Big Box Palms

[Chester B]

It's that time of the year that the big box stores here bring in their shipments of palms and tropicals.

Pretty basic selection but still nice to see.  The other big box also stocks pindos and I do see the odd Ch humilis cerifera

White and Orange bird of paradise

Washingtonia robusta and filibusta

Trachycarpus fortunei

Chaemerops humilis

Assorted cacti and agaves

Agave attenuata

Ensete maurelli

[PalmTreeDude]

Nice! I really hope we get Washingtonia robusta here again, I finally came up with a better method to protect them during the winter. 

[mdsonofthesouth]

I just hope we get big trachycarpus this year, but they usually start stocking cold hardy palms in late March early april. They have pindos, trachys, chamaerops, livistona chinenesis, Queens, Alexander's and a whole bunch of not so hard palms. But all I care about is big 7g+ trachycarpus. I already have a nice chamaerops and I'm keeping it to 1 of those and 1 small cerifera and rest of the palms I'll grow are trachycarpus, sabal minor and rhapidophyllum with my one oddball super protected palmetto. Keeping it simple from here on out in hopes I find the right trachy genes to work here.

 

Would be nice to get rhapidophyllums at the big box like some folks...but such is life.

Edited May 30, 2019 by mdsonofthesouth

[NC_Palms]

I'm super jealous that everyone's big box stores carry a diverse palm selection. The only palms that my local Lowe's carries are Chamaerops and that's about it.  I buy most of my palms from local nurseries and online. 

[Chester B]

For the non hardy palms they always carry pygymy date palms, majesty palms and occasionally coconuts.  I'm always on the look out for cerifera/argentea as those do get stocked on occassion with the regular green meds at the same price.

[RJ]

10 hours ago, NC_Palms said:

I'm super jealous that everyone's big box stores carry a diverse palm selection. The only palms that my local Lowe's carries are Chamaerops and that's about it.  I buy most of my palms from local nurseries and online. 

I have found that unless you're right along the coast the big box stores in the SE sell very few palms. We do get Pindo's and Med fan palms but other then that nothing more exotic except for majesty palms for indoors.  Folks around here for the most part have very little to no interest in palms.  The selection is decent with the local nurseries but still with only the addition of Trachy's and larger pindo's and of course full size Sabal's. 

 

 

[Chester B]

Can't find Sabals in the PNW to save my life.  I've seen one for sale in a 1 gallon pot and snatched it up immediately.  The second Sabal I got was by chance as I was asking the owner of the local palm nursery owner about them, and he remembered he had two in another greenhouse that were leftovers that he brought in for a job down on the beach in Southern Oregon.  One was on its last legs the other made it home with me.  Aside from that they are pretty much a mail order, or grown from seed palm for me.

[cm05]

I actually just bought a nice-sized (3.5 gallon) Butia odorata at Walmart a couple of weeks ago, there was only one left and I got it at a discount. Big box stores here typically only sell Majesty Palms, it was my first time seeing a Butia.

Two years ago I scored a large Phoenix roebelenii (3 feet of trunk) for only $26 at Lowe’s. And some Home Depot’s here occasionally carry a small selection of Chinese Fan Palms, a variety of Chamadoreas, Fishtail Palms, and Queen Palms in the spring/summer...all larger than I have space for. The selection is different at each location with each store getting only a handful of palms.

[mdsonofthesouth]

@NC_Palms check around, most big box stores are sparse selection but there are select few that stock everything. Not all big box nurseries are equal. Ill be making a purchase of sabal minors and rhapidophyllum once they are more available.

Edited June 5, 2019 by mdsonofthesouth

[NC_Palms]

23 hours ago, mdsonofthesouth said:

@NC_Palms check around, most big box stores are sparse selection but there are select few that stock everything. Not all big box nurseries are equal. Ill be making a purchase of sabal minors and rhapidophyllum once they are more available.

I've been searching around and I haven't found anything yet. We only have Lowe's nearby but I think Home Depot may have better palm selections. Unfortunately the closest Home Depot is an hour and a half away in Raleigh, so next time I am out that way I plan checking those stores out. 

[Chester B]

Lowes around here have already sold out the palms they brought in this year.  HD probably still has them, as they brought in much more.

[mdsonofthesouth]

On 6/6/2019 at 6:10 PM, NC_Palms said:

I've been searching around and I haven't found anything yet. We only have Lowe's nearby but I think Home Depot may have better palm selections. Unfortunately the closest Home Depot is an hour and a half away in Raleigh, so next time I am out that way I plan checking those stores out. 

Not a fan of Lowe's and mine don't carry anything but super tropical and fragile palms if any at all.

[palmsOrl]

The Home Depot and Lowe’s in the part of Pennsylvania I lived carried Dypsis lutescens, Chamaedorea cataractum, Chamaedorea elegans, Ravenna rivularis, Adonidia, Wodyetia bifurcata and even what I think was small Archontophoenix in a mixed pot with Mandevilla.  

Clearly, the intended use was as house plants or porch annuals.  Perhaps they don’t consider Trachycarpus, Sabal minor and Rhapidophyllum hystrix as marketable as the more showy tropical palms and not quite cold hardy enough to sell in zone 6b-7a as permanent plantings either.

[NC_Palms]

8 hours ago, palmsOrl said:

The Home Depot and Lowe’s in the part of Pennsylvania I lived carried Dypsis lutescens, Chamaedorea cataractum, Chamaedorea elegans, Ravenna rivularis, Adonidia, Wodyetia bifurcata and even what I think was small Archontophoenix in a mixed pot with Mandevilla.  

Clearly, the intended use was as house plants or porch annuals.  Perhaps they don’t consider Trachycarpus, Sabal minor and Rhapidophyllum hystrix as marketable as the more showy tropical palms and not quite cold hardy enough to sell in zone 6b-7a as permanent plantings either.

Speaking of Pennsylvania, the Longwood Gardens in zone 7a have Sabal minor planted outside.

Still funny to think about palms in Pennsylvania though lol. I grew up there and it gets brutally cold.

 

[palmsOrl]

I saw those when I was there, if any palms would survive in the ground in inland SE PA, it would be Sabal minor.

[kinzyjr]

1 hour ago, palmsOrl said:

I saw those when I was there, if any palms would survive in the ground in inland SE PA, it would be Sabal minor.

This article about Mark Glicksman's Rhapidophyllum hystrix in Glenside, PA was always one of my favorite about palms in SE PA: http://www.bg-map.com/hardiplm.html