Exposed Inland Royals in Florida -North-most ?

[Bill H2DB]

So here are pics of a seemingly unprotected Royal in Clermont Florida. I saw this palm from US 27 , many years ago.

That may have been as far back as the late '80's . It was definitely there in the '90's . I went thru there yesterday , and got a quick glimpse of

it . It is just north of the 27/ SR 50 interchange . Pics are 2012 .

It is located in front of a Lounge , which I think was a Real Estate office when i first saw it . It is exposed to the North winds , and was back

then also. It is on a fairly high hill , and that is a typical well drained type of place , and the surrounding neighborhood shows that .

It is situated between 2 lakes , but the one to the north side ( Lake Minneola ) is close to a mile away.

Royal Clermont 1 by Bill H, on Flickr

Royal Clermont 2 by Bill H, on Flickr

Royal Clermont 3 by Bill H, on Flickr

[Eric in Orlando]

Inland (more than 15-20 miles from the coasts) there aren't any pre-1989 royal palm survivors north of Winter Haven. There are survivors at Cypress Gardens and Sebring.

I just found some around here between Longwood and Lake Mary. These were planted sometime in the late 2000's, they survived 2009-10 along with some bottle palms. This area is the "tundra" of Orlando. It easily got to 25F in the 09-10 winter maybe colder. They have burn from this past winter while Royals in Orlando weren't damaged. I will get some photos of them. There are also a few Royals in Sanford but these are on the south side of Lake Monroe/St. John's River.

I also saw lots of mature royal palms planted in SE Orlando along Alafaya. There was some businesses and lots of houses with Royal Palms. It was amazing to see that many growing well. Glad someone is planting them.

[palmsOrl]

Eric, I always appreciate your updates and photos of zone 10 palms (and) other plants in and around the Orlando area. My two royals were defoliated twice in 2010 and came back strong afterward. Our lowest low was 25F, several times in 2010. They are still going strong.

Royals should be a common sight in wetter sites in Downtown Orlando. Hopefully we can start to see more planted in between all the Phoenix hybrids, dectylifera, washingtonia and sabal.

[palmsOrl]

Orlando can do better (to borrow from the "Houston can do better" thread). Orlando should be full of royals, Archontophoenix cunninghamiana, Dypsis lutescens, hardier fishtails, majesty palms and other zone 10a beauties. Might as well throw in Ptychosperma elegans, since these are, cheap, plentiful and fast growing. Though 2010 set things back, I am slowly seeing city planting move toward more tropical, and it is way more tropical than 20 years ago.

[mike-coral gables]

planted my royals in mt dora back in May of 2011, done well ever since with a low last February of 30F

[ck_in_fla]

Haven't posted in a long time. I am located in the Northeast suburb of Orlando called Winter Springs. In 2001, I was contacted by a gentleman, I believe his name was Chris. I'm sorry, but I can't remember his last name.

He told me a story about a road along the bay in St. Petersburg that was landscaped with Roystonea palms back in the 1940's. Over the years, one by one the cold weather took some of them out. Fast forward to 2000. It seems that Chris collected seeds from the survivors and sprouted them. He asked me if I would like to participate in his "experiment". One day, while I was at work, he dropped off three Roystonea seedlings. I promptly planted them on the side of my home. I figured the area between the houses would offer some protection. This was in April 2001. The three palms grew to enormous proportions. Eventually, I lost the two on either end. But the tree in the middle continues to grow. It now towers over my home. It's easily 35 or 40 feet tall. And, when a frond falls, it is huge and I normally drag it to the curb immediately. It is now 14 years old (at least 14 years in the ground at my home). I'm guessing it has some genetic resistance to cold. But, I'm not sure how I would prove this.

I will try to get some pictures this weekend.

[ck_in_fla]

Oh, by the way, my emoticon shows them when there were still three of them back in 2006.

[Eric in Orlando]

Nice to see Royals growing well in Mt. Dora and Winter Springs!

[howfam]

So here are pics of a seemingly unprotected Royal in Clermont Florida. I saw this palm from US 27 , many years ago.

That may have been as far back as the late '80's . It was definitely there in the '90's . I went thru there yesterday , and got a quick glimpse of

it . It is just north of the 27/ SR 50 interchange . Pics are 2012 .

It is located in front of a Lounge , which I think was a Real Estate office when i first saw it . It is exposed to the North winds , and was back

then also. It is on a fairly high hill , and that is a typical well drained type of place , and the surrounding neighborhood shows that .

It is situated between 2 lakes , but the one to the north side ( Lake Minneola ) is close to a mile away.

Royal Clermont 1 by Bill H, on Flickr

Royal Clermont 2 by Bill H, on Flickr

Royal Clermont 3 by Bill H, on Flickr

Hey, look at these royals here in Jacksonville, Fl. They have been in the ground for about 15 years. The owner says he protected them the first 6-7 years, but unable to do so since, due to their size. Their at a house on the south side of town on a creek off the St. Johns River.

Edited August 22, 2015 by howfam

[palmsOrl]

Even being near the coast, I'd say that the south Jacksonville royals win. They look great.

