Zone 10 Palms in the Orlando Area Mega Thread

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Nice pics as always Eric!

[Eric in Orlando]

Some more palms in the College Park area near downtown Orlando. 

Archontophoenix alexandrae 

[Eric in Orlando]

Dypsis decaryi

[Eric in Orlando]

Roystonea regia 

[Eric in Orlando]

Roystonea regia behind the house. Nice Wodyetia in the front. 

[Jimbean]

It looks like you are walking through a Brevard county neighborhood, like Rockledge or something.

[pj_orlando_z9b]

On 3/19/2019 at 8:42 AM, Eric in Orlando said:

Some more palms in the College Park area near downtown Orlando. 

Archontophoenix alexandrae 

Those are huge. Looks like they've been there a while. Nice. 

[pj_orlando_z9b]

Large royals in Belle Isle. The brown is last year's damage growing out.

[Eric in Orlando]

11 hours ago, pj_orlando_z9b said:

Those are huge. Looks like they've been there a while. Nice. 

They have been there about 20 years.

[Jimbean]

now you just need stranger figs here and there and you got yourself a Brevard neighborhood) 

[Eric in Orlando]

4 hours ago, Jimbean said:

now you just need stranger figs here and there and you got yourself a Brevard neighborhood) 

I see a few around in palms growing. There is one in a Sabal palmetto I drive by or near every day in Winter Park. I'll get a pic.

[Eric in Orlando]

I planted these palms in 2004 (the week before Hurricane Charley). They are at the Methodist Church in Winter Park off Park Ave. Archontophoenix cunninghamiana and a Pandanus furcatus. 

[Eric in Orlando]

I also planted this Roystonea borinquena in 2004. It was about 3ft tall and should be a lot bigger. It suffered from no irrigation and nutrient deficiencies for years but is finally looking better . 

[ck_in_fla]

5 hours ago, Eric in Orlando said:

I planted these palms in 2004 (the week before Hurricane Charley). They are at the Methodist Church in Winter Park off Park Ave. Archontophoenix cunninghamiana and a Pandanus furcatus. 

It's too bad that Archontophoenix cunninghamiana aren't used more in the Orlando area.  If sited properly, they should do fine.  Unfortunately, they are not commonly available.  I suspect, if they were more readily available, we would see them more.  The two you planted at the church are magnificent!  At that size, I suspect they have seeded.

[RedRabbit]

7 hours ago, Eric in Orlando said:

I planted these palms in 2004 (the week before Hurricane Charley). They are at the Methodist Church in Winter Park off Park Ave. Archontophoenix cunninghamiana and a Pandanus furcatus. 

If I didn’t know better, I would have guessed these pictures were taken in SoCal or Andalusia.

[Eric in Orlando]

On 3/22/2019 at 11:36 AM, Jimbean said:

now you just need stranger figs here and there and you got yourself a Brevard neighborhood) 

Here is one growing in a Sabal palmetto in Winter Park near Florida Hospital. 

[pj_orlando_z9b]

Coconuts and Dypsis at Discovery Cove. Yeah, I know this is sort of cheating at least for the coconuts as they have protected them when needed but they still look great.

[Eric in Orlando]

Good to see coconuts still therr. They were planted before the 2009-10 winter and are getting tall. They do heat them but still lost some after that winter. 

[Eric in Orlando]

Dypsis leptocheilos and 2 young Kentiopsis near Leu Gardens. They also have Archontophoenix cunninghamiana and A. alexandrae growing too. 

[Jimbean]

3 hours ago, Eric in Orlando said:

Here is one growing in a Sabal palmetto in Winter Park near Florida Hospital. 

IMO those are a good indicator of a warm 9B.  Good find!

Edited March 25, 2019 by Jimbean

[pj_orlando_z9b]

One more pic. Been practicing with my GoPro and really like the diversity of life in one shot. More coconuts at DC. 

