UK Worst Freeze Since 2010

[Axel Amsterdam]

Thanks Foxpalms, this shows that the city really is (nearly) frostfree during this frost week. The bougainvillea is growing from the basement level, it can take -3/-4 i believe and is already visible on streetview in 2008, so must have survived 2010 as well.

Edited December 17, 2022 by Axel Amsterdam

[Foxpalms]

Driving down to the south coast there was no snow in central London, there was a bit in the outskirts of London but not that much. I drove past the syagrus romanzoffianana and a few Washingtonia and canary island date palms in the outskirts that looked undamaged. They have probably seen around -5 to -6c there.  Lots of snow still in the country side of southern England. A few miles from the coast there was still lots of snow however now I'm at the coast there's none and it's around the same temperature as central London at the moment.

[Foxpalms]

There's no snow next to the sea here. The current temperature is +3c in Eastbourne the same as central London. Central London got up to 6.5c today whilst here the max was 6c.

[UK_Palms]

2 hours ago, Foxpalms said:

There's no snow next to the sea here. The current temperature is +3c in Eastbourne the same as central London. Central London got up to 6.5c today whilst here the max was 6c.

I haven't got any snow here either (never had any) but it didn't stop me getting a -8C / 17F low here and my coldest early winter temperatures in 300+ years here. The duration of this early winter freeze has just been ridiculous for me here. It's the sort of thing I would expect during a cold year in January.

Also where are those Syagrus located on the outskirts of London? Like can you provide the specific location of them? I would love to look them up myself. Cheers. Also try and get a photo of the big row of seafront Phoenix Canariensis if you are in Eastbourne. There are lots of big ones in a row there.

Big change coming now for us, thank God! The contrast between what we have endured over the past 10 days or so, compared to what we have next week is ridiculous!

 

Edited December 17, 2022 by UK_Palms

[Foxpalms]

13 minutes ago, UK_Palms said:

I haven't got any snow here either (never had any) but it didn't stop me getting a -8C / 17F low here and my coldest early winter temperatures in 300+ years here. The duration of this early winter freeze has just been ridiculous for me here. It's the sort of thing I would expect during a cold year in January.

Also where are those Syagrus located on the outskirts of London? Like can you provide the specific location of them? I would love to look them up myself. Cheers. Also try and get a photo of the big row of seafront Phoenix Canariensis if you are in Eastbourne. There are lots of big ones in a row there.

 

 

The syagrus are located off the M40 near denham, I went past it on the way here. I think it's actually in a plant nursery since there are lots of other palms there too I could see. This was only posted 7 hours ago so they clearly haven't been badly damaged by the freeze. I also saw these palms during the summer on the way to Cornwall. There are lots of big canary Islands date palms here. I have also collected lots of butia seed. Some Brahea armata as well.

[UK_Palms]

1 hour ago, Foxpalms said:

The syagrus are located off the M40 near denham, I went past it on the way here. I think it's actually in a plant nursery since there are lots of other palms there too I could see. This was only posted 7 hours ago so they clearly haven't been badly damaged by the freeze. I also saw these palms during the summer on the way to Cornwall. There are lots of big canary Islands date palms here. I have also collected lots of butia seed. Some Brahea armata as well.

Where the hell is that lol? Have you got a location or anything? You're not really being specific. Why aren't they being purchased, planted or being protected? If they are just left there out in the open, in tiny pots at that size, they will get damaged or start to decline.

Milder air is moving into the SW now elevating temps. 9C / 48F in Scilly Isles at 1am. About 6-7C / 45F in places like southwest Cornwall and southwest Devon. That will be us tomorrow. Isles of Scilly are the warmest unsurprisingly at 9C / 48F at 1am.

 

Meanwhile where I am at... 😭

[Foxpalms]

2 hours ago, UK_Palms said:

Where the hell is that lol? Have you got a location or anything? You're not really being specific. Why aren't they being purchased, planted or being protected? If they are just left there out in the open, in tiny pots at that size, they will get damaged or start to decline.

I don't know where it is and the post selling them that I was able to find by searching syagrus London just says denham. I was going down the M40 and spotted a bunch of palms in the summer that looked like queen's, so I know roughly where they are from the motorway but not exactly since they are kind of far off to the left in a field. It's also before the M25 turning. I can't find it on street view either but it's somewhere around here. I just did some searching around and found more of an extract location, somewhere around this area if you look to the left when going down the M40 you should see it.

