SoFL P.pacifica?

[SeanK]

I have only seen these palms in Puerto Rico. Has anyone seen these around south Florida? They should be everywhere in the Keys.

[bubba]

Sean,

Check out the thread “ What caught your eye today” and go to page 28 where I posted both a rather large P. thurstonii and a P. pacifica growing at ANSG. I agree that these beautiful palms should be grown far more than they are in South Florida.
 

P. thurstonia and P. pacifica are indigenous to Fiji and are much less cold tolerant. The Hawaiian varieties should be grown to Central Florida. They were highly susceptible to Lethal Yellowing, which may account for their scarcity. Definitely a beautiful palm that is underutilized.

[PalmatierMeg]

Don't bother with Pacifica if you live north of the Keys. They are extremely cold sensitive and the leaves cold burn below 50F. I have 2 and every spring I'm sorely tempted to rip them out because they look so terrible. So far I haven't but I am growing other Pritchardia spp as replacements. They are maybe 6-7' tall (not trunking) and never get taller because the winters in Cape Coral beat them up so badly. Beautiful but not worth the space. Try beccariana, hillebrandii, remote, martii, vulstekeana - any HI Pritchardia but leave Pacifica in the South Pacific where it belongs.

[mnorell]

Sean--

Pritchardia pacifica and Pritchardia thurstonii are both in the trade in South Florida and planted here and there. P. thurstonii is far more commonly sold/planted because it is better adapted to year-round conditions in SoFla. There are a decent number of P. pacifica in the Keys, but primarily in Key West. If you walk around Bahama Village and the adjacent Old Town sections, you will spot them (if you look up!). They are also found occasionally around other areas of South Florida, such as the Miami metro, but they have a couple of drawbacks: as Bubba said, they were hit by LY "back in the day," and that stigma is possibly still around (even though LY has greatly decreased); and also they have very poor leaf-hardiness in open positions, where I think repeated dings of around 40F will mar the foliage (that's for P. pacifica only). This makes plantings in commercial/tourist areas not advisable because prime tourist season coincides with outbreaks of cold, and there are far too many other choices that keep a beautiful appearance in a SoFla winter.

Even in the Keys, Pritchardia pacifica looked uniformly ragged after the 2010 winter, but most if not all recovered. It would be interesting to hear some anecdotes from Palm Beach County, or from SW Florida or further northward as regards mortality after that awful winter, and I'm sure this has been documented to some extent elsewhere on this forum. The odd thing (there is a recent thread on this subject) is the plant's surprising bud-hardiness. This species was grown from seed by PalmTalk member MattyB in the far cooler climate of San Diego successfully until he decided it wasn't worth the real-estate with its long recovery after the tattered crown post-winter (he created a thread on this palm at the time). I grew it when I lived in the Lower Keys and it grew spectacularly and sailed through 160mph+ Irma and its ocean inundation with just broken foliage (though I had to fix a Boron deficiency that set in a few years later) and I now have a couple of test-subjects here in the desert under broken canopy and it has taken our very common winter nights into the 30s with surprisingly mild leaf-damage. The only thing that makes it worthwhile here is that it is a very fast grower in heat and is able to recover a good appearance by summer, so I find it worthwhile to keep a couple of them around. And I think you'll find that in Florida the only people who plant it are people who seek it out because (as I do) they they love its aesthetic qualities. But as basic landscape material, you're not likely to find this species outside of the Keys, coastal Miami/Miami Beach/Palm Beach and a few other select locations. It is spectacular in Honolulu and throughout the Hawai'ian islands, where it is employed in many commercial and residential settings, usually in mini-groves of varying heights. If you haven't been there and seen it in that setting, you are missing something really fabulous, because it is everywhere, and what an impression it makes...

[bubba]

On reflection, I have to agree with Meg and Michael. The P. thurstonii and P. pacifica recently pictured at ANSG off the Intracoastal in WPB do not look to be flourishing notwithstanding the fact that the P. thurstonii is weakly flowering. This is fourteen (14) years after the 2010 cold event (no freeze but a week of too cold temperatures). In this garden, they receive extremely good care but they do not look happy. These Fiji natives can survive but not thrive.

