Palms along highway

[NC_Palms]

Does your state's DOT plant palms along the highways and roadsides?

[paquicuba]

47 minutes ago, NC_Palms said:

Does your state's DOT plant palms along the highways and roadsides?

I think a better question for us here in South Florida would be, besides palms what other trees does the DOT plant along highways and roadsides?

[kinzyjr]

1 hour ago, NC_Palms said:

Does your state's DOT plant palms along the highways and roadsides?

We do, but public pressure over poor choices as far as palm selection and maintenance crews may soon put an end to that.

https://www.abcactionnews.com/news/local-news/i-team-investigates/palms-planted-under-florida-dots-multi-million-dollar-landscaping-plan-dying-from-disease

31 minutes ago, paquicuba said:

I think a better question for us here in South Florida would be, besides palms what other trees does the DOT plant along highways and roadsides?

Here, the various types of date palms that are dying are being replaced with crepe myrtles or eucalyptus.

[NC_Palms]

8 minutes ago, kinzyjr said:

Here, the various types of date palms that are dying are being replaced with crepe myrtles or eucalyptus.

 

I don't know why Southerners love crepe myrtles so much. They are extremely overused here. People here tend to think crepe myrtles are more appropriate than palms in the landscape. Even though we have two native palms and zero native crepe myrtles! 

[kinzyjr]

1 minute ago, NC_Palms said:

I don't know why Southerners love crepe myrtles so much. They are extremely overused here. People here tend to think crepe myrtles are more appropriate then palms in the landscape. Even though we have two native palms and zero native crepe myrtles! 

My neighbors have them.  They are relatively cheap and trouble-free, which is important if you don't get around like you used to.  They do have showy flowers after a chilly winter.  Imagine having a crepe myrtle less than 15 yards from a bed of Jamaican Tall coconut palms LOL.

As far as non-palms, I prefer the live oaks and southern magnolias as trees in the landscape.  For smaller trees, laurel oak is a decent choice here.  One of my neighbors has one and I can see why they use it instead of live oak.  On a smaller lot, you have a lot less maintenance before a tropical storm and less chance of it getting blown over on your house.  For shrubs, it's hard to beat podocarpus, sea grapes, and a few other fairly dense bushes for blocking wind.  If nothing else, these choices allow me to grow ... more palms 

[RJ]

3 hours ago, NC_Palms said:

I don't know why Southerners love crepe myrtles so much. They are extremely overused here. People here tend to think crepe myrtles are more appropriate than palms in the landscape. Even though we have two native palms and zero native crepe myrtles! 

I agree, And the ones at my current place sucker profusely. There are so many options living in a Z8+, especially coming from a 4b/5a. When I lived up north I had a pretty small pool of stuff I could grow around my house. Down here it seams like I have endless options. And the list of oaks and maples I can grow is almost endless. 

[PalmatierMeg]

I went through a "crepe myrtle phase" on my garden lot and planted a number of varieties. The tiny dwarfs couldn't hack the climate soil but larger ones did so well they became year round pruning nightmares. Many of them also developed black sooty mold on their leaves due to consistently high humidity. After I developed vestibular migraines and blood pressure issues I couldn't keep up with the constant pruning, so yanked all of them out except for two large queen crepe myrtles my husband wants to keep. I replaced them with several varieties of uber dwarf Sabal minors. I'd rather have palms anyway, which are a lot less work in the long run.

[redant]

This was the start of a palmy project where the I95 interchange is in Jupiter, It's now finished and much more lush, lots of really nice palms for a DOT project including some big mules.  https://www.google.com/maps/@26.9346901,-80.1514784,3a,75y,60.14h,74.64t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1ss7liMJDbxydmy1cdZ7SU_w!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

[Mr.SamuraiSword]

as a new englander I can say no to the original question lol

[RJ]

39 minutes ago, Mr.SamuraiSword said:

as a new englander I can say no to the original question lol

Once they put your tolls in they will 

[NC_Palms]

13 hours ago, PalmatierMeg said:

I went through a "crepe myrtle phase" on my garden lot and planted a number of varieties. The tiny dwarfs couldn't hack the climate soil but larger ones did so well they became year round pruning nightmares. Many of them also developed black sooty mold on their leaves due to consistently high humidity. After I developed vestibular migraines and blood pressure issues I couldn't keep up with the constant pruning, so yanked all of them out except for two large queen crepe myrtles my husband wants to keep. I replaced them with several varieties of uber dwarf Sabal minors. I'd rather have palms anyway, which are a lot less work in the long run.

