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It didn't look far on the map ! Curiosity has been killing this cat for quite some time so why not take a wee Sunday drive down to Halfway Creek ? I took the dust covers off my Miracle of Swedish Engineering, put on my Souvenir of Oodnadatta pure Irish Linen apron (made in China) grabbed a wondercloth (as seen on TV) gave it wipe down, chucked on some slap and hit the road. Me who only drives to the supermarket (0.8 klms) once per week at a maximum speed of 40 klms per hour, found her flustered little self facing 360 klms of freeway with a 110 kph speed limit. EEK. I am so glad I had a manicure the night before as my finger was very busy on that trip. All those Land Cruiser and Electric Buzzy Car drivers are so rude to sweet little matrons on the road and apparently quite envious of my stately Volvo. Of course I am too polite to mention the paupers who have to display their poverty by driving a Kia. (ugh) So I finally arrived at my destination, drove carefully up the little bush track (thanking providence that I have AWD) and found myself among the palms. Oooh la la. Rather than vulgarly announcing my presence, I took a little wander into the nearest greenhouse with my big handbag open in anticipation but was surprised by a nasty little camera hidden in there. Naturally it was all a mistake, I wasn't stealing any palms, I just put them in my bag for safe keeping. Richard found it wiser to believe me than to prosecute. He apologised for mistaking me for a common floraklept and I said sorry for pulling a switchblade, (hey it's dangerous for ladies out there) and we embarked on tour of the most amazing palm collection I have ever seen. I had to keep asking names as there were so many I have never seen before and a few I haven't even heard of. Even his Chamadoreas were huge. The he showed me another greenhouse the size of Grand Central Station, packed to the rafters with baby palms of every species know to man. Start saving up people as in a couple of years this part of the world will no longer retain the palm desert status it currently holds. But don't just wait till then, it is well worth a visit with a well padded wallet for purchasing a plethora of rare and gorgeous palms. You too can say pooh Pooh at those palm privileged people in Far North Qld. A big thank you to my host Richard for a better day out than any of my weddings, and thank you to those clever people in Gothenburg who thoughtfully included an enormous palm carrying area when designing their wonderful vehicles. I did not shop for palms, I pillaged ! What did I buy ? Well I will put up photos at a later date just to keep you hanging ! Peachy, palm purchaser and recent convert to motoring the proper way.

This is a great hybrid, get yourself one if you can find it. I really like the thin trunk.

Cold hardy palm trees in Dallas zone 8a at 15F after sleet storm. 🌴🥶

I bottomed out at 24F in the middle of the night and warmed up a couple of degrees by 6 am. Still below freezing though and heavy cloud cover. Forecasted high of 38F but it's not looking like we'll make that unless the sun comes out soon. I'm at about 24 consecutive hours below freezing. I haven't gone out to look at anything, but I did see my Philodendrons don't look so happy.

