Turning a Water Oak Forest into a Tropical Paradise in NW Orlando

[kinzyjr]

14 hours ago, Maddox Gardening-youtube said:

Did any of your palms survive? My little coconut is green but quit pushing growth on the spear. But my mango Barbados cherry, avocado, and star fruit all survived the 23.

Yes, I posted my updated report here:

https://www.palmtalk.org/forum/topic/92659-2026_02-florida-palmageddon-observations-and-damage-photo-thread/?page=8#findComment-1254265

[Merlyn]

Here's one of those really weird cycad things...90% of the fronds on the Encephalartos Whitelockii (right) and Cycas Diannanensis (left) are burnt to a crisp.  

I pruned off all the D-E-D stuff, and found two completely pristine fronds...not a hint of even leaf damage!  These aren't the only cycads I've seen do this.  It's like they decided that this ONE FROND was going to survive!

[Merlyn]

This big Encephalartos Hildebrandtii also got completely burned.  But the Dioon Rzedowskii in the bottom right looks like nothing happened!  The Attalea Butyracea on the right side took about 50% damage but should pull through.

And after pruning it has about 6 great looking fronds, and a new flush starting on the offset.  They flush bronze, so it it hard to spot.

Just around the corner one of my big Beccariophoenix Alfredii just opened up a new frond!  The tips of the new frond are a touch burnt, but otherwise it looks great!  Below it from left to right are an Encephalartos Kisambo with 2 or 3 short fronds in good shape, a Natalensis "Oribi Gorge" with no damage, and a Turneri "Boila" that took about 75% burn.

These are the Encephalartos after pruning, with a new flush in an Encephalartos Chimanimaniensis "Choala" circled in the lower left:

And this is what it looked like before, with the photo taken from the right side of the above one:

[TropicsEnjoyer]

You’ve got a lot of free mulch at least 🙃. Once everything picks up the pace your garden will start to feel a lot more lively. It’s disheartening to see everything so brown but live moves forward, which i’m sure you already know.

[Merlyn]

On 3/31/2026 at 11:02 PM, TropicsEnjoyer said:

You’ve got a lot of free mulch at least 🙃. Once everything picks up the pace your garden will start to feel a lot more lively. It’s disheartening to see everything so brown but live moves forward, which i’m sure you already know.

I finished up most of the backyard, and have a LOT of free mulch.  This stuff is ridiculously stabby.  I spread it all around the main rear and SW beds...I bet the local bear won't like it much!  I've started calling this the World's Meanest Mulch(TM).    

Here's the center backyard before pruning:

And after pruning and taking out most of the weeds:

There's a Copernicia Fallaensis on the right of center, just behind the Sabal Lisa.  It took 100% burn, but just opened up a brand new frond.  The small Beccariophoenix Alfredii triple in the center back are probably all D-E-D.  Two of three spear pulled with 100% frond burn.  I'll probably yank these and replace them instead of waiting to watch them turn to mush. 

The Encephalartos Gratus (bottom left) and triple Ituriensis/Whitelockii (behind the Fallaensis) provided a good 20+ foot diameter layer of the World's Meanest Mulch(TM).  I made it by clipping off the ~10' tall frond and then using the hand pruners/loppers to just knock the leaves off the rachis:

I'm impressed by the Fallaensis.  The new fan was a growing spear during the cold front, and looks almost perfect.  The old fans were burnt, but the stems/petioles are mostly green.  There's another green spear tip about halfway up the left side of the below photo.  Despite not being super "leaf hardy" the palm skated right through 22.5F...

 

[Merlyn]

And in the SW corner I cleaned up another big area of free World's Meanest Mulch(TM).  From left to right an Encephalartos Laurentianus, Cycas Diannanensis, Encephalartos Ferox (totally green!), an Attalea Brejinhoensis, and a burnt Encephalartos Hildebrandtii.  Not really visible is a Lepidozamia Peroffskyana, just behind the Diannanensis.  The stems of a Cycas Multipinnata are barely visible on the right:

And after cutting back all the dead stuff, you can see the Peroffskyana looks remarkably unscathed.  It had maybe 50% burn and is flushing now.  Likewise the Ferox already has a nice flush of lime green leaves.  The Hildebrandtii is just getting started on a new flush.  The Attalea doesn't look all that great, but has two new spears growing.  Both have some burnt tan leaves, but are nice and green near the bottom.

To the right of that are a leaf-burned tall Cycas Multipinnata (green stems), Arenga Engleri, Encephalartos Ferox double, a mostly untouched Micholitzii, and on the bottom right a Mast Tree and Dioon Rzedowskii that look like nothing even happened!  Both of those took complete defoliation with frosts around 27-28F, but didn't seem to mind 22.5F and wind...go figure!

And this is what I mean by spiky!  It's a Ferox leaf full of 1/2" long thorns, and easily goes through the rubber gloves:

[palmfriend]

Hi there.

Just checked in after quite a while and pulled up your thread first. Jesus, you garden took a real blow but since I "know" your 'palmtalk cv' because of this remarkable documentation I have no doubt that you will keep going with your great work.

