New to landscaping and palms

[Aterway]

Hello! I’ve been lurking on these forums for awhile, trying to learn as much as I can about palms! Figured I’d actually join and introduce my plant pets. I’m very new to palms, and landscaping in general - we’ve been adding things over the last year to accent the pool and hopefully add some shade as they mature. 

Here’s the most recent additions - three mule palms. I have no idea what the actual cross is. We chose them because of their relative cold hardiness and they’re just so pretty! Hoping the size of them will give them a better chance of survival (we’re in central Texas), and provide some instant shade. I actually just noticed that (I think?) one of them is working on flowering. 
 

 

We also have a couple windmill palms. I recently repotted these and one was a bit wobbly, hence the stakes for a couple months. They seem so slow to gain height, but they have popped out a ton of new fans this season, so I’m assuming they’re happy.
 

 

 

This majesty palm loves my patio! I love this plant!! 

 

We have bananas too - the ornamentals did so well last year I decided to order a few more varieties. So far really enjoying watching them grow! And of course hibiscus here and there. 

The palm installer recommended removing a few of the browning fronds on the Mules. I think I’ll let them settle in a bit then trim one or two. How often is normal to trim? I love the diamond pattern they get on the trunks and am hoping to continue that look. 

[Xerarch]

Hello and welcome to the forum! You're in the right place and there are a number of active Palmtalkers here in Texas that regularly give good input. BTW nice mules! So far I haven't found any for sale here in Corpus, but would like to get my hands on a few, by the way, the cross is between a queen palm (Syagrus romanzoffiana) and a pindo palm (Butia odorata). 

[Merlyn]

Welcome to PalmTalk!    Your in ground mules should do well there, just be careful on the Majesty palm with cold nights.  They take serious damage below 30F, so it may be one you'll need to wheel indoors for a lot of the winter.  If you want to add other very short bananas, the Super Dwarf Cavendish, Truly Tiny and Little Prince are all great very short ones.  I think in order they are about 2', 3-4' and 3-5' tall maximum, with broad leaves.  Ice Cream is a great large banana, but clumps can get HUGE really fast.  As in, it would consume that entire banana bed in 1 summer!

If you like the Windmill palms (Trachycarpus Fortunei), you could also look for the Mediterranean Fan palm (Chamaerops Humilis).  There's a "Cerifera" silver-blue type that is a really nice accent color too mostly green yard and other palms.

[Aterway]

  On 10/7/2021 at 5:39 PM, Merlyn said:

Welcome to PalmTalk!    Your in ground mules should do well there, just be careful on the Majesty palm with cold nights.  They take serious damage below 30F, so it may be one you'll need to wheel indoors for a lot of the winter.  If you want to add other very short bananas, the Super Dwarf Cavendish, Truly Tiny and Little Prince are all great very short ones.  I think in order they are about 2', 3-4' and 3-5' tall maximum, with broad leaves.  Ice Cream is a great large banana, but clumps can get HUGE really fast.  As in, it would consume that entire banana bed in 1 summer!

If you like the Windmill palms (Trachycarpus Fortunei), you could also look for the Mediterranean Fan palm (Chamaerops Humilis).  There's a "Cerifera" silver-blue type that is a really nice accent color too mostly green yard and other palms.

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I was planning on bringing the majesty into my living room as soon as it fell to the 50’s! Last year’s late winter it did pretty well with some incandescent Christmas lights and a “jacket” - a zippered fabric plant protector. I’ve kept it in a smaller pot to be able to move it, but really I think it will need something bigger soon. Hoping I can find a way to keep it happy outside. 
 

Thanks for the banana tips!! One of the new plants is an ice cream banana and I’m the most excited about that one! I’m partly using them in that bed as a privacy screen, so if they get big it’s actually great. 
 

The Mediterranean fan palms always look so pretty. Might have to add them in the future! It’s true, in the daylight the mules nearly blend in with all the trees behind the fence. They’re amazing at night though! I need to fuss with uplighting still, but I love it already!  

[Merlyn]

Ice Cream will definitely get big!  This was a single 6' tall offset that I planted in early spring.  By the end of the year it was this monstrous cluster!

[iDesign]

We're constantly thinning out our banana clump (photo below).

We recently had to cut some of the larger stalks, which is a bummer since I like when it blocks the neighbor's unpainted fence. Maybe I should just offer to paint his fence (hmmm...) They're great screening plants (and/or shade providers for more tender plants). Like @Merlyn my clump started from a single offset, and now I'm constantly pushing my offsets onto other people ("Seriously, you need a banana plant!"). They multiply quickly.

[Aterway]

  On 10/7/2021 at 8:13 PM, Merlyn said:

Ice Cream will definitely get big!  This was a single 6' tall offset that I planted in early spring.  By the end of the year it was this monstrous cluster!

