TEXAS 2025

[MarcusH]

3 hours ago, Xenon said:

NWS even though they have the coldest forecast. Really hope they are wrong but they usually aren't. 

We shall see. I'm at 16f at the lowest. Not really what I was hoping for but hopefully it gets a little bit warmer. Fingers crossed. 

[Xenon]

53 minutes ago, thyerr01 said:

Everything else gets mulch (or nothing).

Arenga sp. usually get buckets over them, but they have now outgrown that. 

Hey I noticed in the Leu Gardens thread (I also went there a month ago, great place!) you're into clustering semi-dieback perennial palms. I have a Chuniophoenix nana in a suboptimal/very low light spot that has managed to come back looking decent through the past 2-3 cold winters unprotected. It's surprising how vigorous it is, it's faster to recover than Rhapis imo. More tropical looking too. 

I also have Lanonia dasyantha, Licuala fordiana, and Chuniophoenix hainanensis since 2021 but I'm too scared to test them so they get covered for the two days of zonebusting winter weather. The Lanonia does cluster quite a bit but I'm not sure its vigorous enough to come back year after year of zone 8. Same with the Chuniophoenix hainanensis.

Licuala fordiana is a leaf making machine though and the growth point stays at ground level for a loooong time. Maybe I'll risk some seedlings when it finally does flower. 

I chickened out with the Lytocaryum hoehnei and put a box and plastic over it (no heat). It just looks too good right now. No covers for the cat palm (came back fine last year) or radicalis (not a scratch). 

Didn't cover or mulch my dozen or so citrus trees either. Survive or die! 

[thyerr01]

@Xenon Yeah, I'd love to track down any of those, along with Caryota monostachya, Wallichia oblongifolia, and that new marbled Lanonia from southern China. Also lots more Rhapis to try. I actually built a large new garden bed this year just for these guys, but they are all just hard to find. I've tried Lanonia dasyantha from seed twice, one seed package just got lost in the mail (had permits) and the other batch I didn't get any to survive, although in fairness I didn't do a great job with them. I'd pitch in on a Floribunda order if they had a couple of them in stock.

Chuniophoenix nana have done well at Mercer and I think the chances of finding some of them for sale are decent. I cover my Cat palms because a little protection goes a long way. They can be back to full size by midsummer as long as they don't completely freeze back. I think Cat palms are seriously underused in Houston.

[Xenon]

19 minutes ago, thyerr01 said:

@Xenon Yeah, I'd love to track down any of those, along with Caryota monostachya, Wallichia oblongifolia, and that new marbled Lanonia from southern China. Also lots more Rhapis to try. I actually built a large new garden bed this year just for these guys, but they are all just hard to find. I've tried Lanonia dasyantha from seed twice, one seed package just got lost in the mail (had permits) and the other batch I didn't get any to survive, although in fairness I didn't do a great job with them. I'd pitch in on a Floribunda order if they had a couple of them in stock.

Chuniophoenix nana have done well at Mercer and I think the chances of finding some of them for sale are decent. I cover my Cat palms because a little protection goes a long way. They can be back to full size by midsummer as long as they don't completely freeze back. I think Cat palms are seriously underused in Houston.

Geonoma schottiana is another palm I want to try again (also clumping). I had two grow very well for me for over 2 years until some mechanical damage/easement bs took them out. 

Yes, would take another Floribunda order to acquire most of this stuff again haha

[Robert Cade Ross]

How life feels growing palms in Texas this decade lol . (Alvin robustas fried to a crisp with the crowns collapsing years ago 🥲. 
 

I wrapped my Alexandre kings 

purpurea 

majesty 

mule just because it’s still soooo small 

bismakria x2 

Sylvester 

pigmy dates x3 kinda skeptical if they survive with how I half ass protected them 😹🤞. The good ole tundra  

[Xenon]

4:20 AM and by some miracle both the garden in Katy and my place at 610 are above freezing 😯

The local media had the freeze line projected at 12 AM in Katy and 2 AM in Central Houston. Celebrate little victories lol 

It's 33F with thunderstorms... probably the most bizarre thing I've ever witnessed here. Maybe the storms and lightning are mixing up and injecting heat into the atmosphere? 🤷‍♂️😅

[SeanK]

How are temps in DFW at 8 AM?

