Sabal x Brazoriensis

[ryjohn]

Here is my Brazoria— been in-ground about 18 years from a 3 gallon.

[Zone7Bpalmguy]

Here's a few pics of mine (below) that is supposed to be a Brazoria and a video of this one and all my other palms. 

https://youtu.be/PQOBAGOPRfk?si=mQe_-0joevFB6xpq

 

 

[ryjohn]

1 hour ago, Zone7Bpalmguy said:

Here's a few pics of mine (below) that is supposed to be a Brazoria and a video of this one and all my other palms. 

https://youtu.be/PQOBAGOPRfk?si=mQe_-0joevFB6xpq

 

 

Impressive for zone 7 Tennessee!  Windmills never look that nice down here.  Only time will tell on the Brazoria— it should trunk at least twice as fast as Sabal minor

[Zone7Bpalmguy]

11 hours ago, ryjohn said:

Impressive for zone 7 Tennessee!  Windmills never look that nice down here.  Only time will tell on the Brazoria— it should trunk at least twice as fast as Sabal minor

Right! Well whatever it is, it has been a fast growers for me. I planted it in 2021 as a 7g plant. I love the huge leaves. Thanks!

[ryjohn]

On 3/11/2022 at 7:47 AM, Sabal King said:

So I happened to be driving by Barton Springs on my way back to DFW two weeks ago, and stopped by hoping, hoping there would be some Brazos seedlings, but alas, nothing yet.  They are not ready.  I said I would take not ready at the same price and answer was still no, lol.  I will say, the main specimen we keep looking at in pictures is breathtaking.. I stood there for a few minutes just admiring the size and just how incredible it looked.  I'm sure they were wondering what was wrong with me but that's OK.

 

Here is my largest one that just came a few weeks ago as 3G.  Absolutely beautiful with the latest fronds already just wide and huge.  Truly going to be a stunner on my front retaining wall sabal row.

I have four more throughout the property that are much smaller, planted last year as strap leaf seedlings, and getting another 3G next week.  So in total I'll have six of these!  Will be fun to watch them put on some size this year.

And by the way... this palm above is NOT Brazoria.  I have two of this mystery palm in my yard and they were being sold as Sabal 'minor' possibly var 'Louisiana' back in the day out of Florida... huge specimens in big 30-55 gallon white bags.  I first saw them at raintree nursery in Silverton Oregon, bought two, and then ended up returning them because we ended up moving to Louisiana before I could plant them.  Knowing Sabal minor notoriously does not transplant at large sizes, I wonder how many of these big bagged specimens actually lived.  Then on our move to Louisiana, we stopped at a little hobbiest-level nursery in Tyler, Texas and purchased a 3-gallon version of this same palm.  He also noted the source of these 'Louisiana' variant was a grower out of Florida who sold many in large white bags.  In my opinion is way too costapalmate for typical Sabal 'Louisana'.  Also, no matter how heavy the snow/wind load these fronds never will break downward at the hastula the way "Louisiana' and 'Brazoria' will.   These are extremely heavily built palms-- way stiffer and stouter than my mexicanas, which are a massive palm in their own right.  The leaves are more cold hardy than mexicana and palmetto but not as much so as Sabal minor or true "Brazoria'.  Seed stalks are straight up and held above the foliage like Sabal minor variants would do but seeds are a bit larger than normal minor but nowhere near the size of Sabal mexicana.  I tend to think this is either some sort of Triploid Sabal minor variant or a hybrid between sabal minor and a large Caribbean sabal.  Here is a photo of the larger of my two:

[NC-Key-Bar]

10 hours ago, ryjohn said:

And by the way... this palm above is NOT Brazoria.  I have two of this mystery palm in my yard and they were being sold as Sabal 'minor' possibly var 'Louisiana' back in the day out of Florida... huge specimens in big 30-55 gallon white bags.  I first saw them at raintree nursery in Silverton Oregon, bought two, and then ended up returning them because we ended up moving to Louisiana before I could plant them.  Knowing Sabal minor notoriously does not transplant at large sizes, I wonder how many of these big bagged specimens actually lived.  Then on our move to Louisiana, we stopped at a little hobbiest-level nursery in Tyler, Texas and purchased a 3-gallon version of this same palm.  He also noted the source of these 'Louisiana' variant was a grower out of Florida who sold many in large white bags.  In my opinion is way too costapalmate for typical Sabal 'Louisana'.  Also, no matter how heavy the snow/wind load these fronds never will break downward at the hastula the way "Louisiana' and 'Brazoria' will.   These are extremely heavily built palms-- way stiffer and stouter than my mexicanas, which are a massive palm in their own right.  The leaves are more cold hardy than mexicana and palmetto but not as much so as Sabal minor or true "Brazoria'.  Seed stalks are straight up and held above the foliage like Sabal minor variants would do but seeds are a bit larger than normal minor but nowhere near the size of Sabal mexicana.  I tend to think this is either some sort of Triploid Sabal minor variant or a hybrid between sabal minor and a large Caribbean sabal.  Here is a photo of the larger of my two:

How old is this palm? 

[ryjohn]

31 minutes ago, NC-Key-Bar said:

How old is this palm? 

18 years from a 3 gallon.  But understand things grow really fast down here.  Even normal Sabal minor reach gutter height in a few years from a small potted plant.

[Zeeth]

Here are some S. xbrazoriensis at Montgomery Botanical Center (forgive the picture quality, it was raining pretty heavily)

[Chester B]

Whatever your palm is it’s a beast.  The boots are very disorganized looking on it like what you see with most Sabal minor hybrids. 
 

Big Sabal brazoriensis at the John Fairey Garden. Seed stalks shorter than the fronds. 

[JohnAndSancho]

I wish I planted some of these out about 10 years ago 

[5am]

On 10/11/2025 at 8:18 AM, ryjohn said:

Here is a photo of the larger of my two:

How close is this to the house? I think you're too far inland to worry about tropical storms but do those big fronds ever damage the roof or gutter in high wind?

[ryjohn]

3 hours ago, 5am said:

How close is this to the house? I think you're too far inland to worry about tropical storms but do those big fronds ever damage the roof or gutter in high wind?

It’s plenty far away from the building so the drip line is not over the gutter.  The same can’t be said about the large filifera behind it, but is well above now.  And no it does not damage the roof/gutter.