Update on the stuff in the backyard

[Robbertico18]

Is the super mule from moultrie palms?

[JLM]

On 8/20/2023 at 12:05 PM, Robbertico18 said:

Is the super mule from moultrie palms?

Yes, i also got a standard mule as well which is in the front yard. Its recovery has gone very well this summer.

[JLM]

2/2/24:

Heres a quick update on some things in the backyard. The Queens got burned pretty good again. This freeze wasnt as long lasting as the previous year's freeze, but it still caused a similar level or damage.

Heres the Queen in the backyard as of this morning:



Heres the trunk now, how much bigger is it gonna get?? Gallon jug for scale:



Next up is the bananas. Some are doing better than others. With just barely enough protection, most are still alive and are growing. Jury is still out of regular dwarf cavendish, but the super dwarf and blue javas are doing well:






My bizzy got burnt pretty good. I protected it, but because it was so windy it made all the christmas lights fall, so no heat was available to the fronds. The spear is red, which is typical following a cold snap:



Next is the super mule, it has been an outstanding performer and is still pushing growth despite the many freezes it has been exposed to this winter with no protection. I cant wait for whats in store for this palm this summer:



Next is the result of the first palm seed i ever germinated! This Sabal palmetto is going on 4 years old this year and is enjoying life:





Next up is a couple more palms ive grown from seed thatll hopefully go in the ground this year.

Queen, loving life:



Sylvestris (?), beginning to think its leaning more on the side of CIDP but who knows. Any phoenix experts out there that could try to ID? I cant get better pics if needed! Here it is:




More updates to come as we head into Spring!

[floridaPalmMan]

What temp did it get down to in your yard to burn the queens and bizzy like that?

[JLM]

4 hours ago, floridaPalmMan said:

What temp did it get down to in your yard to burn the queens and bizzy like that?

18F

[Leelanau Palms]

16 hours ago, JLM said:

2/2/24:

Heres a quick update on some things in the backyard. The Queens got burned pretty good again. This freeze wasnt as long lasting as the previous year's freeze, but it still caused a similar level or damage.

Heres the Queen in the backyard as of this morning:



Heres the trunk now, how much bigger is it gonna get?? Gallon jug for scale:



Next up is the bananas. Some are doing better than others. With just barely enough protection, most are still alive and are growing. Jury is still out of regular dwarf cavendish, but the super dwarf and blue javas are doing well:






My bizzy got burnt pretty good. I protected it, but because it was so windy it made all the christmas lights fall, so no heat was available to the fronds. The spear is red, which is typical following a cold snap:



Next is the super mule, it has been an outstanding performer and is still pushing growth despite the many freezes it has been exposed to this winter with no protection. I cant wait for whats in store for this palm this summer:



Next is the result of the first palm seed i ever germinated! This Sabal palmetto is going on 4 years old this year and is enjoying life:





Next up is a couple more palms ive grown from seed thatll hopefully go in the ground this year.

Queen, loving life:



Sylvestris (?), beginning to think its leaning more on the side of CIDP but who knows. Any phoenix experts out there that could try to ID? I cant get better pics if needed! Here it is:




More updates to come as we head into Spring!

Loving that super mule! Beautiful. What is it's origin? Moultrie?

[Harry’s Palms]

Did the Wodyetia survive? I’m in 10a and we lose a few every year around here. I think they are finicky to grow. I lost both of my 10 footers a few years ago when we had a few days of 38f lows. My friend has a beauty and he is only a few blocks from me where they get a bit of frost , on a lower elevation. I got seed from his and one actually popped up in my garden. 

[JLM]

3 hours ago, Leelanau Palms said:

Loving that super mule! Beautiful. What is it's origin? Moultrie?

Yes! It was great working with Frank and Elaine 
 

 

14 minutes ago, Harry’s Palms said:

Did the Wodyetia survive? I’m in 10a and we lose a few every year around here. I think they are finicky to grow. I lost both of my 10 footers a few years ago when we had a few days of 38f lows. My friend has a beauty and he is only a few blocks from me where they get a bit of frost , on a lower elevation. I got seed from his and one actually popped up in my garden. 

Yes, it looks pretty good right now besides a few burns here and there but overall looks pretty good! I just recently let it go unprotected one morning with a low of 32.5F, although probably a degree or two warmer for the palm itself given proximity to the house. So far no signs of burn unless I just can’t tell it apart from what was already there lol

[JLM]

New addition to the backyard….a Japanese Maple! This is going in the spot that the dancy tangerine was before it died. Had an empty hole in the yard and thought about a weeping willow but then decided to get the maple instead. Adds a unique color to the yard. Here it is before it got planted this evening. It was too dark for a good picture once it was planted.
 

