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A last look at the palms in Houston


Xenon

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Houston and even San Antonio have a lot of towering Washingtonias. All of those could even be gone and there will be a lot less skyduster palms dotting the skyline. Sad. 

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18 hours ago, ruskinPalms said:

I take these big historic freezes as reason TO push the zones. If 90% of years are 9B or 10A then that is exactly how you should plant. Yes, the big one hit, but what would have been the point of planting only queen palms and washingtonia? They are going to be dead as well, just like during the big freezes in Florida in the 80s. You may as well enjoy your zone 10 palms in places like inner Houston, Galveston, Corpus Christi, RGV and south Padre Island if they look decent most years. And if they get nailed like this every thirty years or so at least you enjoyed them while you could. This will happen again in florida eventually, and if I’m not too old, I’ll immediately replant with zone 10 palms the very next spring. 

I am also sorry to hear about what's happening in Texas, but I also agree with this wholeheartedly. It is very sad to lose plants one cares about, especially if some of them were grown from seed (like most of my plant collection is), but tomorrow is another day and best thing that comes out of it, is starting to experiment with new palms/plants and all the excitement that comes with that. I lost my Monterrey cypress to the cold this winter. I took care of it and tried to save it, but it froze for a number of days where I am and it just died. Gonna get a new one and try again. 

If possible, please post an update to what happened to all the palms and tropical plants once you guys are out of the woods with this cold. 

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Species I'm growing from seed: Chrysalidocarpos leptocheilos, Licuala grandis, Hyophorbe verschaffeltii, Johannesteijsmannia altifrons, Bentinckia condapanna, Livistona benthamii.

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22 hours ago, Meangreen94z said:

Those heavy duty tarps at Lowe’s are expensive. It looks like a 30 x 50 is $150

How expensive is the palm to cut down and replace?  That is what's overlooked in not protecting these palms if you can.  

Edited by Allen

YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@tntropics - 60+ In-ground 7A palms - (Sabal) minor(7 large + 27 seedling size, 3 dwarf),  brazoria(1) , birmingham(4), etonia (1) louisiana(5), palmetto (1), riverside (1),  (Trachycarpus) fortunei(7), wagnerianus(1),  Rhapidophyllum hystrix(7),  15' Mule-Butia x Syagrus(1),  Blue Butia capitata(1) +Tons of tropical plants.  Recent Yearly Lows -1F, 12F, 11F, 18F, 16F, 3F, 3F, 6F, 3F, 1F, 16F, 17F, 6F, 8F

 

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22 minutes ago, Allen said:

How expensive is the palm to cut down and replace?  That is what's overlooked in not protecting these palms if you can.  

I recognized why he did it, just mentioned the cost.

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7 minutes ago, Meangreen94z said:

I recognized why he did it, just mentioned the cost.

My brother likes weird projects for weird projects' sake.  For him, the story about saving the palm, or NOT saving the palm, will be worth the money and effort.

Tech details: "Screwed a 8 ft 2x2 board spreader to middle of 30 ft wide tarp. Leaned a 28 ft ladder against the palm, hoisted spreader and attached tarp with a rope looped over the top ladder rung. Then poked the spreader higher with a 16 ft pole to clear the ladder uprights and heaved it over top of the palm with the rope."

Edited by awkonradi

Andrei W. Konradi, Burlingame, California.  Vicarious appreciator of palms in other people's gardens and in habitat

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17 minutes ago, Meangreen94z said:

I recognized why he did it, just mentioned the cost.

I know!  It's just frustrating watching these palms die I guess for me.  I know many people have many large palms that are hard if not impossible to protect but in some cases like this you may be able to and it sure seems like much less cost and headache than paying for removal and or replacement of the palm.   But the power outages there have complicated things too.  But I know it's tough in TX and I feel for you all there.  

