Palmcicles

[oliver]

Thought I was going to get by relatively unscathed, but when I woke up this morning, found out we got 1/2" of freezing rain plus 24hrs of 30 degrees - good bye palm garden I guess!

Edited February 4, 2011 by oliver

[oliver]

And some more destruction

[oliver]

Even some cycadcicles

[Xenon]

I was really worried about the Rio Grande Valley, this is sad to see Oliver. Do the coconut palms show any signs of life? Hows the island? This must be the worst freeze since 1989 for Deep South Texas.

Hoping for recovery,

Jonathan

[Keith N Tampa (ex SoJax)]

Keep your chin up, I bet the damage won't be as catastropic as it might appear. I'm sure things are going to be ratty for several months, but I bet many of your specimens will likely survive.

I might add that i've never seen freezing rain collect on a Royal Palm before. Sorry they are yours, but its fascinating (like a car wreck).

[oliver]

The island is just as bad if not worse - I think they got even more ice. They also dropped below freezing for at least 24 hrs although neither my house, office, or beach house got below 29. I thought that at least the royals and other semi-hardy stuff would survive, but there is just so much physical damage to the leaves, I really don't know. The freeze of 89 was not as bad as this one. Although temperatures were lower, the physical damage by ice is much worse this time.

Oliver

[mjff]

Horrific! That looks pretty bad, and that's coming from the arctic out here in W TX. At least the fronds on my stuff are still standing up like they are supposed to. They will all probably be brown by the end of the month, but nothing some green spray paint won't fix.

[Kathryn]

Nice garden Oliver! Sorry it isn't doing so well right now. We haven't gotten any cooler than usual near New Orleans so far this year but it sure seems like it's been cold more days than not. I'm ready for the beach and some boat drinks!

[Trópico]

ouch!

[DoomsDave]

Oliver:

Ouch, indeed, that looks horrible.

But, it may not be as bad in fact.

As awful as the ice is, it's only 32 F, which isn't nearly as cold as I know it can get there in South Texas.

I think that a lot of your palms will survive this pretty well, though you will likely lose the real tender ones that that Carpoxie. ( )

The cycads are much tougher as a group, and, while they might suffer discoloration, probably won't die.

Keep an eye on everything, and don't be too quick to yank stuff out at this point. I'll bet that the Arhontophoenix (especially cunninghamiana & purpurea), Roystonea regia, teh hardier dypsis, etc. will recover.

Keep an eye, and let us know. I'm curious to see what happens to your plants, even as I pray in multiple languages that it won't happen to me. . . .

dave

[Xenon]

The worst part wasn't the absolute low, it was the sustained temperatures in the 30s. The HIGH temperature on Thursday was 36F! It broke the record for the lowest maximum temperature ever recorded in Brownsville. Even the ocean failed to moderate the coast which was just as cold as inland areas. Highs should be around 70F by Sunday though.

Jonathan

Edited February 4, 2011 by Xenon

[oliver]

Xenon, there is no way that the temp reached 36 yesterday. I was snooping around all over the place with my thermometer in hand, and never recorded anything above 32. It never really snowed though, but there was a light sleety rain all day. Only at night did the temperature fall enough for ice to start accumulating. Most of my employees, and me, were late for work this morning, since there was such a thick layer of ice on the vehicles, that you could not even open the door. Nobody even knows what an ice scraper is down here. Wish I had saved a few when I moved down here from Canada many years ago.

[mjff]

Xenon, there is no way that the temp reached 36 yesterday. I was snooping around all over the place with my thermometer in hand, and never recorded anything above 32. It never really snowed though, but there was a light sleety rain all day. Only at night did the temperature fall enough for ice to start accumulating. Most of my employees, and me, were late for work this morning, since there was such a thick layer of ice on the vehicles, that you could not even open the door. Nobody even knows what an ice scraper is down here. Wish I had saved a few when I moved down here from Canada many years ago.