[UK_Palms]

Damage assessment for me here now that the freeze has finished. Temps climbing into double figures C later tonight. With the cold/ice threat gone, a new threat emerges in light of the freeze damage - rain. My first rain all month as a matter of fact, which may exacerbate any damage issues. 

Anyway onto the various Washingtonia. They all look like they have taken a hit, although the Filifera that had no protection whatsoever doesn’t look too bad to be honest. The more Robusta like ones in the first two pictures had a piece of tarpaulin just casually draped over the top of them which didn’t even cover al the fronds and wasn’t sealed up. They would have seen about -8C / 17F, which is right around the threshold for serious damage.

The Dicksonia Antarctica tree fern has had the foliage smoked. It did have a bit of tarpaulin draped over it, but obviously that wasn’t enough. This is probably my worst looking exotic at this point now, although others may be waiting to show damage.

 

Either CIDP is bulletproof or it is waiting for the big damage reveal once it warms up. It would have saw a low down to -8C / 17F and two -7C’s / 19F too. Plus a period of 48-60 hours where it did not go above freezing. About 9-10 days of back to back frosts in total, although the majority of those days went above freezing, providing some recovery between each radiation freeze.

Pretty much all of my other potted stuff was protected in the garage. Here are a few of the bigger specimens. Obviously they wouldn’t have took any damage really as I was running a heater in there most nights.

 

I’ll unwrap the Syagrus Romanzoffiana’s later this evening or tomorrow. Certainly fearing the worst with those two. There’s no way they haven’t suffered quite a bit of damage. As for Chamaerops, it wasn’t cold enough to trouble them it seems.

[GottmitAlex]

13 years ago. I wonder how it's faring.

https://youtu.be/DW_hk7G4SfA

[Foxpalms]

49 minutes ago, GottmitAlex said:

13 years ago. I wonder how it's faring.

https://youtu.be/DW_hk7G4SfA

Found a recent photo of it during the freeze. Looks like they got a lot of snow in that area which probably didn't help.

Edited December 20, 2022 by Foxpalms

[UK_Palms]

@Foxpalms Dave Brown's Washingtonia looks fine again now that the temps have recovered and snow has melted. It was just weighing down the upper fronds a bit before. Apart from a slight bronzing and a bit of damaged foliage, it will look like nothing has happened. Here is a screenshot of a video he posted about 24 hours ago.

 

One plant that has proven particularly hardy during this freeze is Abutilon, remaining in leaf and flower all year-round. Some specimens have withstood -8C / 17F during this freeze event with little to no damage. I might try one here.

 

The Isle of Wight Robusta's . Probably some of the biggest in the UK. There's 4 big ones there. I wonder how they have faired in that location during this freeze? They're about 2-3 miles inland so must have seen at least one night of -3C / 25F, considering Ventnor went down to -1C / 30F right at the coast. Shouldn't have been cold enough to trouble them though.

Edited December 21, 2022 by UK_Palms

[Axel Amsterdam]

6 hours ago, UK_Palms said:

@Foxpalms Dave Brown's Washingtonia looks fine again now that the temps have recovered and snow has melted. It was just weighing down the upper fronds a bit before. Apart from a slight bronzing and a bit of damaged foliage, it will look like nothing has happened. Here is a screenshot of a video he posted about 24 hours ago.

 

One plant that has proven particularly hardy during this freeze is Abutilon, remaining in leaf and flower all year-round. Some specimens have withstood -8C / 17F during this freeze event with little to no damage. I might try one here.

 

The Isle of Wight Robusta's . Probably some of the biggest in the UK. There's 4 big ones there. I wonder how they have faired in that location during this freeze? They're about 2-3 miles inland so must have seen at least one night of -3C / 25F, considering Ventnor went down to -1C / 30F right at the coast. Shouldn't have been cold enough to trouble them though.

Ben, do you know what temperatures Dave’s washy has seen? 

 

[UK_Palms]

1 hour ago, Axel Amsterdam said:

Ben, do you know what temperatures Dave’s washy has seen? 

 

He had one night of -6C I believe on his main sensor that is 2 meters off the ground. At ground level on the lawn it went down to -7C for him, but that isn’t reflective of the temps his Washie’s crown would have experienced. It may have only saw -5C at that height. His lows haven’t been as bad as mine overall, although he did also get snow unlike where I am. That Filibusta will be tough as nails now though. It got defoliated in Feb 2018 after -9C I believe and worse daytime recovery compared to this event, but obviously it came back fine.

[Axel Amsterdam]

Yes it looks great, did he also have negative daytemps/ hovering around 0C?

