These are so Overkill it’s not Even a Great Choice

[Xerarch]

So these Trachys were recently planted at the site of a public pool-water park that’s currently under construction. There are a lot of them, and they’re big. I can’t believe the city went with Trachycarpus. What I imagine happening is that somebody is in full panic mode over 2021 and demanded whatever is the most cold hardy (trunking) palm. Well….they got it, and I don’t have anything against Windmill palm, but this isn’t the climate where they look their best, especially not in full blazing sun like that. I expect they’ll survive just fine, it’s not sand in that location so I don’t think nematodes will be a problem. But they’ll never have the full, beautiful, large crown they deserve. Especially in full sun and on the cities (non) watering schedule. You know what does look it’s best here? And is invulnerable to cold? And heat? Sabal mexicana is native and invincible here. It’s used quite a bit around town, so it isn’t an uncommon choice.  Just say’n that if the city was looking for something invincible, that would have been a better choice, along with quite a few other things. Anyway……..

[Fusca]

I agree - not a good choice for that location.  I hate to think what they'll look like in late September after limited irrigation. 

[Jim in Los Altos]

Why do so many of them have leaning crowns? Not a good sign I would guess. 

[Kim]

Looks like the city found some "bargain-priced mature palms" and ran with it. From the appearance in the photos, you won't have to look at them for long.

[Fusca]

23 minutes ago, Jim in Los Altos said:

Why do so many of them have leaning crowns? Not a good sign I would guess. 

It's incredibly windy in Corpus Christi - even more so than Chicago "The Windy City"!

[Harry’s Palms]

Those are some very old Trachy’s . They would look good in a cool , coastal climate . Harry

[ChrisA]

Would’ve gotten a hell of a lot more shade from the sabal mexicanas as well.  I love Trachycarpus but in that setting it doesn’t excite me. Even if those did look healthy once settled in aesthetically they’re useless. They are absolutely dwarfed by all that openness. More tax dollars poorly spent.

[SeanK]

Seems like 4 strategically-placed CIDP would have been a better choice.

[meridannight]

I don't see a single advantage to planting these. They're not aesthetic nor do they or will provide any shade whatsoever. 

[Xerarch]

7 hours ago, meridannight said:

I don't see a single advantage to planting these. They're not aesthetic nor do they or will provide any shade whatsoever. 

Literally any common palm around town would have been a better choice. Phoenix, Washingtonia, Sabal, Syagrus, whatever. If it were me, I would have loved to see Mules in those spots. 

[Xenon]

Is this real life? 🤣

But it's ok Florida did the same thing

[ahosey01]

There is a beautiful Trachy in full shade on the north side of La Posada hotel in Laredo.  Hot as they get down there, and it looks fantastic!

This.... is not that. lol

[TropicsEnjoyer]

These are about as good as telephone poles scattered around the place. Absolutely terrible choice, might aswell do desert landscape 😂.

[Xerarch]

3 hours ago, Xenon said:

Is this real life? 🤣

But it's ok Florida did the same thing

Probably an even worse choice in Floriduh with the sandy soils. 

[Xerarch]

3 hours ago, ahosey01 said:

There is a beautiful Trachy in full shade on the north side of La Posada hotel in Laredo.  Hot as they get down there, and it looks fantastic!

This.... is not that. lol

They can live here long term, there are a number of them around town, I found this one a few weeks back, quite old, full sun. Doing fine, just doesn’t look its’ best, small crown. 

[DoomsDave]

@Xerarch how about an update?

[Xerarch]

On 7/27/2025 at 10:50 AM, DoomsDave said:

@Xerarch how about an update?

Here’s what they’re looking like as of yesterday…..all trashed, some are dead, most alive, but look like trash. The climate mis-match isn’t all to blame. They would look half-decent if they were being taken care of, but they’re not. They clearly aren’t being watered, at least not enough. We are in drought with significant watering restrictions right now. But there is still some hand watering allowed, as well as exemptions for new plantings. So they could take care of them if they wanted, but seems they’d rather waste the money spent on planting than put forth the effort. 
 

[Las Palmas Norte]

On 4/7/2025 at 3:17 PM, Xerarch said:

...What I imagine happening is that somebody is in full panic mode over 2021 and demanded whatever is the most cold hardy (trunking) palm. ...

I'm curious. What happened in 2021 that caused somebody to panic and plant Windmill palms?

[Xerarch]

2 hours ago, Las Palmas Norte said:

I'm curious. What happened in 2021 that caused somebody to panic and plant Windmill palms?

Major freeze in 2021, worst in a number of decades, since the 80’s. Pretty much all zone 10 palms died, even most of the 9b palms. 9a palms (Washingtonia, Phoenix) were defoliated, a few died. Non-palm people thought that “all the palms died” they don’t know the difference with species etc. or apparently didn’t realize that almost all of the damaged ones grew out of it. 

