Sabal uresana, the slowest Sabal in my garden!

[Phoenikakias]

It had sped up a bit only after I had buried next to it a mastiff dog🙄! If it were a Caribbean sp, I'd say it needed some dose of voodoo magic, but it is actualy from the West Coast. I like the bright reddish fiber around leaf bases.

 

[Mazat]

24 minutes ago, Phoenikakias said:

It had sped up a bit only after I had buried next to it a mastiff dog🙄! If it were a Caribbean sp, I'd say it needed some dose of voodoo magic, but it is actualy from the West Coast. I like the bright reddish fiber around leaf bases.

 

Wonderful, Konstantinos 🤗 

[JohnAndSancho]

I got mine yesterday. 

[Phoenikakias]

1 hour ago, JohnAndSancho said:

I got mine yesterday. 

Treat it like a tropical and not like a temperate palm. Ain't similar to a Brahea.

[JohnAndSancho]

15 minutes ago, Phoenikakias said:

Treat it like a tropical and not like a temperate palm. Ain't similar to a Brahea.

That should be easy, cuz I seem to be good with tropicals and don't know how the Braheas are gonna do 😂 

[Phoenikakias]

Just now, JohnAndSancho said:

That should be easy, cuz I seem to be good with tropicals and don't know how the Braheas are gonna do 😂 

You can kill a Brahea with too much care.

[JohnAndSancho]

4 minutes ago, Phoenikakias said:

You can kill a Brahea with too much care.

My concern with them is reading that they hate humidity, and it's miserable here in summer. But full send, let's go, they're gonna look like blades of grass for the next few years anyway. 

[Than]

On 12/20/2025 at 4:50 PM, Phoenikakias said:

It had sped up a bit only after I had buried next to it a mastiff dog🙄! If it were a Caribbean sp, I'd say it needed some dose of voodoo magic, but it is actualy from the West Coast. I like the bright reddish fiber around leaf bases.

 

Perhaps you can ask the local authorities for dog corpses

[Harry’s Palms]

@Phoenikakias that is a beauty! Harry

[Phoenikakias]

40 minutes ago, Than said:

Perhaps you can ask the local authorities for dog corpses

Actually dog was mine, but ... as @DoomsDave can testify,  bring more corpses!

[DoomsDave]

On 12/20/2025 at 6:50 AM, Phoenikakias said:

It had sped up a bit only after I had buried next to it a mastiff dog🙄! If it were a Caribbean sp, I'd say it needed some dose of voodoo magic, but it is actualy from the West Coast. I like the bright reddish fiber around leaf bases.

 

Whoa! Damn, that thing is a beauty! There’s a trunking specimen at the Big H in San Marino, about 40 feet tall.

Keep us apprised of the progress of yours! 😍

[Than]

52 minutes ago, Phoenikakias said:

Actually dog was mine, but ... as @DoomsDave can testify,  bring more corpses!

I'm looking at my cat in a different way now! 

Btw what Sabal species can live in your garden unprotected? I may get myself one but uresana is not my taste.

[Phoenikakias]

25 minutes ago, Than said:

 

Btw what Sabal species can live in your garden unprotected? 

Almost all except those with subterranean trunk and palmetto can live in my garden. I am sure, that if I had a sandy soil, there would be absolutely no exception.  Hmm, I have caught me wrong, I do have also a dwarf minor surviving in a slope.

[DoomsDave]

Sabals are TOUGH. We here in the Land O’LaLa tend to discount them, and forget how beautiful they are. 
 

@Phoenikakias thanks for re-educating us about that. @Than try some where you are!

[Phoenikakias]

2 minutes ago, DoomsDave said:

Sabals are TOUGH. We here in the Land O’LaLa tend to discount them, and forget how beautiful they are. 
 

@Phoenikakias thanks for re-educating us about that. @Than try some where you are!

Still S Riverside originated from CA! 

[Than]

1 hour ago, DoomsDave said:

@Than try some where you are!

