Texas Palms

[Xenon]

2 hours ago, Ben G. said:

I've got my potted plants in the garage. I will be losing my papaya tree and my fishtail palm, but they were always intended to be annuals.

Nothing else in my landscape has me worried with 28F as the forecast low.

Why so definitive with the papaya? That's fully in the survivable camp depending on the duration. They don't die the second it hits 32F or 30F or some other arbitrary number.  Fishtail too

#optimism 

[Xenon]

On 1/16/2026 at 12:09 PM, PA-TX2024 said:

It's a miracle that it hasn't dropped below 30F yet so far.

Hardly a miracle. Central and south Houston see winters that stay above 30F around 40% of the time for the last 35 years or so. 6 out of the last 15 winters at Houston Hobby have recorded extreme minimum lows at 30F or above. 

The coconut is in south-central Houston where the NWS forecast low for tonight is 33F. Houston doesn't have enough winter heat on average for a coconut even without freezes but that's a different subject. 

The doom and gloom people paint every way below average freeze as the "new normal" 🙄. T that's not how averages work. 

Anyway, stay warm everyone! I did not protect anything zone 10 tonight...from crownshaft palms to an exposed mango. Should be windy enough to keep the frost off.  NWS says 31F tonight in west Houston...could this finally be the first freeze? Teased with 33F twice so far this winter 😜

[Ben G.]

14 minutes ago, Xenon said:

Why so definitive with the papaya? That's fully in the survivable camp depending on the duration. They don't die the second it hits 32F or 30F or some other arbitrary number.  Fishtail too

#optimism 

I am mostly just at peace with the idea, since I planned on it being and annual. If it survives, I will be pleasantly surprised.

In the suburbs northeast of San Antonio, I have no expectation of getting through a winter without going below 30F. I am not thinking with a lot of doom and gloom though. I just expect a 9a winter and deal with whatever we get.

I was already making plans for that spot for the coming growing season though. Same with the fishtail. They are so close to my house that I probably can't keep the fishtail more than one more season. 

[Xenon]

5 minutes ago, Ben G. said:

I am mostly just at peace with the idea, since I planned on it being and annual. If it survives, I will be pleasantly surprised.

In the suburbs northeast of San Antonio, I have no expectation of getting through a winter without going below 30F. I am not thinking with a lot of doom and gloom though. I just expect a 9a winter and deal with whatever we get.

I was already making plans for that spot for the coming growing season though. Same with the fishtail. They are so close to my house that I probably can't keep the fishtail more than one more season. 

30F is asking a bit much but wouldn't be out of the question to have a mild winter in the upper 20s that would allow your papaya to be quite fruitful 😃

Hopefully you are surprised! 

[Robert Cade Ross]

1 hour ago, Xenon said:

Why so definitive with the papaya? That's fully in the survivable camp depending on the duration. They don't die the second it hits 32F or 30F or some other arbitrary number.  Fishtail too

#optimism 

My biggest papaya in Alvin this afternoon. Starting to send out new growth from the top and lower mid section. 29° aftermath last month. We shall see what it looks like after this freeze 

[ChrisA]

I woke up to my coffee maker at 6am and the outdoor temp was a nice 33F. Checked the temp again just as the sun rose and it was 26F. This will be a neat experiment to see how a few of my non-palms deal with the quick zap. Still makes it a zone 9B winter! Ready to hit the ground running in another 6 weeks or so!

[MarcusH]

I can't give you guys an accurate number as far as temperatures goes but I see numbers anywhere from 24f to 34f from nearby  weather stations in my neighborhood.  Randolph Air Force Base weather station would be the closest official one,  still about 5 miles away . Their station bottomed out at 29.5f .  I also moved all potted plants inside of the garage.  On average we have 1 to 2 more artic blasts to fear until temperatures go back up. One more month to go lol. 

[Xenon]

Hit 31F briefly right before sunrise in the garden in west Houston/Katy. Finally first freeze! But still no first freeze for much of central and south Houston. 

I moved into a condo closer to town (right on I-10 and W 610), low here was only 33F. Too bad only balcony garden 😅 

[Ben G.]