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Wowzers!! Are you in Florida? Do you fertilize? Gotten any fruit yet? I love the color of that particular variety too. Darker bluish green. 

[Aterway]

  On 10/7/2021 at 8:41 PM, idesign123 said:

We're constantly thinning out our banana clump (photo below).

We recently had to cut some of the larger stalks, which is a bummer since I like when it blocks the neighbor's unpainted fence. Maybe I should just offer to paint his fence (hmmm...) They're great screening plants (and/or shade providers for more tender plants). Like @Merlyn my clump started from a single offset, and now I'm constantly pushing my offsets onto other people ("Seriously, you need a banana plant!"). They multiply quickly.

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So so pretty!! I tossed a half dozen babies already…. I had mine in pots originally before I realized how much water and space they needed! They basically made sawdust out of the potting soil/compost mix in the pot with daily watering. Hoping my neighbors also want to get into growing bananas next spring!! 

[Brad52]

Make sure that you keep some of the offsets to keep the crop going

[Merlyn]

  On 10/7/2021 at 9:32 PM, Aterway said:

Wowzers!! Are you in Florida? Do you fertilize? Gotten any fruit yet? I love the color of that particular variety too. Darker bluish green. 

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Yep, central Floriduh swamp!  I didn't fertilize these, but they were in a pretty rich soil area.  Several of them fruited, but the bananas were relatively small.  They were tasty, kind of like vanilla, and slightly sweet.  I ended up removing the entire clump around May, because it was already over 6' diameter at the ground and just kept expanding!  It took 2 days to cut up and dig up all the culms, and 2 months to put it out at the street for weekly pickup.  I had to let the trunks rot away first, because when they were full of water they weighed about 100lb for a 3' long chunk...

[Aterway]

  On 10/7/2021 at 9:54 PM, Brad52 said:

Make sure that you keep some of the offsets to keep the crop going

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I kept the largest pup on each one. It’s still attached…. At what point do I separate? I assume I’ll need to trim both plants back and mulch over the top of them in the winter? 

[Aterway]

  On 10/7/2021 at 11:22 PM, Merlyn said:

Yep, central Floriduh swamp!  I didn't fertilize these, but they were in a pretty rich soil area.  Several of them fruited, but the bananas were relatively small.  They were tasty, kind of like vanilla, and slightly sweet.  I ended up removing the entire clump around May, because it was already over 6' diameter at the ground and just kept expanding!  It took 2 days to cut up and dig up all the culms, and 2 months to put it out at the street for weekly pickup.  I had to let the trunks rot away first, because when they were full of water they weighed about 100lb for a 3' long chunk...

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That is incredible! Hoping we get some fruit eventually, but we have very poor soil here. Guessing it might take a few years to get a bloom. Either way, I appreciate the pretty plants! 

[Xerarch]

  On 10/8/2021 at 12:18 AM, Aterway said:

That is incredible! Hoping we get some fruit eventually, but we have very poor soil here. Guessing it might take a few years to get a bloom. Either way, I appreciate the pretty plants! 

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I believe you need about 18 months of frost free weather to harvest bananas

[Brad52]

I was able to fruit bananas in northern CA even though they were nipped by frost/freeze each winter.  I would not cut them back nor separate them now.  If the leaves get killed by frost or freeze they’ll fall in against the pseudostem and protect it.  Then in spring cut the stem back to a firm green point and they’ll take right off, I had one that the first new spring growth was a flower that set fruit.

[Merlyn]

  On 10/8/2021 at 12:18 AM, Aterway said:

That is incredible! Hoping we get some fruit eventually, but we have very poor soil here. Guessing it might take a few years to get a bloom. Either way, I appreciate the pretty plants! 

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The soil in my lot is not all that great, most of it is almost pure sand.  But the West side is pretty rich and those bananas loved it!    For fruiting, it depends on the species and the growth rate.  Lowe's sells the Dwarf Cavendish around here, in 3g pots about 3-4' tall.  I planted one in the spring and had bananas in the fall.  Others like Dwarf Namwah took a full year and a half to fruit, even though they grew pretty quick.

[NickJames]

  On 10/7/2021 at 8:13 PM, Merlyn said:

Ice Cream will definitely get big!  This was a single 6' tall offset that I planted in early spring.  By the end of the year it was this monstrous cluster!

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Hey, I want one lol…where can you get ice cream around here?

[Merlyn]

  On 2/10/2022 at 1:57 PM, NickJames said:

Hey, I want one lol…where can you get ice cream around here?

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I bought some from Moreno Nursery on 46, I don't know if they still have them.  I dug out that cluster (and screwed up both feet while stomping on the shovel) and trashed all of them.  They just grew way too fast and way too big to control.  I'm sticking with smaller ornamental bananas like Little Prince and Bordelon from here on...