Thriving in Texas

[MzDennie]

Hello. I’m new here. I’m not a plant person and so anything that is out in my yard is something that requires minimal care. That said, I love plants! They bring so much beauty to your home and the environment. About four years ago, I bought a small palm from a neighbor and planted it in my front yard. A year into having it we had a bad snowstorm here in San Antonio and I thought the plant was dead, but it did come back to life and is now a healthy, thriving palm. I just need to know what type of palm this is. Will this palm get much taller or wider? Thank you 🙏🏽 

[JohnStraz]

Washingtonia robusta

the best one for you is the hybrid of the robusta with the filifera it is more cold tolerant. with that said it is not bullet proof for you if you had been there the year before it got down to near 5 degrees 

[Fusca]

3 hours ago, JohnStraz said:

the best one for you is the hybrid of the robusta with the filifera it is more cold tolerant. with that said it is not bullet proof for you if you had been there the year before it got down to near 5 degrees 

That's just what @MzDennie has - a hybrid Washingtonia - definitely not pure robusta.  Almost no red color on the leaf petiole bases so it's got a lot of filifera in it.  They are pretty much bullet proof in San Antonio except for fusarium wilt.

Tametra, welcome to Palmtalk!  The palm will continue to grow tall and likely get a thicker trunk.  Not only are they quite cold tolerant but also drought and heat tolerant which is important in SA also.  I grew palms there for 5 years before coming here.  I've seen them growing in cracks in sidewalks.

[Ben G.]

13 hours ago, MzDennie said:

Hello. I’m new here. I’m not a plant person and so anything that is out in my yard is something that requires minimal care. That said, I love plants! They bring so much beauty to your home and the environment. About four years ago, I bought a small palm from a neighbor and planted it in my front yard. A year into having it we had a bad snowstorm here in San Antonio and I thought the plant was dead, but it did come back to life and is now a healthy, thriving palm. I just need to know what type of palm this is. Will this palm get much taller or wider? Thank you 🙏🏽 

Welcome to the forum! Always good to see others in the San Antonio area growing palms.

I agree with some of the other people here. Looks like you have a hybrid California/Mexican fan palm. They grow pretty quickly and  are well adapted to the climate in San Antonio.

[Harry’s Palms]

Those get huge in a relatively short period of time . I live in Southern California where they have naturalized so they are everywhere . I like them for their appearance and carefree nature . Harry

[MarkC]

I wish they did better in the open areas of Florida. But many just look tattered and ragged compared to their desert counterparts in the west. They just don’t achieve any real height before something takes them out. I hate driving around and seeing the litter of sickly poles and tiny heads. So many dead Washingtonia. 

[MzDennie]

16 hours ago, Fusca said:

That's just what @MzDennie has - a hybrid Washingtonia - definitely not pure robusta.  Almost no red color on the leaf petiole bases so it's got a lot of filifera in it.  They are pretty much bullet proof in San Antonio except for fusarium wilt.

Tametra, welcome to Palmtalk!  The palm will continue to grow tall and likely get a thicker trunk.  Not only are they quite cold tolerant but also drought and heat tolerant which is important in SA also.  I grew palms there for 5 years before coming here.  I've seen them growing in cracks in sidewalks.

Thank you! I’m glad to know it is not the full breed lol. I have read that those trees grow between 70 to 100‘. This being a hybrid, I’m hoping it doesn’t grow that tall.

[MzDennie]

13 hours ago, Ben G. said:

Welcome to the forum! Always good to see others in the San Antonio area growing palms.

I agree with some of the other people here. Looks like you have a hybrid California/Mexican fan palm. They grow pretty quickly and  are well adapted to the climate in San Antonio.

Thank you, Ben. I didn’t think palm trees would grow so well here so I’m glad to have it in my yard. My only concern though is if this tree is going to reach enormous height because I don’t know if there will be an issue with my HOA.
 

[MzDennie]

1 hour ago, Harry’s Palms said:

Those get huge in a relatively short period of time . I live in Southern California where they have naturalized so they are everywhere . I like them for their appearance and carefree nature . Harry

Oh no lol! That’s what I’m afraid of. I hope I’m able to have this in my neighborhood.

[palmofmyhand]

1 hour ago, MarkC said:

I wish they did better in the open areas of Florida. But many just look tattered and ragged compared to their desert counterparts in the west. They just don’t achieve any real height before something takes them out. I hate driving around and seeing the litter of sickly poles and tiny heads. So many dead Washingtonia. 

I thought they did pretty well in florida, on my way to Miami I saw a lot of the highway exits packed with them.