Fishtail looks almost untouched so far after a, low of around 28F. It had a bit of damage after some drought stress last summer. Other than that, one or two of the leaflets that looked the rough already look a little worse now.

Papaya at. 08:30:

Again at 14:00:

Finally at 16:30:

Not worried about any palms so far, but I would love to have those two little rajapuri bananas to not freeze back to the ground and start their flowering cycle over again.

 

[Xenon]

1 hour ago, Ben G. said:

 

 

Finally at 16:30:

 

Not worried about any palms so far, but I would love to have those two little rajapuri bananas to not freeze back to the ground and start their flowering cycle over again.

 

It lives! For now 😄

[5am]

10 hours ago, Xenon said:

only balcony garden

Small space container gardening is all tough decisions. Every plant has to provide a lot of value to justify the precious space it occupies. What palms are you planning?

[Robert Cade Ross]

The fate of palms in Texas according to the gfs currently lol .

[ChrisA]

My max/min thermometer’s memory indicated an ultimate low of 24F.  Thank God the sun rose when it did the way the temp dropped between 6 AM and sunrise at ~7:30. Another hour of darkness probably would’ve sunk the temp right to the dew point, which I think was sitting at about 12F. Which, incidentally, the NWS said one weather station in SC Texas dropped to this morning. At my house was only below 32 for maybe 2-3 hours in all.

Anyhow, no Palm damage to W. robustas, Sabal uresana, mexicana, or miamiensis.

of the non-palms:

Baja Fairy Duster undamaged

Bougainvilleas, leaves appear to have been fried in spite of being covered with frost cloth. We'll see if there is any twig or branch damage in the spring provided another future freeze doesn’t zap them to the ground or worse.

More freezing temps look to be creeping into the forecast for next weekend, maybe with some wet stuff, can’t remember the word for that,  falling from the sky. 
 

 

 

[Chester B]

I woke up at 4 am and checked the temp, it appears sensors around me showed 28 or so.  15 minutes later 30 appeared to be what was recorded.  I don’t know where I ultimately ended up but I can say the plants with tender leaves really browned off, more than the first frost we had. When I did actually wake up there was no sign of frost. I protected nothing as the apps were saying low of 32 and 34. Next weekend looks like more freezing temps and rain.  Not the best combo.  I think we’re in the real danger zone these next 4 weeks.  I’ve been planting consistently every weekend but with pretty hardy plants zone 7b-8a material. 

[Robert Cade Ross]

2 hours ago, Chester B said:

I woke up at 4 am and checked the temp, it appears sensors around me showed 28 or so.  15 minutes later 30 appeared to be what was recorded.  I don’t know where I ultimately ended up but I can say the plants with tender leaves really browned off, more than the first frost we had. When I did actually wake up there was no sign of frost. I protected nothing as the apps were saying low of 32 and 34. Next weekend looks like more freezing temps and rain.  Not the best combo.  I think we’re in the real danger zone these next 4 weeks.  I’ve been planting consistently every weekend but with pretty hardy plants zone 7b-8a material. 

Next weekend might suck for Texas … if single digits are predicted for the panhandle would not be shocked if Houston goes down to 22° 💔❄️

[ChrisA]

5 hours ago, Robert Cade Ross said:

Next weekend might suck for Texas … if single digits are predicted for the panhandle would not be shocked if Houston goes down to 22° 💔❄️

I’m keeping my eye on that as well. I think we’ve got 4-6 weeks left of watching these shenanigans before our beautiful Gulf starts to push back against those wicked cold fronts. Once the sun rises higher in the sky it’ll be tougher for those arctic air masses to make a mockery of our southern latitude!

[Swolte]

Oh man. Prediction for CS went from 28F low to 20 low overnight so I am suddenly finding myself in the [Awww shite, not again!]-mode. No doubt it will hit the teens again next week for me (I have seen this movie now every year. Will end up being a big rain, then clear skies). Luckily, I have almost accepted that I live in a 7b/8a climate a few years back and I have increasingly less to worry about (yay Sabals).  It will suck to have another Spring with much recovery growth and damaged fronds.