These model runs paint a dire picture and they are virtually on our doorstep, which is most concerning. The NWS Melbourne synopsis this morning is issuing a heads up. I will include it (edited for brevity) is it is worth a read. Of course, you can go to the NWS site for the complete synopsis. The door remains wide open for additional surges of Arctic air into the eastern United States over the next week to ten days. Teleconnection graphs show a `trifecta` of sorts for unusually cold weather. First, the Arctic Oscillation is reaching a nadir of -5 early this week and is forecast to remain negative for the balance of the next two weeks. NAO has also gone negative, and right on cue, the PNA is going positive. Hemispheric charts tell the tale as H5 heights are forecast to remain above normal over the Arctic. This displaces much colder air southward into the mid-latitudes. While below normal temperatures are favored for the foreseeable future, timing out and assessing the risks for impactful cold and freezing temperatures across Central Florida will require a closer look at individual disturbances within this active weather pattern. There are a pair of features worth keeping an eye on from later this week through the weekend. First, a piece of energy should pass from the Rockies into the Southeast around Thursday, reinforcing the Arctic air mass over the Eastern U.S. Trailing close behind appears to be another shortwave approaching Florida by around Saturday. Cluster analysis from the 25/12Z suite, along with early-arriving 26/00Z guidance, leaned toward some phasing of this feature with a lobe of the polar vortex to the north of the state. However, confidence remains very low, evidenced by a very large H5 height interquartile spread by next Sunday. If this disturbance interacts with the northern stream, the cold risks for Central Florida would become even more significant by the weekend. -------Sensible Weather & Impacts------- Weekend... To start off, there is no question that the forecast for the coming weekend will remain highly variable for at least two to three more days. The primary challenge is resolving whether two distinct pieces of energy, currently thousands of miles apart, will interact to form a large nor`easter-type storm along the Eastern Seaboard. While the trend has been moving in that direction over the last day or so, several ensemble members keep the features separated as they make their closest approach to Florida. This distinction is critical: when compared to a disorganized system, a strengthening low off the east coast could very effectively pull Arctic air much farther southward through the peninsula. What this means is a period of heightened uncertainty regarding both moisture and temperatures. We will carry low rain chances of 20-30% on Saturday as moisture tries to increase ahead of the arriving energy. If the two features mentioned before do interact, a blast of windy and much colder air would likely be felt here in Central Florida beginning sometime late Saturday and continuing into Sunday. Statistical guidance clearly illustrates the low-confidence scenario we are dealing with, as interquartile spreads jump to 10 to 15 degrees for both high and low temperatures from Saturday through Monday. Whether temperatures remain manageably cooler than normal or become significantly colder than normal is still in question. While this is more of a reasonable worst-case scenario signal, the overall pattern we are entering has historically supported major freezes and significant cold air outbreaks in Florida. Those making plans outdoors or whom have sensitive agricultural interests should keep a close eye on the forecast as this hopefully becomes clearer by mid-week. && The ramifications of an event such as this, if it plays out, will be felt far beyond the palm community. Let's hope that the worst scenario is avoided and best of luck to all.

Rio Rancho, NM z7b

same here at West Houston/Westchase area. I have areca palms out there covered with just regular tarp, nicolais and a few bromeliads. I checked them today and they looked... ok not as bad as I expected. We will see how they do with the freeze tomorrow morning. We are supposed to get to 21F. I'm concerned about next week and February... I just want this winter to be over but we still have a month down here in Houston. Tomorrow I will uncover my arecas and will post pics of the damage after it goes above freezing.

Interesting small palm with some pretty cool stilt roots. You can tell by the leaves that it’s an Areca. From the Bismarck Archipelago and Solomon Islands. Tim

19°F Saturday night, 25°F was the high yesterday , and 17°F last night in Lago Vista.

Took this, this evening

Super nice coloring there , makes me want to visit the islands again. I don’t get a true sunset on our place on this south facing hill. I do get some spectacular sunrises though! A SoCal sunrise with the Howea! Harry

Photos today following the ice storm. Low this morning got down to 22F, and the high got to 32F. Washingtonian robustas: Washingtonia filifera: Sabal uresana

Actually it was worse in the past by nearly every metric. In terms of absolute minimum temperature, The freezes in the 1980s, 1962, and 1890s were dreadful. Most of the places getting 20s and 30s next week went into the teens during some or all of those events. In terms of hardiness zones, the forecast from Weather.com has my minimum during this event at 32F. The minimum for the entire winter thus far is 31F. That's in line with the 2023 USDA Hardiness Map putting my portion of Lakeland in USDA 10a. The 1990 zone map had Lakeland in 9a and Orlando in 9b. That means the locations in question averaged low-20s and mid-20s each year, respectively. The zone maps from 1990, 2012, and 2023 show the change over time, even if they aren't great planting guides by themselves. In terms of long stretches of below average temperatures, January 1940, January 1977, Jan/Feb 1996, January 2010, and December 2010 had long stretches of cold that were much worse than this. While I wouldn't call it normal or typical, it does happen with regularity.