[DoomsDave]

2 hours ago, Xerarch said:

Here’s what they’re looking like as of yesterday…..all trashed, some are dead, most alive, but look like trash. The climate mis-match isn’t all to blame. They would look half-decent if they were being taken care of, but they’re not. They clearly aren’t being watered, at least not enough. We are in drought with significant watering restrictions right now. But there is still some hand watering allowed, as well as exemptions for new plantings. So they could take care of them if they wanted, but seems they’d rather waste the money spent on planting than put forth the effort. 
 

Ouch! Sad to see, but like most pain and sorrow, ultimately instructive.

[SeanK]

7 hours ago, Xerarch said:

Major freeze in 2021, worst in a number of decades, since the 80’s. Pretty much all zone 10 palms died, even most of the 9b palms. 9a palms (Washingtonia, Phoenix) were defoliated, a few died. Non-palm people thought that “all the palms died” they don’t know the difference with species etc. or apparently didn’t realize that almost all of the damaged ones grew out of it. 

Probably Queens would have been the safe choice, but requires a water truck 3x per week.

[Xerarch]

29 minutes ago, SeanK said:

Probably Queens would have been the safe choice, but requires a water truck 3x per week.

All the queens planted post ‘21 look great, and once established tolerate some abuse from lack of water, I give mine a good soaking every couple weeks and they look great, others around town get much less. Mules would tolerate another ‘21 event much better. Those would have been an amazing choice for the new community pool. 

[sonoranfans]

All that wide open space just begging for a dozen sabal causiarum.  If you are going to plant some palms in public spots and neglect them, choose palms that evolved regionally, that is carribean palms.  The causiarum have high salt tolerance and are hardy to about 12F or so once established.  I have a 35 foot causiarum and nobody mistakes it for a palmetto, the crown of causiarum is about as big as a very healthy sabal palmetto triple a neighbor has.   And even better they self shed once they get some trunk.   I dont see windmills in my area at all.  We also have species planted in florida that don't belong here like phoenix dactylifera which look so stressed its sad.  I would still replant zone 9B palms there but maybe 30-50% should be more cold hardy palms.

[Harry’s Palms]

Yep , tough to see such nice specimens poorly planted. I can’t imagine what they spent getting those installed . Sometimes cities don’t do adequate research when they make decisions . That’s all I’ll say other than …that’s such a shame. Harry

[SeanK]

Just seems Trachycarpus is the wrong Palm. Perhaps okay for the Borscht Belt resorts but not SoTX. Whatever was planted needed watering. Looks like a Walmart Landscaping Co. project. Irrigation once a month.

[WisTex]

The Corpus parks department like the rest of Corpus city government is not known for bright bulbs.  They probably didn't want Mexican Sabals because they thought they were the same as the Mexican Fan.  Wonder if they ran drip irrigation to them as that is the only way, every two weeks, to water them except by hand watering, or using effluent water that has recently been made available.

[WisTex]

11 hours ago, Xerarch said:

All the queens planted post ‘21 look great, and once established tolerate some abuse from lack of water, I give mine a good soaking every couple weeks and they look great, others around town get much less. Mules would tolerate another ‘21 event much better. Those would have been an amazing choice for the new community pool. 

Mules would tolerate another ‘21 event much better. Those would have been an amazing choice for the new community pool. 

 

I installed a 15 gallon mule in 'February of 22, it now is approaching 11 feet overall height.  If Corpus had planted mules, they would not have taken care of them.

[WisTex]

23 hours ago, Xerarch said:

Here’s what they’re looking like as of yesterday…..all trashed, some are dead, most alive, but look like trash. The climate mis-match isn’t all to blame. They would look half-decent if they were being taken care of, but they’re not. They clearly aren’t being watered, at least not enough. We are in drought with significant watering restrictions right now. But there is still some hand watering allowed, as well as exemptions for new plantings. So they could take care of them if they wanted, but seems they’d rather waste the money spent on planting than put forth the effort. 
 

Corpus can use the city's processed effluent water from a water truck for them like they urge residents to do.   BTW that looks like a Gills' Nursery install.  Wonder if it is.  If it is, shame on them.

[palmofmyhand]

On 4/9/2025 at 9:31 PM, Xerarch said:

They can live here long term, there are a number of them around town, I found this one a few weeks back, quite old, full sun. Doing fine, just doesn’t look its’ best, small crown. 

I always thought they looked odd when they were that skinny.

[Xerarch]

10 hours ago, sonoranfans said:

All that wide open space just begging for a dozen sabal causiarum.  If you are going to plant some palms in public spots and neglect them, choose palms that evolved regionally, that is carribean palms.  The causiarum have high salt tolerance and are hardy to about 12F or so once established.  I have a 35 foot causiarum and nobody mistakes it for a palmetto, the crown of causiarum is about as big as a very healthy sabal palmetto triple a neighbor has.   And even better they self shed once they get some trunk.   I dont see windmills in my area at all.  We also have species planted in florida that don't belong here like phoenix dactylifera which look so stressed its sad.  I would still replant zone 9B palms there but maybe 30-50% should be more cold hardy palms.