 I found an older picture of a specimen in Key Largo that gives better ambience:

[paquicuba]

I have had nights in the 30s here in Weston and my Pacifica has suffered no damage whatsoever. Very fast grower (8 years in the ground)

[hbernstein]

On the other hand, I'm convinced that some Pritchardia species (Hawaiian) look terrible in South Florida full sun and heat, no matter how much water they receive.

[paquicuba]

On 6/26/2024 at 12:53 PM, mnorell said:

Sean--

Pritchardia pacifica and Pritchardia thurstonii are both in the trade in South Florida and planted here and there. P. thurstonii is far more commonly sold/planted because it is better adapted to year-round conditions in SoFla. There are a decent number of P. pacifica in the Keys, but primarily in Key West. If you walk around Bahama Village and the adjacent Old Town sections, you will spot them (if you look up!). They are also found occasionally around other areas of South Florida, such as the Miami metro, but they have a couple of drawbacks: as Bubba said, they were hit by LY "back in the day," and that stigma is possibly still around (even though LY has greatly decreased); and also they have very poor leaf-hardiness in open positions, where I think repeated dings of around 40F will mar the foliage (that's for P. pacifica only). This makes plantings in commercial/tourist areas not advisable because prime tourist season coincides with outbreaks of cold, and there are far too many other choices that keep a beautiful appearance in a SoFla winter.

Even in the Keys, Pritchardia pacifica looked uniformly ragged after the 2010 winter, but most if not all recovered. It would be interesting to hear some anecdotes from Palm Beach County, or from SW Florida or further northward as regards mortality after that awful winter, and I'm sure this has been documented to some extent elsewhere on this forum. The odd thing (there is a recent thread on this subject) is the plant's surprising bud-hardiness. This species was grown from seed by PalmTalk member MattyB in the far cooler climate of San Diego successfully until he decided it wasn't worth the real-estate with its long recovery after the tattered crown post-winter (he created a thread on this palm at the time). I grew it when I lived in the Lower Keys and it grew spectacularly and sailed through 160mph+ Irma and its ocean inundation with just broken foliage (though I had to fix a Boron deficiency that set in a few years later) and I now have a couple of test-subjects here in the desert under broken canopy and it has taken our very common winter nights into the 30s with surprisingly mild leaf-damage. The only thing that makes it worthwhile here is that it is a very fast grower in heat and is able to recover a good appearance by summer, so I find it worthwhile to keep a couple of them around. And I think you'll find that in Florida the only people who plant it are people who seek it out because (as I do) they they love its aesthetic qualities. But as basic landscape material, you're not likely to find this species outside of the Keys, coastal Miami/Miami Beach/Palm Beach and a few other select locations. It is spectacular in Honolulu and throughout the Hawai'ian islands, where it is employed in many commercial and residential settings, usually in mini-groves of varying heights. If you haven't been there and seen it in that setting, you are missing something really fabulous, because it is everywhere, and what an impression it makes...

Now I'm doubting whether the one I have is a Pacifica or not. I'm inland (west of Fort Lauderdale) where the winters are colder than the rest of SoFL and my Pritchardia has never been damaged by cold spells. 

[Cape Garrett]

On 6/26/2024 at 2:26 PM, bubba said:

On reflection, I have to agree with Meg and Michael. The P. thurstonii and P. pacifica recently pictured at ANSG off the Intracoastal in WPB do not look to be flourishing notwithstanding the fact that the P. thurstonii is weakly flowering. This is fourteen (14) years after the 2010 cold event (no freeze but a week of too cold temperatures). In this garden, they receive extremely good care but they do not look happy. These Fiji natives can survive but not thrive.

 I found an older picture of a specimen in Key Largo that gives better ambience:

This thurstonii looks beautifully grown.

[donpachino1983]

I been growing this one in miami (Westchester area) for 14 years now no problem with it with winter so far🤞