 

Next is the Queen. Back to where we were this time last year, no fronds. Maybe next winter won’t be an 8b winter. Pic taken 3/11/24:
 

Edited March 16, 2024 by JLM
Stupid autocorrect

[JLM]

👀
 

Stay tuned.

[kinzyjr]

27 minutes ago, JLM said:

Stay tuned.

How we know spring is really here... new plantings   Can't wait.

[JLM]

17 hours ago, kinzyjr said:

How we know spring is really here... new plantings   Can't wait.

I’ve got some options for this corner. Lots of shade back here, might throw a flamethrower back in this corner. Otherwise if my S minor seeds germinate definitely getting some of those back in there as well. This is probably the largest space I have acquired to plant in, so this could get mighty interesting!

[JLM]

Oh boy…..a LOT has happened in these past few weeks. Not quite finished yet either, but getting there. This is gonna be a long post so just get ready for it. Gonna start with what I posted on March 24th. This corner has been planted, and it’s not finished yet, still got lots to do in terms of finishing touches (pine straw, landscape edging, etc). Fence still needs to be fixed in this area (that’s why there’s pallets leaning up against the fence). This corner will look vastly different in just a few months as things grow in! Here’s a list of the plants that have gone in back here: Red ensete banana, T fortunei (not planted yet), C macrocarpa, R excelsa, C cataractarum, L chinensis, Butia X Jubaea, W robusta, M basjoo, and some rose bushes my mom wanted back there. Of course, there’ll still be space for some S minor to go back there eventually.
 

 

 

Next update brings us to the front yard which has seen several changes recently, including the addition of a new bed surrounding the foxtail. First things first, flowers GALORE because who doesn’t like flowers? Threw some hibiscus in there to spice things up in the apreach existing bed, and new Hawaiian Ti while the old ones go elsewhere, probably in the backyard somewhere. In the new bed, which surrounds the foxtail and extends across in front of the windows, flowers went in. Azalea bushes also went in here. We like azaleas, so why not? This area got landscape fabric because I was thinking…I don’t really wanna have to weed all this in the middle of July when the humidity is up to like 300% and temperature of 600F. Not exactly a fan of that. Anyways, here’s what that looks like:
 

 

 

 

Also in the above pic, there is a mulched area on the left side of the pic, that’s where a new Queen went in. Found this for $20 at Lowe’s and couldn’t pass it up. Cheapest Queen I’ve seen in a while. It’s growing slowly while it gets some roots put down. The Little Gem Magnolia that was in this spot has been potted up and once recovered, will go somewhere in the backyard.
 

 

Now, back to the backyard. I decided to clean up another neglected corner of the yard, and how am I gonna keep it from becoming neglected again? Plant things back there so I HAVE to go back there several times a week lol
I moved my two basjoo clumps into this area, they won’t be getting as much sunlight as they did before but at least I’ll be able to water them now when needed. Found a “Grand Nain” banana, which will go in the sunniest spot in the corner. Also putting in my other C macrocarpa next to these rando canna lilies which I did not plant. They just kind of appeared, and the flowers are very nice (yellow fading to orange), so I’m gonna treat them like I planted them. This area gets 30 minutes to an hour of afternoon sun during the summer, otherwise they will be in shade. Can’t wait for big banana leaves and bright red fronds under crape myrtle flowers this summer!
 

 

 

 

And now finally, a general update on already existing palms/plants. Here’s a wide shot of the main plant area. Bizzy is recovering well with a new spear coming in quickly (especially now that we are getting temps into the mid 80’s). Blue Java banana coming back quite well, and as it stands right now all three trunks survived the winter. Unfortunately, both dwarf and super dwarf cavendish got zapped back to the ground, however they are coming back fairly quickly. Planted a washy in place of the previous cat palm that got zapped during the January freeze. It wasn’t doing too well before anyways so I just went ahead and replaced. Super mule in the back is doing as good as ever, with plenty of new growth coming in. Fronds were exposed to 23F in January and they showed NO sign of discoloration or stress. Also seed grown palmetto in the background doing pretty good, expecting some good growth this summer from this palm! 
 

 

Here’s my other seed grown palmetto, coming up on 4 years old. It gets a bit more shade, so fronds are a bit stretched. 
 

 

The Queen in the backyard is also starting to show visible progress, with a new spear emerging. Should start seeing more substance in about a week or so. Feels like the trunk continues to get bigger. How much bigger can it get?
 