All the best from Okinawa -

Lars

[kinzyjr]

@Merlyn You forgot the documentation of digging all of the spines out of your hands and forearms after a day of trimming.  😁

One thing for sure - neither of us should have an issue with airflow this year.

[FlaPalmLover]

Beautiful fronds on the sabal Lisa.

[Jdash]

wow, great update. very impressed with how that dioon Rzedowskii, fallaensis and surviving beccario performed. do you have any butia hybrids planted out? it is nice to see cycads getting ready to flush out!

[Merlyn]

On 4/8/2026 at 8:16 AM, Jdash said:

wow, great update. very impressed with how that dioon Rzedowskii, fallaensis and surviving beccario performed. do you have any butia hybrids planted out? it is nice to see cycads getting ready to flush out!

It does look like all the big Alfredii survived, and the small ones (under 3' tall in ground) all might die.  The ~20' tall Alfredii outside my window just opened up a new green spear over the past week.  The upper leaflets might have a touch of tip damage from the cold, but are otherwise perfect.  

I do have quite a few Butia and Butia hybrids.  As expected, the Butia didn't even notice the cold.  Likewise a Mule, a JxB and a BxJ were undamaged.  Two Butia x Lytocaryum Weddelliana were basically undamaged.  One of them ended up with the top of the new spear dying, but it's hard to say if it was from cold or from high winds.  It just sort of broke off, but is pushing the remains out from below.  Here's the BxJ with a good crop of weeds...

Shockingly enough, this Arenga Westerhoutii I was absolutely certain was mush.  I was already trying to figure out a replacement.  On Monday I noticed this new frond opening up.  It's tattered and small, but maybe it'll pull through...

Likewise, this Arenga Pinnata was 100% defoliated, but there's a new green spear pushing out!  The two bigger Pinnatas are still TBD, but have recovered from defoliation at least 2 or 3 times each.  So I'm hopeful.  I'm less enthusiastic about the immature Eastern Lubbers on the fronds...

[Merlyn]

The Encephalartos Hildebrandtii sucker's flush is going pretty well, and the main trunk has a good 4 to 6 visible leaf flush going too.  In the background the Munchii has a nice 8-10 leaf flush about halfway done.  So this area will soon look like a garden again, instead of a warzone!

Speaking of warzones, this is the front NW corner before pruning everything back:

And after pruning.  In this area I lost a pair of Ravenea Hildebrandtii, a Ptychosperma Elegans, a pair of Cyphophoenix Nucele, and a Gaussia Princeps.  Everything else in the area looks like it'll grow back.  Surprisingly enough a pair of Syagrus Schizophylla, a clump of 3 Ptychosperma Salomonense (well...2 out of 3 trunks...that ain't bad!) and a Copernicia Hospita all look in survivable condition.

[Merlyn]

Just to the left of that corner is more carnage, but the majority of that is a multi-headed Cycas Edentata/Litoralis and a monster Encephalartos Whitelockii:

The after view is pretty bare, and also covered with a solid inch of the World's Meanest Mulch(TM) from the Whitelockii.  The Attalea Cohune double in the center both are pushing new green spears.  The current deaths in this area are on the left hand side: 2 out of 3 Chambeyronia Macrocarpa (2 Hookeri dead, 1 Watermelon with a solid spear); a pair of Dypsis/Chrysalidocarpus Basilonga, and in the background a triple Archontophoenix Cunninghamiana.  The three small Alfredii haven't spear pulled...yet.  I'm not sure if they'll survive.  Others like a Wallichia Oblongifolia/Densiflora in the bottom left side lost the bigger fronds but still has a sucker growing green.

Just like the small Arenga Westerhoutii, this tiny Attalea Speciosa (from @NatureGirl through @Jdash) was defoliated but just opened up a tiny new leaf!

And near the front door I took this photo after chopping off the Encephalartos Ituriensis fronds:

And afterwards it's looking pretty bare.  I removed a Spindle with 6' of clear trunk, a trunking Archontophoenix Alexandrae and Maxima and double Cunninghamiana, and a triple Gaussia Princeps.  On the left side the leaning Beccariophoenix Fenestralis is questionable, but still has a solid spear.  The big Ficus Auriculata trunks are bare but there's sprouts at the bottom.  The Arenga Hookeriana in the bottom right is also questionable.  It had some ground level leaves on a sucker, but they are not in good shape.  But there's new flushes in the Cycas on the right and another Diannanensis behind the toasty Ficus Lyrata.

[kinzyjr]

@Merlyn You've been a busy bee this spring.  After whatever decides it wants to live comes back, you should be in good shape as far as spacing goes.  If there are some holes that need filled, the sale at St. Johns should help.  

[Merlyn]

@kinzyjr I've probably posted 1/3 of the yard stuff so far, and that doesn't even include all the attic insulation, drywall stuff and other fun home maintenance tasks...I need a vacation!

Fortunately some of my questionable palms are looking promising!  The NE and E side Arenga Pinnata are both opening up new spears.  On this one I snipped away the spiky protective fibers on the lower left spear.  This exposed about 2 feet of the only visibly alive stuff, and it turned from yellow to green in a couple of days.  Now the right side spear (olive drab) actually looks pretty good and is about to open!