I never ever grew a fan palm.. they just don't look tropical enough to me. Perhaps because some of them are so common where I live. If I find one that looks different, more tropical, lush, rainforest kinda palm, I'll happily go for it!

[Phoenikakias]

14 minutes ago, Than said:

I never ever grew a fan palm.. they just don't look tropical enough to me. Perhaps because some of them are so common where I live. If I find one that looks different, more tropical, lush, rainforest kinda palm, I'll happily go for it!

Sabals do look tropical, especially trunking ones.

[JohnAndSancho]

Mine do NOT look happy 😑 I potted them into 1g with coco coir and perlite just like everything else, watered them in nice and deep, and they're all shrivelling up now. What can I do to save them? Is this because of the roots that got broken in the unpacking? I honestly thought it was minimal. Now they look like something that hasn't been watered in 3 months. That's like $50 down the toilet if I killed them. 

[Sabal Steve]

They’re slow here, too.  Here’s one (next to the white Corvette) that I planted, probably close to ten years ago, now.  It doesn’t get any help.  

And here’s a green Sabal (Mexicana type?) , next door, for reference.  It’s grown significantly faster.

I believe that they were both planted from a similar size, at a similar time.

 

[JohnAndSancho]

1 hour ago, Sabal Steve said:

They’re slow here, too.  Here’s one (next to the white Corvette) that I planted, probably close to ten years ago, now.  It doesn’t get any help.  

And here’s a green Sabal (Mexicana type?) , next door, for reference.  It’s grown significantly faster.

I believe that they were both planted from a similar size, at a similar time.

 

That El Camino has sooooo much potential. Nice piece. Oh and the Sabals look great too. 

[Mazat]

On 12/20/2025 at 3:50 PM, Phoenikakias said:

It had sped up a bit only after I had buried next to it a mastiff dog🙄! If it were a Caribbean sp, I'd say it needed some dose of voodoo magic, but it is actualy from the West Coast. I like the bright reddish fiber around leaf bases.

 

Wow, this plant is amazing. Sabine and I are going to build a greenhouse in the community garden. Okay, my twin sister Lisa will raise the money at the Christmas markets. She's good-looking (she thinks 🤭😁) and she likes being the center of attention. 
We'll tell the landlord that we want to charge admission during the cold months and then we'll make a 50/50 deal 

With his consent, we will then plant all the wonderful things that still have room.

Dreaming is allowed before Christmas 😁🤣

[Phoenikakias]

5 hours ago, JohnAndSancho said:

Mine do NOT look happy 😑 I potted them into 1g with coco coir and perlite just like everything else, watered them in nice and deep, and they're all shrivelling up now. What can I do to save them? Is this because of the roots that got broken in the unpacking? I honestly thought it was minimal. Now they look like something that hasn't been watered in 3 months. That's like $50 down the toilet if I killed them. 

Root disturbance. Whole genus is quite sensitive to it, when specimens are young.

[Phoenikakias]

1 hour ago, Mazat said:

Wow, this plant is amazing. Sabine and I are going to build a greenhouse in the community garden. Okay, my twin sister Lisa will raise the money at the Christmas markets. She's good-looking (she thinks 🤭😁) and she likes being the center of attention. 
We'll tell the landlord that we want to charge admission during the cold months and then we'll make a 50/50 deal 

With his consent, we will then plant all the wonderful things that still have room.

Dreaming is allowed before Christmas 😁🤣

Serving also fondue and hot chocolate on the entrance?

[JohnAndSancho]

1 hour ago, Phoenikakias said:

Root disturbance. Whole genus is quite sensitive to it, when specimens are young.

Any chance on survival? 😬

[Phoenikakias]

9 minutes ago, JohnAndSancho said:

Any chance on survival? 😬

How long have you left seedlings bare root in the air? When I pot up individually seedlings from a community pot, I leave all seedlings submerged in a bucket. Is it possible that you left roots too long in the air and they had dried out?

[JohnAndSancho]

5 minutes ago, Phoenikakias said:

How long have you left seedlings bare root in the air? When I pot up individually seedlings from a community pot, I leave all seedlings submerged in a bucket. Is it possible that you left roots too long in the air and they had dried out?

