Savannah

[OB Burt]

I was talking to a friend of a friend who lives in Savannah GA and likes the tropical look. I told him I would email him a list of palms that will grow there, but not sure what will. Some Sabals,Butia, Queen Washies, what else? Pigmy Date?

[RedRabbit]

It depends on what part of Savannah... I would think a pygmy date and queen would be out of the question anywhere, but I've read there's an Acrocomia managing to survive somewhere in Savannah.

[Laaz]

There's fruiting queens & Acrocomia Totai here in Charleston... Pigmy dates melt at the first sign of frost. Most other dates do fine...

[Walt]

Arenga engleri should do fine properly sited in Savannah -- and has a tropical look, IMO.

I used to be stationed (in the navy) in Charleston back in the late '60s, and I would always check the temperatures of both Charleston and Savannah. Savannah usually ran about one degree warmer in lows. But I have no idea where the temperature recording stations were -- and that, as most know, can make a big difference.  I'd say eastern most Charleston (on the peninsula part by and near water) is probably a little warmer than most of Savannah (being farther inland from the Atlantic).

[Ben in Norcal]

1 hour ago, Laaz said:

There's fruiting queens & Acrocomia Totai here in Charleston... Pigmy dates melt at the first sign of frost. Most other dates do fine...

Not sure how cold it gets in these places, but Pygmy Dates take a decent freeze.  High 20s no worries...

[TexasColdHardyPalms]

Savannah is very close to Austin as far as winter lows go.  Most sabals, Acrocomia Totai, CIDP's, true dates, Cretan dates, all trachycarpus, Arenga engeri in protected areas, all Butia, C. Radicalis and microspadix, Copernicia Alba in protected areas, Livistona Chilensis and Nitida anywhere, Decora and saribus in protected areas, Nannorhorps, Trithrinax Campestris and Anthacoma. 

Queen palms and pygmy dates are a no go.

[PalmTreeDude]

Medjool Date Palms and Canary Island Date Palms are good in the Savannah Area (zone 8b/9a). Washingtonia robusta do well long term, but some winters you may see damage, but it should not fully die. Mule palms are an option! All the natives do fantastic! 

[NorCalKing]

7 hours ago, Laaz said:

There's fruiting queens & Acrocomia Totai here in Charleston... Pigmy dates melt at the first sign of frost. Most other dates do fine...

Really?

According to this WU weather station in the historic downtown, it hit 20F in 2015. And their record low from 1985 is a mind numbing 3F. And there's a fruiting Queen? How does that happen? A queen is never going to survive 3F. Ever.

 

Or are you strictly referring to Charleston?

 

https://www.wunderground.com/personal-weather-station/dashboard?ID=KGASAVAN34#history/s20141126/e20151127/myear

Edited November 27, 2016 by NorCalKing

[Laaz]

The queens was planted well after 1985... It has never been protected. I have a bunch of seeds germinating now. The Doc. thinks it's a Syagrus botryophora, but I think it's just a hardy romanzoffiana.

 

[Laaz]

10 hours ago, Ben in Norcal said:

Not sure how cold it gets in these places, but Pygmy Dates take a decent freeze.  High 20s no worries...

 

Ben, it may be the humidity here but just a hard frost & they fry.

[Laaz]

Also for the "tropical" look, add some citrus. I have three 25 ft ruby red grapefruit & 40 other citrus trees in my yard that produce thousands of excellent fruit every year.

 

Here's a link I posted a while back...  http://www.palmtalk.org/forum/index.php?/topic/50980-a-hardy-charleston-garden/

[Kim]

Hi Burt,

Adrienne and I took a trip to Savannah, Charleston, and Asheville in September.  This may not be very helpful, but I have a few random shots from the trip where palms appear -- admittedly, I wasn't really focused on the palms.

Savannah

Tybee Island, over the bridge from Savannah

[Kim]

Charleston -- seems to be the same Sabals everywhere, but I can't tell one from another.

When you get to Asheville, all the palms seem to be in pots or greenhouses. 

[Ben in Norcal]

4 hours ago, Laaz said:

 

Ben, it may be the humidity here but just a hard frost & they fry.

That may be it...even when we get a freeze here, we don't get a lot of frost.  We have lots of long-termers of these in the area and they deal with mid-20s very well - surprising pure cold tolerance given their tropical origins!

[Las Palmas Norte]

May be get them started on some basics ... Sabal, BUtia etc. They can expand on that if their interest continues. I've seen a few new palm folks lose interest once a few marginal palms die off.

Cheers, Barrie. 

[RedRabbit]

4 hours ago, Laaz said:

The queens was planted well after 1985... It has never been protected. I have a bunch of seeds germinating now. The Doc. thinks it's a Syagrus botryophora, but I think it's just a hardy romanzoffiana.

 

Yep, definitely romanzoffiana. A botryophora there would be downright amazing. 

[Laaz]

And we are 100 miles NE of Savannah.