 

And now lastly, I planted this Phoenix in the front yard in honor of my Niece being born in March. I grew this palm from seed, so to me that makes it just as more meaningful. I am not 100% sure on its ID however, I think there’s some CIDP present and maybe mixed with something else, although I’m not too sure. Any guesses would be appreciated!
PS: This pic is not recent, it has since had mulch and barriers put around it.
 

[JLM]

Also would like to point out that I have Orinoco and Truly Tiny bananas that need to find their homes. Haven’t figured those out just yet though. 

[JLM]

Some boots came off yesterday, revealing more trunk rings on both queens. These palms have both made a ton of progress in recent years especially when it comes to their trunks. This update will mostly be focused in the front yard but first I’ll throw in the queen in the back yard. I suppose this thing will be a candidate for first flower in the next couple of growing seasons? Anyone with more experience with this please chime in! 
 

 

Next is the queen out front, it’s already looking quite nice with the exposed trunk rings, can’t wait for it to throw on a crown lol
 

 

Next is the Butia, which has been eating more fronds recently. Not sure why this is. It has had spear issues the past two winters, which had lows in the teens. It has not been protected in either event. Trunk is getting noticeably fatter though so maybe all is well? Just wondering if something might be wrong.
 

 

Lastly, the Mule. This guy got a trunk cut from complications with the 2022 Christmas Freeze, and it took all of last summer for it to bounce back, but it only did so thanks to @Merlyn’s H2O2 + Daconil suggestion. This winter, it had minimal effect from the cold (it was protected both events) and is now putting out the largest spear it has ever put out before. I’m quite excited for this growing season for this little guy! Also, you can see the Phoenix in the background.
 

 

Also here’s a bonus freshly opened hibiscus. It has yet to expand so it’ll look even better later this afternoon!
 

[JLM]

Was watering everything and came across this. First flowers incoming on the roebelenii pair. Was just noticing last week how fat the trunks were getting but definitely did not expect *this*. These palms still look like some type of shrub though lol

Will provide an update on these soon.

[JLM]

Pygmy date flower progression:
 

The flower on the other palm died off prematurely, but the other one is going well. Can anybody tell what gender this one is? Do these palms have “perfect” flowers?
 

Here is the bigger flower as of May 17, 2024:
 

 

New project in the backyard is underway. Landscape border has gone in around the mass of plants/trees, pine needles go on top tomorrow. I’ve read that landscape fabric is not necessary with pine needle. May pile it on as thick as possible in the larger grassy areas. I’ve read that I need to keep the needles about 2-3 inches away from the plants themselves, might keep them further away from the bizzy, everything else should be fine especially the sabal (not visible in this pic it’s blocked by the super mule).
 

[kinzyjr]

38 minutes ago, JLM said:

The flower on the other palm died off prematurely, but the other one is going well. Can anybody tell what gender this one is? Do these palms have “perfect” flowers?
 

Here is the bigger flower as of May 17, 2024:

They look like female flowers.  The female flowers look like beads, male flowers look more like flakes.

[JLM]

2 hours ago, kinzyjr said:

They look like female flowers.  The female flowers look like beads, male flowers look more like flakes.

Both palms are female then. Good to know! I have 2 other clumps of 4, so eventually there will be a male somewhere surely.

[JLM]

Pine needles out. I think it looks quite nice, should help the soil too! 
 

 

My Sabal palmetto looks right and home and boy does she POP with the pine needles. Silver is really showing now! This palm will be 4 years old this summer, and is the second palm I’ve ever grown from seed, with the first also being a palmetto but it’s on the other side of the yard.
 

[JLM]

Quick update on how everything is doing. Looking at those pictures above from 2 months ago, wow! The difference is quite extreme, there’s been a lot more growth than I realized.
 

Heres a wide shot in the back, the grass grew back in thru the needles so that’s been a not so fun fight that I’m not exactly winning right now. Otherwise everything seems happy. I did move my Ensete banana, as there’s this massive tree limb that’s waiting to fall and it was hanging right over the plant, and that was $25 that I didn’t wanna lose, so I moved it last week. The majesty was begging to go in the ground so I gave in. Blue java clump is stealing the show being so tall and thick! The queen and bizzy are also recovering very well.
 

 

The sabal continues to look amazing, it’s loving the heat and humidity as it should.
 

 

Next is the washy that’s in the main bed, it’s quite happy and has put out a lot of new growth. Gonna mound some soil around it soon since it’s still very wobbly so that means I planted too high.
 

 

And lastly, probably my favorite at this point, the super mule. Impressive shape that it’s taking on, hard to describe but I love it.
 

 

PS don’t mind the objects laying in the bed randomly, that’s my attempt at killing grass lol

[SeanK]

Just a suggest; focus on plants handy to z8 in your yard. Anything that is z9a tender should be small enough to protect easily.