[Xenon]

On 1/18/2026 at 9:04 PM, 5am said:

Small space container gardening is all tough decisions. Every plant has to provide a lot of value to justify the precious space it occupies. What palms are you planning?

I'm not into the container ranch thing, pots are just limbo zones for me while I decide where to plant or sell. I do have herbs and some citrus seedlings. Maybe I'll add a cheapo majesty or king for the tropical ambiance 🌴😄

[MarcusH]

26,25 and 23 lows from Saturday to Monday but daytime temperatures in the mid 30s to low 40s here on the NE side of SA. Too early to get accurate numbers. We will see if the needle goes further down or up.

Something to worry about here in San Antonio. So on my way to work I normally drive down this street with a nice row of Sabal Palmetto (?) . Now within a couple of weeks I see the crowns collapsing and trees are dying at a fast pace. If they don't cut down the infected palm trees as soon as possible it's going to spread out even more. What is it ? Rot , fungus?  What worries me the most is there's a very old Brahea Armata planted in between ( first picture). Hopefully they can save it.  

I see also lethal bronzing on a Sabal Mexicana at a different location.  Unfortunately I don't have a picture of it. That particular palm's fronds just turned brown . 

What I'm really worried about is 

[Robert Cade Ross]

4 hours ago, MarcusH said:

26,25 and 23 lows from Saturday to Monday but daytime temperatures in the mid 30s to low 40s here on the NE side of SA. Too early to get accurate numbers. We will see if the needle goes further down or up.

Something to worry about here in San Antonio. So on my way to work I normally drive down this street with a nice row of Sabal Palmetto (?) . Now within a couple of weeks I see the crowns collapsing and trees are dying at a fast pace. If they don't cut down the infected palm trees as soon as possible it's going to spread out even more. What is it ? Rot , fungus?  What worries me the most is there's a very old Brahea Armata planted in between ( first picture). Hopefully they can save it.  

I see also lethal bronzing on a Sabal Mexicana at a different location.  Unfortunately I don't have a picture of it. That particular palm's fronds just turned brown . 

What I'm really worried about is 

Looks like they just got abused by city workers for no reason…damn what a mess . They should recover the growth tips don’t appear to be damaged. This is a common sight in Galveston where palms grow wild and overgrown so they end up with a crazy haircut.. briefly 

[PA-TX2024]

21 hours ago, MarcusH said:

26,25 and 23 lows from Saturday to Monday but daytime temperatures in the mid 30s to low 40s here on the NE side of SA. Too early to get accurate numbers. We will see if the needle goes further down or up.

Something to worry about here in San Antonio. So on my way to work I normally drive down this street with a nice row of Sabal Palmetto (?) . Now within a couple of weeks I see the crowns collapsing and trees are dying at a fast pace. If they don't cut down the infected palm trees as soon as possible it's going to spread out even more. What is it ? Rot , fungus?  What worries me the most is there's a very old Brahea Armata planted in between ( first picture). Hopefully they can save it.  

I see also lethal bronzing on a Sabal Mexicana at a different location.  Unfortunately I don't have a picture of it. That particular palm's fronds just turned brown . 

What I'm really worried about is 

I wouldn't be surprised if they just let them die. They just see them as plants, so they likely won't care for them all that much.

[MarcusH]

1 hour ago, PA-TX2024 said:

I wouldn't be surprised if they just let them die. They just see them as plants, so they likely won't care for them all that much.

What looks weird to me they cut off a lot of fronds but only on one side. 

[Fusca]

21 hours ago, Robert Cade Ross said:

Looks like they just got abused by city workers for no reason…damn what a mess . They should recover the growth tips don’t appear to be damaged. This is a common sight in Galveston where palms grow wild and overgrown so they end up with a crazy haircut.. briefly 

I noticed these Washies were just slightly over trimmed near where I used to work in San Antonio a few years ago.  😂  If course they grew back fairly quickly but Sabals don't grow nearly as fast so they'll look stupid longer...

[MarcusH]

16 hours ago, Fusca said:

I noticed these Washies were just slightly over trimmed near where I used to work in San Antonio a few years ago.  😂  If course they grew back fairly quickly but Sabals don't grow nearly as fast so they'll look stupid longer...

