Sabal Uresana was a palm I chose due to its cold hardiness and color.  Mine is not the bluest one out there, though the blue depends on where the sun is.  This is a robust palm that was almost undeterred by cat one hurricanes and it just seems to thrive when neglected.  Could be water with nutients flows past it during rain but I mostly dont apply fertilizer in that area.  Mine seems to want to hang onto leafbases a long time.  Here are the pics in 1) 2011 just b3efore planting, 2) christmat2013, 3) summer 2017(best blue color in early-mid summer), and a 4) couple days ago the trunk shot and the 5) overall palm which now has about 8' trunk leafbases on.  A great palm to shield other more tender palms from cold winter winds and a plant it and forget it palm for my yard in florida.  I saw no visible damage from either cat 1 IRMA(2017) or IAN(2022).  Might be the bismarckia took off some wind velocity but both are esposed to the windward in both events and the bizzie took some substantial damage(30-40 leaves lost).  Anyone else out there growing this palm?  Any pics?

I'm eyeballing about 20' total height now, based on 8' of leaf bases.  In 12 years that's a pretty reasonable growth rate of around 1.5 feet per year.  I had read Uresana was a super slow grower, but it looks like a good sized palm only 6 years after a seedling.  That's certainly not a rocket, but "instant canopy" isn't always a good thing either.  I put in a bunch of non-trunking Queens on the West side ~5 years ago and they are already growing trunk almost above the roofline.  I'm already making plans to replace them before they become a threat.

As a growth reference, how big/old is the Bizzie?

Great palm.  Mine was the coastal variety (green) with some blue coloring depending on the light (as Tom mentioned).  First pic from 2019 when planted in San Antonio, others from 2020.  It was too small to transplant so I left it when I sold the house but I've got another seedling in the ground now.  Very drought and heat tolerant.

1 hour ago, Merlyn said:

I'm eyeballing about 20' total height now, based on 8' of leaf bases.  In 12 years that's a pretty reasonable growth rate of around 1.5 feet per year.  I had read Uresana was a super slow grower, but it looks like a good sized palm only 6 years after a seedling.  That's certainly not a rocket, but "instant canopy" isn't always a good thing either.  I put in a bunch of non-trunking Queens on the West side ~5 years ago and they are already growing trunk almost above the roofline.  I'm already making plans to replace them before they become a threat.

As a growth reference, how big/old is the Bizzie?

Merlyn, the bismarckia is a year older from a 3 or 5 gallon that was a spear only with heavy  mold on all leaves.  I took that bizzie out of a big box store, cut off the mold laden leaves(all of them) and left the spear grow.  I will guess that bismarckia is about 30' +/- 2 ft, it has about 15' clear trunk.  Hard to estimate height from the ground but other vieww show its maybe 10-12' taller than that sabal.  I would put these in over queens any day, though I understand the palm grower disease of wanting everything fast to get the garden rolling.  these palms could be used to make a nice windbreak, mine has around 20 leaves so it breaks some wind.    Here is another more distant view of uresana and bismarckia where they are equal distance from the camera, you can see the uresana on the right and the bismarckia on the left of the copernicia alba in the middle which is closer so appears taller relatively but is also near 20' tall.

 

30 minutes ago, Fusca said:

Great palm.  Mine was the coastal variety (green) with some blue coloring depending on the light (as Tom mentioned).  First pic from 2019 when planted in San Antonio, others from 2020.  It was too small to transplant so I left it when I sold the house but I've got another seedling in the ground now.  Very drought and heat tolerant.

Great looking seedling there, nice blue tint!  These are tough underused palms.  I had a smaller one in arizona and it seems to take that AZ sun pretty well, very impressive indeed!  I think this is a palm that likes the dry cycle, dont plant near a thirsty palm like a queen or archie for instance as they will not like the same soil moisture levels.   Bismarckia and blue saw palmetto under the uresana and a nearby copernicia alba blue all like that high drainage soil that doesnt stay wet.  

@sonoranfans thanks for the info!  Initially I didn't buy or plant any Sabals, just because they are everywhere and I wanted something different.  But I have Mauritiiformis (very very slow) and Causiarum (probably about the same speed as your Uresana from years 1-3 in the ground) as my "long term replacements" for the West side queens.  I think I'll search around for some Uresana seedlings! 

53 minutes ago, Merlyn said:

@sonoranfans thanks for the info!  Initially I didn't buy or plant any Sabals, just because they are everywhere and I wanted something different.  But I have Mauritiiformis (very very slow) and Causiarum (probably about the same speed as your Uresana from years 1-3 in the ground) as my "long term replacements" for the West side queens.  I think I'll search around for some Uresana seedlings! 

Yeah I dont have any palmettos either, so common here and the best looking ones are in the wild.  The uresana is a bigger palm than palmetto, much thicker stiffer petioles than palmetto and carries many more leaves than palmetto's Ive seen.  Here is the underside up look,  it grows a lot of leaves and Ive already trimmed 8-10 already this year.  I also like the fat trunk, cant get too many fat trunks in my yard.

31 minutes ago, sonoranfans said:

I also like the fat trunk, cant get too many fat trunks in my yard.

I agree 100% with this statement = ) 

T J 

Sounds like we need a fat trunk thread.

1 hour ago, sonoranfans said:

Sounds like we need a fat trunk thread.

I agree and someone can start off with Jubaea Chilensis 

T J