Livistona PNW

[ShadyDan]

Hey Folks, 

Wondering if anyone has had any luck growing Livistona species in the PNW or any other mild high latitude climates (UK etc...). I’m specifically looking at Livistona nitida, as I’ve seen it rated for 8b. There are 8b and 9a pockets on my island, but obviously we lack the summer heat of a lower latitude 8b/9a. 
 

Could be another fun option to experiment with in my garden. Thanks in advance!

[PlantDad]

41 minutes ago, ShadyDan said:

Hey Folks, 

Wondering if anyone has had any luck growing Livistona species in the PNW or any other mild high latitude climates (UK etc...). I’m specifically looking at Livistona nitida, as I’ve seen it rated for 8b. There are 8b and 9a pockets on my island, but obviously we lack the summer heat of a lower latitude 8b/9a. 
 

Could be another fun option to experiment with in my garden. Thanks in advance!

I would give it a try. Also try australis and chinensis

[ShadyDan]

7 minutes ago, PlantDad said:

I would give it a try. Also try australis and chinensis

I know chinensis doesn’t work here. Although it maybe stem hardy to our winters, the leaves burn at relatively high temperatures. We do not have enough heat in the growing season for them to recover before the next winter. I’ll look into australis though. 

[Chester B]

I have nitida in the ground. I’ve been growing it to a larger size for a couple years. I planted in April so no winters yet. I tried to plant it in a more protected location.  It’s seen a few frosts with no sign of damage and appears to not be bothered by the wet season so far. I’ll take a video of it tomorrow to post. 

I know @palmcrazy had one in Olympia WA for a few years before it died. He’s in 8a and doesn’t get the summer heat that I do, so maybe that little extra bit of warmth year round will make the difference. 
 

Realistically I don’t think it will be a long term Palm. I can’t imagine that I would be the first person in a similar climate to try. 
 

I also have Livistona mariae x decepiens hybrids that I have successfully germinated and will be trialing those in the coming years. 

Edited December 3, 2020 by Chester B

[Chester B]

Video taken today as promised.

 

[Fusca]

22 hours ago, Chester B said:

I also have Livistona mariae x decepiens hybrids that I have successfully germinated and will be trialing those in the coming years. 

@Matt N- Dallas has some good sized plants planted out in San Marcos, TX that develop a nice red color when the weather turns cold.  I also have germinated some of Charlene's seeds - they are growing pretty fast for seedlings.

[ShadyDan]

Thanks for the detailed video @Chester B! Definitely have to keep us posted how it does over the winter. 
 

I have a feeling my W. robusta won’t be long term, so I think this would be an excellent replacement. Finding seedlings in Canada likely won’t be possible... looks like another order from RPS is in my future. Or if anyone has seeds on this site I would be happy to purchase. 

[sipalms]

On 12/3/2020 at 2:35 PM, ShadyDan said:

Hey Folks, 

Wondering if anyone has had any luck growing Livistona species in the PNW or any other mild high latitude climates (UK etc...). I’m specifically looking at Livistona nitida, as I’ve seen it rated for 8b. There are 8b and 9a pockets on my island, but obviously we lack the summer heat of a lower latitude 8b/9a. 
 

Could be another fun option to experiment with in my garden. Thanks in advance!

I have seen what I think is a skydusting (30ft ish) livistonia here in Christchurch New Zealand in what could be considered what you refer to as a 'mild high (low) latitude climate'.

It may be a brahea of some sort though but will take a look in the next few days to confirm.

Edited December 4, 2020 by sipalms

[ShadyDan]

4 hours ago, sipalms said:

I have seen what I think is a skydusting (30ft ish) livistonia here in Christchurch New Zealand in what could be considered what you refer to as a 'mild high (low) latitude climate'.

It may be a brahea of some sort though but will take a look in the next few days to confirm.

Awesome, please do! Christchurch has a very similar climate to us... we are a little warmer and sunnier in the summer but you have a big advantage of being a few degrees warmer in the winter... with much nicer looking record lows. Seems you can grow way more palms trouble-free than us because of this. 

[Chester B]

15 hours ago, Fusca said:

@Matt N- Dallas has some good sized plants planted out in San Marcos, TX that develop a nice red color when the weather turns cold.  I also have germinated some of Charlene's seeds - they are growing pretty fast for seedlings.

Good to hear.  Last I checked I had 3 that have popped so far, all from Charlene too.

[southpacific73]

I’m growing some also but they are seedlings right now! Shadydan I’m on the mainland in Burnaby if you’re coming my way anytime soon!

[ShadyDan]

56 minutes ago, southpacific73 said:

I’m growing some also but they are seedlings right now! Shadydan I’m on the mainland in Burnaby if you’re coming my way anytime soon!

Cool! I may be driving through over Christmas break, pending covid restrictions, to see the in-laws in Kelowna. If you have extra I would be happy to purchase some, or trade for some palms I’m growing. 

[sipalms]

5 hours ago, ShadyDan said:

Awesome, please do! Christchurch has a very similar climate to us... we are a little warmer and sunnier in the summer but you have a big advantage of being a few degrees warmer in the winter... with much nicer looking record lows. Seems you can grow way more palms trouble-free than us because of this. 