Why would they cut most of the fronds off? That's literally abuse to the palm.  I understand getting that kind of haircut near powerlines which obviously makes sense

[Fusca]

1 hour ago, MarcusH said:

Why would they cut most of the fronds off? That's literally abuse to the palm.

Yes it makes no sense.  The one palm did have some kind of health issue but apparently cutting off all the fronds was a quick and inexpensive way to deal with it.  This was at a highway exit ramp so probably done by TXDOT.

[Swolte]

Well, good luck to my fellow Texans the coming days. I still working my way through protecting palms but I am 70% done. Thankful for headlights so I can continue this evening. Unfortunately, this has now become a yearly ritual. I am also facing the tough decision of cutting fronds in advance or not!  

[Ben G.]

A couple of old Phoenix canariensis at Randolph AFB that I hadn't noticed before today:

[Meangreen94z]

Not the greatest pictures, but I got sent these from Pearland. Pretty much everything looks to have survived.

Kings:Beccariophoenix alfredii:Bismarckia , Beaucarnea recurvata, and Medemia argun to the left of the Puya:Livistona nitida unfazed:Copernica alba:Mule palm:Phoenix theophrastii and Parajubaea var. torallyi x Butia:Butia and Sabal uresana:Acrocomia green at base. We thought these seeds were totai but may be aculeata. Wrapped in housing insulation and it still burned:

 

 

[idontknowhatnametuse]

1 hour ago, Meangreen94z said:

Acrocomia green at base. We thought these seeds were totai but may be aculeata. Wrapped in housing insulation and it still burned:

How low was it? My Acrocomias never take damage from temperatures as low as -3⁰C (26F), strange that it got all its fronds fried.

[Fusca]

31 minutes ago, idontknowhatnametuse said:

How low was it? My Acrocomias never take damage from temperatures as low as -3⁰C (26F), strange that it got all its fronds fried.

My Acrocomia from the same seed batch completely defoliated a year ago unprotected at 27°F (advective freeze) and quickly rebounded.  This year we had 27°F again but a radiational freeze this time.  No protection again but this time no damage.

[Keys6505]

2 hours ago, Meangreen94z said:

Is this the TCHP Decora?

[Meangreen94z]

5 hours ago, Keys6505 said:

Is this the TCHP Decora?

No, that is a second Copernicia alba. The decora survived as well 

[Meangreen94z]

11 hours ago, idontknowhatnametuse said:

How low was it? My Acrocomias never take damage from temperatures as low as -3⁰C (26F), strange that it got all its fronds fried.

Probably 22-24°F . (-5.5 to -4.5° C). I’m hopeful they get hardier with size .

[Chester B]

Looking good @Meangreen94z although it was a little below our normal temps this year I’m not complaining.  Will the leaves die on that Beaucarna?  I have one but I haven’t planted it yet. 

[idontknowhatnametuse]

5 hours ago, Meangreen94z said:

Probably 22-24°F . (-5.5 to -4.5° C). I’m hopeful they get hardier with size .

They do

[Meangreen94z]

On 2/7/2026 at 10:00 AM, Chester B said:

Looking good @Meangreen94z although it was a little below our normal temps this year I’m not complaining.  Will the leaves die on that Beaucarna?  I have one but I haven’t planted it yet. 

The beaucarnea trunk was wrapped in heater cables and a large tarp was put over it. It probably would have been ok with just a tarp in these temperatures, it looks like the leaves may have some burn though.They are fast growing in wet humid climates, that was a 5-10 gallon maybe 4 years ago . Here it is in May 2022 compared to now. You can’t tell but it has two trunks now.

 

[thyerr01]

Not a particularly exciting freeze update. After several winters with hard freezes there aren't many surprises and I've generally shifted towards adding duplicates/new colours of whatever is doing well for the various tropical perennials.

Palms - Winners:
Cham. radicalis (acaulescent form): ~20 plants, no damage, some of the more protected ones look to have kept their fruit too.
Cham. microspadix: ~20 plants, no damage, under high canopy. My one large plant that I bought with several ~1 m tall canes and have complained about after the previous freezes seems to have finally toughened up. I think all the original canes have died and the new growth from the base is better adapted to the conditions. 
Rhapis excelsa: the most exposed leaves are fried, but otherwise fine.