[pj_orlando_z9b]

Not a palm but what looks like calathea zebrina. I just started one this last year. Did terrible in my house (lost all leaves with none regrowing) ut is regrowing nicely from the roots on my patio.

Edited March 25, 2019 by pj_orlando_z9b

[palmsOrl]

Archontophoenix in downtown Orlando in the Thornton Park area.

[Eric in Orlando]

2 hours ago, pj_orlando_z9b said:

Not a palm but what looks like calathea zebrina. I just started one this last year. Did terrible in my house (lost all leaves with none regrowing) ut is regrowing nicely from the roots on my patio.

Calathea zebrina needs shade and evenly moist soil. It can be finicky until it gets established. It absoutely hates any dryness. But it is a hardier Calathea that will grow, gets burnt below about 29-30F but grows back.

[Eric in Orlando]

34 minutes ago, palmsOrl said:

Archontophoenix in downtown Orlando in the Thornton Park area.

Awhile back some palm collectors lived there and there were other Archontophoenix alexandrae and A. cunninghamiana in back by the pool along with taller Chambeyronia and Dypsis leptocheilos. Also a nice Hyphaene in front and Acrocomia and others. The new "developers-destroyers" cleared the yard and put much more interesting turf.

[Eric in Orlando]

A couple houses in Winter Park with Roystonea regia . The first house is a long corner lot and has probably a dozen or so as street trees. 

[Eric in Orlando]

Lots of flowering age Wodyetia around but this is a great planting in Winter Park., a big multi trunk clump. 

[palmsOrl]

1 hour ago, Eric in Orlando said:

A couple houses in Winter Park with Roystonea regia . The first house is a long corner lot and has probably a dozen or so as street trees. 

Yes!  I was just going to post this one as I drive it frequently on the way to a relative’s.  There is another home about a mile away with a line of royals about the size of those.  It is located on a small lake.

Those Seaworld Cocos look phenomenal, professionally protected or not.

This house has a really nice triple Ptychosperma elegans that is producing an inflorescence.  It is hard to see in the photo, it is in front of the left side of the house.  This is also Thornton Park.

[Jimbean]

1 hour ago, Eric in Orlando said:

A couple houses in Winter Park with Roystonea regia . The first house is a long corner lot and has probably a dozen or so as street trees. 

yep, that looks like a Brevard neighborhood with the juvenile royals, decent size schefflera, with full clusters of Dypsis and a strangler fig or two.  

Are these pictures taken within, say, a square mile of Orlando, or are these examples spread out and more or less isolated?  

[Mr.SamuraiSword]

1 hour ago, Eric in Orlando said:

A couple houses in Winter Park with Roystonea regia . The first house is a long corner lot and has probably a dozen or so as street trees. 

Those sabals in the first pic are quite tall!  

[palmsOrl]

1 hour ago, Jimbean said:

yep, that looks like a Brevard neighborhood with the juvenile royals, decent size schefflera, with full clusters of Dypsis and a strangler fig or two.  

Are these pictures taken within, say, a square mile of Orlando, or are these examples spread out and more or less isolated?  

Those pictures are taken in Winter Park, a suburb adjacent to and just north of downtown.  I would say the houses in question are roughly 3 miles north of downtown.  This is not unusual at all in the Winter Park/Orlando area anymore,  though you see far, far more large trunking foxtails than royals of any size.  I think this will gradually change though.

[palmsOrl]

On 3/25/2019 at 8:17 AM, Eric in Orlando said:

Here is one growing in a Sabal palmetto in Winter Park near Florida Hospital. 

Regarding the Florida strangler fig, Ficus aurea, the Atlas of Florida Plants shows the species’ native range to reach Volusia County on the East Coast and as far north as Osceola County just inland.  Clearly the species’ native range has expanded well into Orange County, north Orange County in-fact (Winter Park).

