sabal brazoriensis or sabal minor?

[njpalmguy]

i am currently thinking about getting either a Sabal Minor or a Sabal Brazoriensis. i live in zone 7a in New Jersey. Which one should i get?

[N8ALLRIGHT]

Depends on your siting and how much you want to protect. If space is not a concern I say get both 

[Colin1110082]

I think Sabal minor is more hardy from what I’ve heard recently. I have one I live in Boston area but you could get both 

[westfork]

We put in a test plot last spring with several forms of Sabal minor, a S. louisiana, and a S. brazoriensis.  Zone 4b/5a against the west side of a brick garage.  In the 2 to 5 gallon range.  No winter heat but thick mulch and shoveled snow on top during cold periods.  Brazoriensis survived but top growth died.  Louisiana a bit better keeping a third of leaves.  Most of Sabal minors sailed through unaffected.  One is blooming at the moment.  Mild winter with low of -22f (-30 C) and lowest high was -10f.  Your climate is much milder but for us Sabal minor is much more hardy.

 

[Alberto]

On 7/14/2024 at 3:21 AM, westfork said:

We put in a test plot last spring with several forms of Sabal minor, a S. louisiana, and a S. brazoriensis.  Zone 4b/5a against the west side of a brick garage.  In the 2 to 5 gallon range.  No winter heat but thick mulch and shoveled snow on top during cold periods.  Brazoriensis survived but top growth died.  Louisiana a bit better keeping a third of leaves.  Most of Sabal minors sailed through unaffected.  One is blooming at the moment.  Mild winter with low of -22f (-30 C) and lowest high was -10f.  Your climate is much milder but for us Sabal minor is much more hardy.

 

-22⁰C ? .... A lot of times I complain about my subtropical climate but now I feel blessed! 😉

[westfork]

On 7/19/2024 at 5:03 PM, Alberto said:

-22⁰C ? .... A lot of times I complain about my subtropical climate but now I feel blessed! 😉

Then you can feel even more blessed - that was -30C, -22 was in Fahrenheit.  On our extreme cold winters we have gotten to about -40, and that is easy as it is the same in Fahrenheit and Celsius.  Fortunately those only seem to come around once in a lifetime here.

[RFun]

On 7/11/2024 at 4:39 PM, njpalmguy said:

i am currently thinking about getting either a Sabal Minor or a Sabal Brazoriensis. i live in zone 7a in New Jersey. Which one should i get?

Go with Sabal Brazoriensis if you can.  They can be fun.  They'll put out a decent amount of growth once they are acclimated in the ground.

[RFun]

31 minutes ago, RFun said:

Go with Sabal Brazoriensis if you can.  They can be fun.  They'll put out a decent amount of growth once they are acclimated in the ground.

By the way, this is if you don't mind adding occasional protection.  The easy way would be a get a Sabal minor specimen of the McCurtain variety or something like that.

[njpalmguy]

3 hours ago, RFun said:

Go with Sabal Brazoriensis if you can.  They can be fun.  They'll put out a decent amount of growth once they are acclimated in the ground.

I don’t have any other options to buy them tbh,  where do I get them other than PalmTalk? :/

[RFun]

5 hours ago, njpalmguy said:

I don’t have any other options to buy them tbh,  where do I get them other than PalmTalk? :/

You can find them from time to time from online nurseries.  Plant Delights will sometimes have them in stock.  I'd also check ebay or etsy from time to time.

[MIKE82397]

Try Phil at Jungle Music palms in California. I just bought 3 sabal var. Louisiana in band size ( 1 gallon) shipped to my door in NC . They were big plants. I’ve bought 3 gallon size from some sellers that were about like these . He had lots of sabal varieties for sale in 1 to 5 gallon size. Shipping was like $40 in my case 

[L.A.M.]

Why not both? Sabal minor is great to provide nutritious berries to a wide variety of native birds and mammals, while S. brazoriensis can provide a more conventional palm tree look in hot-summer climates that have mild winter averages but regularly get below 10 degrees Fahrenheit (which puts Trachycarpus, Jubaea and S. palmetto off the table for those of us that have to deal with single-digit winters, not to mention Jubaea also struggles with high dew points). I intend to get S. brazoriensis as soon as possible after watching Trachycarpus and other tree-sized Sabal species crash and burn after a few years in the ground throughout Middle Tennessee, and both my S. minor and Rhapidophyllum survived -2 degrees Fahrenheit in December 2022 and -13 in January 2024 unprotected after only a few years in the ground. They were damaged but unprotected, except the Rhapidophyllum which wasn't damaged at all in 2022. On the other hand, S. brazoriensis can handle near-zero cold waves with no damage as @Allen has realized, whereas even S. louisiana and S. birmingham need it not to regularly get below 5 degrees Fahrenheit.

[RFun]

5 hours ago, L.A.M. said:

Why not both? Sabal minor is great to provide nutritious berries to a wide variety of native birds and mammals, while S. brazoriensis can provide a more conventional palm tree look in hot-summer climates that have mild winter averages but regularly get below 10 degrees Fahrenheit (which puts Trachycarpus, Jubaea and S. palmetto off the table for those of us that have to deal with single-digit winters, not to mention Jubaea also struggles with high dew points). I intend to get S. brazoriensis as soon as possible after watching Trachycarpus and other tree-sized Sabal species crash and burn after a few years in the ground throughout Middle Tennessee, and both my S. minor and Rhapidophyllum survived -2 degrees Fahrenheit in December 2022 and -13 in January 2024 unprotected after only a few years in the ground. They were damaged but unprotected, except the Rhapidophyllum which wasn't damaged at all in 2022. On the other hand, S. brazoriensis can handle near-zero cold waves with no damage as @Allen has realized, whereas even S. louisiana and S. birmingham need it not to regularly get below 5 degrees Fahrenheit.

I agree for the most part.  Trachies and Sabal Palmettos should pull through even below 10F as long as those cold snaps are short.

[MIKE82397]

Teddys nursery from Tennessee has some nice 5 gallon brazorias and others on ebay right now. A little pricey but I just had to have one

 

[L.A.M.]

On 7/24/2024 at 5:43 AM, RFun said:

I agree for the most part.  Trachies and Sabal Palmettos should pull through even below 10F as long as those cold snaps are short.

Indeed, but only if it's one or two winters every once in a while, just as a dwarf palmetto or Brazoria palmetto can survive below 0 degrees Fahrenheit or needle palm below -5 degrees Fahrenheit with damage occasionally in an otherwise favorable climate. You can't really count on Chinese windmill palms nor cabbage palmettos below Zone 8a, though. Brazoria palmettos allow you to have a viable tree-sized option down to Zone 7a (as long as the ground doesn't freeze and summers are long/hot enough, of course).

[Luis Arroyo]

On 7/21/2024 at 12:42 PM, njpalmguy said:

I don’t have any other options to buy them tbh,  where do I get them other than PalmTalk? :/

Ebay.  Just type "Sabal Brazoria live plant or seedlings" I find eBay has much more variety than Amazon.