Palms - Neutral/Losers
Cham cataractum (neutral): covered and protected with Xmas lights. Had to be severely pruned due to its size and now looks ugly. The only damage is what I did to it.
Arenga sp. (loser?): ~10 plants. They made it through last winter without losing any leaves and finally put on some size this year, and one made its first offset. However, they were now too large to get buckets over them. I doubt any will die, but they are going to lose all their leaves which is a pain because they are slow.

Tropical Perennials - Winners
Justicia rizzinii: might have finally found a tropical plant which can shrug off a hard freeze and continue flowering. Going to be propagating a lot of this one.
Callistemon phoeniceus: freeze didn't even damage the tender new growth, these have definitely toughened up. 

Tropical Perennials - Neutral/Losers
Lobelia sp. 'Candy Corn' (loser): from Northern Mexico, was hoping this wouldn't get torched by the freeze. I assume it will regrow.
Halleria lucida (loser): was in flower and just isn't getting the chance to form any solid wood with the annual freezes.
Calamondin (loser): now have two of these and both sustained heavy damage.
Everything else gets a 'neutral' rating: I expected them all to freeze back to the roots and I assume they will regrow in the spring. The various firebushes (Hamelia patens) are being watched. Several are going through their first winter and I have found these harder to overwinter than expected, especially the smaller ones. I regularly saw these in Austin pre-2021 (not sure whether they are still around) and they returned fine after normal winters there.


Cham. radicalis. North facing and had to deal with all the wind.


Cham. micrspadix. All the surrounding tropicals are completely torched.


Arenga sp. The ones over the back with a bit more overhead canopy might keep some leaves.


Justicia rizzinii. Have several in various locations and all are undamaged. They have had mild damage in previous years.


Callistemon phoeniceus. Didn't even lose the new growth. Still no flowers though. I don't think they get enough sun.
 

[Xenon]

I missed lighting for pics but my fully exposed Sabal guatemalensis burned more than expected. Still nothing major but probably 20-30% burn on the tips especially the outer leaves. It burned more this year than last year despite the temp being much higher (23/24F vs 19F). Guess it didn't like being blasted by the north wind. 

Bismarckia is quite burned especially the outer leaves. Thankfully the teens forecast didn't pan out and it should be just cosmetic damage. 

Livistona nitida is completely unphased as far as I can tell. Numerous seedling decora are fine or have a bit of tip burn. I have some Chamaedorea radicalis that never burned before with some brown...might be the wind rather than the actual cold? 

Here's L. nitida without a scratch 

[Meangreen94z]

3 hours ago, Xenon said:

I missed lighting for pics but my fully exposed Sabal guatemalensis burned more than expected. Still nothing major but probably 20-30% burn on the tips especially the outer leaves. It burned more this year than last year despite the temp being much higher (23/24F vs 19F). Guess it didn't like being blasted by the north wind. 

Bismarckia is quite burned especially the outer leaves. Thankfully the teens forecast didn't pan out and it should be just cosmetic damage. 

Livistona nitida is completely unphased as far as I can tell. Numerous seedling decora are fine or have a bit of tip burn. I have some Chamaedorea radicalis that never burned before with some brown...might be the wind rather than the actual cold? 

Here's L. nitida without a scratch 

Livistona nitida seems perfect for Houston. I don’t think it burned this winter or last in Pearland

[ChrisA]

Here are the famous Mules near the San Antonio Zoo, at the Japanese Sunken Gardens. Palms 1 and 4 have some freeze damage to the bottom fronds, the middle two look largely unaffected.  Goes to show you what the Butia genes buy in terms of added cold resilience. This is only a mile or two from where I live so I’m unsure if they also received ice, although I would assume so.  The trunks are getting freakishly big at this point!

 

Knock on wood, but the temps seem to be in the ideal range for recovery. Would not be good if we were to get a freak arctic front as this forecast will break the dormancy on most trees. Mesquite and Pecan seem to be the smartest in terms of delaying until all threat is past.