Palms in the zone 10a/b areas of Lake Placid, Florida

[Walt]

To those that have been waiting for me to make this video, well, I finally finished it. Nothing professional mind you, just a compilation of short videos and still photos showing some of the many coconut palms, royal palms, and others that are growing in the warmer areas in the town of Lake Placid, Florida, and surrounding areas.

The main point of this video is to debunk the notion many coastal folks have (on the same latitude) that such palms can't be grown here in the deepest inland. On the contrary!  Coconut palms, royal palms, veitchia, et. al., palms grow with vigor in proximity of large lakes and/or on the highest ground of the Lake Wales Ridge. Of course, the lower outlying areas distant from lakes won't support such palms, at least not for long.

When I first moved to Highlands County Florida in 1997 I traversed the entire county looking for a home site to build on. In my travels I spotted only three trunked coconut palms, and all three were growing near lakes where wintertime night time temperatures were higher. I also found some royal palms, and all of them were in proximity of lakes. And, at that time there was no local availability of these palms. I'd go to a local nursery to inquire and they weren't even interested in trying to special order them for me.

But since that time the county has had in influx of residents that have fled south Florida to the more laid back pace of life here in Highlands County. Many of the new residents have purchased lake front properties and have had coconut palms, royals, etc., brought in and planted. When I first move here there was not one foxtail palm. Now they are becoming ubiquitous. In fact, I made no mention of them in my video.

Unless we get another devastating palm killing freeze like that of December 1989, I believe in another 10 years the warmer areas of Highlands County (where the palms in my video are growing), will look far more like south Florida than central Florida. The colder outlying areas from the lakes and high points on the Lake Wales Ridge will stand in contrast and remain looking as they do today -- with lots of Sabal palmetto and queen palms.

 

 

[Palmaceae]

Excellent video Walt, thank you for putting it together!  When I was there I was shocked of all the tropicals growing there, your video shows them very well.

[Walt]

3 minutes ago, Palmaceae said:

Excellent video Walt, thank you for putting it together!  When I was there I was shocked of all the tropicals growing there, your video shows them very well.

Thanks! I'm currently editing a video of my property for 2016 to replace the YouTube video of my property I made in 2015. It should be ready in a few days. Watch for it. You should see some change since you last visited me a few years ago.

[chinandega81]

Great video, thanks! They all look to be doing so well. Why aren't they even more common, in addition to more flowering tropical trees? Is it an availability issue in the area?

[GottmitAlex]

Thank you Walt! Simply amazing. So much for the "In Florida the coconut palm only grows and thrives from Stuart on the east coast and Punta Gorda on the west coast, south to Key West " taboo.

Couldn't help notice the available lots throughout the video. One would think urbanized lakefront properties would be inhabited.  Kinda felt 1950's while going through the homes and vacant lots there.  Just beautiful.

 

 

[Walt]

32 minutes ago, chinandega81 said:

Great video, thanks! They all look to be doing so well. Why aren't they even more common, in addition to more flowering tropical trees? Is it an availability issue in the area?

Highlands County is still more rural than urban. The urban areas mostly comprise retirees on fixed incomes. I'd say -- at least until the past five years -- most retirees didn't have the discretionary income to buy tropical palms other than maybe 3 gallon, sometimes 10 gallon sizes at Home Depot, Lowes, or some of the larger nurseries. But even at that, availability was and still is an issue. All the big stuff is coming up from S.E. Florida. Now, more affluent folks are moving here and can afford to have more tropical palms planted in their landscapes.

When I got into the palm and tropical plant hobby shortly after moving here in 1997, about the only palms one could find is the garden variety queen palms, pindo, pygmy date and Sabal palmetto. I went to just about every big nursery and asked them if they carried royal palms, foxtails, triangle, etc., and they looked at me like I just landed from Mars. I inquired about Archontophoenix alexandrae and cunninghamiana -- and they didn't know what I was talking about.