Since the occasional specimen seen in the area clearly wasn’t intentionally planted, (with rare exceptions perhaps) it should be considered to have expanded its native range.  The area has clearly been getting showered with seed from birds for ages and now, with the urban heat island, the climate has allowed more than just an extremely rare individual to survive.  As Eric has mentioned many times, Orlando and Winter Park have long been a warm spot, but the fact that it hasn’t historically been vouchered in Orange County indicates that the climate of Winter Park and Orlando has warmed even further.

[Eric in Orlando]

19 minutes ago, palmsOrl said:

Those pictures are taken in Winter Park, a suburb adjacent to and just north of downtown.  I would say the houses in question are roughly 3 miles north of downtown.  This is not unusual at all in the Winter Park/Orlando area anymore,  though you see far, far more large trunking foxtails than royals of any size.  I think this will gradually change though.

The older neighborhood areas in the cores of Orlando and Winter Park have always been warm locations with all the lakes and old Southern Live Oak canopy. The photos I have taken are scattered around, not in one location.

[Eric in Orlando]

9 minutes ago, palmsOrl said:

Regarding the Florida strangler fig, Ficus aurea, the Atlas of Florida Plants shows the species’ native range to reach Volusia County on the East Coast and as far north as Osceola County just inland.  Clearly the species’ native range has expanded well into Orange County, north Orange County in-fact (Winter Park).

Since the occasional specimen seen in the area clearly wasn’t intentionally planted, (with rare exceptions perhaps) it should be considered to have expanded its native range.  The area has clearly been getting showered with seed from birds for ages and now, with the urban heat island, the climate has allowed more than just an extremely rare individual to survive.  As Eric has mentioned many times, Orlando and Winter Park have long been a warm spot, but the fact that it hasn’t historically been vouchered in Orange County indicates that the climate of Winter Park and Orlando has warmed even further.

I have been told there are wild Ficus aurea on Disney property in wild areas, in far southern Orange County. There are also ones growing in the Disney Wilderness Preserve just south of Kissimmee near Poinciana but that is Osceola County.

In recent years I have seen them sprouting in the International Drive area near Universal Studios along I-4. and a big one that sprouted on a wall by I-Drive and Kirkman Rd. There are a couple big specimens that were planted in Jurassic Park so they are probably seeding. There is a big specimen at Disney's Polynesian Resort out in the luau area and there are quite a few seedlings that come up in that area.

[Jimbean]

Yeah I thought it was amazing to see them increasing both in number and size west of I-95.  Maybe if we go long enough without a major 1980's type freeze you might even start seeing gumbo limbo pop up here and there, like I have seen here.

[Eric in Orlando]

16 hours ago, Jimbean said:

Yeah I thought it was amazing to see them increasing both in number and size west of I-95.  Maybe if we go long enough without a major 1980's type freeze you might even start seeing gumbo limbo pop up here and there, like I have seen here.

That is one tree I wish people would plant here in the warmer areas. I planted one back in June 1998 here at Leu Gardens and it has grown great, full mature tree now. I grew it from cuttings I took from a wild specimen over on Merritt Island on Tropical Trail just south of the Pineda Causeway. It has taken to 27F with just leaf drop and very minor tip dieback. 

[Jimbean]

5 minutes ago, Eric in Orlando said:

That is one tree I wish people would plant here in the warmer areas. I planted one back in June 1998 here at Leu Gardens and it has grown great, full mature tree now. I grew it from cuttings I took from a wild specimen over on Merritt Island on Tropical Trail just south of the Pineda Causeway. It has taken to 27F with just leaf drop and very minor tip dieback. 

I saw one pop up west of I-95 about six months ago.  Unfortunately that area is now being developed and that gumbo limbo is no longer there.  

 

[Eric in Orlando]

And speaking of Ficus trees, here are some in Winter Park. 

Ficus altissima east of Lake Mizell

[Eric in Orlando]

Ficus religiosa in Kraft Azalea Park on the south side of Lake Maitland. This tree survived the 1880s freezes. The trunk remained but it had moderate canopy damage. 

[Eric in Orlando]

A Ficus microcarpa also in Kraft Azalea Park, along with a gnarled Melaleuca.