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YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@tntropics - 60+ In-ground 7A palms - (Sabal) minor(7 large + 27 seedling size, 3 dwarf),  brazoria(1) , birmingham(4), etonia (1) louisiana(5), palmetto (1), riverside (1),  (Trachycarpus) fortunei(7), wagnerianus(1),  Rhapidophyllum hystrix(7),  15' Mule-Butia x Syagrus(1),  Blue Butia capitata(1) +Tons of tropical plants.  Recent Yearly Lows -1F, 12F, 11F, 18F, 16F, 3F, 3F, 6F, 3F, 1F, 16F, 17F, 6F, 8F

 

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Palm saving efforts in Friendswood, TX, about halfway between Houston and Galveston.  Comments from my friend: "It's been an all out 110% effort. Wrapped everything in 6 mil plastic and wrapped with C9 Xmas lights. It was all good until 12:30am.  Power went out and is still out.  I have a small generator, so I was up all night plugging in lights.  It was 15F Here this AM. THIS BLOWS!"

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Andrei W. Konradi, Burlingame, California.  Vicarious appreciator of palms in other people's gardens and in habitat

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5 hours ago, awkonradi said:

Palm saving efforts in Friendswood, TX, about halfway between Houston and Galveston.  Comments from my friend: "It's been an all out 110% effort. Wrapped everything in 6 mil plastic and wrapped with C9 Xmas lights. It was all good until 12:30am.  Power went out and is still out.  I have a small generator, so I was up all night plugging in lights.  It was 15F Here this AM. THIS BLOWS!"

151146344_3656832041070940_1103300561026306813_n.jpg

A brave effort!

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This such a sad thread. I feel for you guys over there. I sigh with you. 

I will never complain about the cold here again.

(Well I'll try not too.)

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Millbrook, "Kinjarling" Noongar word meaning "Place of Rain", Rainbow Coast, Western Australia 35S. Warm temperate. Csb Koeppen Climate classification. Cool nights all year round.

 

 

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On 2/13/2021 at 11:14 AM, NBTX11 said:

Latest Euro model shows 17 for Houston Monday night.

Houston4.jpg

This is what was experienced: 


 

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Current Texas Gardening Zone 9a, Mean (1999-2024): 22F Low/104F High. Yearly Precipitation 39.17 inches.

Extremes: Low Min 4F 2021, 13.8F 2024. High Max 112F 2011/2023, Precipitation Max 58 inches 2015, Lowest 19 Inches 2011.

Weather Station: https://www.wunderground.com/dashboard/pws/KTXCOLLE465

Ryan (Paleoclimatologist Since 4 billion Years ago, Meteorologist/Earth Scientist/Physicist Since 1995, Savy Horticulturist Since Birth.)

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19 minutes ago, Tyrone said:

This such a sad thread. I feel for you guys over there. I sigh with you. 

I will never complain about the cold here again.

(Well I'll try not too.)

^^ X 2 ^^....... and while I'm never going to lose palms to cold, I lost some favourites to Cyclone Marcos 3 years ago.... yep it hurts 

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I'm just glad that the crazy low numbers advertised by some of the GFS runs did not verify for Houston. But, nevertheless, with the duration of this cold wave, there's definitely going to be quite a few losses. Hell, I even see burns on the common hedge bushes used for suburban landscaping (i.e. what looks like Japanese Boxwood).

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1 hour ago, AnTonY said:

I looked at the streetview below, and now I suddenly have an urge to guerilla plant palms all over the Houston metro.
https://www.google.com/maps/@29.7272188,-95.3369236,3a,30y,211.41h,90.98t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sZUwgpdErRqKLcYJD1--71A!2e0!5s20180901T000000!7i16384!8i8192

No need to guerilla plant...they pop up everywhere along I-10, 610, etc....

Probably the only thing stopping the weedy Washingtonia is this year's freeze  

Edited by Xenon
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Jonathan

Katy, TX (Zone 9a)

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1 hour ago, AnTonY said:

I looked at the streetview below, and now I suddenly have an urge to guerilla plant palms all over the Houston metro.
https://www.google.com/maps/@29.7272188,-95.3369236,3a,30y,211.41h,90.98t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sZUwgpdErRqKLcYJD1--71A!2e0!5s20180901T000000!7i16384!8i8192

Is guerilla planting a thing? Do people get away with that and where do people plant them? Got a few areas I know I’d love to see literally ANYTHING other than queens, adonidia, sabals, and roebelleni, haha. 

