I was wondering if its better to have a becca alfredii or regular coconut palm in Myakka City / Braderton florida. It is technically zone 9B but it seems the limit for cocos is 10a. 

I think the sarasota are is 10a closer to the coast, but myakka city is a bit inland and might get a frost. I don't want to waste money installing cocos only to have them die from a frost. 

Is anyone else facing the same dilemma of being on the edge between two zones?  and 9B and 10a is like the edge between being able to have cocos and not have cocos.

If it comes down to it I will just have a bunch of everglades palms and maybe some washingtonia robusta palms.  

 

Cheers

Why not plant both?

  I definitely think that you should plant a Becc. Alfredii .  They are hardier than Cocos , and won't show the ravages of Winter , as easily as Cocos .

A Cocos , planted so that the North wind is blocked , and with a nearby canopy to help , can survive for years there , but eventually.........

    Basically , all of " Central Florida " lies in a year to year Zone .  Zone 9X  ?

Myakka City , is far enough South , and away from the coast enough , to at least have those nice toasty ,  sunny Winter  days , that we along the coast often 

don't get a lot of .  Durations of cold temps . are generally less too .

 ( For 30 yrs. , I owned property between Wauchula , and Avon Park .  Always striking , as I returned after a weekend there , the crappy conditions as I approached the coast . )

Go with B. alfredii for sure. It gets too cold that far inland for cocos. Maybe give R. regia, A. cunninghamiana or Pseudophoenix sargentii a try if you are looking for a something with a crownshaft. 

I’d be a little wary of coconuts east of 41 and definitely wouldn’t plant them east of 75. Like the others have suggested, I’d go with something else like Beccariophoenix alfredii.

Yeah I am 7 -8miles from tampa bay near 75/275 junction, used to be 9B but its a warm 9B, warmer than miakka.  Cocos grow here but sustain some leaf damage in the colder winters, but the real reason is they yellow over winter and recover slowly.  Beccariophoenix alfredii is good to a warm 9A here in florida.  They maintain a nice green color year round and carry more leaves than a coco.  They look nicer here with no exceptions(no really good looking cocos coming out of winter).

Who wouldn’t want something that is tough and looks like this….. (the one at Searle Bros)

 

Agreed with the above comments. If you've got some yard space you could plant a small coconut for fun because they might last a while if we get a good stretch of warm winters, but I wouldn't spend any money getting one installed. Definitely go with the B. alfredii for something more permanent if you're going to spend the money. 

I would agree that Beccariophoenix alfredii is the better choice.  If you've ever been to the south entrance of Myakka River State Park, you'll notice a NOAA weather station inside by the ranger station/entrance gate. 

The annual lows recorded at this station are attached in spreadsheet format for anyone interested.  Your average annual low over the last 30 years is 29.4F and the average for all 64 years of records is 27.9374 => 28F.  The record low is 18F and the 30-year low was 22F.  Depending on how much warmer or cooler your particular location is, you might have some leeway to try some other stuff suggested by @ruskinPalms.  If frost is a concern, having canopy above your plantings can mitigate the frost during our radiational freeze events.

If you do attempt a coconut palm, be sure to plant them in a spot where they will be sheltered from wind from the north and northwest.  If you have really high canopy, sometimes you can get away with putting them out closer to the canopy's edge where the sun still gets in underneath, but they do need a lot of sun.  As the others have said, if you get a string of warmer than average winters, sometimes you can sneak a nice specimen along before it gets wiped out.

Either way, welcome to PalmTalk and happy planting!

202107092100_MyakkaRiver_NOAA_AnnualLows.xls

Thanks for the replies, I think I will definitely go with the Beccariophoenix Alfredii, I don't want to have to worry about my trees in the winter.  I think the only downside is that the Beccariopheonix has a much slower growth rate so it will take 10+ years before I have a fully mature landscape. 

I have been thinking maybe mature royals could survive in myakka city too but not sure.

The weather in myakka city is usually hotter and more dry than the coast, but I think its still wet enough to have a tropical looking landscape.  The ideal place would be sanibel island but I dont want to build a house there due to the possibility of hurricane flooding

 

-Cheers

3 hours ago, coco305 said:

I think the only downside is that the Beccariopheonix has a much slower growth rate so it will take 10+ years before I have a fully mature landscape. 

In your area an Alfredii will outgrow a coconut, without a doubt.  Coconuts will suffer each winter and look crappy until June each spring, unless you take heroic efforts to protect them.  And they'll quit growing over the winter, where Alfredii will keep opening fronds in December and January like mine.  My Alfredii went from 5' 3 gallon palms up to 12-18' in a bit under 3 years.  If you get 15g plants that are already 15' tall then they will get huge fast.  This last winter I had two frosts at 28F and 30F, my two small cocos died and my 5 Alfies were essentially untouched and kept growing all winter.   Sonoranfans posted a great thread here on growth rate, you can get a good idea of what size to buy and how big they get in what length of time:

 

@Merlyn Wow that is great news!  Thanks for the info.  I will definitely buy the 15 gallon buckets so I can have 20 foot palms in only a few years.

It is good peace of mind that I will not have to worry about my palms in the winter. I will sleep well knowing they can handle a frost.  I also plan to grow orange trees on my property as well as everglades palms, saw palmetto, gardenia, and tuscany blue rosemary bushes.

 

As others have said B alfredii is way tougher than a Cocos to cold and will look great year round. Some have said they are slow but they aren’t. ( maybe some have actually had B madagascariensis and they are slow and require quite a bit of summer heat to take off) Once they get to about 3ft tall in the ground they are off and running. They also love plenty of water and fertiliser to grow quick but will tolerate much less. A very easy grow.