I do plan to put a video together showing the biggest, tallest, etc., of tropical species of trees and plants that are growing in the warmer areas of my county. About a mile from me are huge Ficus benghalensis and F. elastica and F. microcarpa that were planted in the a1950s, along with lots of Florida royal palm planted at the same time. They will rival any of the same in south Florida. Up in town there used to be the tallest African tulip tree I ever found in my travels here, but unfortunately it was cut down from storm damage.

There is a home owner on 13 acres located on the S.E. end (the warmest part) that has huge ficus trees and tall royal palms. I need to contact them for permission to walk their property again, as they did let me do that back in 2003, on New Year's Day at that. The late Bob Riffle (The Tropical Look, and palm books) saw this property with me and others in June of 2003, and he deemed it zone 10b based on what he saw (and the size of them) growing there.

 

[Walt]

22 minutes ago, GottmitAlex said:

Thank you Walt! Simply amazing. So much for the "In Florida the coconut palm only grows and thrives from Stuart on the east coast and Punta Gorda on the west coast, south to Key West " taboo.

Couldn't help notice the available lots throughout the video. One would think urbanized lakefront properties would be inhabited.  Kinda felt 1950's while going through the homes and vacant lots there.  Just beautiful.

 

 

That was in the Lake June Pointe (LJP) subdivision (gated community) that used to be an orange grove. About 15 years ago a developer bought the grove, bull dozed and burned it and then platted everything. They then started selling lots in Phase 1, then Phase 2, and lastly Phase 3. Things were going fine until the bottom of the real estate market fell out. But now it is slowly coming back. Of course, lake front property (and taxes) are much higher on the lake, so it takes more affluent people to purchase the property.

I have a friend in LJP, but he lives on the non lakeside of the road that runs through the subdivision. His taxes are far lower than a similar house and lot size on the lake side of the road. He laughing jokes to me that he lives on the poor side of the street.

The people that make that claim, that coconuts will only grow from Punta Gorda on the west coast and Stuart on the east coast, obviously are talking from ignorance -- and they have never ventured out this way and checked out things for themselves. But in their defense, they may well have been out this way 10 years ago, and there wasn't anywhere near the tropical palms growing here then. So it would be easy to assume such palms wouldn't grow here. But again, they will only grow around the lakes and on the highest ground, and not in the outer low lying areas.

 

[PalmTreeDude]

Nice videos Walt! I really enjoy them. Looks awesome!

[Silas_Sancona]

Another great video, thanks for sharing Walt. Great example of the benefit the lakes in that area provide. 

[chinandega81]

I checked your weather for the next few nights. There is no consideration for the ridge or lake effect. It shows lows about 40 to 41. So my question is, what will the actual lows be where all these amazing tropical palms are? I am assuming about 10 degrees warmer?

[Walt]

8 hours ago, chinandega81 said:

I checked your weather for the next few nights. There is no consideration for the ridge or lake effect. It shows lows about 40 to 41. So my question is, what will the actual lows be where all these amazing tropical palms are? I am assuming about 10 degrees warmer?

The ridge benefit and lake benefit are mainly effective on radiational cooling nights (clear sky and little or no wind); 95% of the coldest low temperatures here occur on these nights. The other 5% of cold nights are from advective cooling, but these nights almost invariably are warmer, as the cold front is coming in. It isn't until the front is fully in and settled, then winds die down and radiational cooling conditions form. Still, high ground and lake areas run slightly warmer (maybe 3 degrees), but for the most part the air is mixed up and more homogeneous (and the difference from high ground to low ground to lake front areas aren't markedly different), whereas on radiational cooling nights the air is markedly stratified in layers, getting warmer with elevation.