[MarkC]

44 minutes ago, palmofmyhand said:

I thought they did pretty well in florida, on my way to Miami I saw a lot of the highway exits packed with them.

They certainly do alright, some spots better than others, but they are clearly at the mercy of lightning and various pestilences. I drive through many “rundown” areas of Florida driving from Naples to Orlando, and there’s just scores of countless dead, dying Washingtonia in places you think they should be thriving and growing like weeds.

A stark contrast to how they grow in California, as I seldom see such decrepit looking Washingtonias there. Once you get into true 10a and 10b you definitely see less succumbing to wilt and disease. So your observations of the Miami area do have merit.

[palmofmyhand]

21 minutes ago, MarkC said:

They certainly do alright, some spots better than others, but they are clearly at the mercy of lightning and various pestilences. I drive through many “rundown” areas of Florida driving from Naples to Orlando, and there’s just scores of countless dead, dying Washingtonia in places you think they should be thriving and growing like weeds.

A stark contrast to how they grow in California, as I seldom see such decrepit looking Washingtonias there. Once you get into true 10a and 10b you definitely see less succumbing to wilt and disease. So your observations of the Miami area do have merit.

yea that is too bad I also think it would look pretty nice if they lined the skylines like they do in Cali.  It does make you wonder what exactly the factor is that results in them dying in such large quantities. I know the humidity is a big difference from Florida versus the out west places.  I’m not sure if those places you speak of were hit by that recent snowstorm that affected Florida as well. Were they already dying/dead before this past winter?

[palmofmyhand]

38 minutes ago, MarkC said:

They certainly do alright, some spots better than others, but they are clearly at the mercy of lightning and various pestilences. I drive through many “rundown” areas of Florida driving from Naples to Orlando, and there’s just scores of countless dead, dying Washingtonia in places you think they should be thriving and growing like weeds.

A stark contrast to how they grow in California, as I seldom see such decrepit looking Washingtonias there. Once you get into true 10a and 10b you definitely see less succumbing to wilt and disease. So your observations of the Miami area do have merit.

actually no I’m wrong the snow storm only hit Northern Florida areas including probably only Jacksonville and above so it wasn’t the snow. Hopefully it isn’t sabotage killing them off either. I’m trying to grow some here myself in Augusta, Georgia. I have seen a good amount of big ones doing well here in zone 8b, although varying on the hybrid types some of them go mostly brown after a cold winter but keep coming back.

[MarkC]

Just now, palmofmyhand said:

yea that is too bad I also think it would look pretty nice if they lined the skylines like they do in Cali.  It does make you wonder what exactly the factor is that results in them dying in such large quantities. I know the humidity is a big difference from Florida versus the out west places.  I’m not sure if those places you speak of were hit by that recent snowstorm that affected Florida as well. Were they already dying/dead before this past winter?

Some of the experts here might chime in and give better accounts than merely the anecdotal ones I have at my disposal.

Certainly the wetness and humidity does incentivize the formation of bacteria and would be more prone to harbor all sorts of palm killers.

I always assumed it was the combination of summer wetness, winter freezes and lightning that prevent Florida having that enchanting “West Coast Palm Vibe”.

I’ve seen incredible growing Washingtonias by the hundreds growing in areas of Arizona and Neveda that get consistently more cold than areas of Florida that are amongst these dead-end areas for Washingtonia. So either the lightning is just that rampant in taking out Washingtonia in Florida by the thousands, or there are other factors. 

[MarkC]

2 minutes ago, palmofmyhand said:

actually no I’m wrong the snow storm only hit Northern Florida areas including probably only Jacksonville and above so it wasn’t the snow. Hopefully it isn’t sabotage killing them off either. I’m trying to grow some here myself in Augusta, Georgia. I have seen a good amount of big ones doing well here in zone 8b, although varying on the hybrid types some of them go mostly brown after a cold winter but keep coming back.

Yeah, I didn’t even factor the snow that occurred since it was a one-off event that was in northern Florida and probably played next to no role in eliminating Washingtonia. 
 

Some of the nicest specimens I have seen on the east coast were in 9a coastal GA and SC. The ones on Hilton Head look fantastic.

[palmofmyhand]

1 minute ago, MarkC said:

Yeah, I didn’t even factor the snow that occurred since it was a one-off event that was in northern Florida and probably played next to no role in eliminating Washingtonia. 
 