[UK_Palms]

45 minutes ago, Axel Amsterdam said:

Yes it looks great, did he also have negative daytemps/ hovering around 0C?

I can’t say for sure but I don’t think he had any negative daytime temps. If so it would have been like one day around 0C / 32F. My coldest day here was -0.7C and I had one other day that only got to -0.1C too. Nothing too extreme though. For comparison Dallas, TX has a low of -12C and a high of -4C on Friday and that still won’t even be anywhere near as bad as the Feb 2021 event. I believe they had some Filifera’s come back from -18C and over a week below freezing during that event.

[Foxpalms]

@UK_PalmsHow are you're queen palms?

[UK_Palms]

5 minutes ago, Foxpalms said:

@UK_PalmsHow are you're queen palms?

I unwrapped them yesterday morning before work and snapped a quick photo. The protection was only a bit of flimsy frost cloth wrapped around them, so I was expecting more damage. Thankfully they don’t look too bad, at least as of right now. Damage could be waiting to show still. I also had to cut some fronds off to wrap them as well. The biggest one is still tied up with string.

My Cordylines have also taken a bit of a bit. The bigger green one looks okay, but I notice some of the lower foliage has browned off. As for the red Cordyline, all of the foliage has taken a hit and looks discoloured. Nothing terminal though I hope. The spear still looks strong and no sign of collapse or anything. It will probably be fine.

The Brahea Armata that received no protection also looks fine. Those things are tough as hell. Any damage or discolouration that you can see was from before the freeze. I stupidly left a load of upper roots exposed to the freeze as well. I should have made sure they were covered with soil! 😬

I’ll do a bigger photo update on all my stuff this weekend. I may even unwrap the bananas to do a damage assessment and see if the biggest one at least has pulled through. I bet the smaller ones would have collapsed. My protection wasn’t the best.

[Foxpalms]

That's amazing that the queen palms look that good, even if they show damage it might not be fatal. Since you have had them for a while in ground they probably are hardier than one that's been bought from a heated greenhouse and has never seen any cold. If this is how hardy fairly small regular queen palms are I wonder how hardy the Santa Catarina ones are. I haven't seen any cordylines damaged here or on the south coast but that's not suprsing. Does anyone have large queen's on the south coast, excluding Cornwall, because it would be interesting to compare the growth to here. Queen palms might only make 3 or 4 fronds per year but I find that they seem to put on lots of vertical growth per frond. I would also recommend chamedorea elegans for you're location because they have held up well across the UK during the freeze. Mine also are undamaged. But that depends on you're location next year, if you are in you're current location they are worth a try and if you go to the south coast I'm sure they will thrive there. Underneath the larger palms I on the south coast you could probably make a chamedorea forest, at least that's what I'm doing!

Edited December 21, 2022 by Foxpalms

[Axel Amsterdam]

Do you know of any queens in the UK Foxpalm? The only experience i know, and had myself is max 2 fronds per year.

Edited December 21, 2022 by Axel Amsterdam

[Foxpalms]

12 minutes ago, Axel Amsterdam said:

Do you know of any queens in the UK Foxpalm? The only experience i know, and had myself is max 2 fronds per year.

I know Jamil has them, lamorran gardens, myself, UK palms, there are a few others in the UK I've seen on social media. I can't remember where but I think south Wales, somewhere in the midlands and some in the south east. I have seen photos of ones in London and the Coast but I can't remember where that was posted. I try to screenshot those posts now but before I didn't. I think the ones further north are the Santa Catarina varieties. We have higher summer highs here than the Netherlands in London, but more importantly the summer lows are very warm in London. Lots of nights last summer it didn't go below 20c. I have actually seen a few places selling queen palms this year so maybe there will be a few more in ground.

Edited December 21, 2022 by Foxpalms

[UK_Palms]

1 hour ago, Foxpalms said:

That's amazing that the queen palms look that good, even if they show damage it might not be fatal. Since you have had them for a while in ground they probably are hardier than one that's been bought from a heated greenhouse and has never seen any cold. If this is how hardy fairly small regular queen palms are I wonder how hardy the Santa Catarina ones are. I haven't seen any cordylines damaged here or on the south coast but that's not suprsing. Does anyone have large queen's on the south coast, excluding Cornwall, because it would be interesting to compare the growth to here. Queen palms might only make 3 or 4 fronds per year but I find that they seem to put on lots of vertical growth per frond.

