First pictures of Palms at JFGardens after the big freeze of 2021

[Swolte 1,063]

Adam Black, the former director of Peckerwood gardens (now JFGardens), shared some pics of the gardens on Facebook last week. I got some more after we were messaging about damage to the palms. He is documenting the damage to these palms in the area so we're bound to get some more good information from that effort too! Permission to share. Big credit to Adam!

Pic 1 (Text in quotations from Adam): "If you zoom into the center background, you can see the freeze-damaged (but recoverable) Brahea bella juxtaposed over several totally-unscathed, silvery Sabal uresana, grown from wild-provenance seed from Sonora."

Pic 2: "The haunting presence of backlit, freeze-damaged leaves of Dioon edule 'Palma Sola'. Glowing Buxus harlandii foliar damage peeks out from behind the Podocarpus macrophyllus selection on the far left."

Pic 3: "I was surprised to see Nannorrhops ritchiana sustain foliar damage, but it will be fine. Agave sp. 'Baccarat' showing some tip damage in the front center, and the columnar cactus Neobuxbaumia polylopha looking surprisingly good, even though some similar specimens were lost."

Pic 4: S Bermudiana on left and Causiarum on right

Pic 5 +6: Uresana

Pic 7 +8: Brahea Bella (Adam thinks they may pull through)

For the rest, he was worried about the B Moorei (they had great mature specimens) as some already had spear pull, mules probably dead, though he thinks the large butias may be fine. Guihaia defoliated but the spear was fine and he was optimistic about some of the Chamaedoreas.

Edited March 2, 2021 by Swolte

[Sabal_Louisiana 138]

Awesome plants. Hopefully you can do a repost in a year showing recovery.

[Meangreen94z 1,804]

I had read that those Sabal Uresana went undamaged at 14-15*F. But at 6-8*F and with the long duration of this freeze is impressive. I cant believe those Neobuxbaumia Polylopha look mostly unscathed as well. I’m guessing they threw styrofoam cups over the growth point, as they’ve mentioned to have previously 

[Swolte 1,063]

For the record, the palms were all unprotected. Nursery manager (now former... ) told me their thermostat recorded a low of 6F.  

[Meangreen94z 1,804]

Did they let Craig go? I’ve wondered how that garden was going to sustain itself out there long term

[Swolte 1,063]

7 minutes ago, Meangreen94z said:

Did they let Craig go?

Yes, to be honest, that was a bigger shock to me than the damage to the gardens. That guy was pure gold. The place will have  to recover from more than this storm.   It'll be OK, I think, but 2021 will be a year of changes. 

[Meangreen94z 1,804]

It’s been a tough year everywhere, but out there was already tough. All the tours I went on pretty much included the regular members/volunteers. Occasionally you’d get lucky and 1 outside group would be present for the tour. And that was before the pandemic. 

[Meangreen94z 1,804]

I had never noticed that columnar cactus on the far right of the first picture. It looks undamaged, is it a Trichocereus/Echinopsis variant? Not quite Terscheckii, possibly Validus?

[ahosey01 1,033]

My guess is the burn on Nannorrhops had more to do with the fact it was such a wet cold than how cold it actually was.

[Swolte 1,063]

I'll be joining an 'insider tour' tomorrow that will focus on the storm damage! Let me know if there's something you would like me to check out (insofar as attention, time, and courtesy allows... :p). 

[Meangreen94z 1,804]

2 hours ago, Swolte said:

I'll be joining an 'insider tour' tomorrow that will focus on the storm damage! Let me know if there's something you would like me to check out (insofar as attention, time, and courtesy allows... :p). 

I was hoping to go but that doesn’t look likely now. I would say photograph everything you can and post up. Palms, cycads, cactus, agave, etc. It would be great to document 

[Collectorpalms 2,101]

5 hours ago, Swolte said:

I'll be joining an 'insider tour' tomorrow that will focus on the storm damage! Let me know if there's something you would like me to check out (insofar as attention, time, and courtesy allows... :p). 