[Chester B]

@Xenon same here. We were down to 33F and thunderstorms for hours.  Some periods of torrential rain but fortunately no freezing rain or ice. I’m hoping now that the ground is saturated it’s going to be that much harder to freeze. 
 

I’m starting to see some patches of blue sky now.  Hopefully we stay above freezing for at least the daylight hours.  

[Xenon]

3 minutes ago, Chester B said:

@Xenon same here. We were down to 33F and thunderstorms for hours.  Some periods of torrential rain but fortunately no freezing rain or ice. I’m hoping now that the ground is saturated it’s going to be that much harder to freeze. 
 

I’m starting to see some patches of blue sky now.  Hopefully we stay above freezing for at least the daylight hours.  

The garden bottomed out at 27F about an hour ago, now on the rise at 28F. Hoping to make it above freezing today. No freeze until past 7 AM. Low of 30F where I'm staying on 610. 

Yeah, the whole ice storm media frenzy ended up being a bust. Minimal to no ice for 95% of Houston metro. Very minimal power outages. We definitely dodged the first bullet.

The garden has now been upgraded to 18F for Monday night by NWS!!! Keep going up please 😄

 

[RedRabbit]

Not as bad as I expected so far… I had 28f on the north side, 31f on the south (somewhat sheltered.) No freezing rain or snow.

[Chester B]

My latest forecast has improved.  23 tonight and 24 tomorrow. With the no freezing rain last night, I’m feeling a whole lot better.  I expect everything to make it through ok.  Spent some time protecting the Bismarckia today so it should be all good. 
 

What a nice surprise that they overestimated the cold and effects here. It’s still temps lower than our zone but not by much!

[ahosey01]

Welp, NWS is forecasting 29F for my house tonight.  Just going by feel spending a little time out there, it certainly doesn't feel like it's going to get that cold out.  Still breezy but not crazy, radiative effect won't be that bad and advective is behind us after the front moved through.  This freeze, for Brownsville, is almost certainly not as bad as last year's around this time.  Not particularly wet, not going to be prolonged, doesn't feel frosty.  It's 40F out right now and you can't even see your breath in the street light.  Only precautions I took were three:
 

1.) Covered my small 6ft Cocos nucifera with a wool blanket.

2.) Put my potted Tahina spectabilis under my roof on the patio.

3.) Brought my flowering citrus in so the flower buds don't get fried.

 

Here's to good luck!  Best of luck to all of you north of the Nueces River!

[ahosey01]

22 hours ago, Xenon said:

Hey I noticed in the Leu Gardens thread (I also went there a month ago, great place!) you're into clustering semi-dieback perennial palms. I have a Chuniophoenix nana in a suboptimal/very low light spot that has managed to come back looking decent through the past 2-3 cold winters unprotected. It's surprising how vigorous it is, it's faster to recover than Rhapis imo. More tropical looking too. 

I also have Lanonia dasyantha, Licuala fordiana, and Chuniophoenix hainanensis since 2021 but I'm too scared to test them so they get covered for the two days of zonebusting winter weather. The Lanonia does cluster quite a bit but I'm not sure its vigorous enough to come back year after year of zone 8. Same with the Chuniophoenix hainanensis.

Licuala fordiana is a leaf making machine though and the growth point stays at ground level for a loooong time. Maybe I'll risk some seedlings when it finally does flower. 

I chickened out with the Lytocaryum hoehnei and put a box and plastic over it (no heat). It just looks too good right now. No covers for the cat palm (came back fine last year) or radicalis (not a scratch). 

Didn't cover or mulch my dozen or so citrus trees either. Survive or die! 

If Texas gardeners had a few more options this would be the standard fare in our climate with 10 years of 10a and one year of 8b.  Stuff like Syagrus stenopetala,  It's just so hard to find suckering tropical stuff in nurseries that isn't Phoenix or Rhapis.

[RedRabbit]

This is why I won’t be planting any z10 palms in Texas… 10hrs until dawn.

[ahosey01]

Appear to have bottomed out around 30F at my place.  Currently 30F right now and was up with my son around 2:00AM - it was 30F then too.

 

Interestingly - temperature appears to be higher futher west.  Rio Grande City is at 31 (usually they're colder) and Laredo (usually also colder) is only around 29F.  NWS was predicting 26F for them.

[Xenon]

Looks like a low of 24-25F across most of Houston that was hit around midnight. The temp has actually risen to 26-27F across much of the metro area in the early morning hours!

