northern limits for cultivated Sabal palmetto (in the eastern US)

[PalmTreeDude]

On 3/19/2019 at 4:24 PM, Sabal_Louisiana said:

This is what I figure the arbitrary northern limits for the cultivation of S. palmetto would be like for the SE US.

That's pretty good, I know that once you get into South Carolina you'll see them planted well into the Piedmont without issue. 

[Brad Mondel]

They're everywhere in Anderson, Greenville, and Spartanburg counties if you look close. 

[yabazid]

2 hours ago, Brad Mondel said:

They're everywhere in Anderson, Greenville, and Spartanburg counties if you look close. 

yup guys I have many palms in anderson. check my posts!

[VA Jeff]

Here is an old google map photo of a palm that I planted almost 15 years ago at my old house in Yorktown, VA.  Sold to me as a sabal Riverside, planted as a 5 gallon.  This pic is from 2015.  It survived 2 degrees F, but it is sighted in front of a dryer vent, and I have a large family, thus lots of laundry.  Never protected otherwise.  Some winters most of the leaves turned brown, other winters not too much.

Edited April 18, 2019 by VA Jeff

[VA Jeff]

This palmetto is in Albemarle, NC zone 7b.  The woman who owns it said it is at least 25 years old, if I recall.  The seed came from a tree near Calabash, NC.  Never protected.  I got some seeds off it, but it suffered a bit of damage in the cold winter of 2017-18.  It's more robust than it looks in the picture, but slow growing for that age.

 

Edited April 24, 2019 by VA Jeff

[Mr.SamuraiSword]

On 4/17/2019 at 11:48 PM, VA Jeff said:

Here is an old google map photo of a palm that I planted almost 15 years ago at my old house in Yorktown, VA.  Sold to me as a sabal Riverside, planted as a 5 gallon.  This pic is from 2015.  It survived 2 degrees F, but it is sighted in front of a dryer vent, and I have a large family, thus lots of laundry.  Never protected otherwise.  Some winters most of the leaves turned brown, other winters not too much.

Looks like it pulled through 2018, House was sold in late 2018 again ..

[EastCanadaTropicals]

On 3/21/2019 at 11:11 AM, LasPalmerasDeMaryland said:

I'm planting a Sabal Palmetto ‘Mocksville’ this year. From what I’ve heard, to have the greatest success with palmetto, it should be planted when young so it gets acclimated to the climate. I’ve also heard that it’s hardiness is similar to Sabal Minor before it forms a trunk, but when the trunk starts to form, it’s definitely at least a zone 8a palm. I’m definitely protecting mine when I plant it. It’s my absolute favorite palm and although I would have to protect it every year, it’s worth it. 

I think the only place in MD where sabal palmetto can look good without protection is Crisfield or Pocomoke City. 

[Alex High]

On 1/31/2019 at 8:28 AM, Mr.SamuraiSword said:

georgia perhaps?

 

Georgia is close but the mountains and high elevations, which Florida and Louisiana lack, would probably be too cold for Sabal palmetto. Florida's highest point is 345 feet and Louisiana's is 535 feet, which Georgia's is 4,784.

Edited December 18, 2020 by PalmsUSA

[charlotte palm guy]

I have seen them in Greenville, SC and even Charlotte.  Some business have them in Charlotte so maybe imported as adults.  My neighbor planted 2 Palmettos and one has survived in Charlotte.

[VA Jeff]

As I said before, there are old palmettoes in much colder parts of NC than Charlotte.  Starting with NC ancestry would be a good start to finding hardy strains.  But they are slower growing and shorter at final height, compared to florida strains.

[EastCanadaTropicals]

On 1/30/2019 at 11:04 PM, Sabal_Louisiana said:

All those postings about the VA Beach Palmettos made me wonder. By my reckoning, I would say marginal from the southern tip of the Delmarva south and west to Raleigh to Charlotte to Atlanta to Birmingham then to the Mississippi Delta to around Texarkana.

Perhaps even a little north of this in favorable microclimate such as urban Little Rock and Memphis.

In other words, corresponding with the northern limits of CHZ 8 or wherever Sabal minor would occur naturally.

LA and FL would be the only states where it can be grown anywhere but MS and SC would come close.

Does this sound about 

On 3/19/2019 at 4:24 PM, Sabal_Louisiana said:

This is what I figure the arbitrary northern limits for the cultivation of S. palmetto would be like for the SE US.

They could theoretically be cultivated as far north as the small 8a part of Maryland.

