NIP or Cook Pine Texas Freezes

[ahosey01]

Hey guys,

Any preliminary damage reports on Cook Pines or NIPs in Texas? Or any Araucaria species for that matter!? I think I saw @Xenon had posted a photo of a bunya in the Houston area pre-freeze, but I couldn’t find it when I went back to look.

[Xenon]

From what I've heard, they are mostly ok in the lower Rio Grande Valley. From moderate dieback to the tops in more inland areas to minor to slight/no damage in Brownsville and at the coast. I would assume they are dead everywhere else....such a shame as some of the Cook pines in Galveston date to the 90s. 

I will check on the bunya growing in west Houston (low was 11F) this weekend. There is another bunya 3-4x the size growing in downtown that saw 14F. I'm curious to see how they fared too 

[Xenon]

On 2/14/2021 at 9:12 AM, Xenon said:

 

 

 

 

[necturus]

Wow, Jonathan. Hope that one is okay. 

Like I've mentioned on here before, there's a big one at Mercer Botanical Garden. Hard to get a picture which captures its size and shape, but I did manage to find one shot I took this summer.

I'll go visit it soon and see how it looks.

[Xenon]

Big one in town got bulldozed sometime in the past few months.

Here's another one in town that saw 14F

 

Here's the one in Katy that saw 12F. Morbidly beautiful 

 

The inner parts (inner 2-3 feet) of both trees still have a lot of green and partial green. Seems like they are both alive but will have mishaped crowns (assuming they aren't removed soon). 

 

 

Edited February 26, 2021 by Xenon

[Benjamin D.]

Anyone know how A. angustifolia did? In Houston and elsewhere in the state?

[Xenon]

12 minutes ago, Benjamin D. said:

Anyone know how A. angustifolia did? In Houston and elsewhere in the state?

I don't know of any specimens or anyone growing it in TX. I was under the impression it was not adaptable to a lowland tropical type summer like we have in coastal TX. 

[Benjamin D.]

I know there is one in the SFA arboretum. And one or two nurseries grow it and have been selling seedlings 

[Xenon]

22 minutes ago, Benjamin D. said:

I know there is one in the SFA arboretum. And one or two nurseries grow it and have been selling seedlings 

I just remembered there is something labelled Araucaria angustifolia (or araucana?) at Moody Gardens in Galveston. It's clearly different from all of the A. columnaris..maybe A. cunninghamii?

It's behind the queen palm in this shot 

Edited February 27, 2021 by Xenon

[Matthew92]

A. Angustifiolia is much more cold hardy. To zone 7 I think and does well in the Southeast US. Apparently there's a sizeable tree at the Atlanta Botanical Garden. It's high on my list of tropical/exotic looking trees that are hardy for zone 8 Northwest FL. 

Araucaria araucana is the one that is more well known but doesn't do well in the sultry South/Southeast US. It looks very similar to A. Angustifolia, but doesn't get as much of an "exaggerated" candelabra shape when older.

 

[ahosey01]

On 2/26/2021 at 3:23 PM, Xenon said:

Big one in town got bulldozed sometime in the past few months.

Here's another one in town that saw 14F

 

Here's the one in Katy that saw 12F. Morbidly beautiful 

 

The inner parts (inner 2-3 feet) of both trees still have a lot of green and partial green. Seems like they are both alive but will have mishaped crowns (assuming they aren't removed soon). 

 

 

Any recent pics of this?

[Xenon]

6 hours ago, ahosey01 said:

Any recent pics of this?

Dead dead dead 

Araucaria columnaris in the far southernmost point in TX (only Brownsville and the adjacent coast) are all over the place, many are alive to some degree but look ragged. The best looking ones lost maybe 20% of their canopy. All dead for the most part further inland towards McAllen. 

 

Edited November 19, 2022 by Xenon

[aabell]

On 2/26/2021 at 5:23 PM, Xenon said:

Big one in town got bulldozed sometime in the past few months.

Here's another one in town that saw 14F

 

Here's the one in Katy that saw 12F. Morbidly beautiful 

 

The inner parts (inner 2-3 feet) of both trees still have a lot of green and partial green. Seems like they are both alive but will have mishaped crowns (assuming they aren't removed soon). 

 

 

Are these A. bidwilli? (Bunya pine from QLD Australia.) They are more well suited to humid climates than the S American species, I've seen a few in FL. No idea of the cold hardiness, would be interesting to see if there are any survivors in TX.

[Xenon]

3 hours ago, aabell said:

Are these A. bidwilli? (Bunya pine from QLD Australia.) They are more well suited to humid climates than the S American species, I've seen a few in FL. No idea of the cold hardiness, would be interesting to see if there are any survivors in TX.

A. bidwilli had withstood brief dips into the upper teens in the Houston Area without major injury. I don't know of any large specimens elsewhere in the state. 

I've been told A. bidwilli eventually declines in far southern Texas (too hot? pathogen?). 

[ahosey01]

1 hour ago, Xenon said:

A. bidwilli had withstood brief dips into the upper teens in the Houston Area without major injury. I don't know of any large specimens elsewhere in the state. 

I've been told A. bidwilli eventually declines in far southern Texas (too hot? pathogen?). 

I am growing one currently here in AZ.  I expect I'll dip down to 13F-15F whenever we get a record-level freeze event.  One day we will have some hard data on this!

[richtrav]

On 11/21/2022 at 9:31 AM, Xenon said:

A. bidwilli had withstood brief dips into the upper teens in the Houston Area without major injury. I don't know of any large specimens elsewhere in the state. 

I've been told A. bidwilli eventually declines in far southern Texas (too hot? pathogen?). 

Apparently the one in Weslaco was just cut down around 2016 because, well, because. A. cunninghamii would be worth trying here if there was a source for it in the US.