Are you in Nanoose Bay as per profile? 

Hate to disagree but I believe Christchurch would have higher maximums in summer than there. Certainly higher maximums for fall/winter/spring anyhow. What is the climate there and what's the annual sunshine hours?

[ShadyDan]

1 hour ago, sipalms said:

Are you in Nanoose Bay as per profile? 

Hate to disagree but I believe Christchurch would have higher maximums in summer than there. Certainly higher maximums for fall/winter/spring anyhow. What is the climate there and what's the annual sunshine hours?

I am yes. If you look on the Wikipedia climate graphs for Nanaimo (closest station to me) and Christchurch you will see Nanaimo has higher summer maximums and more summer sun than Christchurch. Christchurch is a clear winner in the winter though. 
 

In Nanoose and the rest of SE Vancouver Island we fall under a “Warm summer Mediterranean” climate according to koppen. Summers are warm and sunny, sometimes weeks go by in July/August without any precip. 
 

Although it’s 10C and sunny today, mostly our winters are grey and rainy (though rarely falling below 0C). 

[southpacific73]

ShadyDan pm me before Christmas break. I have several that I can part with!

[ShadyDan]

@Chester B how did your nititda handle the recent cold blast? You probably didn't get it as bad as we did, but we hit -9.4C (briefly, followed by a quick warm-up). I'm still going to try one out in the ground come spring time to see what happens. 

 @southpacific73did you ever put any in the ground?

[southpacific73]

4 hours ago, ShadyDan said:

@Chester B how did your nititda handle the recent cold blast? You probably didn't get it as bad as we did, but we hit -9.4C (briefly, followed by a quick warm-up). I'm still going to try one out in the ground come spring time to see what happens. 

 @southpacific73did you ever put any in the ground?

ShadyDan I haven’t put it out yet! I wanted to get some growth on it before trialling it outside. It’s grown a lot will post a picture of it tomorrow.

[Chester B]

17 hours ago, ShadyDan said:

@Chester B how did your nititda handle the recent cold blast? You probably didn't get it as bad as we did, but we hit -9.4C (briefly, followed by a quick warm-up). I'm still going to try one out in the ground come spring time to see what happens. 

I had a frost cloth over it, with a string of mini lights on the ground.  Nothing was wrapped, almost like a loose tent, supported by the fronds.  It's gotten to the size where it's hard to protect given its location and razor sharp thorns.  Where the fronds were in direct contact with the wet frost cloth there was a little discoloration to the fronds, but still green,  Everything else looked unphased.  I just went out and snapped these pics  Discoloration is all gone, it’s like nothing happened  I wonder if  I had left it unprotected how it would have fared.   This seems to be hardier than a lot of other palms I have  

It went down to -7.2C and spent over 24 hours at -6.1C or less.  That was the coldest day I've ever had in 7 winters.

Edited January 4, 2023 by Chester B

[ShadyDan]

26 minutes ago, Chester B said:

I had a frost cloth over it, with a string of mini lights on the ground.  Nothing was wrapped, almost like a loose tent, supported by the fronds.  It's gotten to the size where it's hard to protect given its location and razor sharp thorns.  Where the fronds were in direct contact with the wet frost cloth there was a little discoloration to the fronds, but still green,  Everything else looked unphased.  I just went out and snapped these pics  Discoloration is all gone, it’s like nothing happened  I wonder if  I had left it unprotected how it would have fared.   This seems to be hardier than a lot of other palms I have  

It went down to -7.2C and spent over 24 hours at -6.1C or less.  That was the coldest day I've ever had in 7 winters.

Thanks for the update, thats promising. Hopefully our string of crappy winters is over and I can have a few normal winters to get mine established. 

[Fallen Munk]

I have L. chinensis and L. lanuginosa. 

[ShadyDan]

42 minutes ago, Fallen Munk said:

I have L. chinensis and L. lanuginosa. 

How did they handle the cold snap?

[Fallen Munk]

2 hours ago, ShadyDan said:

How did they handle the cold snap?

Fine.  Unprotected, no damage.

[Trustandi]

I had 2 nítidas and 1 chinensis in the ground. We had almost 2.5 days below 32F with 18/19F as my lowest. They were covered with frost cloths and mini lights. The fronds were in direct contact with the wet frost cloth. My bigger nítida seemed in worse condition since it is a bit far from my house microclimate. @ShadyDan i hope so too.

[Chester B]

My chinensis were not protected, one looks bad, the other which has overhead cover from Trachys looks better.  

[Banana Belt]

Harbor and Brookings Or faired the cold mostly above freezing with only higher elevations more than couple miles from ocean below 32.   Right now we are getting hammered by rain, wind and extremely high seas.  Swells are regestering 26 feet high right now.

[southpacific73]

ShadyDan as promised here is my L.. Nitidas. They will be 3 years old this July! You can see the differences in growth in them as one is just taking off.
Will probably wait until spring to see what made it in the garden before I put this species to the test!