Edited by chad2468emr
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Former South Florida resident living in the Greater Orlando Area, zone 9b.

Constantly wishing I could still grow zone 10 palms worry-free, but also trying to appease my strange fixation with Washingtonias. 

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12 minutes ago, chad2468emr said:

Is guerilla planting a thing? Do people get away with that and where do people plant them? Got a few areas I know I’d love to see literally ANYTHING other than queens, adonidia, sabals, and roebelleni, haha. 

Primarily marijuana, but that may be unintentional.

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1 hour ago, chad2468emr said:

Is guerilla planting a thing? 

Yes and it's simple to do.  In the past, I have walked around with a bag of palm seeds.  I drove around town and threw them in a whole bunch of public flower beds that got watered, like McDonald's, shopping centers, etc.  I got nearly 100 percent success rate.  There are large palms around town that began when I threw seeds out.  Of course you can actually plant small palms as well, but I find throwing out seeds into flower beds effective.

Edited by NBTX11
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36 minutes ago, NBTX11 said:

Yes and it's simple to do.  In the past, I have walked around with a bag of palm seeds.  I drove around town and threw them in a whole bunch of public flower beds that got watered, like McDonald's, shopping centers, etc.  I got nearly 100 percent success rate.  There are large palms around town that began when I threw seeds out.  Of course you can actually plant small palms as well, but I find throwing out seeds into flower beds effective.

Good to know! Surprised to hear whatever maintenance crew tends to the area didn’t just rip them out after sprouting thing the strap leaves were weeds or something. I’d imagine many did have that happen, though given that in my area Washingtonia and Sabals would be in every sidewalk crack, median, and plant bed if they left them. 

I see plenty of c. macrocarpa, archontophoenix, and beccariophoenix in Orlando’s future suddenly... 

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Former South Florida resident living in the Greater Orlando Area, zone 9b.

Constantly wishing I could still grow zone 10 palms worry-free, but also trying to appease my strange fixation with Washingtonias. 

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2 hours ago, chad2468emr said:

Good to know! Surprised to hear whatever maintenance crew tends to the area didn’t just rip them out after sprouting thing the strap leaves were weeds or something. I’d imagine many did have that happen, though given that in my area Washingtonia and Sabals would be in every sidewalk crack, median, and plant bed if they left them. 

I see plenty of c. macrocarpa, archontophoenix, and beccariophoenix in Orlando’s future suddenly... 

Yeah, I have thrown out Washingtonia seeds in flower beds.  They grow so fast, by the time anyone knows what is happening they are big, and the maintenance people probably think they are supposed to be there.  Either that, or no one is really maintaining the area.  At any rate, I have done this in several areas with success.

Edited by NBTX11
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6 hours ago, Xenon said:

No need to guerilla plant...they pop up everywhere along I-10, 610, etc....

Probably the only thing stopping the weedy Washingtonia is this year's freeze  

All true. I just was sort of interested in seeing what reactions come of it. If the efforts of @NBTX11 :shaka-2: are anything to go by, then it'd certainly get quite interesting. :lol:

So, the urban highways are good, as would areas in proximity to the coast (for obvious reasons). That leaves me wondering about places like, say, Sugar Land? Also, the southern part of the Houston metro, such as Brazoria county w/ places like Lake Jackson and Alvin, doesn't seem to have much in the way of attention compared to the other counties...

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On 2/19/2021 at 7:06 PM, AnTonY said:

I'm just glad that the crazy low numbers advertised by some of the GFS runs did not verify for Houston. But, nevertheless, with the duration of this cold wave, there's definitely going to be quite a few losses. Hell, I even see burns on the common hedge bushes used for suburban landscaping (i.e. what looks like Japanese Boxwood).

Still have my fingers crossed that all the boring landscaping plants and knockout roses at my work don't make it :floor:

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41 minutes ago, EastBayPalms said:

Any updates on how the Houston palms look now?

Others have mentioned that the full extent of damage w/ regards to whether they recover or not won't be known until later this spring and through the summer. So far, though, I'm already starting to see some damage w/ weakened crowns on the washingtonia, queens, dates, etc throughout my suburb inland of Houston. Even the common suburban landscaping bushes of the area have seen quite some burns.