[Bill H2DB]

"Hey, look at these royals here in Jacksonville, Fl. They have been in the ground for about 15 years. The owner says he protected them the first 6-7 years, but unable to do so since, due to their size. Their at a house on the south side of town on a creek off the St. Johns River. "

Is it possible to have a location , or Google Maps pic ?

These look as good or better than Royals in the Daytona area , which is 80 miles south .

Thanks

[empireo22]

Hey, look at these royals here in Jacksonville, Fl. They have been in the ground for about 15 years. The owner says he protected them the first 6-7 years, but unable to do so since, due to their size. Their at a house on the south side of town on a creek off the St. Johns River.

the royals look good that majesty looks great and so do the pygmys. is that a foxtail to the left? looks like a zone 9b microclimate there. but a cool winter one for florida standards. i would try archontophoenix in that location and maybe some pyctyosperma and vetchia under some oak canopy. i would even try a mango. they grow in brevard in 9b

Edited August 22, 2015 by empireo22

[howfam]

"Hey, look at these royals here in Jacksonville, Fl. They have been in the ground for about 15 years. The owner says he protected them the first 6-7 years, but unable to do so since, due to their size. Their at a house on the south side of town on a creek off the St. Johns River. "

Is it possible to have a location , or Google Maps pic ?

These look as good or better than Royals in the Daytona area , which is 80 miles south .

Thanks

Without giving the owners address and street , I can tell you their on a property off Goodby's Creek, which runs into the St. Johns River. Beauclerc Rd. area. Good luck.

[empireo22]

the royals were looking pretty fried in jun 2014. I'm sure the majesty was aswell.

https://www.google.com/maps/@30.2139599,-81.622092,3a,26.8y,24.75h,93.55t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1soTLE0vIQUAMIgfj9DgdYnA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en

[Ben in Norcal]

Nice looking Bismark in there too...

[Sandy Loam]

Hey, look at these royals here in Jacksonville, Fl. They have been in the ground for about 15 years. The owner says he protected them the first 6-7 years, but unable to do so since, due to their size. Their at a house on the south side of town on a creek off the St. Johns River.

the royals look good that majesty looks great and so do the pygmys. is that a foxtail to the left? looks like a zone 9b microclimate there. but a cool winter one for florida standards. i would try archontophoenix in that location and maybe some pyctyosperma and vetchia under some oak canopy. i would even try a mango. they grow in brevard in 9b

_______________________________

Not to digress, but has anyone ever seen ptychosperma or veitchia growing in any of these regions? It would be interesting to know how they did.

As for royal palms growing inland and north, I am sure that they would not survive as far north/inland as here in Gainesville, FL. There was a house west of Gainesville in the country which had two large royal palms planted out front. The house was new. Soon after those royals appeared, a few nast winter nights came along and did the tree in. I believe the two royals were killed because they looked fried and the house has since replaced them with other trees. If anyone wants to try planting royal palms in Gainesville or Ocala, I would not recommend it, but it could be a fun experiment in warmer areas near the middle of town and on a hilltop.

Edited August 23, 2015 by Sandy Loam

[palmsOrl]

I bet those royals in south JAX look a lot better now since they clearly survived and were putting on growth as of June 2014 and last winter was not quite as bad from what I remember. They will struggle for as long as they are there, but I am amazed they can do as well as they manage that far north where there it a lot of winter chill and regular winter freezes. Must be a great microclimate.

Being a palm nut (and loving royals) I would grow one nice large one if I lived in the Ocala/Gainesville area. I would have a couple large propane heaters dedicated to the specimen and use a ladder or bucket truck to somehow protect the crown when needed. I would also have one nice coconut (for the Cocos I might build an enclosed clear plastic box around the base of the trunk to warm the soil), treated the same way.

For most, don't even try a royal in Ocala or Gainesville, it will not last long. Archontophoenix cunninghamiana in a good microclimate could last for at least several years though.

[howfam]

I bet those royals in south JAX look a lot better now since they clearly survived and were putting on growth as of June 2014 and last winter was not quite as bad from what I remember. They will struggle for as long as they are there, but I am amazed they can do as well as they manage that far north where there it a lot of winter chill and regular winter freezes. Must be a great microclimate.

Being a palm nut (and loving royals) I would grow one nice large one if I lived in the Ocala/Gainesville area. I would have a couple large propane heaters dedicated to the specimen and use a ladder or bucket truck to somehow protect the crown when needed. I would also have one nice coconut (for the Cocos I might build an enclosed clear plastic box around the base of the trunk to warm the soil), tr:eated the same way.

For most, don't even try a royal in Ocala or Gainesville, it will not last long. Archontophoenix cunninghamiana in a good microclimate could last for at least several years though.

palmsOrl:

Sounds like a ggod plan to ensure your royals if planted,. will survive. You'd be surprised at what's possible with a little determination. Hey, did you see the huge royal located in Flagler Beach? Check it out under the thread " Roystonea regia in Flagler Beach (North Florida) ". Awesome.