It was perfect tour weather for @PalmBossTampa and @Midnight Gardener over the weekend. The high at the airport today was 88F, breaking the old record by 3oF. Now we get about two weeks of garbage weather. Since the NWS and Weather.com forecasts are almost identical, we'll just stick with the graphic below +/-1. We'll see how this holds up and how the plants hold up to it:

Salam alaikum, sylvestris is always solitary, dactylifera is almost always suckering. Besides ratio of petiole's to entire leaf's length in sylvestris is 1/10 while in dactylifera is about 1/5. In other words petiole in sylvestris multiplied 10 times makes out entire leaf, while in dactylifera this is achieved through a multiplication by 5.

I know there are older threads with similar themes, but hopefully we can get this forum moving again. Post your pics before the snow melts.

24.8 in my backyard- Manvel much better than the 17° predicted a few days ago . dwarf bird of paradise look a bit sad as expected they all recovered nice from last January just to be fried again haha . And of course the bananas look gross

I'm staying here but I will 100 percent be retiring to key west or a coastal island.

If I lived in Australia, I would definitely have bought plants from Richard, and I'm sure he would have given me a discount on the price.

So far not as bad as predicted but not really far off either , it seems to be it's going to be like a typical San Antonio 8b winter even we didn't get below 21f but the forecast is 18f for tomorrow morning. The ice didn't melt as much as I hoped on my palms. Most palm fronds are still partially covered in ice. A lot of stuff outside of my palms are turning into compost . We're supposed to be well above freezing today so I hope that'll be enough to melt the rest of the ice .

My lows ranged from 23.9f to 26.1f, fairly uniform thanks to it being advective. Last I checked, it looked like SPI or Rio Grande City did the best in Texas. Both were around 37-38f at that time.

Looks like a low of 24-25F across most of Houston that was hit around midnight. The temp has actually risen to 26-27F across much of the metro area in the early morning hours! This is actually higher than the 21-23F forecast by NWS and local media for Houston (incl central Houston). The forecast was off in our WARM favor!!! A rare rare moment hahaha. Only one more night to go! My Bismarck and Queens still have a chance of not defoliating. Hope tonight is warmer than forecast again. Screenies from 6:10 AM

Those 'poisonous' and elusive details...😏

The microclimate right in front of a café in Thessaloniki can be much warmer than that of my exposed garden inside a valley in front of a creek in inland Messinia... Especially if the cafés use the common halogen stoves in winter 😅

Pay attention please, -5 C refer to large, mature specimens established in the ground. For potted juveniles I reckon -2 C is their limit.

It is the most reliable and suitable crowshafted palm for your climate!

My cunninghamiana took -2 C for several hours with zero damage. It was of course under canopy, but no extra protection. I have read they can take -4C for short periods.

I'm starting to get nervous about how many seeds you've sent me...should I take a trailer to the PO tomorrow?

Needmore pennsylvania z7a the first picture from today. I'll take some more tomorrow From december 5 2025 From december 5 2025 From december 15 2024 From december 15 2024

Cold hardy palm trees in Dallas zone 8a at 15F after sleet storm. 🌴🥶

Adventitious roots on C. costaricana and T. fortunei lending a bit of tropical flair to our cool-weather garden

Same here in Big D! Rough last couple days and it looks like almost 70 hours below freezing from what i calculate. Gawd knows how low it will go tonite if the skies clear as the whole region is compacted frozen sleet, snow. I guess the 2020s will go down as the icy epoch, will it continue into the 2030's? I covered and did the xmas lite addition thanks to all the peeps on here giving me the idea🤓 But, to my dismay, I was unable to find my old xmas lites in the attic or basement! Oh well, i think it will be more like the previous 5 winters- heavy leaf damage on Sabal bermudana and even Trachys but the minors and needle palms, minimal if any damage! Another cold wave next weekend but dry so far predicted, not that these forecasts have been worth a hill of beans😑