 

Edited December 20, 2020 by EastCanadaTropicals

[Brad Mondel]

On 3/19/2019 at 4:24 PM, Sabal_Louisiana said:

This is what I figure the arbitrary northern limits for the cultivation of S. palmetto would be like for the SE US.

In SC they grow and naturalize up into Spartanburg and Greenville counties. There's a lot more palms just 30 mins south of Greenville though here in Anderson county. 

[Brad Mondel]

Spartanburg, SC

 

 

 

[EastCanadaTropicals]

On 3/21/2019 at 11:11 AM, LasPalmerasDeMaryland said:

I'm planting a Sabal Palmetto ‘Mocksville’ this year. From what I’ve heard, to have the greatest success with palmetto, it should be planted when young so it gets acclimated to the climate. I’ve also heard that it’s hardiness is similar to Sabal Minor before it forms a trunk, but when the trunk starts to form, it’s definitely at least a zone 8a palm. I’m definitely protecting mine when I plant it. It’s my absolute favorite palm and although I would have to protect it every year, it’s worth it. 

Baltimore has 8a microclimates

[EastCanadaTropicals]

On 2/9/2019 at 10:28 PM, NC_Palms said:

The coldest it got last year in Raleigh was 4°F, but most years the city won’t go below 10°F. 

I would imagine that your microclimate is similar to the NC piedmont. Just keep in mind that cold spells in 7b NC don’t last as long as they do in the Mid-Atlantic.

One thing about growing palms is that it never hurts to experiment. So go ahead and try a Sabal Uresana in Maryland, I just recommend that you plant it in a protected spot. You may also be able to grow Sabal palmetto, but I am not too sure how their hardiness compares to Sabal Uresana. Maybe someone can chime in on that one. 

 

The hardiness is pretty similar, the highlands Urseana might be a little bit harder.

[MARK96813]

Sabal trees are the only palm that consistently survives winters in Austin, TX. But they are awkward looking trees once the trunk develops 

[Zone7Bpalmguy]

Interesting thread. I haven't seen this before but here's my two cents.

Palmettos don't produce many fronds in a season, especially in the more northerly locations of the south. As opposed to windmill palms which can defoliate completely but look pretty much like a palm tree by years end. Having said that, for a palmetto to have a rough winter needs a good run of warmer winters (in colder locations) to replace the crown and not go into decline. There are a handful of palmettos in my area, some are hurricane cut and others were planted as larger containerized palms. To me they never look as good as a palmetto in the lower south (thinking Columbus GA or Columbia SC to name a few locations) because their crowns most always have less fronds and never look full.

For me, I'm not convinced that sabal bhi or Birmingham are any hardier than a regular strain of palmetto. To me, more importantly is to plant one that has been pot grown and not hurricane cut, for cold locations.

As to the area they would do better in. These locations must have long hot summers, days on end of 90'F plus temps with higher nighttime lows and rain throughout the growing season. Any climate without one or all of these characteristics will lessen the success of a palmetto.

[WSimpson]

I had a lot of success in Winston-Salem ( now 8A in the newest zone map )  just 1.5 hour drive west from Raleigh , but 2018 took them out except for my Tifton Hardy palmetto . My 2 biggest palmettos were trunking and flowering . Gary Hollar of Gary's Nursery said that that cold spell in 2018 was a 100 year event where it was below 32F for 8 days here  . The lowest Low was 7F , which is what they say a Palmetto can survive , but it hit 7F twice and it evidently needed to thaw out during the day , which it didn't for way too long . I easily could've protected the trunks but thought they could handle that kind of cold . 

 

My newest HC Palmetto below . If it looks a little beat up it was due to scale that I have successfully eradicated . It has a lot of  inflorescences that might actually become pretty showy soon . I got this palm from Lloyds Nursery in Wilmington , NC . It was supposedly sourced from Northern Florida Palmettos , which might be a little hardier than ones from South  Florida ?

 

 

 

 

[WSimpson]

On 3/24/2019 at 5:05 PM, PalmTreeDude said:

That's pretty good, I know that once you get into South Carolina you'll see them planted well into the Piedmont without issue. 

I do see pictures of Sabal palmetto in SE Virginia ,  but I've noticed that most of the ones near the beach are beat up from wind and storms , combined with just a little too  much cold sometimes  , I assume . I bet there are some nice ones in more protected microclimates in the SE Virginia area . 

[NC-Key-Bar]

There is a really nice patch across from the ECU campus that are volunteers from a 2018 survivor. Greenville, NC

https://maps.app.goo.gl/7oLx7CQ829EtduVt9