Will there be a plant sale? I got the feeling that there may not be as they may be holding onto them if the needed for garden.

[realarch 6,436]

Steven, your photographs are beautiful in spite of the damage. The garden looks spectacular and worth the concern.

Tim

[Swolte 1,063]

2 hours ago, realarch said:

Steven, your photographs are beautiful in spite of the damage.

I agree! For the record, Adam Black took these pics and he can make a heap of trash look appealing. You'll see 'my' pics after the weekend in this thread which will be of far lower quality.
:p
Not sure about the plant sale either. The one who does the tour used to be the nursery manager so I have some hopes. I'll bring a small list, regardless. 

~ S

[Swolte 1,063]

Had fun today! The tour was led by Wade Roitsch. He was the former manager of Yucca Do Nursery and I found him to be extremely knowledgeable. He first talked about freeze protection techniques (he is big into piling leaves) and we basically spent little over an hour in the actual garden. I snapped some pictures but I barely had time to take (or look at my) notes. 

The nursery, as feared, was closed. They are interviewing candidates for the nursery manager position and reportedly have some good candidates (I am still sore about Craig being gone). They hope to have the nursery up and running again next month (with construction of a bridge to the north garden starting!).

Damage to magnolia's (as I first mentioned) appeared overstated. The 'native' grandiflora all look great and the Mexican collection wasn't doing too bad either. The Asian magnolias may show some impaired blooming this year but they are expected to pull through.  

What happens to the oak collection is hard to say, still... some are just pushing leaves. First impressions are that oaks like the Rhysophylla and Tarahumara (the specimen is a hybrid) did fine, however, the Germana may have taken a hit and show some dieback.

But anyway, on to palms (what we're here for!). The large P. Canariensis at the entrance (see pic 1) looks fried with no green in sight. I suspect it will start pushing some green. The pindo's near the parking lot (pic 2) as well as the ones after the oak collection (pic 3) look bad, although they still have a bit of green around the crown. Time will tell. 

[Swolte 1,063]

As we'd seen from Adam's pics, the Urusana look great as does the large stand of trunking Sabals (Bermudana, Causiarum, etc..). Brahea look worse, however, they may pull through. I confirmed that the neobuxbaumia were unprotected so not sure what happened here... (on other sites they did collapse). 

[Swolte 1,063]

The mule looks like a goner and the Mazari looked worse than on Adam's pic, however, it is expected to make it. They may need to remove some trunks. The same is true for some of the saw-palms. It looks like they may make it, however, as you can see they have suffered (note that the small one that was in a naturally sheltered locale of the garden seems way less affected). 

[Swolte 1,063]

Needles looked great. As if nothing happened. Staff were very concerned about their collection of B. Moorei. These are slow growing and many of their larger specimens (largest I have seen in Texas) appear reduced to pulp (see pic with seemingly nothing...). T. Takil looks largely unaffected. Damage to Yucca depends largely on the species, obviously, with the large y. filifera being severely damaged. 

[necturus 571]

I would not have expected that much damage to the big Yuccas. That's really sad to see. Hopefully, they'll re-sprout from lower down.

I hope the Neos are okay, but big cactus have a way of not declaring their death for some time.

[PricklyPearSATC 265]

32 minutes ago, necturus said:

I would not have expected that much damage to the big Yuccas. That's really sad to see. Hopefully, they'll re-sprout from lower down.

I hope the Neos are okay, but big cactus have a way of not declaring their death for some time.

my friend lost a 40 year old yucca elephantipes....(I think it's the only "tropical yucca" that exists)  They are native to Central America.   The wood on her plant split open, exposing a gooey mess all the way down to the base.

[Meangreen94z 1,804]

The Neobuxbaumia should be fine, they definitely would have shown damage once it warmed up. Especially with all the recent sun. How many people showed up for the tour? It looked like a decent turnout.

[Swolte 1,063]

15 minutes ago, Meangreen94z said:

The Neobuxbaumia should be fine, they definitely would have shown damage once it warmed up. Especially with all the recent sun. How many people showed up for the tour? It looked like a decent turnout.

