Texas Palms

[Las Palmas Norte]

3 minutes ago, MarcusH said:

Plenty of other healthy trees left.  

Trees that can survive cold weather. 😁

[MarcusH]

1 minute ago, Las Palmas Norte said:

Trees that can survive cold weather. 😁

Yes plant it right the first time lol . If my Robusta dies I'm going to cut it down within a month mark my words . 

[Chester B]

Those palms I showed are right on the fence line with the neighbor.  If it were me I'd be going over there to talk to them.  High potential for damage to property at the very least. 

The storm that caused Palmageddon hit Oregon first, resulting in a historic ice storm and massive power outages.  It destroyed the trees in my neighborhood and hundreds of square miles.  By June all of us homeowners had removed the damaged trees.  It would've been sooner but getting someone was tough at that time.  It took 2 years for arborists to get caught up.

I'm in an HOA, so its surprising these people aren't being fined.

[MarcusH]

34 minutes ago, Chester B said:

Those palms I showed are right on the fence line with the neighbor.  If it were me I'd be going over there to talk to them.  High potential for damage to property at the very least. 

The storm that caused Palmageddon hit Oregon first, resulting in a historic ice storm and massive power outages.  It destroyed the trees in my neighborhood and hundreds of square miles.  By June all of us homeowners had removed the damaged trees.  It would've been sooner but getting someone was tough at that time.  It took 2 years for arborists to get caught up.

I'm in an HOA, so its surprising these people aren't being fined.

Texas is backwards and major cities like yours and mine don't care too much about rules or the environment.  It's all about being cheap , the majority of people don't spend money on yard maintenance either.  Texas pride ! Wait , what pride ? 

[Cade]

1 hour ago, MarcusH said:

Hey do you want to challenge me ? I could send you an entire album of dead palm trees around San Antonio lol.  Dead palm trees are a trademark of San Antonio 

😆

[MarcusH]

By the way who's interested in a meeting sometime in the late summer or fall ? Location Houston , San Antonio or Austin ! I think that would be fun . 

[Swolte]

1 hour ago, MarcusH said:

By the way who's interested in a meeting sometime in the late summer or fall ? Location Houston , San Antonio or Austin ! I think that would be fun . 

I am game!

[MarcusH]

Here are some pictures that I took in downtown San Antonio this morning. 

[MarcusH]

More SA 

[Chester B]

The John Fairey garden today. 

[MarcusH]

The return of the Queen palm at the Riverwalk.  Planted in 2023 before winter.  

[MarcusH]

Mule palms on the rise in San Antonio.  Photos were taking at the entrance of the Japanese Tea Garden parking lot.  

[MarcusH]

Beautiful looking Pindo palm at Brackenridge Park in San Antonio.  

[Chester B]

These are such amazing palms I had to share.  There are numerous others planted around the gardens.

 

[Xenon]

Friendswood/Pearland is filled with big old Butia everywhere. Saw a few 50+ year old CIDP that somehow have evaded disease too 

[Chester B]

Had to post another one.  This is such a cool palm, its a shame they aren't more common.

 

[amh]

5 hours ago, Chester B said:

Had to post another one.  This is such a cool palm, its a shame they aren't more common.

 

IMO, these are definitely not pure S. minor, I think these are either an old hybrid like S. brazoriensis or a different species. The seeds are very big, closer in size to S. mexicana and these appear to have a somewhat bluer, glaucus appearance compared to S. minor.

[Chester B]

12 minutes ago, amh said:

IMO, these are definitely not pure S. minor, I think these are either an old hybrid like S. brazoriensis or a different species. The seeds are very big, closer in size to S. mexicana and these appear to have a somewhat bluer, glaucus appearance compared to S. minor.

I completely agree with you.

[PA-TX2024]

Hello. I am new here and I just moved to New Braunfels recently from Philadelphia. I just wanted to show some palms. Mostly Washys. Also apologies for poor camera quality. It's sadly from a Galaxy A12. 

[Dwarf Fan]

[Ben G.]

I got myself moved into our new property in the NE San Antonio suburbs today. I didn't move any large palms with me. I just brought some potted palms that weren't thrilled with being in the back of a truck for 8 hours of driving. Some of them got a little beaten up, but they all look like they will be fine.