Two of the below links are weather reporting stations I check. First is the Sebring station maintained by the University of Florida. This station is on higher ground than my place and usually runs 3-5 degrees warmer on radiational cooling nights than my place:

http://fawn.ifas.ufl.edu/

The second link is a STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) weather station tied into WeatherUnderground at the Lake Placid Florida Elementary School. This station almost always runs warmer than the FAWN station at Sebring. I always compare the two. The Lake Placid Elementary School station usually runs 7-8 degrees warmer than my place -- about two miles away as the crow flies: https://www.wunderground.com/personal-weather-station/dashboard?ID=KFLLAKEP12

I advise you to check the Lake Placid Elementary School station. Last winter the coldest night below 40 degrees was just above 37 degrees. That was for only one morning. My low was exactly 30 degrees for my coldest morning. This is the station to follow for high ground representation. And by high ground I mean just 150 feet elevation, relative to the rest of Florida which is very low.

 

 

[Walt]

9 hours ago, Silas_Sancona said:

Another great video, thanks for sharing Walt. Great example of the benefit the lakes in that area provide. 

Glad you enjoyed it.

[Walt]

12 hours ago, PalmTreeDude said:

Nice videos Walt! I really enjoy them. Looks awesome!

My only regret is that my property isn't on high ground or near a lake. I could have so much more.

[DCA_Palm_Fan]

Good stuff!   Love it!  

[palmfriend]

Very nice video - great palms and good explanation of the weather/climatical conditions!

Thank you very much for sharing -

best regards

 

[Walt]

On ‎11‎/‎20‎/‎2016‎ ‎5‎:‎23‎:‎15‎, DCA_Palm_Fan said:

Good stuff!   Love it!  

Yep, good stuff. More reason to move to Florida when the opportunity finally comes to you.

[Walt]

20 hours ago, palmfriend said:

Very nice video - great palms and good explanation of the weather/climatical conditions!

Thank you very much for sharing -

best regards

 

You are welcome. Glad you enjoyed the video.

[Mr. Coconut Palm]

On ‎11‎/‎19‎/‎2016‎ ‎10‎:‎45‎:‎14‎, Walt said:

That was in the Lake June Pointe (LJP) subdivision (gated community) that used to be an orange grove. About 15 years ago a developer bought the grove, bull dozed and burned it and then platted everything. They then started selling lots in Phase 1, then Phase 2, and lastly Phase 3. Things were going fine until the bottom of the real estate market fell out. But now it is slowly coming back. Of course, lake front property (and taxes) are much higher on the lake, so it takes more affluent people to purchase the property.

I have a friend in LJP, but he lives on the non lakeside of the road that runs through the subdivision. His taxes are far lower than a similar house and lot size on the lake side of the road. He laughing jokes to me that he lives on the poor side of the street.

The people that make that claim, that coconuts will only grow from Punta Gorda on the west coast and Stuart on the east coast, obviously are talking from ignorance -- and they have never ventured out this way and checked out things for themselves. But in their defense, they may well have been out this way 10 years ago, and there wasn't anywhere near the tropical palms growing here then. So it would be easy to assume such palms wouldn't grow here. But again, they will only grow around the lakes and on the highest ground, and not in the outer low lying areas.

 

Another great video Walt.  I love the big coconut palms.  The nearest ones to me that grow like that are in Matamoros, just across the river from Brownsville.  I have seen photos online of Mexican Talls in Matamoros that are about 45ft. to 50ft. in overall height, and the ones that are well watered have lots of full size nuts there.

When I lived in Coral Springs and made a trip to the Tampa area back in 2000, I remember seeing mature Jamaican Talls with full size nuts on them at Clearwater Beach, so those who have been saying that coconut palms don't do well north of Punta Gorda, have been mistaken for some time, and I remember a very tall (maybe 35ft. to 40ft. tall in overall height) Green Malayan Dwarf back in those days at the southernmost tip of St. Pete, on the way to Ft. Desoto Park.

[Walt]

Oddly, I didn't get an email  notification that your replied to my posting. I only found out from the notification symbol at the top right of the page. In any event, the tallest coconut palm in my video is growing in the Sun 'N' Lakes, Lake Placid (there's another Sun 'N' Lakes up in Sebring). It's stood the test of time. I have a photo of the same palm from back in 2003 when it was much, much shorter. Glad you enjoyed the video.