Woke up to the alarm going from the security cameras, so in a pair of jocks raced out the door half asleep, and there was this palm theif going hell for leather shoving palms in her trolley faster than Donald trump’s tariffs going around the world. I don’t know who got more of a surprise, the palm pilfering fingers froze up in shock at some raving palm nut standing there in his jocks half asleep or me seeing this google eyed palm nut helping herself to the finest palms know to man kind. I mean come on I had heard of rumours on palmtalk about a heist, apparently possum peachy and her accomplise California @Harry’s Palms sitting in the getaway truck had plotted a hit unknown to me but iam sure others where in on it, butter fingers @gyuseppethe Italian connection iam sure was involved, he has some good connections to move such goodies abroad @Than @Phoenikakias, and some local connections @Jonathan and @tim_brissy_13 had orders in for anything that would live in refrigerator. But I shrugged off such a brazen attempt. California Harry was heard yelling hurry up will you, but then I heard him say quick grab that one as well. I mean how much can koala 🐨 bear! An international hit right from behind the scenes, with the mastermind of the operation going hell for leather at it. I have put up a picture of the said palm pilfering person involved. So any information is greatly appreciated, as the authorities just said good luck catching her we been waiting for years to catch her, she keeps alluding us. And she had a possy of pekinese dogs as protection foaming at the mouth sent charging at me! Just let it be known that the peachy possum gang and the head Don @palmtreesforpleasure the mastermind behind such a brazen attempt have all been put on Santa’s naughty list, where watching you lot🌱🤣

🤣 Dreams are fun, aren't they?.. Still laughing.. Is another good cold spell in these parts possible? perhaps.. Likely? ..esp. in a continuously warmer era? ....Add in all those tall walls dense, cold air has a tough time climbing over, ..esp when there are hundreds... of miles of flat as a board land ..east of all them' walls.. where that cold air can easily pour right over, each year, ..We'll just have to see.. If i were cold air, i'd head where there is no resistance to my terror rather than fighting to get over walls.. How about showing us this " supposed " data of Phoenix outskirts dipping " below " 15F ..How many days? / years did this occur? ..Was it a one nighter only? 18 / 25 / 50 ..2000 years ago? Even in Tucson, lows below 15F are exceptionally rare.. High elevation " plateau " - esque area in central S.E. AZ? yep, they can hit the mid / lower teens occasionally.. N.E. portion of the state, east and north of the rim? teens are the theme every so often.. ..for now. Lets not forget ..PHX / overall area around Phoenix ..and Tucson.. are near the top of the fastest growing parts of the U.S. CA is right behind us in how quickly they have grown in the last uhh ..30 years, too.. Lots ( ..and' lots.... ) of formally undeveloped land here and there that doesn't exist any more.. Add in how much the region has warmed in the past few decades and ..Good luck with the Cold, whatevertheheck a -geddon you wanna call it wishful thinking in this part of the world.. ....The kind everyone east of the Rockies will always be vulnerable to, every Y X Z years, ..Until the arctic has completely melted for a few decades -at least- and an " Arctic Outbreak " in 3222 brings 50F lows to ..The Dakotas.... ..Or the next ice age, when everyone everywhere can join in on the east of the rocky wall icy winter fun... 🤷🏽‍♂️ For the time being, ( ...and then some?? ) ...thank Calvin for those tall walls, and cold air's general laziness < preferring the easiest exit route over having to put much effort into getting somewhere > ..

Never have I heard such tall tales of a sweet lady at mass, with her Volvo that is only driven to 0.8ks a week to church on a Sunday! Richard

Salam. Thank you very much both of you for answering my request. I appreciate also the clue about the ratio of petiole's to entire leaf's length distinguishing the two species. I've learned something new today. Best wishes.

I believe I saw this movie on Brit Box, it was terrific. Tim

@Thanthis is very interesting. By southern wind soil in my place dries out only very slowly.

