Dypsis Carlsmithii

[Zoltan]

Anyone has information on this palm cold tolerance? 

Im in jacksonville fl and im looking for most tropical looking palm .Please let me know if you have anyinformation 

Thank you !

Dypsis Carlsmithii 

[D. Morrowii]

My scribblings from internet research say 25 -29 degrees. A Dave's Garden post has one in Hunting Beach CA. Palmpedia shows it as 10a. So I'm thinking its closer to 30F min than 25F. I have 3 in pots that I hope to plant out in March 2022. They seem to like a lot of water.

[Zoltan]

Thank you for your help.i probably be more lucky with palm type which mainly good to 9b zone..I'm 9a but it really never gets below 25-26..I can't even recall those numbers.. I think 29 was a lowest last yr

[Zoltan]

[Zoltan]

Those are nice looking palms i try to find more info on them.Some say they pretty cold hardy...I know so many times we just go by what online listed as zone.Some Nursery doesnt really know what is the hardiness due they are located in south so they dont have experience.They may just go by the book. This is why this forum can help.I just recently got 2 Dypsis Pembana and i placed both to ground .They are i believe 7 gal and this would be the first winter .I seen some ppl post really low numbers as they pull trough ...So i would like to try it.Some say it is similar D lutescens hardy ,and i personally know that they grow in St augustine by Aligator farm ,right at the entrance so as some in there in the old city around Belive or not....But also here in Jacksonville at Pulaski rd there is a church and the Dypsis Lutescens growing there for years noone ever protect them...So i give  a try to D Pembana  .Any info on that ?

[D. Morrowii]

Yeah, I kind of think the numbers are a rule of thumb. In other words most palms of that species will survive a given temp. I should say though that I don’t have very much experience doing this yet. This is a new hobby (life consuming obsession) :-) for me so take what ever my thoughts are with a grain of salt. 
I’m not sure if you’ve done a lot of growing from seed but it seems like some palms are just born stronger? It seems some just grow faster and fuller than the other seedlings of a batch. I’m willing to bet that the yellowy runt of a batch of seedlings from a Dypsis carlsmithii would probably have more trouble with 32F than the healthiest one might have with 26F. Then of course the type of cold, how much wind or if there is rain involved or not. Not to mention wether it is in a protected spot or out in the open plus the age/size of the palm etc. So who knows?

I would think that whatever is growing in your general area is a good indicator of what you can grow. Heck, I’m trying several zone 11A/B palms that Im not looking forward to loosing later.. but I want to try so Ill deal with the good and the bad. Hopefully I’ll be posting a nice photo of a trunking D. carlsmithii 8 or 10 years crom now. Good luck to you with yours!

[mnorell]

Zoltan, if you "never" go below 25-26 then you are not in 9a, you are in 9b. However, you have to balance your own readings over the short term with those for the overall area over the long term. It is important for you to experiment (this is how we really learn about palms, plus it is just lots of fun), but you will ultimately be very disappointed if you fill your yard with solitary, cold-tender palms such as triangles or Dypsis carlsmithii, without any hardy palms planted near them as a backup (and I would highly recommend such a strategy). It is heartbreaking to lose everything you've planted in a rare, bad freeze. Jacksonville is subject to periodic arctic outbreaks, sometimes to 10F (possibly lower). This is not an "if" but a "when."

If you want a tropical-looking solitary palm, probably your best gamble would be a mule palm. Even that will be killed in a 20-year or 30-year freeze event, but that gives you a lot of time to enjoy it, plus they grow quite fast so you will get to enjoy a tree-sized palm. Otherwise, I would personally recommend planting clustering palms with a tropical effect (such as Rhapis and/or the native Rhapidophyllum, also many Chamaedorea, et al.) and enjoying the fact that they will generally send up new shoots in the spring after a hard freeze (and Rhapidophyllum will still look beautiful, with no die-back, after even the worst cold you can experience). You can also enjoy some of the slower-growing palms such as Livistona saribus or Livistona chinensis, the former is a really stunning palm with amazing foliage, and the bud stays underground for a number of years, protected from most cold. You can just keep a little grove of these going by gradually planting newer, smaller specimens among the older ones, so that you have a continual little forest going and if a large one grows an above-ground trunk and gets killed in a freeze, the younger ones, their growing-points protected down in the soil, will replace it. There are many strategies, and indeed many beautiful palms, that you can use in planting a tropical garden in Jacksonville, to beautiful effect.

[Zoltan]

Thank you for your advice