Who’s growing Serenoa Repens (saw palmetto)?

[teddytn]

There’s been post on here before, I’ve dug and found them. Seems like a native palm that gets forgotten about. I’ve seen good clumps of them in Florida, and incredible pictures of especially the silver form and some that had vertical trunks. If anyones growing them I would love to see pics and pick your brain! 

[Fusca]

1 hour ago, teddytn said:

There’s been post on here before, I’ve dug and found them. Seems like a native palm that gets forgotten about. I’ve seen good clumps of them in Florida, and incredible pictures of especially the silver form and some that had vertical trunks. If anyones growing them I would love to see pics and pick your brain! 

I'm growing the silver form in San Antonio.   Survived 9°F last February unprotected with some damage but has recovered to roughly the same size.  Planted with live oak canopy.  Looks much less silver than it did at planting.  Below from 2019:

From today:

New palm to be planted at my rental property:

Edited February 1, 2022 by Fusca

[NOT A TA]

They get used as border plantings here by the county. People rarely plant them in their yards because they grow fairly slow then take a lot more space horizontally than most palms as they age and a lot of folks avoid plants with thorns.  I have some small ones in growers pots I started from seed and I sell seeds for both the green and blue types. I still have a few hundred seeds left from the fall harvest. https://www.ebay.com/itm/265527835624

[teddytn]

57 minutes ago, Fusca said:

I'm growing the silver form in San Antonio.   Survived 9°F last February unprotected with some damage but has recovered to roughly the same size.  Planted with live oak canopy.  Looks much less silver than it did at planting.  Below from 2019:

From today:

New palm to be planted at my rental property:

That’s badass! Obviously I’m very curious about the cold hardiness. I’m thinking of foundation planting one here with some overhead cover. The potted one for the rental property is very silver!!

[teddytn]

35 minutes ago, NOT A TA said:

They get used as border plantings here by the county. People rarely plant them in their yards because they grow fairly slow then take a lot more space horizontally than most palms as they age and a lot of folks avoid plants with thorns.  I have some small ones in growers pots I started from seed and I sell seeds for both the green and blue types. I still have a few hundred seeds left from the fall harvest. https://www.ebay.com/itm/265527835624

So glad I made this thread, consider the order placed! 

[Chester B]

Incredibly slow for me, in 5 years time my remaining one isn't much bigger than when I got it.  23F is the coldest its seen.

[teddytn]

1 hour ago, Chester B said:

Incredibly slow for me, in 5 years time my remaining one isn't much bigger than when I got it.  23F is the coldest its seen.

That’s weird since you obviously have a green thumb. Just plain that slow you think?

[Jesse PNW]

I think it just needs heat.  Same reason Sabals are slow here.  Same reason Acoelorraphe wrightii isn't grown anywhere up here.  Those darn Floridian palms.  

[Allen]

I looked at them but got spooked by the hardiness and feel that needles were our version of these palms but they could be a good experiment.  I'm using minors for my tropical foundation, needles next for screening the area.   

Edited February 1, 2022 by Allen

[Jesse PNW]

3 minutes ago, Allen said:

I.... feel that needles were our version of these palms.  

(editing mine for context sorry)

They're not that far off, according to the Beautiful Mind Palm DNA Master Almanac of the Universe.   I wish someone smarter than myself could hybridize everything between Acoelorraphe and Trachycarpus. 

[Allen]

2 minutes ago, Jesse PNW said:

(editing mine for context sorry)

They're not that far off, according to the Beautiful Mind Palm DNA Master Almanac of the Universe.   I wish someone smarter than myself could hybridize everything between Acoelorraphe and Trachycarpus. 

Saw palmetto have such better stiffer fronds than needles.  All my needle palms have such delicate wimpy fronds.  

[Jesse PNW]

I think a nice Chamaerops cerifera grown in full sun would probably make an OK substitute if you don't want to trouble with Serenoa.  Or maybe there is an even more silver Chamaerops that I don't know about, they're not my forte.  

If we could cross Serenoa with Chamaerops... but even Chamaerops are on the slow side... 

[Fusca]

2 hours ago, teddytn said:

That’s badass! Obviously I’m very curious about the cold hardiness. I’m thinking of foundation planting one here with some overhead cover. The potted one for the rental property is very silver!!

I'm not sure of the cold hardiness but mine did lose a couple of suckers.  As @NOT A TA and @Chester B pointed out they are slow - even here with multiple 100°+ days in summer.  Last February was it's only real test for cold as it wasn't fazed by 27°F.  I think the new one is more silver than the first one I bought but not by much.  Seedlings also seem pretty slow (Sabal-like slow)!  At this size the saw-like teeth on the petioles are pretty inconspicuous so not a problem trimming it.  They're pretty sensative - the one I planted suffered some shock just from putting in the ground which is visible in the first photo.

 

 

[Swolte]

I'll see if I can snap a pic of mine tomorrow but they are beautiful palms. Got hooked by the large ones they have at JFGardens. I attached a pic of them after 7F (these survived).  