That said, there are some factors that give me quite some optimism regarding the recovery of the plants. (1) The week before the major freeze, there was a period of cooler weather w/ highs in the low 40s starting around Wednesday/Thursday - that period of chill may have been long enough to lull the plants back into dormancy after any warmer periods earlier during winter, which could take the edge off damage.  (2) The main winter storm event had relatively decent timing - it came during the Sunday-Monday overnight hours for a lot of Texas, meaning that things cleared out by Monday afternoon, allowing for decent time of sunshine and accompanying low-latitude solar radiation to (potentially) warm the surface of the plants, and take the edge off any icing before the coldest temps came in Monday-Tuesday overnight. (3) Temperatures did not get near as low across Houston as I feared, mostly low teens in inland suburbs, with mid-upper teens in central areas, then twenties in areas closest to the coast. MUCH better than the FREAKISH temps seen w/ some of the earlier GFS runs - temps down to the single digits, even some subzero within the metro area!

Edited by AnTonY
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On 2/15/2021 at 6:22 PM, ruskinPalms said:

I take these big historic freezes as reason TO push the zones. If 90% of years are 9B or 10A then that is exactly how you should plant. Yes, the big one hit, but what would have been the point of planting only queen palms and washingtonia? They are going to be dead as well, just like during the big freezes in Florida in the 80s. You may as well enjoy your zone 10 palms in places like inner Houston, Galveston, Corpus Christi, RGV and south Padre Island if they look decent most years. And if they get nailed like this every thirty years or so at least you enjoyed them while you could. This will happen again in florida eventually, and if I’m not too old, I’ll immediately replant with zone 10 palms the very next spring. 

Although I agree with your way of thinking here, the nursery trade here unfortunately tend to disagree.  Palm selection here is very limited (Houston has more choices but still limited) and this weather event will likely cause the selection of palms to shrink even more.  For example, four years ago when I lived in Corpus Christi I could not even find a 15-gal Bismarckia for sale anywhere between Brownsville and Houston.  Lowe's has been selling them the past couple of years but I bet they will not be available again for a few years.

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Jon Sunder

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  • 1 year later...

A little update for anyone curious on the queen palms and Bismarck palms at least 5 known queens surviving across Houston/ Galveston 

Bismarcks outperformed the queens a lot lol probably a 40% survival rate in them but there was not more then 120 in the general population.

 

notice the new foxtail :) 

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17 hours ago, Cade said:

A little update for anyone curious on the queen palms and Bismarck palms at least 5 known queens surviving across Houston/ Galveston 

Bismarcks outperformed the queens a lot lol probably a 40% survival rate in them but there was not more then 120 in the general population.

 

notice the new foxtail :) 

4F83C5AB-A10C-4276-9639-26D42FB0AA4D.jpeg

2D5DF745-A87E-4973-95F8-90FD48509071.jpeg

B8969265-6540-4166-88E8-B825551265B6.jpeg

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CB36D551-695B-457A-B592-13D89B8A3485.jpeg

999F0C88-20F1-4EBC-87D3-F8073DA52B49.jpeg

There’s probably more than 120 Bismarckia in the Houston area. My parents have 2 in their yard alone.

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17 minutes ago, Meangreen94z said:

There’s probably more than 120 Bismarckia in the Houston area. My parents have 2 in their yard alone.

I don’t see them often lol but hopefully we can go 30 years before any damaging winters return I’d like to see them become the new queen palms here . 

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Any trunking Bismarckia inside the 610 loop which survived?

There were several in my neighborhood pre-freeze. Just SW of the loop. All died. I had two non-trunking ones which survived.

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41 minutes ago, necturus said:

Any trunking Bismarckia inside the 610 loop which survived?

There were several in my neighborhood pre-freeze. Just SW of the loop. All died. I had two non-trunking ones which survived.

No, all of the bizzies I've been checking on are dead. Lots of survivors in the Clear Lake Area 

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Jonathan

Katy, TX (Zone 9a)

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