I guess about 20 people. Big group!

 

1 hour ago, necturus said:

I would not have expected that much damage to the big Yuccas. That's really sad to see. Hopefully, they'll re-sprout from lower down.

Agreed. The large ones behind it in the distance looked better. It's a different kind. Faxoniana, I believe (but don't quote me on that. Didn't get a closer look). 

Edited March 21, 2021 by Swolte

[necturus 571]

Elephantipes is weak sauce. It dies back to the ground even in the low 20s here. There's a couple other tropical species but none are cultivated here.

Large columnar cactus can take months or even years to die after a freeze.  I've read that mature saguaro looked fine after a bad freeze in Tucson and only gave up the ghost 1-2 years later. Have heard the same thing about Argentine saguaro. I also have personal experience watching a cardon slowly die over months after a bad freeze. So... we'll see. Hoping they're okay.

[Meangreen94z 1,804]

I could see a huge old 30 foot Saguaro take burn to an upper area, and maybe the partial tissue/cell damage could lead to the slow death of an old cactus. I’ve owned 3 Saguaro that were 4-6 feet tall. One survived 19*F in 2018 just wrapped with a plant blanket, no damage. But I lost all 3 later in wet soil and different sudden cool fronts. The cactus were still in summer growth mode and just up and rotted. The first time I pulled the cactus and cut the rotted base/sulfured but it didn’t matter. The rot just started where I cut and continued. Completely rotten within 2-3 days. The next 2, I just chunked when I saw it start.  I won’t own a Saguaro again in Texas, the Saguaro left out at East Austin Succulents were crispy black after the storm. 

But these Neobuxbaumia aren’t showing much if any signs of damage, and the ones that toppled looked like they froze solid/were covered in ice and  the weight and wind exposure snapped them at the base. 6*F looks to be around the threshold Neobuxbaumia will survive. There’s an old one in San Marcos that has sprouted new growth where it burned in the past. From what I’ve heard it only shows minor burn on the top growth point again. There were photos posted of one left out in -1*F in Waco and the top half was obliterated .

[PricklyPearSATC 265]

8 hours ago, Meangreen94z said:

I could see a huge old 30 foot Saguaro take burn to an upper area, and maybe the partial tissue/cell damage could lead to the slow death of an old cactus. I’ve owned 3 Saguaro that were 4-6 feet tall. One survived 19*F in 2018 just wrapped with a plant blanket, no damage. But I lost all 3 later in wet soil and different sudden cool fronts. The cactus were still in summer growth mode and just up and rotted. The first time I pulled the cactus and cut the rotted base/sulfured but it didn’t matter. The rot just started where I cut and continued. Completely rotten within 2-3 days. The next 2, I just chunked when I saw it start.  I won’t own a Saguaro again in Texas, the Saguaro left out at East Austin Succulents were crispy black after the storm. 

But these Neobuxbaumia aren’t showing much if any signs of damage, and the ones that toppled looked like they froze solid/were covered in ice and  the weight and wind exposure snapped them at the base. 6*F looks to be around the threshold Neobuxbaumia will survive. There’s an old one in San Marcos that has sprouted new growth where it burned in the past. From what I’ve heard it only shows minor burn on the top growth point again. There were photos posted of one left out in -1*F in Waco and the top half was obliterated .

After this freeze, I figured out that the cold/wet hardiness of Opuntia is probably due to all the pads...

(Not a cactus fan myself....ouch....have one "spineless" opuntia...it's more than enough..LOL)

[Meangreen94z 1,804]

5 minutes ago, PricklyPearSATC said:

After this freeze, I figured out that the cold/wet hardiness of Opuntia is probably due to all the pads...

(Not a cactus fan myself....ouch....have one "spineless" opuntia...it's more than enough..LOL)

Yeah it depends on the variety. Some of my opuntia were undamaged, some burned back, and some nothing is left, not even roots.

[Collectorpalms 2,101]

Any non-defoliated cycads?