I think my ones are Santa Catarina Queens, although it’s hard to say for sure. When I got them they were listed as SC Queens but people were saying they were regular ones passed off as Santa Catarina’s. The fact they have taken this freeze in their stride, so far at least, tells me they may well be Santa Catarina Queens. Although I may never know for sure.

I also have about 20 or so smaller Santa Catarina Queens that I have grown from true seed, obtained by South American palm expert Nigel Kembrey. I have cold-grown these and made them sit out through frosts and storms, weening out the weaklings. A few of them are much bigger, more vigorous and more hardy than the others. I may be able to send some your way in the spring, if you want 1-2? You obviously have a good microclimate for them plus the summer heat.  They would do well in your garden, so let me know if you want any.

Edited December 21, 2022 by UK_Palms

[Axel Amsterdam]

1 hour ago, Foxpalms said:

I know Jamil has them, lamorran gardens, myself, UK palms, there are a few others in the UK I've seen on social media. I can't remember where but I think south Wales, somewhere in the midlands and some in the south east. I have seen photos of ones in London and the Coast but I can't remember where that was posted. I try to screenshot those posts now but before I didn't. I think the ones further north are the Santa Catarina varieties. We have higher summer highs here than the Netherlands in London, but more importantly the summer lows are very warm in London. Lots of nights last summer it didn't go below 20c. I have actually seen a few places selling queen palms this year so maybe there will be a few more in ground.

I have no doubt there are more queens to be dicovered, it’s just that i have never read any experiences by UK growers that they were able to grow more than 2 fronds. Jamil has stated the same, although they may speed up for him after being in the ground for some more years in the London climate.

Edited December 21, 2022 by Axel Amsterdam

[Foxpalms]

42 minutes ago, Axel Amsterdam said:

I have no doubt there are more queens to be dicovered, it’s just that i have never read any experiences by UK growers that they were able to grow more than 2 fronds. Jamil has stated the same, although they may speed up for him after being in the ground for some more years in the London climate.

That's my personal experience at least, mine is also against a wall so that probably helps. I'm away up north at the moment and don't have the best photo of one of them but I'll post a photo from the summer. This one at the moment currently needs some potassium fertilizer, I will give it some in March. It's not a good photo so it may not look like it but it's 12-13ft tall. During mid July the soil temperature in the shade here was 26c at night so I'm sure that also helped. @UK_Palms I may take you up on that in the summer, but for early spring I will be busy planting lots of frost tender palms such as Beccariophoenix and laccospadix.

 

Edited December 21, 2022 by Foxpalms

[UK_Palms]

51 minutes ago, Axel Amsterdam said:

I have no doubt there are more queens to be dicovered, it’s just that i have never read any experiences by UK growers that they were able to grow more than 2 fronds. Jamil has stated the same, although they may speed up for him after being in the ground for some more years in the London climate.

I strongly suspect 3-4 fronds will be more than possible during good years and summers on established queens that have been in the ground for a while. Most of the UK ones are on the smaller side still and quite recently planted, so they will not be reaching their maximum growth potential as of yet. They need to settle in, get roots down and put on some decent size before they start rocketing away, assuming they actually can here. 

Just 5-10 years ago we all thought CIDP’s and Washingtonia’s were slow growers in the UK and could only really survive long-term in central London and Cornwall. Now there are big ‘rocket’ specimens all over the south coast and even inland areas away from London’s UHI. Those species are growing far quicker than we could have imagined and proving far hardier. So you can only guess what the palm growing consensus will be like in another 5 years from now, also with the additional warming, especially in summer.

There will likely be more queens around and much bigger, more established ones too, which will grow faster. It doesn’t get cold enough to kill them in the protected zones. 5 fronds a year will probably be possible under optimum conditions, once established, in say central London or Ventnor for example. Even in my inland rural location with no UHI, I am keeping them alive with minimal protection. I didn’t protect them at all last winter! I actually lost out on growth by under-watering them during the summer drought and heatwave.

Edited December 21, 2022 by UK_Palms

[Ryland]

Looks like Dave's Washingtonia saw almost identical cold as mine, though I didn't have the snow.

I've just taken a look (in the dark unfortunately) and I'm seeing reason to be hopeful... provided nothing too severe happens in the remainder of the winter and I keep it under plastic, I'm putting the chance of recovery at more like 50% now.  The toasted spear is just the upper bits of it.  I think a lot of leaves will be lost but not all of them.

