Guerilla Planting/Seed Distribution in Public Places

[DreaminAboutPalms]

Have thousands of seeds of some fast growing sabal minor Hybrid and have been just tossing handfuls in areas that get sufficient water and won't get mowed over around my apartment complex, at drive thru restaurants, and next to creeks around town, and shopping centers.

Anyone else done this and had any luck? Ive distributed thousands of seeds already, not expecting they all germinate and with these sabals itll take a few years to even be large enough to notice but if even some of them did they are bulletproof around here.

Going to do this with washingtonia seeds at some point too

 

 

[Chester B]

I just spread a few hundred Sabal minor seeds into a naturalized catchment pond/wetland area.  It's real wet and mucky so they should do well.  It's surrounded by roads and homes, so not really part of the natural landscape.  I guess I'll find out this summer if it works.

I do have a few hundred Pacific madrone seeds that I plan on spreading on some rocky, dry slopes around my house.  They are native to the area.

Plus I did plant a bunch of Trachycarpus seedlings but very few survived - the rabbits got them.

I know there are a few people spreading the palmy love around here on this forum.

[ShadyDan]

I don't feel particularly great about spreading non-native seeds in wild areas, so I generally abstain from that (even though I have access to infinity windmill palm seeds). I have 0 issues spreading native plants around though and I have done my fair share of that.

I do, however, see 0 issues with guerilla planting specimens in public areas to add a little "pizazz" to otherwise dull landscaping. I plant on doing some this upcoming spring with some Eucalyptus trees and maybe some palm babies.

[amh]

I intend to do this when my Sabal minor plants reach fruiting age, but if I ever have a bunch of extra Chamaedorea radicalis or Chamaedorea microspadix seed; they will be tossed out along river road between canyon lake and New Braunfels.

[Chester B]

1 hour ago, ShadyDan said:

I don't feel particularly great about spreading non-native seeds in wild areas, so I generally abstain from that (even though I have access to infinity windmill palm seeds). I have 0 issues spreading native plants around though and I have done my fair share of that.

I do, however, see 0 issues with guerilla planting specimens in public areas to add a little "pizazz" to otherwise dull landscaping. I plant on doing some this upcoming spring with some Eucalyptus trees and maybe some palm babies.

I agree, there are some big natural spaces around me, that will not receive any of the palm love.  But considering how many Trachycarpus palms are in the PNW,  I have never seen one randomly growing in a ditch or any sort of natural space.  Definitely not an invasive species around here.  I can think of a dozen bad plants that have escaped from people's gardens, with English ivy and Himalayan blackberries being the absolute worst.

 

[DreaminAboutPalms]

Sabal Mexicanas and palmetto and these hybrid minor love it here in central Texas and there are tons of spots in town with hundreds of volunteer plants, however if parent trees are in more public locations then the volunteers are more likely to be removed and it'll be harder for them to spread. This is what happens here too with washie volunteers. There was one in the news 7 or 8 years ago that grew from a crack next to highway or something.

Just need to throw some seeds in hidden areas near forests or in areas where they don't stand a chance of getting cut down or even seen by people. Say a hundred of the 3000 plus seeds I've probably already distributed germinate and produce fruiting palms in hidden places, that's how actual populations of these things starts to get created. 

Apparently someone did this with Sabal Mexicana seeds in Austin in the 70's or 80's and that's why they are starting to naturalize now. Would also like to try this with Washingtonia in a warmer microclimate here

 

Edited January 19, 2022 by DreaminAboutPalms

[bruce Steele]

Part of public space is Hwy easements and I have planted Washingtonia between me and the Hwy and eventually they will reseed themselves. 
Palms need some water during the long summers in their first few years and gofers will knock out a lots of young trees that aren’t protected. 
Washys are kinda native but they are of course hybrid anyhow. Maybe I am north of the native groves but we should be planting natives on the very northern edge of their current ranges if we account for the 1.2C current warming and all the likely warming still to come. The trees may not keep up the pace without some help. 
 I am planting lots of non natives on my private land and IMO ownership lines and ecological boundaries are fuzzy concepts re. trees that can live a couple hundred years.  Long lived fruit and nut bearing trees may be of interest to someone 80 years from now even if it is ignored today.   

[ShadyDan]

41 minutes ago, Chester B said:

I agree, there are some big natural spaces around me, that will not receive any of the palm love.  But considering how many Trachycarpus palms are in the PNW,  I have never seen one randomly growing in a ditch or any sort of natural space.  Definitely not an invasive species around here.  I can think of a dozen bad plants that have escaped from people's gardens, with English ivy and Himalayan blackberries being the absolute worst.

 

Yea the Trachys are not invasive at all, I've had the odd one come up in my garden where I threw some old seeds but I've seen nothing outside of that. I can just see some of the conservation groups losing their minds if they start seeing "naturalized" palm trees out in the forest. It would terrible to see palm tree on a noxious weed list or frowned upon by the general public for its invasiveness. 