[Swolte 1,063]

Not that I noticed. Most leaves were cut off already so what was left of cycads was mostly stump, even large taitungensis. 

I will say that in my own yard, of all protected (one layer cloth) cycads, Taitungensis has been the first to show clear signs of recovery. I have two shoots emerging already at banana speed.

Edited March 25, 2021 by Swolte

[Swolte 1,063]

Was at the gardens this morning for a bit and saw the two butia's at the entrance were showing signs of life. The P. Canariensis, as expected, was returning.
:)

[Collectorpalms 2,101]

10 minutes ago, Swolte said:

Was at the gardens this morning for a bit and saw the two butia's at the entrance were showing signs of life. The P. Canariensis, as expected, was returning.

Plant sales back?

[Swolte 1,063]

Yes, they started up again. New nursery manager: Peter Turrin. Had a very good feeling about him. Was very interested in natives in particular (not sure about palms). He has done some wild-collection himself too.

Don't go by what the website suggests they have as you may be disappointed. Its a lot less (still a cool selection, though!) but I assume they are just getting themselves e-organized again. As for palms, from what I recall, they did have a bunch of 1G C. Radicalis and B. Moorei. Let the stampede begin!! (Ugh, now I wonder if I should have picked up another Moorei as mine is still so tiny... )

Anyway, I was there for other stuff so I could have missed some small sabals.

[Swolte 1,063]

For current selection & prices, best to email Peter at: peter AT jfgarden DOT org
(permission to share email)

[Collectorpalms 2,101]

21 hours ago, Swolte said:

Yes, they started up again. New nursery manager: Peter Turrin. Had a very good feeling about him. Was very interested in natives in particular (not sure about palms). He has done some wild-collection himself too.

Don't go by what the website suggests they have as you may be disappointed. Its a lot less (still a cool selection, though!) but I assume they are just getting themselves e-organized again. As for palms, from what I recall, they did have a bunch of 1G C. Radicalis and B. Moorei. Let the stampede begin!! (Ugh, now I wonder if I should have picked up another Moorei as mine is still so tiny... )

Anyway, I was there for other stuff so I could have missed some small sabals.

Seeing how bad Brahea Moorei did in the freeze here, was a surprise, or shame. Though my Dulcis is still having issues while my Brahea Armata is growing fast.

Edited May 8, 2021 by Collectorpalms

[Meangreen94z 1,804]

Coming back nicely from 6*F. Garden is a little thinner than before but it will return.

[Allen 1,443]

Pretty nice comeback from those lows!

[ahosey01 1,033]

1 hour ago, Meangreen94z said:

Coming back nicely from 6*F. Garden is a little thinner than before but it will return.

What is the weird green umbrella thing in a pot?

[Meangreen94z 1,804]

54 minutes ago, ahosey01 said:

What is the weird green umbrella thing in a pot?

amorphophallus titanum- corpse flower

[Swolte 1,063]

Thanks for sharing those pictures! I hadn't been back there in a while so its great to see things look neat (and the bridge is finally up!). Hoping for a mild winter this year so the (sub)tropicals can recover even more. What was the state of the nursery? I know Peter is gone so there's an interim manager. I am planning a visit after this semester has come to a close. 

Edited December 5, 2021 by Swolte

[Meangreen94z 1,804]

3 hours ago, Swolte said:

Thanks for sharing those pictures! I hadn't been back there in a while so its great to see things look neat (and the bridge is finally up!). Hoping for a mild winter this year so the (sub)tropicals can recover even more. What was the state of the nursery? I know Peter is gone so there's an interim manager. I am planning a visit after this semester has come to a close. 

Craig Jackson is back handling the nursery, atleast for now. Today he sounded like it was more of a permanent thing,  previously over email it sounded like he was just helping out.

[Collectorpalms 2,101]

The Mule from 1996 is gone, ( so are the two at the SA Botanic garden from winters 2010/2011. Not sure what else didnt make it?. Glad to see the bridge, long overdue.