RGV plant and forget

[5am]

My goal is to have a yard full of palms which don't need any supplemental care. That means no protection and no water, ever. I suspect the palms found here along the road side¹ all across the Rio Grande Valley (deep south Texas) ought to be capable, but that still leaves a couple questions.

• What size plant will most readily adapt?
• What time of year brings the least risk for planting?

The setting is a large sunny yard which receives no irrigation yet somehow it needs to be mowed all year long. Earlier this week I put the first round of 8 young palms in the ground. Perhaps good timing as there's a tropical storm coming to water them in.

¹ Washingtonia robusta, Bismarckia nobilis, Sabal mexicana, and the occasional phoenix. (There is a lot more variety found in yards and parking lots but not so much along highways.)

Edited August 20, 2022 by 5am
Remove unnecessary text.

[Little Tex]

32 minutes ago, 5am said:

My goal is to have a yard full of palms which don't need any supplemental care. That means no protection and no water, ever. I suspect the palms found here along the road side¹ all across the Rio Grande Valley (deep south Texas) ought to be capable, but that still leaves a couple questions.

• What size plant will most readily adapt?
• What time of year brings the least risk for planting?

The setting is a large sunny yard which receives no irrigation yet somehow it needs to be mowed all year long. Earlier this week I put the first round of 8 young palms in the ground. Perhaps good timing as there's a tropical storm coming to water them in.

¹ Washingtonia robusta, Bismarckia nobilis, Sabal mexicana, and the occasional phoenix. (There is a lot more variety found in yards and parking lots but not so much along highways.)

Plant in spring, probably 5-20 gallons, pretty much all sabals, braheas(maybe) if your in Rio Grande city to Brownsville, royals, foxtails, and kings and queens should do fine, mule palms and Chinese fan palms are pretty slow but should work. for smaller plants probably pygmy dates or adonidia maybe. about 80% of my family is in the valley so I'm there probably once or twice a month.

[Fusca]

23 minutes ago, 5am said:

My goal is to have a yard full of palms which don't need any supplemental care. That means no protection and no water, ever.

• What size plant will most readily adapt?
• What time of year brings the least risk for planting?

Welcome to Palmtalk!  I'm in Rio Hondo since March but growing palms in ground since 2000.  Size of plant to readily adapt will depend on the species but the larger the better.  I've planted strap-leaf seedlings of different Sabal species that are thriving but other 1-gal size palms didn't fare well.

Regardless of what palms you plant you'll still need to get them established with supplemental water for several months before having them on their own with no help.  The palms you list are good candidates however.

[Silas_Sancona]

@richtrav  and @Reyes Vargas  would be great forum members to talk with regarding what has worked for them there in the rgv that won't need much, if any extra care once established. 

[Lou-StAugFL]

Does the Palm Society of South Texas still meet?

[5am]

Thanks, everyone! I'll do my best to hold off planting too much more until I see how the 8 establish themselves (or not!) Does PalmTalk maintain a list of palm nurseries by region? 

@Lou-StAugFL I didn't know about PSST. Thanks! Unfortunately as far as I can tell their site hasn't been updated in years. 

[Fusca]

6 hours ago, Lou-StAugFL said:

Does the Palm Society of South Texas still meet?

As far as I know they still are conducting meetings virtually.

3 minutes ago, 5am said:

Does PalmTalk maintain a list of palm nurseries by region?

They don't.  Some threads were created asking about palm nurseries in specific locations but most often members who live in the region you're interested in will have a pretty good list based on their personal experience.  There are also some members who regularly post palms for sale on this forum who are willing to ship within the US.

[richtrav]

The best places to buy palms in the Valley are the field growers like Wally at Adams Gardens or, for container plants, the Muñoz/Tree of Life/495 nurseries scattered around, they gets lots of stuff in from Florida at decent prices. If you want a 100 gallon Copernicia baileyana you’re gonna have to go to Florida to pick it up but most normal stuff can be found around here.

What all you can grow without any care at all will depend on your location, soil type and drainage. Most areas around Harlingen are pretty good for palms, the majority of soils being alkaline loams and clays that drain acceptably well, if you’re really lucky you may even be on a neutral loam. The summer temps, while hot, are more moderate than farther west. There’s a reason Washingtonia robusta and its hybrids are everywhere around here, they are about the most resilient and adaptable palms that grow at a decent rate. Others can grow but are going to be a lot slower without some supplemental water. Butia, Beccariophoenix and other palms that like acidic conditions usually aren’t happy here.

[5am]

Excellent! I’ve seen some of those on the map but I haven’t been yet. Dyer in Weslaco has been a great source for 5gal size but its hard to carve that time away from the family. It is “the normal stuff” I’m looking for right now. In a few years after I have all the long-term trees in place I might start looking for the fancy zone-pushing stuff. That Copernicia is beautiful! 

But Im sad to hear that the butia may not be happy. maybe that’s why I’ve seen very few large ones around the valley. Too bad, because it is my favorite. Nothing else looks quite like them. 

[chinandega81]

Unless you stick to washingtonias, canary island date palms and sabal palms, which will need supplemental irrigation for a few months and during dry stretches over a few seasons, everything else would require at the very least a modicum of care (watering) somewhat regularly. RGV is rather arid, and when it rains, it can pour and flood, so whatever rain does fall, is not evenly distributed throughout the year, despite historical "averages." You should commit to hardy palms but be willing to provide irrigation until established and then at minimum, twice a month in the hot season when it hasn't rained, just for them to survive long term and look decent. 

If that is a no go, succulents and mesquite trees would probably fit the bill for zero maintenance. A look at the brush country shows you what a non-irrigated landscape will look like. Not too many palms there, unless they have a water source!

[Mandrew968]

On 8/19/2022 at 9:24 PM, 5am said:

My goal is to have a yard full of palms which don't need any supplemental care. That means no protection and no water, ever. I suspect the palms found here along the road side¹ all across the Rio Grande Valley (deep south Texas) ought to be capable, but that still leaves a couple questions.

• What size plant will most readily adapt?
• What time of year brings the least risk for planting?

The setting is a large sunny yard which receives no irrigation yet somehow it needs to be mowed all year long. Earlier this week I put the first round of 8 young palms in the ground. Perhaps good timing as there's a tropical storm coming to water them in.

¹ Washingtonia robusta, Bismarckia nobilis, Sabal mexicana, and the occasional phoenix. (There is a lot more variety found in yards and parking lots but not so much along highways.)

I wanna have it all too without hampering my laziness-good luck!

[96720]

We have alkaline soil and Beccariophoenix grow great!!

[Collectorpalms]

When I visit the RGV even the Washingtonias looks starved for water. Most desert palms grow in oasis’s.

if you can’t provide deep watering once or twice during dry periods your going to lose everything at some point. 

[Fusca]

23 hours ago, 96720 said:

We have alkaline soil and Beccariophoenix grow great!!

My soil pH is 7.9 and I was concerned about planting my Beccariophoenix alfredii.  Is your soil pH higher than mine?