sweet It Is Nursery in Fruitland just south of Salisbury, MD this summer. They had canary island date palms growing outside in the pot-in-pot in ground method with individual drip irrigation. Asked the salesgirl if they grew them like that  through the winter, but alas no. They were all imported for sale as summer annuals and they were just growing them in pots-in-pot in ground method just to keep them from blowing over. 

Did grow some Cretan Island date palms from seed once. Very easy and quick growing but they weren't cold hardy in my unheated hoop house in pots. Not sure if I over watered, under watered or just got too cold during one winter. 

 

I heard Cretan Dates can survive 5 degrees f

[kinzyjr 3,834]

2 minutes ago, climate change virginia said:

I heard Cretan Dates can survive 5 degrees f

Phoenix theophrasti is very similar to Phoenix dactylifera in that it tends to only survive temperatures below 15F in arid climate regimes.  Once in a while you'll get an extremely hardy specimen that will come back from 10F-12F in a humid subtropical climate regime.  If there is a shot of them coming back from anything lower, it's because they are a clustering palm that can come back from the root ball.  Just a warning from experience - they are a pain to trim with their spines and stiff leaflets.  

[climate change virginia 158]

12 minutes ago, kinzyjr said:

Phoenix theophrasti is very similar to Phoenix dactylifera in that it tends to only survive temperatures below 15F in arid climate regimes.  Once in a while you'll get an extremely hardy specimen that will come back from 10F-12F in a humid subtropical climate regime.  If there is a shot of them coming back from anything lower, it's because they are a clustering palm that can come back from the root ball.  Just a warning from experience - they are a pain to trim with their spines and stiff leaflets.  

Is it more hardy than phoenix dactylifera?

[kinzyjr 3,834]

18 minutes ago, climate change virginia said:

Is it more hardy than phoenix dactylifera?

Some say yes and some say no.  I guess the jury is still out.  There were a few trying them in NC, but they didn't last all that long.

[climate change virginia 158]

5 minutes ago, kinzyjr said:

Some say yes and some say no.  I guess the jury is still out.  There were a few trying them in NC, but they didn't last all that long.

Can people hybridize them

[climate change virginia 158]

Why do my date palm seedling have brown tips at the end it happened to all of them did I over/underwater should I clip it?

Edited October 27, 2020 by climate change virginia

[kinzyjr 3,834]

1 minute ago, climate change virginia said:

Can people hybridize them

Yes.  The Phoenix genus is infamous for being promiscuous.  They'll hybridize with each other freely, so long as the flowering time overlaps.  @Phoenikakias has hybridized using Phoenix theophrasti, if memory serves correct.  Mine aren't mature enough to flower yet, so I haven't personally done any hybrids with them.  A site search for Phoenix hybrids should yield a lot of results.

[climate change virginia 158]

3 minutes ago, kinzyjr said:

Yes.  The Phoenix genus is infamous for being promiscuous.  They'll hybridize with each other freely, so long as the flowering time overlaps.  @Phoenikakias has hybridized using Phoenix theophrasti, if memory serves correct.  Mine aren't mature enough to flower yet, so I haven't personally done any hybrids with them.  A site search for Phoenix hybrids should yield a lot of results.

oh thats really cool so there like washingtonia

[Phoenikakias 1,684]

20 hours ago, climate change virginia said:

oh thats really cool so there like washingtonia

Never yet so successfully like dactylifera. For some reason embryo does not develop well in many instances. Last example a cross pollination of dactylifera (Barhee variety) with pollen from theophrasti. Resulted seeds miss a well developed operculum or do not have a visible one at all.

[climate change virginia 158]

1 hour ago, Phoenikakias said:

Never yet so successfully like dactylifera. For some reason embryo does not develop well in many instances. Last example a cross pollination of dactylifera (Barhee variety) with pollen from theophrasti. Resulted seeds miss a well developed operculum or do not have a visible one at all.

I think you picked the dates too early and they went ripe

[Phoenikakias 1,684]

42 minutes ago, climate change virginia said:

I think you picked the dates too early and they went ripe

Those two seeds, displayed together in the previous pictures, had been obtained from dates ripened one fruiting stalk. They were sweet but fermentation had also set in, so I decided to gather the rest of the crops. Fruits are moderately sweet, crunchy and not astringent at all.  I would prefer though a softer flesh.

[climate change virginia 158]

14 minutes ago, Phoenikakias said:

Those two seeds, displayed together in the previous pictures, had been obtained from dates ripened one fruiting stalk. They were sweet but fermentation had also set in, so I decided to gather the rest of the crops. Fruits are moderately sweet, crunchy and not astringent at all.  I would prefer though a softer flesh.

are the seeds good on this one?

[Phoenikakias 1,684]

Same quality as of the rest.

Edited October 28, 2020 by Phoenikakias

[climate change virginia 158]

7 minutes ago, Phoenikakias said:

Same quality as of the rest.

man that sucks that their bad seeds

Edited October 28, 2020 by climate change virginia

[Phoenikakias 1,684]

Never mind, I got this year almost real, edible dates from another hybrid of mine! Ripe dates even exude that syrup, indication of maturity for real dates.

[climate change virginia 158]

1 hour ago, Phoenikakias said:

Never mind, I got this year almost real, edible dates from another hybrid of mine! Ripe dates even exude that syrup, indication of maturity for real dates.

ooh whats that from if my plants even survived the winter I cant get edible dates I live in dc its too humid

Edited October 28, 2020 by climate change virginia

[DAVEinMB 867]

On 10/27/2020 at 8:19 AM, climate change virginia said:

I heard Cretan Dates can survive 5 degrees f

I lost a 5g cretan date to heavy rains and temps in the upper 30s low 40s this past winter/spring. Was looking really good prior to that storm. 

[climate change virginia 158]

5 minutes ago, DAVEinMB said:

I lost a 5g cretan date to heavy rains and temps in the upper 30s low 40s this past winter/spring. Was looking really good prior to that storm. 

it was probably the water got in and froze the pot then it became a date palm ice pop.

[DAVEinMB 867]

@climate change virginia It was planted in sandy soil in my yard, we never dropped below freezing. An extended period of colder temps coupled with rain is a detrimental mix to many palms, especially smaller ones. You're going to fight that a lot where you are

Edited October 28, 2020 by DAVEinMB

[climate change virginia 158]

24 minutes ago, DAVEinMB said:

@climate change virginia It was planted in sandy soil in my yard, we never dropped below freezing. An extended period of colder temps coupled with rain is a detrimental mix to many palms, especially smaller ones. You're going to fight that a lot where you are

I just put them in the garage for the winter

[DAVEinMB 867]

@climate change virginia I'm saying for anything you're trying to grow in the ground, date or otherwise

[climate change virginia 158]

18 minutes ago, DAVEinMB said:

@climate change virginia I'm saying for anything you're trying to grow in the ground, date or otherwise

oh ok gotcha