This is actually higher than the 21-23F forecast by NWS and local media for Houston (incl central Houston). The forecast was off in our WARM favor!!! A rare rare moment hahaha. 

Only one more night to go! My Bismarck and Queens still have a chance of not defoliating. Hope tonight is warmer than forecast again.

Screenies from 6:10 AM

 

 

 

[RedRabbit]

My lows ranged from 23.9f to 26.1f, fairly uniform thanks to it being advective. 
 

Last I checked, it looked like SPI or Rio Grande City did the best in Texas. Both were around 37-38f at that time.

[MarcusH]

So far not as bad as predicted but not really far off either , it seems to be it's going to be like a typical San Antonio 8b winter even we didn't get below 21f but the forecast is 18f for tomorrow morning.  The ice didn't melt as much as I hoped on my palms. Most palm fronds are still partially covered in ice.  A lot of stuff outside of my palms are turning into compost . We're supposed to be well above freezing today so I hope that'll be enough to melt the rest of the ice . 

 

[Chester B]

I bottomed out at 24F in the middle of the night and warmed up a couple of degrees by 6 am.  Still below freezing though and heavy cloud cover.  Forecasted high of 38F but it's not looking like we'll make that unless the sun comes out soon.  I'm at about 24 consecutive hours below freezing.  I haven't gone out to look at anything, but I did see my Philodendrons don't look so happy.

[Xenon]

38 minutes ago, Chester B said:

I bottomed out at 24F in the middle of the night and warmed up a couple of degrees by 6 am.  Still below freezing though and heavy cloud cover.  Forecasted high of 38F but it's not looking like we'll make that unless the sun comes out soon.  I'm at about 24 consecutive hours below freezing.  I haven't gone out to look at anything, but I did see my Philodendrons don't look so happy.

The sun is coming out here at 610 W, temp is shooting up 

[Meangreen94z]

19°F Saturday night, 25°F was the high yesterday , and 17°F last night in Lago Vista.

[Ivanos1982]

2 hours ago, Chester B said:

I bottomed out at 24F in the middle of the night and warmed up a couple of degrees by 6 am.  Still below freezing though and heavy cloud cover.  Forecasted high of 38F but it's not looking like we'll make that unless the sun comes out soon.  I'm at about 24 consecutive hours below freezing.  I haven't gone out to look at anything, but I did see my Philodendrons don't look so happy.

same here at West Houston/Westchase area. I have areca palms out there covered with just regular tarp, nicolais and a few bromeliads. I checked them today and they looked... ok not as bad as I expected. We will see how they do with the freeze tomorrow morning. We are supposed to get to 21F. I'm concerned about next week and February... I just want this winter to be over but we still have a month down here in Houston. Tomorrow I will uncover my arecas and will post pics of the damage after it goes above freezing.

[Robert Cade Ross]

24.8 in my backyard- Manvel much better than the 17° predicted a few days ago . 
dwarf bird of paradise look a bit sad as expected they all recovered nice from last January just to be fried again haha . And of course the bananas look gross 

[Chester B]

It has definitely warmed up and I am actually above the forecasted high already.  In the low 40's right now so hopefully we are above 24 tonight.  I had a look around and everything looks as expected, nothing looking bad but I haven't uncovered all the palms.

[Ivanos1982]

1 hour ago, Robert Cade Ross said:

24.8 in my backyard- Manvel much better than the 17° predicted a few days ago . 
dwarf bird of paradise look a bit sad as expected they all recovered nice from last January just to be fried again haha . And of course the bananas look gross 

what app is that? that tells u how low u got?

[Robert Cade Ross]

1 hour ago, Ivanos1982 said:

what app is that? that tells u how low u got?

Tempest- backyard weather station 

[ahosey01]

Nothing in my yard took any damage except for the outermost, oldest leaf on my Cocos looking a little spotty.

 

Biggest surprise to me was probably that my Bulnesia arborea and my Senegalia polyacantha covered in new, green shoots didn't have the slightest hint of wilt or leaf dieback.  Ultimate low was around 30F.

[ahosey01]

Forecast for last night ended up being way off.  NWS predicting 30F and we bottomed out at 37F.

Whole thing really a non-event here in Brownsville.  Over in Mission it looks like it's down in the upper 20s.