North Port Florida hardiness tropicals

[KyleD]

I have lived in north port Florida for 7 years now. Seen some chilly nights. I thought north port was too cold for most tropical plants but have noticed my own doing just fine and other old tropicals. Notably this coconut palm. I have a few in my yard but found an old specimen in an area that has seen brief, overnight freezing temperatures. Curious about how coconut palms do in marginal climates. Share your experiences. 

[OutpostPalms]

How about cocoa beach. Pretty far north but it seems coconuts are able to do well there. 

[kinzyjr]

A few threads you might find interesting with regard to palms growing outside of their typical latitude boundaries in Florida:

https://www.palmtalk.org/forum/topic/61172-remarkable-palms-of-tampa-bay/

https://www.palmtalk.org/forum/topic/59360-zone-10-palms-in-the-orlando-area-mega-thread/

 

 

[ck_in_fla]

5 hours ago, OutpostPalms said:

How about cocoa beach. Pretty far north but it seems coconuts are able to do well there. 

I have lived in Central Florida since the 1960's.  Anything South of Cape Canaveral on the barrier islands has always been like being in South Florida.  I think it has something to do with the proximity of the Gulf Stream just off shore.  The temperature of the ocean seems to temper the low temperatures right on the coast.  The Coconut Palms seem to do well and always seem to have lots of fruit on them.

I believe North of Cape Canaveral the Gulf Stream veers further off shore and the influence on the land temperatures stops.  Even in Southern Volusia County, there are many Coconut Palms planted but not many long-term survivors, yet.  Perhaps the effects of global warming will change this.  My family vacations in New Smyrna Beach and every year I seem to see more and more Coconut Palms planted out.  So, we will just need to watch what happens...

Perhaps others can weigh in on this.

[MrCoconutPalm2]

10 hours ago, KyleD said:

I have lived in north port Florida for 7 years now. Seen some chilly nights. I thought north port was too cold for most tropical plants but have noticed my own doing just fine and other old tropicals. Notably this coconut palm. I have a few in my yard but found an old specimen in an area that has seen brief, overnight freezing temperatures. Curious about how coconut palms do in marginal climates. Share your experiences. 

Nice, I wonder what variety it is?  What variety are yours?  Here in the east side of Corpus Christi, Texas, we had a total of 20 of them that I knew of, including 3 in my yard, and 12 at North Padre Island.  That was before the Feb. '21 Big Freeze, in which it got down to 18° at my place, and 20° on the island.  My largest was a Green Malayan Dwarf, and was about 17 ft. tall in overalls height, with about 30 inches of woody trunk height at the base, and 5 small to medium sized coconuts on it.  Some of us have replaced them, but not nearly as many as before the Big Freeze.  Also, there were some mature 40 ft. tall Cuban Royal Palms near my house, and 15 to 29 ft. tall Foxtail Palms.  People here have been slow to replant tropicals though, probably because we have had 5 freezing winters in a row (very unusual here, as we can go for 2 to 3 years at a time without a single freeze).  In the Rio Grande Valley 2.5 hours south of here, there are a few surviving mature Coconut Palms, and a decent amount of mature Royal Palms that survived temps of 23° during the Big Freeze.

[happypalms]

Nice one coconuts drop dead in my garden but a 15 minute drive to coast they live. Another top tropical I had written off as it will die is Pinanga sarawakensis, I can’t believe it is alive in my climate 3 degrees Celsius. Coconuts die but it lives you will certainly be able to grow one sarawakensis for sure if your after another tropical variety of palm. 

[KyleD]

That’s very cold for south Texas. I purchased a green Malayan and Jamaican tall. I was given a sprouting coconut from the canals in Cape Coral which has orange to green petioles so it’s likely some hybrid, grows vigorously, and I took a coconut from a very tall tree at Marie Selby gardens which I would guess is a maypan. They all survived the wrath of Ian with 20in of rain and 130+ mph winds. They are planted on the south side of my house and have shown little cold damage even from nights falling to 29, 30, 32. The JT seems to be a little more cold sensitive than the others. I would guess the palm in this photo is a maypan, but it looks old enough to have survived 2010 which was a very harsh winter for Florida I’d say there were several cold days and nights as low as 26, and is in an open area. Houses in the area were built in the 2000’s

16 hours ago, MrCoconutPalm2 said:

Nice, I wonder what variety it is?  What variety are yours?  Here in the east side of Corpus Christi, Texas, we had a total of 20 of them that I knew of, including 3 in my yard, and 12 at North Padre Island.  That was before the Feb. '21 Big Freeze, in which it got down to 18° at my place, and 20° on the island.  My largest was a Green Malayan Dwarf, and was about 17 ft. tall in overalls height, with about 30 inches of woody trunk height at the base, and 5 small to medium sized coconuts on it.  Some of us have replaced them, but not nearly as many as before the Big Freeze.  Also, there were some mature 40 ft. tall Cuban Royal Palms near my house, and 15 to 29 ft. tall Foxtail Palms.  People here have been slow to replant tropicals though, probably because we have had 5 freezing winters in a row (very unusual here, as we can go for 2 to 3 years at a time without a single freeze).  In the Rio Grande Valley 2.5 hours south of here, there are a few surviving mature Coconut Palms, and a decent amount of mature Royal Palms that survived temps of 23° during the Big Freeze.

 

[3 Milesfrom Gulf of Mexico]

I'm 85 miles north of you.  I have a 17 year old coconut tree planted from a sprout.  I have had some real close calls in winter over the years.  I just wrap the trunk with a large moving blanket and shine a large spot light on it.  We rarely get below 32F.  

[RedRabbit]

On 7/17/2025 at 5:53 PM, ck_in_fla said:

I have lived in Central Florida since the 1960's.  Anything South of Cape Canaveral on the barrier islands has always been like being in South Florida.  I think it has something to do with the proximity of the Gulf Stream just off shore.  The temperature of the ocean seems to temper the low temperatures right on the coast.  The Coconut Palms seem to do well and always seem to have lots of fruit on them.

I believe North of Cape Canaveral the Gulf Stream veers further off shore and the influence on the land temperatures stops.  Even in Southern Volusia County, there are many Coconut Palms planted but not many long-term survivors, yet.  Perhaps the effects of global warming will change this.  My family vacations in New Smyrna Beach and every year I seem to see more and more Coconut Palms planted out.  So, we will just need to watch what happens...

Perhaps others can weigh in on this.

It’s the width of the banana river helping Brevard County, not the Gulf Stream. Volusia County is more closely connected to the (cold) mainland. 

[ck_in_fla]

7 hours ago, RedRabbit said:

It’s the width of the banana river helping Brevard County, not the Gulf Stream. Volusia County is more closely connected to the (cold) mainland. 

Makes perfect sense.  Thanks for clearing that up.