Some of the nicest specimens I have seen on the east coast were in 9a coastal GA and SC. The ones on Hilton Head look fantastic.

yea I agree Hilton Head is so beautiful and I almost feel like the OCD there is the reason why they mainly only have Sabals growing there. They make every business follow the same signage guidelines and everything, which is pretty nice. If I lived there I would be trying to grow some CIDPs and sylvesters with that nice island 9A. Most people don’t even notice the difference between the Sabals there and the few Washingtonias

[MarkC]

2 minutes ago, palmofmyhand said:

yea I agree Hilton Head is so beautiful and I almost feel like the OCD there is the reason why they mainly only have Sabals growing there. They make every business follow the same signage guidelines and everything, which is pretty nice. If I lived there I would be trying to grow some CIDPs and sylvesters with that nice island 9A. Most people don’t even notice the difference between the Sabals there and the few Washingtonias

Hilton Head is a very interesting case: I would have to make frequent trips between New York and Orlando driving(unfortunately) and I would stop at HHI going in both directions. HHI is often considered the “starting point” of tropical gardening on the East Coast, though you can probably argue Charleston might be as well.

But what’s interesting about HHI is the realtime observations that you get coming off I95 and heading East on 278. In a distance of 20 miles you literally watch the landscape going from essentially temperature to proto-tropical. In the winter you are seeing a yellow, dead landscape turn green and flowers start popping as you approach the Island Parkway.

You can also see how even during the colder winters, I believe 2018 was quite cold for that area, but areas around Coligny Plaza and the Eastern points of Sea Pines seemed almost unaffected, that may explain the 9b designation in the newest hardiness maps.

More recently they seem to be including more interesting plantings, but you have to admit, the Sabals there are probably pound for pound amongst the most beautiful you can find. They are picture-perfect examples. And personally I don’t even like Sabal palmettos. 

[palmofmyhand]

19 minutes ago, MarkC said:

Hilton Head is a very interesting case: I would have to make frequent trips between New York and Orlando driving(unfortunately) and I would stop at HHI going in both directions. HHI is often considered the “starting point” of tropical gardening on the East Coast, though you can probably argue Charleston might be as well.

But what’s interesting about HHI is the realtime observations that you get coming off I95 and heading East on 278. In a distance of 20 miles you literally watch the landscape going from essentially temperature to proto-tropical. In the winter you are seeing a yellow, dead landscape turn green and flowers start popping as you approach the Island Parkway.

You can also see how even during the colder winters, I believe 2018 was quite cold for that area, but areas around Coligny Plaza and the Eastern points of Sea Pines seemed almost unaffected, that may explain the 9b designation in the newest hardiness maps.

More recently they seem to be including more interesting plantings, but you have to admit, the Sabals there are probably pound for pound amongst the most beautiful you can find. They are picture-perfect examples. And personally I don’t even like Sabal palmettos. 

yea I definitely agree, going there this year actually made me like sabals again when I kind of accrued a distaste for them after seeing so many bad looking ones in my area. It must be perfect to live on that island with that nice lower high and higher low kind of weather.

[Merlyn]

@MarkC Washingtonia are very susceptible to Fusarium, which kills Queens and Washies quickly and spreads easily.  You'll typically see the "one sided death" on some fronds one week, and then the next week the whole palm is dead.  It's easy to spread via infected pruning tools too.  I saw a whole row of 50-75 Washies all die in about a 2 month period.  They were lining a street, and a pruning crew went through.  The crew apparently spread it to every single one, and killed all of them in one swell foop!

[palmofmyhand]

27 minutes ago, MarkC said:

Hilton Head is a very interesting case: I would have to make frequent trips between New York and Orlando driving(unfortunately) and I would stop at HHI going in both directions. HHI is often considered the “starting point” of tropical gardening on the East Coast, though you can probably argue Charleston might be as well.

But what’s interesting about HHI is the realtime observations that you get coming off I95 and heading East on 278. In a distance of 20 miles you literally watch the landscape going from essentially temperature to proto-tropical. In the winter you are seeing a yellow, dead landscape turn green and flowers start popping as you approach the Island Parkway.

You can also see how even during the colder winters, I believe 2018 was quite cold for that area, but areas around Coligny Plaza and the Eastern points of Sea Pines seemed almost unaffected, that may explain the 9b designation in the newest hardiness maps.

More recently they seem to be including more interesting plantings, but you have to admit, the Sabals there are probably pound for pound amongst the most beautiful you can find. They are picture-perfect examples. And personally I don’t even like Sabal palmettos. 