I once checked historical temp data for Defuniak Springs over 40 or 50 years. There are quite a few winters that saw z7a/b temperatures. Panhandle temperatures can be quite cold and you don't want to spend $100s or $1000s each year on landscaping.

PNS is not TPA just as LBB is not IAH.

[JLM]

8 hours ago, SeanK said:

Just a suggest; focus on plants handy to z8 in your yard. Anything that is z9a tender should be small enough to protect easily.

I once checked historical temp data for Defuniak Springs over 40 or 50 years. There are quite a few winters that saw z7a/b temperatures. Panhandle temperatures can be quite cold and you don't want to spend $100s or $1000s each year on landscaping.

PNS is not TPA just as LBB is not IAH.

I’m well aware of my local temperatures. I know what I’m getting into with having a few 9b plantings.
 

I have at least 11 palms in the ground that I would consider to be hardy to my zone, with about 10 zone pushers. Granted, some of these zone pushers are now considered hardy to my zone according to the newest USDA map. 
 

Im not afraid to lose something like a majesty or cat palm, they’re easily replaceable. My 10a+ stuff stays in pots except the foxtail which is solely experimental anyways.

[Chester B]

You need to put cardboard down over the grass before you mulch, otherwise it will just come through like you have seen.  The thicker the better.  Cut out rings around the plant bases.  Not touching the trunks but pretty close. 

[JLM]

5 minutes ago, Chester B said:

You need to put cardboard down over the grass before you mulch, otherwise it will just come through like you have seen.  The thicker the better.  Cut out rings around the plant bases.  Not touching the trunks but pretty close. 

I had thought about doing that, but don’t have nearly enough cardboard for that. I do have some landscape fabric, which might be useful, but still not sure about it yet, since landscape fabric seems to be broken through pretty easily with how ruthless grass and weeds are down here lol
 

But, I do need to do something about it soon for sure. Do you think landscape fabric will work well enough?

[Chester B]

2 minutes ago, JLM said:

I had thought about doing that, but don’t have nearly enough cardboard for that. I do have some landscape fabric, which might be useful, but still not sure about it yet, since landscape fabric seems to be broken through pretty easily with how ruthless grass and weeds are down here lol
 

But, I do need to do something about it soon for sure. Do you think landscape fabric will work well enough?

Whatever you do, don't use landscape fabric.  It's horrible stuff, you would regret that down the line.  You can often find cardboard boxes at grocery stores, etc.  

[Robert Cade Ross]

What is a super mule ? I forgot haha 

[JLM]

On 7/19/2024 at 12:39 PM, Cade said:

What is a super mule ? I forgot haha 

The super mule is BxJxBxS (Butia X Jubaea X Butia X Syagrus)

—————————————————————————————————

Quick update: I meant to take some pics of my BxJ after mowing but forgot to. It’s put on some size this year and I’m quite proud of it. Otherwise, here is the Livistona nitida from @palmsrgreat, it is very happy and putting out some deep green fronds now! Very excited to see how this one does in the coming years. 

At the end of May, I decided it was time to dig up my satsuma mandarin and move it to the backyard. Since then, it has put on tremendous growth! Here is a pic from early April, it was putting out some new growth then, but the growth didn’t last long. After this despite fertilizer and water, it stopped growing after flowering and dropping all the baby fruits (which was expected), and it began losing leaves. Upon digging it up, it hadn’t gained much root ball at all since planting a year ago.


 

Now coming up on 2 months since transplant, it’s doing quite well with some real branches coming out. Very happy with this, and if this trend continues I might get lucky and get a fruit or two off of it next year. Until the tree gets large I’ll be protecting it, once it gets large it’s pretty well hardy to z8b, so at that point cold shouldn’t be much of a problem. I’ll be clearing out a bigger area for it soon for a little more mulch and then eventually pine needles on top of that, which other plants in the yard seem to appreciate.

 

Something about the soil in the backyard trees really like. My maple tree had a similar outcome when moved from the front to back, it exploded in growth as well. 

[JLM]

8/13/24:
 

Can’t get over this nighttime shot from last week. Dr Earth organic fertilizer is like magic dust that makes bananas go nuts. The bases of some of those blue java banana trunks are starting to get quite fat, so I’m think there’s flowers that are starting to work their way up, but they won’t arrive fast enough, as we can start having frost/freezes anywhere from Halloween to Christmas. Usually starts sometime in November, so realistically we only have like 3 months left in the growing season here which is not enough time for bananas even if they were to start flowering this week (which they likely won’t). If my information on timing here is incorrect, please do correct me!