Here's the beginnings of my new landscape... even if nothing is in the ground yet.

 

[Ben G.]

The top picture is a fishtail (species?) with some neoregelia on the left, and a couple of golden cane palms on the right.

I grew those from seeds my daughter collected from the sand at Discovery Cove in Orlando. I didn't even know what I was sprouting, but she really wanted to see what kind of seeds they were.

The bottom pic from left to right is:

2 CDIP in one pot, C. radicalism (non-trunking), two pygmy dates grown from seed picked up by the same daughter at Legoland FL, 2 trachycarpus takil that have been beaten up bad by Oklahoma winters, a small sago, a hybrid washingtonia, and a C. humilis cerifera that has also hated Oklahoma winters.

[MarcusH]

On 4/30/2024 at 1:09 AM, PA-TX2024 said:

Hello. I am new here and I just moved to New Braunfels recently from Philadelphia. I just wanted to show some palms. Mostly Washys. Also apologies for poor camera quality. It's sadly from a Galaxy A12. 

Welcome to Texas . I live close to NB . Love going there since there's a lot of German culture.  Lots of Filiferas and Sabals to see. 

[MarcusH]

On 4/30/2024 at 10:21 AM, Dwarf Fan said:

CC has a great selection of palms . 

[PA-TX2024]

3 hours ago, MarcusH said:

Welcome to Texas . I live close to NB . Love going there since there's a lot of German culture.  Lots of Filiferas and Sabals to see. 

I've also seen a few Phoenix genus and some possible Robusta/Robusta dominant hybrid survivors here too. I've been seeing some possible new guerilla plantings of some Robustas as well in multiple locations. I'm hoping to see some tall ones a decade from now since I don't expect a 2021 freeze happening for a very, very long time.

[Ben G.]

21 minutes ago, PA-TX2024 said:

I've also seen a few Phoenix genus and some possible Robusta/Robusta dominant hybrid survivors here too. I've been seeing some possible new guerilla plantings of some Robustas as well in multiple locations. I'm hoping to see some tall ones a decade from now since I don't expect a 2021 freeze happening for a very, very long time.

I like your confidence that another 2021 event won't happen again soon. I hope it doesn't happen again soon either, but I am not confident enough to hold my breath.

Speaking of naturalized palms though, I found a couple of large (15 ft or more of trunk) CIDPs growing on a vacant lot just across from my neighborhood in Cibolo. Both look like they got burned pretty bad last winter, but both have already put out a few new fronds too. I will get a pic soon hopefully.

[MarcusH]

3 hours ago, PA-TX2024 said:

I've also seen a few Phoenix genus and some possible Robusta/Robusta dominant hybrid survivors here too. I've been seeing some possible new guerilla plantings of some Robustas as well in multiple locations. I'm hoping to see some tall ones a decade from now since I don't expect a 2021 freeze happening for a very, very long time.

Most Robustas you can buy at the stores and nurseries are Robusta dominant hybrids . They aren't very leaf hardy to be honest I've seen the fronds burning in the low 20s . I wouldn't recommend to plant those here since our winter are 8b on average. I have one myself and I see the difference between my Robusta and my Filiferas when it comes to leaf hardiness.  The difference is huge . I didn't know nothing about palm trees when I made my first purchase.  Filiferas grow pretty fast if you fertilize and water them . 

Don't let the new Cold Hardiness Zone Map play tricks on you.  San Antonio metro is rated as 9a but it's more like 8b with rare 7b/8a winters, just be aware.  Texas is very unique we do get very cold days with hard freezes that can kill palms that were pushed. Happens all the time.  So far the last 3 years hasn't been Zone push friendly . Every year it went down in the mid to upper teens after February 2021 . 9a/9b in Texas isn't the same compared to Florida.  Good luck on growing palms. 

[Cade]

Some of my palms  

#Zone9BAlvin

[PA-TX2024]

Some plantings of Washys at an HEB parking lot. Possibly guerilla planted.