[Chester B]

For those of us that experience slightly colder temps more commonly in winter, you have to realize most damage doesn’t show up right away.  It can take months. By early June you will know the true extent of the damage. Only severe, killing damage tends to be seen right after the event. Those red Cordylines are not fond of -5c temps they usually “spear pull” many weeks later one day out of the blue but seem to do a good job of recovering. I would recommend preventative fungicide treatments a few times leading up to spring on the palms and others. I know I will be doing this following our frigid next couple of days. 
 

 

[southathens]

West London dropped to almost -8C for a few days.

Pretty nasty cold snap! I count at least 10 days with freezing minimums in W.London.

Below the official WMO station Ts in West London during the freeze.

 

Also 12 days of freezing Ts in the nearby Davis met station in W. London

Edited December 23, 2022 by Manos33

[Foxpalms]

13 hours ago, Manos33 said:

West London dropped to almost -8C for a few days.

Pretty nasty cold snap! I count at least 10 days with freezing minimums in W.London.

Below the official WMO station Ts in West London during the freeze.

 

Also 12 days of freezing Ts in the nearby Davis met station in W. London

I think the Northolt weather station is at the airport and the Davis station is in a large park so it gets about 1-2c colder than the nearby suburbs (Northolt itself) but that part of north west London gets very cold in the winter and then gets some of the highest temperatures on the hottest day of the year during the day in the summer. Essentially it got cold but those weather stations don't really reflect the temperature in the suburbs there since it's slightly warmer and the airport there doesn't have much concrete ect like London Heathrow, it has lots of grass.

 

[UK_Palms]

@Manos33 The northwest suburbs of London where Northolt is located is the coldest part of the city. You will be hard pressed to find any palms (apart from Traachycarpus and Chamaerops) out that way really due to that reason. Maybe the odd CIDP and Washingtonia that I have logged, but nothing overly big or long term. It's a well known coldspot and holds the record for the coldest ever London temperature too. It was WAAAAAAAYYY milder further east in central and eastern London. Northolt is not really representative to the rest of London where most of the palms are located.

Here is St James Park in central London, which is an exposed park that is out in the open. It would be the equivalent to a station in the middle of Central Park in NYC during a freeze. The lowest was -4.4C there. You can add at least +1C on for street level and back gardens. No sub zero days either, but 11-12 consecutive nights of frost there. No sub zero days.

 

Langdon Bay, which is Dover (Kent) had an ultimate low of -2.2C and no subzero days.

 

St Catherine's point in the Isle of Wight. No urban heat island there at all and not the mildest part of the island. Still the lowest was -2.2C there. That monstrous Washingtonia stand in Ventnor (biggest in UK) probably didn't see colder than -1C.

 

Portland was pretty mild too with an ultimate low of -1.2C and no subzero days.

 

Camborne in Cornwall, which is a mile inland and located on the north coast of Cornwall, so not even in the most protected area by any stretch. Still the lowest was -2.1C.

 

The Scilly Isles were obviously the warmest, although they still went down to +2.9C on the coldest night. Their coldest day was a shockingly balmy 5.5C! Positively subtropical.

 

These are just official Met Office stations so many of the mildest areas won't have coverage i.e. Penzance, Falmouth, Salcombe, Torquay etc. Most Met stations aren't even shown on here. For instance only 1 of the 4 Isle of Wight Met stations are shown. Kew Gardens isn't shown. Neither is Greenwich. So the dataset is kind of limited.

 

@Foxpalms Also the fronds of my Syagrus's are now showing damage and discolouration. It's probably just cosmetic damage and nothing terminal, but they don't look as healthy as they did when I uncovered them. It took a week or so of milder temps before damage began to show. Ultimate low was -7.9C or -8.1C depending on what sensor I go with. One is near the patio, the other is at the bottom of the garden. Neither are close to where the Syagrus are, so a rounded -8C obviously. Cold, but probably not terminal. My bananas have come through the event better than I expected, despite just having a flimsy light bit of frost cloth wrapped around them. This mild spell has the spears moving again now too.

 

This Cordyline in a pot is tough as hell as well. I have never posted it on here before, but it has never EVER been protected, not even during the Feb 2018 'Beast from the East' event. It has stayed outside in a pot the whole time and never shown any damage. I will probably plant it in the ground this spring.

 

12.1C / 54F max today on Christmas day here. Overcast and damp, but mild. A typical Christmas day in southern England! 

Edited December 25, 2022 by UK_Palms

[southathens]

10 hours ago, UK_Palms said:

@Manos33 The northwest suburbs of London where Northolt is located is the coldest part of the city.

