Hello! I was wondering if i plant a sabal minor 'McCurtain' Slightly above ground will it show its trunk above ground when it ages or will it still just try and grow it below ground? Thanks!

Oh another question that someone could probably answer Which is hardier Sabal Birmingham or Sabal Louisiana???

36 minutes ago, Palmerr said:

Hello! I was wondering if i plant a sabal minor 'McCurtain' Slightly above ground will it show its trunk above ground when it ages or will it still just try and grow it below ground? Thanks!

You can only plant it ground level,  s Louisiana probably hardier for you.  If you want a trunked palm you’ll need to protect a Trachycarpus 

Well yeah sabal louisiana forms "A Trunk" thats what i was looking for thanks i will try a bit larger sabal louisiana in my backyard microclimate and a smaller protected with burlap until it gets big enough in my front yard next to my protected European Fan Thanks! and i guess i will just plant mccurtain the regular way this spring! Edit: This is for Lexington KY by the way.

Edited October 23, 20241 yr by Palmerr

Sabal ‘brazorensis’ is also a very cold hardy trunking palm that will take 0F and is rumored to withstand much lower than that.

Ok thanks! I heard of it but didnt know it was that hardy thought it was 5f or something like that

1 hour ago, Dwarf Fan said:

Sabal ‘brazorensis’ is also a very cold hardy trunking palm that will take 0F and is rumored to withstand much lower than that.

Plantdelights says "We have reports from Arkansas that these (Sabal x brazoriensis) have sailed through a -15 degree F winter."

Yeah but thats arkansas they dont get an average winter low of 0 to 5 Depending on where it is a palm that is frequently down that much wont survive long dfw was just an excpetion cause they NEVER get that low and the survivors were just special crosses ya know.

3 hours ago, Palmerr said:

Hello! I was wondering if i plant a sabal minor 'McCurtain' Slightly above ground will it show its trunk above ground when it ages or will it still just try and grow it below ground? Thanks!

For the ones I've seen, they weren't showing their trunk.  These aren't Sabal Palmettos. These are a strain of Sabal minor.  Some minors will show some trunk after many years.  Sabal Birmingham certainly will show an impressive looking trunk after many years.

Well sabal minors have underground trunks right? so the logic is if you plant it with some roots exposed it will grow a trunk there but that wont work

Just now, Palmerr said:

Well sabal minors have underground trunks right? so the logic is if you plant it with some roots exposed it will grow a trunk there but that wont work

Yes, they have underground trunks.  If you transplant an old one with some trunk on it, it will be fine.  Just plant it like you would a Sabal Palmetto.  If it has some trunk above ground, just transplant it the same.  Sabal minors should have some solid development of underground trunks.

Ok! well i think i will do Sabal Louisiana and buy some Mccurtain seeds and a mccurtain plant the mccurtain in Lexington and germinate some seeds for my school in VA!

I also asked phil if he had some Louisianas and he said he has some overgrown seedlings 3-4 years old. So ok then ima do sabal Louisiana this year Mccurtain next year!

2 hours ago, ESVA said:

Plantdelights says "We have reports from Arkansas that these (Sabal x brazoriensis) have sailed through a -15 degree F winter."

I can believe that if there was a good amount of snow on the ground.  I have seen a good number of sabal minor and birmingham survive below 0F temps when there is snow cover. Everything above the snow is burnt to a crisp, while the snow insulates the growth point at or below snow line. 

Yeah makes sense