I believe 36F was the temperature at midnight. It was downhill from there for y'all much like it was here on Tuesday where we were at 32F at midnight and didn't get back there until this afternoon.

[nachocarl]

Wow, incredible. I lived in Georgetown TX from 74 to 86 and I think the coldest it ever got was 18F and we were hate’n then. I know G-patch is a long way from Brownsville, but this current round of weather is even something by Texas standards! I hope your garden recovers.

Good luck!

[redant]

Really looks terrible, very sorry to see such massive palm destruction. It will be interesting to see what survives an ice coating, never really seen that before.

[Alan_Tampa]

I'll bet you come out better than you think. Don't lose hope, it is all we have left. Is that a little too touchy feely? Well, go with it anyway. Here is to a fast and surprising recovery.

Alan

[BS Man about Palms]

Kinda eerie..

[Central Floridave]

"I bet the damage won't be as catastropic as it might appear."

How much money you want to lose? I'll take that bet...

[DoomsDave]

If Kieth bets, I will too.

Jax is far northern FLA ...

[oliver]

Things looking a little different today - almost all Dypsis and New Caledonia stuff appears as tho it might live. The Kentiopsis, Cyphophoenix and Chambeyronia although heavily iced for 24hrs, show no leaf damage whatsoever. Coconuts appear to be gonners, as well as the Carpoxylons. I think that one of my larger Clinostigmas close to the building might survive. All Braheas and Coccothrinax, Copernicias, Pseudophoenix's are just laughing. The 60' royals are questionable - central spears are broken off after the heavy icing and wind. Also, my Pritchardia remotas with minimal protection after being completely covered in ice do not appear to have any damage. Bizzies look good although in the past I have seen them look great through a freeze, but in the middle of the summer start producing dwarfed and stunted leaves. I will keep everyone informed - interesting learning experience!

[Xenon]

Today's high was 64F, not bad considering the high was only 46F yesterday...

Should be in the 70s tomorrow. The week after is looking very warm, highs near 80F with lows around 60F.

I hope the coconut palm survives! Oops...just read your post...

Jonathan

Edited February 6, 2011 by Xenon

[oliver]

BTW - I will take bets - give me odds. I have some nice stuff in the greenhouse as collateral (plenty of Tahinia's to offer if someone gives me the right odds)

BTW - I did cover my bigger Tahinias in blankets but with no heat. The leaves have some spots but don't look like they are going to suffer much. I think these things are amazingly cold tolerant.

[WestCoastGal]

Xenon, there is no way that the temp reached 36 yesterday. I was snooping around all over the place with my thermometer in hand, and never recorded anything above 32. It never really snowed though, but there was a light sleety rain all day. Only at night did the temperature fall enough for ice to start accumulating. Most of my employees, and me, were late for work this morning, since there was such a thick layer of ice on the vehicles, that you could not even open the door. Nobody even knows what an ice scraper is down here. Wish I had saved a few when I moved down here from Canada many years ago.

We left the midWest for California a while ago and left our boots, down coats and ice scrapers behind like it sounds you did. Frost was seldom a problem where we lived when we first came to Calif but have since moved further away from the warm bay influences and were shocked to find that we needed to find windshield scrapers to get rid of the morning frost around here which seems to pretty much be yearly seasonal thing here. Your tale of ice on vehicles made me remember being in Chicago after a freezing rain storm at work and thought I was going to have to crawl out to my car just to then chip away the heavy ice. I really feel for you guys in south Texas right now.

BTW great looking palm landscaping Oliver. I too think a number of the palms will survive. May not look too pretty for a while but it's surprising how some can shake off the icy cold. My husband's dwarf orange tree looked like a gonner after on freeze one year and it dropped a lot of leaves and branches looked dead but it did come back and looks great now. I think it would be great if you could continue to take pictures over the next year of the palms you've already pictured and post occasionally to show how everything did long-term. A lot of areas around the country get these icy blasts that play havoc with the landscaping and it's always nice to see what survives and thrives. Best of luck.