After 3 years of fighting, I think i finally have the English ivy beat at my place. Lots of blackberries in my area, but I don't mind those because they are a free snack... if you are willing to pay the price. I am constantly battling scotch broom and knotweed at work, those are the two that drive me most mad. And I still see some nurseries still sell scotch broom... blows my mind.

I have this poster hanging up in my office, gives me a laugh every time I look at it. Figure fellow PNW folks would enjoy it.

[amh]

36 minutes ago, DreaminAboutPalms said:

Sabal Mexicanas and palmetto and these hybrid minor love it here in central Texas and there are tons of spots in town with hundreds of volunteer plants, however if parent trees are in more public locations then the volunteers are more likely to be removed and it'll be harder for them to spread. This is what happens here too with washie volunteers. There was one in the news 7 or 8 years ago that grew from a crack next to highway or something.

Just need to throw some seeds in hidden areas near forests or in areas where they don't stand a chance of getting cut down or even seen by people. Say a hundred of the 3000 plus seeds I've probably already distributed germinate and produce fruiting palms in hidden places, that's how actual populations of these things starts to get created. 

Apparently someone did this with Sabal Mexicana seeds in Austin in the 70's or 80's and that's why they are starting to naturalize now. Would also like to try this with Washingtonia in a warmer microclimate here

 

The Austin area mexicanas might be native. There is a lot of speculation that Sabal mexicana was native in San Antonio and possibly ranged as far north as Austin.

I'll try to find the info later today and post it.

[amh]

A related link:

https://www.npsot.org/events/FallSymposium/2006/SymposiumProceedings2006_V5.pdf

I cant find the other sources that I have read in the past, but if I can find them, I will post the links.

 

[DreaminAboutPalms]

3 hours ago, amh said:

A related link:

https://www.npsot.org/events/FallSymposium/2006/SymposiumProceedings2006_V5.pdf

I cant find the other sources that I have read in the past, but if I can find them, I will post the links.

 

I have read most of those other posts  before, I should have worded it differently but my point was some guy threw mexicana seeds all over near creeks in some part of Austin and it worked and they started popping up everywhere so fast out of nowhere. Mexicana are renaturalizing in the area anyway but doing what this guy did helps speed up the process it seems like. I’ll see if I can find the article, I found it on here.

 

 

Edited January 20, 2022 by DreaminAboutPalms

[JohnAndSancho]

10 hours ago, DreaminAboutPalms said:

Have thousands of seeds of some fast growing sabal minor Hybrid and have been just tossing handfuls in areas that get sufficient water and won't get mowed over around my apartment complex, at drive thru restaurants, and next to creeks around town, and shopping centers.

Anyone else done this and had any luck? Ive distributed thousands of seeds already, not expecting they all germinate and with these sabals itll take a few years to even be large enough to notice but if even some of them did they are bulletproof around here.

Going to do this with washingtonia seeds at some point too

 

 

HuntsVegas needs more palms lol. We basically have my apartment, Taco Cabana, and the dead palms at a couple hotels and restaurants. 

[amh]

18 hours ago, DreaminAboutPalms said:

I have read most of those other posts  before, I should have worded it differently but my point was some guy threw mexicana seeds all over near creeks in some part of Austin and it worked and they started popping up everywhere so fast out of nowhere. Mexicana are renaturalizing in the area anyway but doing what this guy did helps speed up the process it seems like. I’ll see if I can find the article, I found it on here.

You worded the post fine; it was my response that wasn't worded very well. Really more of an observation, but I'm all for naturalizing/re-naturalizing palms.

Edited January 20, 2022 by amh

[SeanK]

I'm on the SE piedmont. S.minor is indigenous to NC, SC, GA, FL, AL, MS, LA, AR, and TX. It's not found in my county but I have a 5-gallon bucket of seed and a bunch of seedlings that will go out in March. 100 years from now, S.minor will be in a multitude of our wetlands.

[DreaminAboutPalms]

Here is the plant that I got all of those seeds from. No idea what it is exactly but has doubled in size from the first pic in December 2018 to the second pic this past October. There are like a hundred of these used in landscaping around the immediate area and there area and all grow at a similar rate

[Jtee]

I did this earlier this year, I drove from Alabama to Texas and spread sabal palmetto seeds along the way. Mostly in areas I knew people wouldn’t pull them as weeds or mow over them. 
I spread a lot in the countryside in lower Alabama. 
 

I have seen in New Braunfels Texas where Robustas have popped up in random places, they grow like weeds!  And in the older neighborhoods and downtown area of Dothan Alabama you will see Sabal palmettos that have naturalized and popped up in random sidewalks and other places.