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Texas Palms

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July 6Jul 6

Landa, New Braunfels. They're actually going out of their way to prune these Robustas. Hopefully that means they're gonna let them grow tall.

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Wednesday at 02:34 AM4 days

I cleared a patch of asiatic jasmine near my Chamaedorea radicalis a couple of weeks back and found these self-sown seedlings today. They definitely weren't there at the time and look freshly germinated. The seeds must have been sitting there all through the winter. I have plans for this area but I'll try to leave them in place.

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Wednesday at 11:23 PM3 days

On 7/6/2026 at 2:09 PM, GoSpursGo1 said:
Landa, New Braunfels. They're actually going out of their way to prune these Robustas. Hopefully that means they're gonna let them grow tall.

It's nice that they are leaving the volunteers in place. Landa is a great park. The robustas will only add to its beauty.

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Friday at 04:54 PM2 days

Galveston yesterday. Came across another Bismarck 🤩.

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17 hours ago17 hr

I recently visited South Padre Island and the RGV, and as a former Floridian I thought I’d share a few impressions.

Driving south on US-59 through the brush country, I was greeted in Harlingen by a mature queen palm. Living in Houston, where there are virtually none, and having not seen any on the drive down, it immediately caught my attention. About a mile later I spotted a royal poinciana, and another mile after that a mature royal palm. I was surprised by how abruptly the landscape transitioned into something that felt tropical. Along the east coast, that change is much more gradual. Before long I was seeing Australian pines, ficus, and many of the plants I regularly saw in Central Florida that are absent around Houston.

Overall, South Padre Island and the RGV really impressed me. South Padre, in particular, felt genuinely tropical, with a warm, humid sea breeze very reminiscent of South Florida. In terms of vegetation, I’d say it felt slightly more tropical than coastal Volusia County but a bit less so than Brevard County. On Florida’s Gulf Coast, the closest comparison that came to mind was Dunedin, Tarpon Springs, or perhaps South Tampa—if you mentally removed the coconuts, Veitchia, and other tropicals that were largely wiped out in Texas by the 2021 freeze.

The palm scene was better than I expected. I would’ve loved to see a few coconut palms, but I didn’t come across any. Hopefully they’ll make a comeback as the climate allows.

More generally, we really enjoyed the area and will definitely be back. It was a pleasant surprise to find a corner of Texas that, in many ways, felt so much like Florida.

Howdy 🤠