Along the pathway another defoliated Arenga Pinnata lost 1 spear (bent in half) but the other is opening in the middle of the dead stuff.  The NW small Pinnata also has an open new leaf, so all three might just make it:

And just next to it, a spear-pulled Elaeis Guineensis is pushing two new decent-looking spears!  I guess the one frond in the background was just barely enough to keep it going.  I haven't seen actual green spear movement on my "Whole Leaf" mutant Elaeis yet, but the old spears are still in there reasonably well.  It also looks like it might be pushing up some new spears with dead tips, so I'm hopeful!

Probably 90% of my cycads are flushing now, and most of the rest look pretty solid and "thinking about it."  This photo is typical of the yard right now, with an unknown Encephalartos Horridus x ??? hybrid in the bottom finishing a flush, a Cycas Guizhouensis in the middle, and a Dioon Spinulosum with a lime green 7 leaf flush in the upper background.  Unfortunately the weeds love it too...

Even some stuff that I'd written off as D-E-D might pull through.  I probably jumped the gun on taking out some Gaussia Princeps, but they were painfully slow growing anyway.  This Attalea Phalerata pushed out a bit of the older spear and opened a couple of leaves, and has a stub of a new spear just visible:

Near the Phalerata in the backyard center, here's a three-fer of new flushes.  Encephalartos Gratus in the bottom right, Gratus x Laurentianus in the upper left, and Manikensis in the center top.  The small circled Alfredii triple's days are numbered.  The small one is full green, but the right one just spear pulled and the left isn't visibly doing anything.  It has a solid spear, just no growth.  I'm already thinking about a replacement for this prime center-of-the-backyard spot:

[Merlyn]

Here's a few more flushes turning my garden back from brown to green!  In the upper right both Pygmy Dates appear to be growing back fine, with complete sets of fronds.  On the left middle an unknown "big green Encephalartos" is flushing.  It could be an Equatorialis or just natural variation of Ituriensis/Whitelockii.  Just behind it the big one is a Gratus x Laurentianus.  Common Zamia Furfuracea are flushing bronze in the middle.  In the foreground a Sclavoi x Ituriensis has 5 leaves going, and in the bottom center a Natalensis x Horridus has 5 finished leaves.  Just to the bottom right is a Horridus x Natalensis with 3 new fronds in process.  Not really visible behind the Pygmy Dates are a couple of Zamia Vasquezii and Picta also flushing.  Also not really visible is a double-coning Cycas Simplicipinna on the other side of the path from the Gratus x Laurentianus.  So this is sort of a 10-fer flush!

In the center rear bed a few more are going gangbusters!  The middle is a big Dioon Spinulosum with a pup flushing too.  Just behind is to the left is a 2-headed Cycas Revoluta flushing just one of the two heads.  Just below it is a single frond growing up on a tiny Encephalartos Umbeluziensis.  Bottom left corner is a "fasciated" Zamia Furfuracea.  The lower right cone is an unfortunate timing on a male Cycas Multipinnata that was completely defoliated.  To the right behind the Spinulosum is a solid flush on an Encephalartos Ferox.  In the background left of the Spinulosum is one of the triple Encephalartos Whitelockii/Ituriensis with a solid 8 leaf flush.  The other two in the triple are thinking about it...but not quite yet!

At the arch on my E pathway I planted some Mandevilla vines.  There's a red and white on one corner and a pink Dipladenia on the other corner.  The pink is supposed to be more bushy and less viney, we'll see what happens.  I should be able to "train" the Dipladenia to grow up the side of the arch anyway, it just might not climb up and over.

A bunch of other stuff is pushing new fronds, even if they are a bit distorted.  A couple of Attalea Brejinhoensis, Phalerata, Speciosa and Butyracea are looking good, though a strap leaf Butyracea is probably toast.  Two of the three Arenga Pinnata have opened new fronds, all the big Alfredii are growing well, and the Fallaensis and Baileyana are pushing new spears.  The Triangle is opening up a horrendously ugly frond but making good progress.  All of my Bamboo are sending up new shoots except for a Dendrocalamus Tsiangii...it might be a goner.  My solo Foxtail with ~10ft of trunk is opening up a frond, but the triple looks pretty sad.  I'll start culling the herd in a few weeks after our daily thunderstorms start.  At that point it should be obvious what's alive and d-e-d.  I didn't go to the Leu Gardens spring sale, the MB Palms open house, or the St. John's sale because I really had no idea what I might need...

[Merlyn]

Here's the Foxtails.  The foreground solo one has a spear attempting to open.  The other two behind have signs of Thielaviopsis trunk bleeding, so they are probably all toast.

And the rusty brown bleeding spots:

I may just remove all 4 of them, because I'm not really sure I like non-cold-hardy telephone poles next to my house...

[kinzyjr]

@Merlyn Yeah, I'd get rid of the Foxtails if their close.  They might look fine for a while and then collapse.  Hollis had that happen with a Bismarckia out of the blue.  Thankfully, no one was standing anywhere near it at the time.

It is good to see some green coming back in your garden and in the area, in general.