I keep my car parked under a huge crepe myrtle and whenever I wake up the car would be covered in pollen, petals and little seeds. Definitely on the dirtier side. 

13 hours ago, redant said:

This was the start of a palmy project where the I95 interchange is in Jupiter, It's now finished and much more lush, lots of really nice palms for a DOT project including some big mules.  https://www.google.com/maps/@26.9346901,-80.1514784,3a,75y,60.14h,74.64t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1ss7liMJDbxydmy1cdZ7SU_w!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

Looks like the mules planted on the Florida - Alabama border look mediocre. I am guessing they defoliated from the past winter. 

https://www.google.com/maps/@30.5729773,-87.4105752,3a,30.3y,8.46h,86.4t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sVcsHkj-pf1qAEdMvMVDt-A!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

12 hours ago, RJ said:

Once they put your tolls in they will 

AHAHAHA 

[Silas_Sancona]

Here in the Desert, local Dot will use Date palms, though for the most part, its trees like Eucalyptus( Ghost, or Snow Gum specifically), various Mesquite cultivars, Sweet Acacia, and Palo Verde you'll see as you drive local highways. Strangely enough, you'll also see Live Oak being used in some parts of town.. Seems a bit out of place personally.. and, aside from a few i have seen, most don't look all that great. 

Came across a bit of a head-scratcher while on my way to price gravel for a project earlier in the week.. Seems someone got the bright idea while designing a new street median design just south of Downtown Chandler using Date palms and Tipuana tipu, placed fairly close together.. I get using the Dates ( I'd have chosen Mules, one of the Brahea sp, or maybe Sabal uresana myself ) but Tipu get big and i can't imagine them looking all that great, esp. through our summers, if they have to be constantly trimmed to keep them smaller.. They could have used trees that tend to stay smaller like Texas Olive, Fern Tree (Lysiloma watsonii) among other choices.  Use of Dwf. Poinciana, Tecoma stans, and yer' typical, "Barbra Karst-type Bougainvillea, shaped into a ball is pretty standard for shrub-type stuff along the highways.. Kind of surprised Saguaro aren't used more often around here either. 

[Surfrider14]

Where I am in St Johns County, South of Jax, almost all of the I-95 interchanges are filled with sabal palmettos. Depending on the interchange, some are uniformly planted, and some appear as if they just threw the palms in the ground with no rhyme or reason. Either way, I can’t complain, they are better than the live oaks and bald cypress they seem to love to plant over the place. 

https://goo.gl/maps/U4nR86qoNmP2

https://goo.gl/maps/E9ZQw2XtqtD2

[Pal Meir]

Livistona chinensis along road side in Naha/Okinawa in 1987:

[PalmatierMeg]

Here in Cape Coral medians on major roads are often planted with royals and foxtails as ubiquitous "boulevard palms". Problem is, the City plants them but allocates no budget for caring for them. Most of them develop severe nutritional problems from lack of fertilization, i.e., frizzle top, penciling, frond stunting, that ultimately lead to unsightliness and death. Foxtails as non-natives do poorly in our alkaline, sandy soil anyway so lack of care is a death sentence for them.

In a few of the Cape's medians someone put a bit more thought into landscaping by using native palms. That includes not only the State tree, Sabal palmetto, but also Thrinax radiata, Acoelorraphe wrightii and Serenoa repens (green & silver). Larger T.r. have a relaxed elegance I find appealing.