I would love to see some S causiarum around here! There are sooooo many choices that would be better than Trachycarpus, although I think the reason you don’t have them in Florida isn’t just because of the climate, but the nematode problem due to sandy soils. These are in clay soil, only areas on the barrier islands and some of the eastern parts of town have sandy soils here. As for 9b palms, I don’t have any reservations about planting them, they are fine in all but the most extreme events, I do make sure to have a mix of hardier palms as well, plus some more tender ones also. The city did actually plant some queens, around a government building downtown, in the middle of sidewalk, they always look underwatered/under cared-for. 

[Xerarch]

11 hours ago, WisTex said:

Mules would tolerate another ‘21 event much better. Those would have been an amazing choice for the new community pool. 

 

I installed a 15 gallon mule in 'February of 22, it now is approaching 11 feet overall height.  If Corpus had planted mules, they would not have taken care of them.

Here’s one of my mules I installed in the summer of ‘22, it’s grown a ton. I planted 3 at that time. 

[Xerarch]

11 hours ago, WisTex said:

Corpus can use the city's processed effluent water from a water truck for them like they urge residents to do.   BTW that looks like a Gills' Nursery install.  Wonder if it is.  If it is, shame on them.

Yeah they could have really taken advantage of their effluent watering they’ve been talking about. Could have saved them a lot in lost trees. 

[sonoranfans]

Here is a palm that would surely take the cold there.  I bought this hybrid palm from patrick around 10 years ago as a strap leaf seedling.  It is an experiment here as its a (BxJ)xJ.   I have debated about planting it and was thinking about donating it to someone who came down this way from a colder zone.  I recently planted it 3 months ago in 3/4ths sand to 30" depth, a very high drainage area of the yard.  It seems to be able to take the hot wet and humid climate ok, though its happier in the cooler/drier part of the year.  I also have had a much larger BxJ for 10 years in the ground.  This one with the extra jubaea blood has a different leaf, it doesn't recurve or twist like my BxJ.  My fingers are crossed on this one. 

 

[WisTex]

On 8/15/2025 at 8:42 PM, Xerarch said:

Here’s one of my mules I installed in the summer of ‘22, it’s grown a ton. I planted 3 at that time. 

 

I don't understand why the Corpus nurseries are not selling these.   I can only remember seeing one mule ever at a Corpus nursery. That was at Gills about six years ago.

[Xerarch]

On 8/16/2025 at 8:58 AM, sonoranfans said:

Here is a palm that would surely take the cold there.  I bought this hybrid palm from patrick around 10 years ago as a strap leaf seedling.  It is an experiment here as its a (BxJ)xJ.   I have debated about planting it and was thinking about donating it to someone who came down this way from a colder zone.  I recently planted it 3 months ago in 3/4ths sand to 30" depth, a very high drainage area of the yard.  It seems to be able to take the hot wet and humid climate ok, though its happier in the cooler/drier part of the year.  I also have had a much larger BxJ for 10 years in the ground.  This one with the extra jubaea blood has a different leaf, it doesn't recurve or twist like my BxJ.  My fingers are crossed on this one. 

 

Specimen looks beautiful! The double J in that is a bit concerning for success here, as I always hear that Jubaea really don’t perform well in our nearly perpetual heat and humidity, and I’ve never seen one anywhere here in town. But the fact it’s doing well for you so far is an encouraging sign. 

[palmofmyhand]

On 8/16/2025 at 9:58 AM, sonoranfans said:

Here is a palm that would surely take the cold there.  I bought this hybrid palm from patrick around 10 years ago as a strap leaf seedling.  It is an experiment here as its a (BxJ)xJ.   I have debated about planting it and was thinking about donating it to someone who came down this way from a colder zone.  I recently planted it 3 months ago in 3/4ths sand to 30" depth, a very high drainage area of the yard.  It seems to be able to take the hot wet and humid climate ok, though its happier in the cooler/drier part of the year.  I also have had a much larger BxJ for 10 years in the ground.  This one with the extra jubaea blood has a different leaf, it doesn't recurve or twist like my BxJ.  My fingers are crossed on this one. 

 

very nice hybrid, where I live someone has a palm yard 5 minutes away on the main road and has one that looks almost like this one but appears to have more butia in it slightly.

[donalt]

some years ago, Interstate 4 was literally rebuilt through Metro Orlando....and trachys were planted by the thousands as the go to landscape tree to line over 20 miles of interstate and every exit on and off the interstate. and literally EVERY one of them died, by the THOUSANDS. wrong palm in hot, sunny climates. I have seen some real beauties even in parts of Switzerland, Italy, and south of France. it's absolutely not going to thrive in your part of Texas.