This might sound nit picky but I actually get bothered when I see sabals with half cut trunks and half uncut, or ones with torn up trunks. I think they should either have completely carved down trunks or completely natural trunks. That is my biggest peeve about those, and a lot of people around where I live just buy the half cut ones and never finish the job. Maybe I have OCD but it is bothersome for me to see the kind in the first picture. Pictures 2 and 3 though look nice.

[palmofmyhand]

30 minutes ago, Merlyn said:

@MarkC Washingtonia are very susceptible to Fusarium, which kills Queens and Washies quickly and spreads easily.  You'll typically see the "one sided death" on some fronds one week, and then the next week the whole palm is dead.  It's easy to spread via infected pruning tools too.  I saw a whole row of 50-75 Washies all die in about a 2 month period.  They were lining a street, and a pruning crew went through.  The crew apparently spread it to every single one, and killed all of them in one swell foop!

I have only heard of people injecting palms as a solution to protect against those diseases like lethal bronzing and such. Is there any other real solutions to those diseases and do the injection methods work? Miami palms seem to be standing up pretty well to disease though with the sheer amount of quantity and variety of palms there. I know it must be very frustrating for people losing these 10+ year growth projects like that. I would imagine it would be more of a concern in a highly populated area with a larger amount of palms.

[MarkC]

19 minutes ago, palmofmyhand said:

I have only heard of people injecting palms as a solution to protect against those diseases like lethal bronzing and such. Is there any other real solutions to those diseases and do the injection methods work? Miami palms seem to be standing up pretty well to disease though with the sheer amount of quantity and variety of palms there. I know it must be very frustrating for people losing these 10+ year growth projects like that. I would imagine it would be more of a concern in a highly populated area with a larger amount of palms.

This is kinda where I’m at as well, I just don’t see the tell tail signs of wilt in the freeze-free areas of FL. I’m not sure why but maybe there is better equipment maintenance by gardeners in the warmer areas of Florida which typically coincide with wealthier areas.

[MarkC]

1 hour ago, palmofmyhand said:

This might sound nit picky but I actually get bothered when I see sabals with half cut trunks and half uncut, or ones with torn up trunks. I think they should either have completely carved down trunks or completely natural trunks. That is my biggest peeve about those, and a lot of people around where I live just buy the half cut ones and never finish the job. Maybe I have OCD but it is bothersome for me to see the kind in the first picture. Pictures 2 and 3 though look nice.

I’m not sure how I feel about the partial boot removal. The older the boot, the easier it is to remove. Maybe at a certain point it becomes diminishing returns and people just say “the heck with it” and give up?

[palmofmyhand]

3 minutes ago, MarkC said:

I’m not sure how I feel about the partial boot removal. The older the boot, the easier it is to remove. Maybe at a certain point it becomes diminishing returns and people just say “the heck with it” and give up?

yea you’re probably right, I wouldn’t even know who to call to get the job done in my area and I don’t think I could do a perfect job myself if I attempted it. I have seen some Butias around here that have awful looking trunks based on the way they carved or tried carving them. I found this picture online and I think with this one here makes the tree look god awful and I prefer the uncut look on Butias for the most part.

[Mazat]

On 5/10/2025 at 2:25 PM, MzDennie said:

Hello. I’m new here. I’m not a plant person and so anything that is out in my yard is something that requires minimal care. That said, I love plants! They bring so much beauty to your home and the environment. About four years ago, I bought a small palm from a neighbor and planted it in my front yard. A year into having it we had a bad snowstorm here in San Antonio and I thought the plant was dead, but it did come back to life and is now a healthy, thriving palm. I just need to know what type of palm this is. Will this palm get much taller or wider? Thank you 🙏🏽 

welcome to the forum.
your palm has survived this event well and looks fit and healthy.
we wish you lots of fun in the forum and continued joy with your palm, or rather there will be several in time 😄

[SCVpalmenthusiast]

It kinda looks like a washingtonia filifera (California fan palm) but im not an expert. How do the experts here tell the difference? Usually the robustas have thinner trunks I thought.

[Fusca]

9 hours ago, SCVpalmenthusiast said:

It kinda looks like a washingtonia filifera (California fan palm) but im not an expert. How do the experts here tell the difference? Usually the robustas have thinner trunks I thought.

It does have more filifera traits (thick trunk, grayish green fronds, green leaf petioles bases, smaller petiole thorns) in my opinion but obviously not all of these traits so it's a hybrid.  Pure Washingtonia aren't easily found for sale here in Texas - there are thousands of each species planted all over the RGV but mostly robusta and robusta dominant hybrids.  Still plenty of filifera and filifera dominant hybrids around to add to the mix and they hybridize easily.