Not very long. Maybe a couple hours or so? They were packed well in a liner pot with a little dirt but there was way more roots than I expected and a couple smaller roots got broken. 

[Phoenikakias]

Two hours roots exposed to air? Dude this is too long, you have probably air-pruned them!

[Mazat]

1 hour ago, Phoenikakias said:

Serving also fondue and hot chocolate on the entrance?

🤗👍,Already done, fondue in the evening 😁

[JohnAndSancho]

4 hours ago, Phoenikakias said:

Two hours roots exposed to air? Dude this is too long, you have probably air-pruned them!

Well... That doesn't sound promising. 

[Phoenikakias]

Sadly true

[JohnAndSancho]

1 hour ago, Phoenikakias said:

Sadly true

Well, at least it's not like these are rare or hard to come by or anything 😭

[DoomsDave]

On 12/21/2025 at 8:49 AM, Than said:

I'm looking at my cat in a different way now! 

Btw what Sabal species can live in your garden unprotected? I may get myself one but uresana is not my taste.

Back about 20 years ago I brought in a bunch of loads of dirt in my pickup truck and buried things in it as I went along. 
 

One day I found a dead pit bull doggie that looked like he’d been hit by a car, so I buried him too. I didn’t  steal critters and bury them.

[JohnAndSancho]

8 hours ago, JohnAndSancho said:

Well, at least it's not like these are rare or hard to come by or anything 😭

Welp I read that bottom watering and humidity domes might save them, so I got a deli fried chicken tray and some Tinkertoys and some Ziploc baggies. 

[Phoenikakias]

55 minutes ago, JohnAndSancho said:

Welp I read that bottom watering and humidity domes might save them, so I got a deli fried chicken tray and some Tinkertoys and some Ziploc baggies. 

Keep us apprised! 

[JohnAndSancho]

34 minutes ago, Phoenikakias said:

Keep us apprised! 

Will do. Updates will probably end up in my thread under Palms in Pots. I just dropped a ton of new pics in there. 

[PalmBossTampa]

Mine is also slow in Florida heat,humidity, and occasional freezes. I’m so glad younger i started some for future i to enjoy 😊 

Planted in sugar sand and full sun from a 3gal 

[ryjohn]

Sabal uresana is the only slow Sabal here in Louisiana.  It might have been the slowest palm in my yard period.  And all three of mine were winter killed eventually, and no other Sabal has been close to that

[sonoranfans]

these speed up a bit after trunking but I suspect the mastiff(RIP, all dogs go to heaven) was a major soil remediation (nutrients and moisture retention).  My Uresana is 14+ years in the ground from a 5 gallon and has 10'+ of trunk.  It was totally exposed in hurricane Milton to the windward max winds in oct 2024 and is recovering.  My only complaint is that it still doesn't shed the leaf bases, let alone leaves.  It is well watered in half clay, half sand, but I dont fertilize it much at all.  I am out of state till 2026, but I will post a pic when I get back.  For me it is a bullet proof palm, no special treatment.  I remember talking to a board member with his planted in pure sand and it was not growing like mine, it was stuck, unhappy, and barely growing with no supplemental irrigation.  Its a slow palm no doubt, but all fast palms lead to a "bunch of poles" landscape.  At this point(15 year old garden) I am not wanting fast growers.  My Uresana has a nice fat trunk, about 28" with leaf bases intact, its a beast.  Its the fattest trunked sabal in my area except for my causiarum.

[Fusca]

4 hours ago, ryjohn said:

And all three of mine were winter killed eventually, and no other Sabal has been close to that

That sounds really odd unless your winter was also extremely wet and cold.  First two photos are my coastal uresana (grey-green) in San Antonio which took minimal foliar damage unprotected during 9°F in February 2021.  Last photo is a juvenile coastal form struggling with flooding this past March at my current location.  It took more damage from flooding conditions than my other one in SA took from the great freeze.