[Dwarf Fan]

6 hours ago, Cade said:

Some of my palms  

#Zone9BAlvin

#1 Bizmarck

#2 Butia

#3 Queen

🤔 

[PA-TX2024]

On 2/22/2024 at 12:30 PM, MarcusH said:

Here are some pictures that I took in downtown San Antonio this morning. 

Seeing a lot of Robusta/Robusta dominant hybrids after the 2021 freeze warms my heart.

[Ben G.]

I went to the river walk tonight with my family. We weren't there on a plant spotting trip, but I did spot a couple of interesting finds that I thought I would post.

First I found a nice livistona (decipiens?) by the river city mall. It looks like it has self seeded at least once since I found a small livistona below it. It also has quite a bit of seed at the moment. A few of them even fell into my pocket.

 

[Ben G.]

The other interesting find I noticed was by the statue of San Antonio. They replaced all of the mules with sabals a while back, but I noticed what looks like a small mule hiding in the back of the bed:

[PA-TX2024]

Google Maps, March 2022. Most Robustas and Phoenix genus palms in this lot here survived the freeze. A couple causualties here but the survivors are still standing even today and growing strong.  I've seen them recently too.

[MarcusH]

14 hours ago, Ben OK said:

The other interesting find I noticed was by the statue of San Antonio. They replaced all of the mules with sabals a while back, but I noticed what looks like a small mule hiding in the back of the bed:

I've noticed some new palm planting in the downtown area. Seems to be they planted some Queens at some places along the Riverwalk.  Would have been better off choosing Mule palms but what do I know .  

[Ben G.]

1 hour ago, MarcusH said:

I've noticed some new palm planting in the downtown area. Seems to be they planted some Queens at some places along the Riverwalk.  Would have been better off choosing Mule palms but what do I know .  

I know a lot of people don't know enough to buy mules. Though I would think that whoever is doing the landscaping along the Riverwalk knows the difference between mules and queens.

[MarcusH]

2 minutes ago, Ben OK said:

I know a lot of people don't know enough to buy mules. Though I would think that whoever is doing the landscaping along the Riverwalk knows the difference between mules and queens.

I don't know who's in charge but last year somebody tried to plant a Foxtail next to a restaurant by the Riverwalk. Of course it didn't make it.  

I wish our big box stores would offer more cold hardy palms . I've learned the hard way. 

[Ben G.]

5 minutes ago, MarcusH said:

I don't know who's in charge but last year somebody tried to plant a Foxtail next to a restaurant by the Riverwalk. Of course it didn't make it.  

I wish our big box stores would offer more cold hardy palms . I've learned the hard way. 

I have also learned a lot over the years from my mistakes. I guess in fairness though, I planted a lot of stuff that would have been fine from about 1988 to 2011. I saw what others had done over that time frame, and didn't think about what would happen if we went through another cold period like the 70s and 80s. It seems like that's the kind of winters have have again, at least in the central US. 

In just a week or so living in the San Antonio area though, it still looks like sabals, washingtonia filifera & hybrids, med fans, butia, CIDP, and possibly mules would be good choices for the area.

There are others too of course, but those of most of what I have seen around so far.

[Chester B]

I have a Washingtonia “robusta” that is really looking good compared to the others. Only in the last two weeks have I noticed this gradual. change. It has a really nice silver look to it. The palm looks great up close. 

[MarcusH]

22 hours ago, Ben OK said:

I have also learned a lot over the years from my mistakes. I guess in fairness though, I planted a lot of stuff that would have been fine from about 1988 to 2011. I saw what others had done over that time frame, and didn't think about what would happen if we went through another cold period like the 70s and 80s. It seems like that's the kind of winters have have again, at least in the central US. 

In just a week or so living in the San Antonio area though, it still looks like sabals, washingtonia filifera & hybrids, med fans, butia, CIDP, and possibly mules would be good choices for the area.

There are others too of course, but those of most of what I have seen around so far.

The palm trees you mentioned are the typical bred and butter palms for the SA area but they're also one of the best reliable palms. 

In terms of looks I would take CIDPS and maybe Mule palms out if our winters keep continuing being cold . Those take too long to have a full crown growing back . 

You want to look for a nice cold hardy palm that either remains evergreen or has the ability to regrow its crown back no later by summer .