Oh yeah! I know! I lived in London for over 12 years!!! Well in N. London to be exact (Enfield). In fact I am a naturalized UK citizen (which reminds me I need to eventually renew my UK passport 😂 )

The reason I put Northolt data is to showcase how bitterly cold it was in London locally during the freeze. Btw Kew Gardens and St. James Park have pretty similar winter values I have noticed throughout the years. In fact there are times St. James Park is milder and other times Kew Gardens takes the lead. Obviously the massive UHI in London results in Central London being one of the mildest (if not the mildest) areas in England. 

 

Edited December 26, 2022 by Manos33

[Ryland]

I've done a damage assessment today - seems like the first day I've been home during daylight in a couple weeks.  I had taken a few photos on Christmas eve, so one is from then.

It's still early days, but visible damage so far:

• Washingtonia robusta: badly damaged, most fronds on the way out.  Still a hint of life in the centre where it's solid and green
• Cycas revoluta: about ⅓ of the leaflets are showing signs of damage but nothing dreadful so far
• Phoenix canariensis: badly damaged, probably will defoliate.  It has taken a bit longer to show it than the Washingtonia, but looks just as bad.  Curiously I have on in a pot that looks absolutely fine.  The one in the ground has been there for 3+ years and barely grown at all, it's always had a very poor performance, so could just be a more susceptible individual.
• Everything else: so far so good

Christmas Eve Washingtonia

Today after a trim

Spear centre front

Spear centre rear

Cycas and Phoenix

Meanwhile, all looking well with Brahea and Butia

The other section with more damage

[Ryland]

@UK_Palms where are all those weather station records coming from?  Can you get the records going back over a long period of time?  I'm looking for a reputable source of weather records going back minimum 10 but ideally 30 years.  Met Office stations would be great, but I've not found the data on their website.  I'd like to make a new UK hardiness zone map (I did this sort of thing in uni so reckon I'd still be able to do it with good data).

[Foxpalms]

@kinzyjr An update on the archontophoenix Alexandrae. This burn showed up on the palm about 2 days after the freeze and it hasn't gotten worse since. The dry crispy frond damage is sunburn from the summer and the brown looking damage is the cold damage.

[kinzyjr]

7 minutes ago, Foxpalms said:

@kinzyjr An update on the archontophoenix Alexandrae. This burn showed up on the palm about 2 days after the freeze and it hasn't gotten worse since. The dry crispy frond damage is sunburn from the summer and the brown looking damage is the cold damage.

It did OK so far.  Mark the spear and a frond next to it at the same level with a magic marker.  If the spear doesn't move for a couple of weeks, give it a peroxide/fungicide treatment.

[Foxpalms]

5 minutes ago, kinzyjr said:

It did OK so far.  Mark the spear and a frond next to it at the same level with a magic marker.  If the spear doesn't move for a couple of weeks, give it a peroxide/fungicide treatment.

I'm pretty sure its grown slightly since but I will mark it now anyway.

[Foxpalms]

@kinzyjrThe archontophoenix Alexandrae is looking fine, no fungal infections and it's clearly growing. Since I marked the spear you can see it's grown a bit which isn't bad either considering it's winter here. We had another cold period mid January that caused a slight bit more damage but it's still growing and looking fine. Its also just got its first trunk ring today.

Edited February 3, 2023 by Foxpalms

[kinzyjr]

3 minutes ago, Foxpalms said:

The archontophoenix Alexandrae is looking fine, no fungal infections and it's clearly growing. Since I marked the spear you can see it's grown a bit which isn't bad either considering it's winter here. We had another cold period mid January that caused a slight bit more damage but it's still growing and looking fine. Its also just got its first trunk ring today.

This is good to see!  Hopefully you'll get to give it a whirl in the ground and hear the pitter-patter of little seeds in a few years.

[Foxpalms]

Just now, kinzyjr said:

This is good to see!  Hopefully you'll get to give it a whirl in the ground and hear the pitter-patter of little seeds in a few years.

There was a massive one in the tresco abbey gardens that flowered but it died in the 87 freeze there. They have another archontophoenix Alexandrae that's 25 years old but it's still small considering it's age, probably because it's planted in way too much shade and never gets watered. Hopefully mine in ground will grow much faster! I also have a larger 8-9ft trunking one that I could plant out but I was using the smaller one to test their hardiness instead of risking the larger one. Archontophoenix also have some of the nicest looking flowers and seeds of any palm so hopefully one day it seeds. If it can seed on the much cooler Scilly isles it should be able to here once it gets large enough.