Before and After

[GregVirginia7]

Don’t talk much about my Needle palm but it’s really grown into a nice three larger, two smaller clump of trunks...three trunks are about 12” and the other two are smaller but it’s gone from about a 3’ high by 2’ wide in-ground experiment in 2014 to a 5x 5 picture of health today...what a fantastic cold hardy palm. Aside from a bit of protection its first winter, it’s faced every winter on its own. Surprisingly, the main trunk died a couple years after planting but the suckers prospered...

First winter:

Somewhere in the middle:

To present:

Anyway, sitting at the base of a slight slope, it gets a fair share of runoff and I dug some depressions around it to collect even more water...it’s good for the basjoo, too...I highly recommend Needles but keep the needles in mind where pets and children are concerned...they’re vicious...but in the right zone and situated in the right place, a reliable and dependable choice for cold hardy palm growers.

[Allen]

That is a healthy looking needle.  Mine is the same way and slow!!!

[PalmatierMeg]

Totally agree. I wish this palm had been available (even heard of) when I lived in NO VA. I've tried and failed 3x growing them this far south. I think my winters are not cold enough, long enough.

[GregVirginia7]

8 minutes ago, Allen said:

That is a healthy looking needle.  Mine is the same way and slow!!!

Now that I look at it, the “somewhere in the middle” pic is the mother trunk that died...everything alive today was a small sucker around that main trunk...it’s actually grown more than I thought...

[GregVirginia7]

1 hour ago, PalmatierMeg said:

Totally agree. I wish this palm had been available (even heard of) when I lived in NO VA. I've tried and failed 3x growing them this far south. I think my winters are not cold enough, long enough.

Yes... I think you’re right about the zone in which Needles do best...they like a change of seasons, along with a lot of water and some fertilizer...no doubt you remember our NOVA climate, not-so-severe (depending) winters and long, hot, humid summers, void of much of a transitional Spring...They seem to thrive under these conditions. I have two...the larger one (pictured earlier) that grows in mostly full sun and this smaller one that grows in mostly shade below...I think this one went in-ground in 2017?? But was transplanted later to this spot...

 

Both flower but have never produced seed...are Needles male and female like Trachys? I used to think the squirrels were eating the seeds but after some observation, they just don’t produce any. Anyway, the variety you folks enjoy in your zone is fantastic! We are so limited in zone-7 if our intention is to grow palms that help us avoid massive winter protection protocols but we do enjoy a zone that gives us several types of palms that, with minimal winter protection, if any at all, produces long-term and happy campers. I plan on pulling back on protection for my well established Chamaerops and Brazoria, but reserve the right to panic and cover them as necessary, but it’s time to put up or shut up...then we’ll move on from there as I have a nice, new vigorous Trachy planted and waiting to explode like the other one I planted maybe 7-years ago...We’ll see...it’ll get reasonable protection for a couple winters. Genes are everything so who knows? By the way, that Brazoria is about two feet taller and 5 fronds heavier...
 

 

[PalmatierMeg]

Needles are dioecious. Here in FL they can't stand sun but that makes sense. In habitat they are understory palms. They are temperate, not at all tropical, which is why they are miserable here. Too bad. I wanted to grow all native FL palms here but needles and S. etonia have resisted to the point of dying