[Bill H2DB]

"Sounds like a ggod plan to ensure your royals if planted,. will survive. You'd be surprised at what's possible with a little determination. Hey, did you see the huge royal located in Flagler Beach? Check it out under the thread " Roystonea regia in Flagler Beach (North Florida) ". Awesome. "

Is there a basic location for the Flagler Beach palm ? I was up there about 3 months ago , and cruised around some looking for it. (Flagler Beach

is pretty small ) Didn't spot it though . ( I'm trying to get pics of Royals in the Daytona / Ormond / Flagler area . Flagler in general is considered part of our area , and

is tied closely to the area in many ways .) .

I'm basically using Ponce Inlet as the south end of my area , and leaving NSB etc out . This departs from my original post regarding Inland Royals , but

it's all interesting to me .

[donalt]

Inland (more than 15-20 miles from the coasts) there aren't any pre-1989 royal palm survivors north of Winter Haven. There are survivors at Cypress Gardens and Sebring.

I just found some around here between Longwood and Lake Mary. These were planted sometime in the late 2000's, they survived 2009-10 along with some bottle palms. This area is the "tundra" of Orlando. It easily got to 25F in the 09-10 winter maybe colder. They have burn from this past winter while Royals in Orlando weren't damaged. I will get some photos of them. There are also a few Royals in Sanford but these are on the south side of Lake Monroe/St. John's River.

I also saw lots of mature royal palms planted in SE Orlando along Alafaya. There was some businesses and lots of houses with Royal Palms. It was amazing to see that many growing well. Glad someone is planting them.

Hello Eric,

I haven't been on Palm Talk for a couple of weeks, but just today (August 29) I was on International Drive by the Orange County Convention Center and noticed several royal palms have been planted along the east side of I-Drive . I've been wondering when the city/county would begin using them, and it seems finally, to be happening. Also, the center around the Orlando Eye is heavily planted with foxtails and many other tropical specimens.

[Eric in Orlando]

Inland (more than 15-20 miles from the coasts) there aren't any pre-1989 royal palm survivors north of Winter Haven. There are survivors at Cypress Gardens and Sebring.

I just found some around here between Longwood and Lake Mary. These were planted sometime in the late 2000's, they survived 2009-10 along with some bottle palms. This area is the "tundra" of Orlando. It easily got to 25F in the 09-10 winter maybe colder. They have burn from this past winter while Royals in Orlando weren't damaged. I will get some photos of them. There are also a few Royals in Sanford but these are on the south side of Lake Monroe/St. John's River.

I also saw lots of mature royal palms planted in SE Orlando along Alafaya. There was some businesses and lots of houses with Royal Palms. It was amazing to see that many growing well. Glad someone is planting them.

Hello Eric,

I haven't been on Palm Talk for a couple of weeks, but just today (August 29) I was on International Drive by the Orange County Convention Center and noticed several royal palms have been planted along the east side of I-Drive . I've been wondering when the city/county would begin using them, and it seems finally, to be happening. Also, the center around the Orlando Eye is heavily planted with foxtails and many other tropical specimens.

Are those the ones growing at I-Drive and Westwood, between Sea World and the Beachline Expressway? Those have been there since the mid/late 1990s. They are in front of a hotel, a Hilton or Hyatt or whatever is on the sign this month.

[Eric in Orlando]

Here are those royals growing north of Orlando. it is back in the Springs Landing development before you cross the Little Wekiva River, off Markham Woods Road between Longwood and Lake Mary. This is about 20 miles north of downtown Orlando and in a cold pocket. They were planted in the late 2000's and survived the cold 2009-10 winter. The lowest they saw was probably around 25F, maybe colder. I know someone who lives about 2 miles further north and had down to 23F that year. After 2009-10, the Phoenix roebelenii had lots of burn and even some Syagrus romanzoffianum had some damage in this area. This house has never appeared to be occupied adn there is always work going on so I don't think they get the best care. They got some burn this past winter, it was probably around 28F for the low there

[Eric in Orlando]

Its an odd climate, tender royals suffering cold damage but also cold hardy palms but happy either. Some sickly Trachycarpus fortunei at the gate pillars, the others have died off.

[Eric in Orlando]

Even more suprising than the royals survivng there are a couple of Hyophorbe lagenicaulis. These also survived 2009-10. There were others that were killed but 2 survivors that are still hanging on today.

[Eric in Orlando]

And another surprising Hyophorbe lagenicaulis survivor. This one is growing in Altamonte Springs at a car wash on 434 just north of 436. It survived 2009-10 also, probably saw around 26-27F at this location.

I need to go get some photos of Hyophorbe lagenicaulis in Orlando that have been growing fairly long term now, 10-15 years.

[Dave-Vero]

Even Vero Beach lost most of its royals in 1989. I can see a survivor from the kitchen window. Royals planted since then are thriving, and suffered little in 2010-2011, despite 26º at the airport (a bit inland). In the airport area, lots of coconuts died, but the survivors are looking great after a string of mild winters. We're now seeing coconuts with substantial trunks, a rarity ten years ago.

[Eric in Orlando]

I wonder how far south on both coasts that they were killed in 12/89. There are pre-89 survivors as far north as Cocoa Beach.