[Chester B]

I don’t even want to show a picture of mine it’s just downright embarrassing!  In the summer we have cool nights, low humidity and no rainfall- exactly what these palms don’t like.  I saw them all over Florida and they looked great. I think they’re more dependent on constant heat than Sabals. They can survive here for sure but I don’t think they will ever thrive. 

[teddytn]

7 hours ago, Allen said:

I looked at them but got spooked by the hardiness and feel that needles were our version of these palms but they could be a good experiment.  I'm using minors for my tropical foundation, needles next for screening the area.   

Same here. I almost forgot the existed first a while, just try and stay realistic and focused on what will actually survive here. I do have some open areas against the foundation on the east side of my house. I haven’t killed a palm in a while, I think I’ll try one there and see what happens. 

[dalmatiansoap]

11 hours ago, Chester B said:

Incredibly slow for me, in 5 years time my remaining one isn't much bigger than when I got it.  

I second that, specially when you grow them from seed.

[knikfar]

14 hours ago, Fusca said:

I'm growing the silver form in San Antonio.   Survived 9°F last February unprotected with some damage but has recovered to roughly the same size.  Planted with live oak canopy.  Looks much less silver than it did at planting.  Below from 2019:

From today:

New palm to be planted at my rental property:

Where did you purchase this beauty? 

 

[aabell]

For comparison of growth rate, here's March 27th 2021 vs Feb 1 2022 in SW Florida, with plenty of heat, basically no supplemental water at the back of my slightly raised desert bed. Planted as a 3 gal in summer 2020, took six months to get established. 

[Fusca]

1 hour ago, knikfar said:

Where did you purchase this beauty? 

Rainbow Gardens on Bandera Road had 10-gal for $120 two years ago and this past summer they were selling 2-gal plants for $40.  But the one in the 10-gal container came from Home Depot in Jupiter, FL for around $50!

Edited February 1, 2022 by Fusca

[Jtee]

I’ve seen the saw palmettos at nurseries in the Florida panhandle for about $35 for a 1 or 2 gallon. I didn’t think it was worth it seeing how they are just bushes planted all over the panhandle in public spaces and road medians interchanges, just a super common bush but I’d probably buy one today just for the hell of it. 

[teddytn]

18 minutes ago, Jtee said:

I’ve seen the saw palmettos at nurseries in the Florida panhandle for about $35 for a 1 or 2 gallon. I didn’t think it was worth it seeing how they are just bushes planted all over the panhandle in public spaces and road medians interchanges, just a super common bush but I’d probably buy one today just for the hell of it. 

I totally get that. Same way most people feel about Sabal palmetto and Sabal minor, I think. I really like the look of saw palmetto,  though, doesn’t seem to be too many palms that are cold hardy with that silver color. One man’s trash is another man’s treasure so they say lol

[NOT A TA]

42 minutes ago, Jtee said:

I’ve seen the saw palmettos at nurseries in the Florida panhandle for about $35 for a 1 or 2 gallon. I didn’t think it was worth it seeing how they are just bushes planted all over the panhandle in public spaces and road medians interchanges, just a super common bush but I’d probably buy one today just for the hell of it. 

The reason they don't look like they're "worth it" is because of the time it takes to grow them from seed to that size which is another reason they're not sold a lot by retail nurseries. Once they're a bit bigger they grow faster as seen in @aabell post above.

[Fusca]

11 minutes ago, NOT A TA said:

Once they're a bit bigger they grow faster as seen in @aabell post above.

Probably a combination of size and humidity/irrigation.  Mine is decent sized and we'll watered but I don't have the humidity and it's still slow.  Maybe sandy soil helps too which I don't have.  No shortage of heat though.

[NOT A TA]

25 minutes ago, Fusca said:

No shortage of heat though.

Maybe too hot, combined with lower humidity?  Here it rarely gets above 93-94 F and average humidity might be higher. I suspect average humidity is even higher over on the West coast where @aabell is than here next to the Atlantic.

[Swolte]

Here's mine. I got it in 2018 when it was 9" tall. Very low maintenance. Growth has been very slow but it really picked up last year. I did transplant it once to a spot with a deep (seldomly dry) creek backdrop so the silver would pop even more. It's not as visible now on these grey winter days but it does look spectacular when the sun is full on it and shadows are cast. Great palm for me!

[Collectorpalms]

Serenoa Silver at Zilker Gardens March 2021. Nearly died after 7F, longer duration of cold than those at Peckerwood in Hempstead.

Silver Med Fan palm did better in my opinion.

Edited February 2, 2022 by Collectorpalms

[teddytn]

Look at what just came in the mail

[Allen]

19 minutes ago, teddytn said:

Look at what just came in the mail

Looks like a nice one

[teddytn]

59 minutes ago, Allen said:

Looks like a nice one

I’m very happy with it. We’ll giver a shot. I’ll plant it against the foundation on the east side of the house, about as protected as it gets, and we’ll see what happens.