Zone 8 - Raleigh, NC - Home Garden

[NC-Key-Bar]

I started my “palm garden” in 2024 after moving to a new home. I wanted to make a thread to share some pics and posts as I go.

first, my hurricane cut palmetto. Fully unprotected. Showing hurricane cut pics after install, and 1 year out. Home weather station read 12.9F this year as the low.  Maybe 5 times total sub 20F.  Honestly, most the brown on it was there at end of summer. Very little damage noticed.

second group - 1 year of growth on my L. Nitida. Now in-ground as of March. 
will show my other nitida later. 
I love these things, and want them to work so bad. Fingers crossed.

Then, some windmills.  Palmettos are my love. so the windmills feel like “yogurt, when I really want ice cream”.  Ya know?
Being zone 8, windmills are plentiful in the area, and do well here. I didn’t always love them, but they are growing on me, for sure (literally). 
 

working on a Z9 garden now. Mostly doing some robustas and cycads. And an CIDP I ordered from Etsy.  I also have a ton of Oleander blooming. And others In the mix. 
 

Comments and critiques are very welcome. I tried to share info to answer the sort of questions I had last year. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Fusca]

44 minutes ago, NC-Key-Bar said:

Then, some windmills.  Palmettos are my love. so the windmills feel like “yogurt, when I really want ice cream”.  Ya know?

I get it!  I'm not a fan of Trachycarpus fortunei.  To me it's one of those palms that are nice looking while juveniles but not so much as they age.  These in the photo look good though.  Just my opinion but I don't like the open crown of leaves and how the leaflets start pointing every which way.  There are some decent looking ones in Texas that are in part shade but many in mostly to full sun look bad because they don't get enough water.  Pacific Northwest has much better looking specimens than here in Texas and NC palms look better too.  Your palms and other plants look good!

[JohnAndSancho]

Nice. I am digging the blank canvas threads on here. I'm feeling inspired. I need to get more cold hardy stuff since my indoor space is getting full. 

[Zone7Bpalmguy]

@NC-Key-Bar Looking great. It will be beautiful once everything fills in, especially the pool setting!

[Las Palmas Norte]

Rock ground cover keeps the neighborhood cats from using it as a litter box.  A+

[NC-Key-Bar]

My frustrations with the Livistona nitida:
The first image is from December 2024 when I brought this nitida inside for a hard freeze.  I had 2 plants like this, one in ground and one in pot.

I was optimistic this winter, as my in-ground specimen stayed green right until we had a dip down to 13F.  Then inevitably burned up, and I eventually trunk cut it.  It has since recovered, but is a weed compared to what it was.  This one (pictured) was kept in the garage through hard winter.  My hopes being that more vegetation, bigger rootball, and a warmer spot in the yard would give it more success.  I planted after the last freeze, and have been waiting patiently...

Since then, It wen't through a triple spear pull and very slow growth.  It has spent most of the last month pushing up this new frond, and frankly, I have become too impatient.  This weekend, I scrapped the idea of a nitida, and moved in a W. filifera.  Multiple reasons, but most of my reading has led me to believe that the nitida has good survivability into the teens, but each year would be starting from scratch.

I've made some mistakes with my palm garden.  Shoulda, woulda, coulda done different.  One mistake was to assume this bad-boy was idle all that time....The roots had sprawled out in ever direction and the plant was probably ready to take off.  But i'm moving on....

In this section I have Oleander nerium, Agave Ovatifolia, and a young W. filifera.  It's on fake slope in the yard, with a rock cover.  I know (now) there are a lot of mixed feelings on rocks, but hoping this leads to success in a swampy zone 8, and can help keep the feet dry.