Surprises in Macon Georgia.

[Mr.SamuraiSword]

Was passing through Macon Georgia last week, and was surprised at some of the palms. Spent around an hour driving around. One place called AP's Hidden Hideaway Restaurant on 4275 Broadway Dr, had some tall Washingtonia Robusta, especially for interior GA.  Quite a bit of winter burn, 30 - 50% of fronds were fried, most fronds had some burn.

Tallest ones here,

Some of the worst burn on these,

These three seemed more like filibusta. thicker trunks and all, and considerably less burn.

Couple more, volunteer on the bottom right.

In Washington Park in downtown Macon, were a couple very old Sabal Palmetto, I talked to a few people in a palm forum on FB and they said those palms were there and around the same size 1980s, so these were probably planted at least in the 1940s

Love that Lolipop Look.

Quite a few volunteers in the park, two of which were adult palms.

Across the street from this park, was another large volunteer, growing in a sidewalk.  Shows how long the old ones have been there.

Quite a few other interesting palms around town, the Hideaway also had quite a few Chinese Fan palms, mixed in with pindos and Washys.

Plenty of nice pindos around too.

Nice one in Downtown

Plenty of other great sabals around too.

Lots of nice Trachycarpus around, but only got to take photos of these two big ones.

Young Washingtonia in downtown, looking great.

Small Chinese Fan in downtown,

The Hideaway had tons of large Sago Cycads too, total of over 40 sagos at least.

One even naturalizing. 

Speaking of volunteers, the downtown region had plenty of sabal volunteers, clearly palms have been present for quite some time.

More Sagos around town, plenty of big ones.

Keep in mind I only looked around for about an hour, so this is only the tip of the palm iceburg in Macon

[Allen]

That's a really good selection of palms for that area.  I'm really impressed.

[Mr.SamuraiSword]

15 hours ago, Allen said:

That's a really good selection of palms for that area.  I'm really impressed.

Yeah man! The washingtonia and livistona got me for sure, hadn't seen any Chinese fans since Valdosta, though Im sure some are mixed in.

[Allen]

Yea I thought only Trachy maybe a few Palmetto and a Butia thrown in every now and then for that area. 

[Collectorpalms]

Looking at Macon, GA weather. They have had a pretty good run since 1985. Even 1989 wasn’t as bad there as parts of warmer zones 8b of Texas this year. Both 1985 and 1989 were relative quick freezes. I can see Sabals surviving there. 

Edited March 8, 2021 by Collectorpalms

[ruskinPalms]

Very cool to see all these palms that far north and inland. Plenty of summer heat and year round moisture there as far as I know. 

[Mr.SamuraiSword]

3 hours ago, Collectorpalms said:

Looking at Macon, GA weather. They have had a pretty good run since 1985. Even 1989 wasn’t as bad there as parts of warmer zones 8b of Texas this year. Both 1985 and 1989 were relative quick freezes. I can see Sabals surviving there. 

Makes sense, the ones at Washington park were around 70 years old, plenty of others around town looked like they had been there a long time.  The Washingtonia while burnt, have plenty of green and will make a full recovery before summer...  Chinese fans had hardly any burn.