 

It wouldn’t be a backyard update without posting a pic dedicated to the super mule! Love this palm. I haven’t been so obsessed with a palm in a long time. Unfortunately it’s starting to be attacked by scales so that’s gonna have to be taken care of. Gonna apply a Castile soap mixture soon to soak and then wash them bastards off.
 

 

Switching to the front yard, queen and Butia both are doing quite well. Both have put out lots of growth. The Butia’s trunk is getting noticeably larger, so we are making solid progress! 
 

 

Next is the standard mule, which has shown quite a lot of growth this summer so far. The fronds have what I would consider to be an extreme amount of twisting, which is weird, because even my Butia doesn’t twist its fronds that much. This may get interesting in the future. Does it straighten out some or does it continue to show this extreme twisting characteristic? Also notably slower than the super mule, although I did have to perform a trunk cut on it following the 2022 Christmas Freeze event, so maybe that could be the cause?
 

 

Now for the double Pygmy date in the main bed area, it has put out quite a lot of growth. It still looks like a goofy shrub though, so still a good ways to go before this palm gets to where I want it to be, but we have made some solid progress this summer for sure!
 

 

And lastly, the Phoenix canariensis…or sylvestris….or hybrid between the two? The ID of this palm gets more and more confusing as I try to dissect what it could be. I feel like sylvestris tends to have a silver coloration to the fronds, which this palm does not have right now and does not show any signs of gaining this feature (fronds are solid green). Regardless it has grown well this year and is starting to expand its “trunk” outward instead of upward haha
Might create a new thread specifically for this palm to try and ID it appropriately if we don’t get any leads in this thread.

 

 

Anyways, that’s all for now!

[JLM]

I was not prepared for this…..
 

Why are we flowering in basically November?? Oh and btw, this is the first ever flower from this Queen!

[JLM]

On January 21st the wildest thing happened…
 

Queens didn’t like it too much. Back to square one yet again. The BxJ (second pic) had some latent spear damage but is pushing all that out. The washy next to it died. Livistona chinensis putting out new fronds now, cat palm is coming back from the roots. Lady and flamethrower in the back corner both lived (protected without heat). The lady palm actually was almost completely undamaged. Bananas lived thru fine in the structure. It did get down below freezing inside for like 10 minutes, potted bottle palm defoliated but is pushing a new spear, same as spindle. Adonidia ended up getting snow on it and I’m pretty sure that’s when it checked out, I put my other flamethrower in its pot. Here’s some pics of the yard during the snowstorm. I’ll get some fresh pics of recovery on here soon.

[Chester B]

We got that freak snow too.  3/4 of my queens died, they were protected with frost cloth only.  The last one is just sitting there doing nothing but still green.  I had damage to a small BxJ and two Butias that are growing out of it.  In total 24/36 palms were damaged and/or killed but they were all planted last year and most were small.  4 species showed no damage - Ch radicalis, S palmetto "lisa" and S. "birmingham".   

The good news is that the recovery has been swift, so hopefully you are finding the same.

[JLM]

On 4/17/2025 at 10:13 AM, Chester B said:

We got that freak snow too.  3/4 of my queens died, they were protected with frost cloth only.  The last one is just sitting there doing nothing but still green.  I had damage to a small BxJ and two Butias that are growing out of it.  In total 24/36 palms were damaged and/or killed but they were all planted last year and most were small.  4 species showed no damage - Ch radicalis, S palmetto "lisa" and S. "birmingham".   

The good news is that the recovery has been swift, so hopefully you are finding the same.

Recovery has been decent.
 

My namwah banana clump had a trunk that flowered late last summer, and I was protecting all the bananas during the winter as pictured in one of those snow pics. Well, I actually took that structure down one day because bad storms were expected and was also expected to be quite windy that day. Well, the wind ended up snapping the trunk with fruit on it. Whatever.
 

But, at least the excessive cold protection has paid off! Pic taken earlier today of another trunk in this clump. Thinking it’s likely I’ll get another 1-2 trunks in this clump with fruit before summer ends. Luckily fruit from this one will have all summer to ripen and should be ready before it starts to get cold again in October.

 

Here is a pic of the entire clump from a few days ago. You can also see the Queen in the background which seems to be recovering at a decent pace this year.

 

I have installed a drip system in this bed with multiple bubblers scattered throughout the bed. This will help me tremendously in keeping these things as happy as possible through the hottest part of the summer.

Oh and because I can, why not throw in a random new bizzy leaf?

[JLM]

Looking like a decent bunch coming from this one! It's wasting no time at all getting those hands out that's for sure.