Growing up out there, vs. speculating on it via questionable record keeping, Yes, 1990 was cold, but definitely didn't " wipe out " all the interesting " tender" palms / other stuff that was ..and still is.. growing where i grew up ..inc. numerous Kings, White and Orange Bird of Paradise, Philodendron, Floss Silk tree, etc.. Remember too that many spots that were once undeveloped, pasture and ag. fields back in the late 80s / early 90s are now filled to the gills with concrete and buildings so, it will be much harder for ..areas in my own neighborhood that bottomed out the upper teens in the 90 freeze for example, to see the same deg. of cold again should a similar event occur there. Could it happen again? of course ..but i would be shocked to see the same readings.. Couple mornings waking up to lows in the 28-30F range? ..happens every few years.. Doesn't seem to bother anything. Even most of the " rural " spots south of San Jose, that can dip into the 20s on a few mornings every few winters, are warmer than way back then. Same idea across much of S.Cal.. 2007 wasn't much different.. and there is plenty of stuff planted at that time that shrugged off that event. MOO, damage seen during the significant frost / freeze events while living in FL seemed much more apparent / extensive than i can remember seeing after any extended cold event i'd experienced back home in San Jose.. Outside of the Central Valley, 99.8% of folks won't want to live in any of the far flung valleys out there that can still dip below 25F -with regularity- these days..

27F this morning. Seeing everything above, I think yall wouldn't survive in the Panhandle. Just sayin. If you really want to grow palms in a cold free environment start looking at Puerto Rico.

It’s brutal here in Louisiana. That white stuff is ice not snow unfortunately.

A bit of colour on the new sallaca leaf, and a nice pic of the garden git my attention!

Not as much as Piccabeen. Kentia is comparable to Alexandra palm. Former can withstand down to -5 C frostless freeze without damage.

This is why I won’t be planting any z10 palms in Texas… 10hrs until dawn.

When I first started germinating seeds I was using a heating pad and I absolutely do not recommend those at all. Google and see how hot it actually gets. Granted my heating pad was half broken and only worked on high but it got just a wee bit too hot. I'm all for upcycling, but between closeouts and Black Friday and eBay deals, I'm pretty happy with my actual seedling heat mats now. Thermostats and knowing exactly what temp your soil/baggies are is nice, especially when you can check them from your wifi. I scored some 48x20 mats for $9 apiece and got the Inkbird wifi thermostat for $20 shipped all in. I'm having a lot more success now.

If the forecast holds up, Monday and Tuesday nights will likely be too much for those palms to handle.

You are ultimately correct on the Rockies protecting us. Our arctic cold never comes from the north, only the east. Which the Sandias/Central Highlands offer us some protection. But when that arctic air is on the plains to our east, and a low pressure system to our west, we can get our coldest(east winds). The cold is "sucked" thru and over the Sandias.

How things are looking here. My large Grevillea (right) has the vegas lights. Large cat palms, some dwarf Heliconia, and everflowering bottlebrush are on the left - they needed a serious haircut to get them to fit this year. Kangaroo paws and small Grevillea behind the car also have lights. Mountain bottlebrush and narrow leaf bottlebrush aren't getting covered this year, just a little mulch. Everything else gets mulch (or nothing). Arenga sp. usually get buckets over them, but they have now outgrown that. Cham. mircospadix. These seed grown ones are much more vigorous than a large one I bought. They just get mulch poured on them. Cham. cataractum and Cham. radicalis seed. Figured I should actually save some. Only a fraction of what they set this year. The large Heliconia just get mulch piled up around the base. There are three new flowers coming on x 'Coral Surprise' that I'm sad to lose. I'm not wrapping any citrus this year either, only mulch.

Good for you, Harry! They look super healthy now. You almost can’t walk through my landscape without seeing Archotophoenix. They’re everywhere. Nothing here seems to ever bother them either. Without them, I’d have WAY fewer palm species since they are the main shade producers. The low winter sun manages to get through though which is a plus.