When I first moved to Florida, I planted a Bismarckia in mid2010 and a sabal uresana in summer 2011. Uresanas are often mentioned as alternatives to bismarckia in 9a. These palms have stood next to each other over the years making for an easy growth comparison. Bismarckias are generally regarded as fast growers and uresanas are said to be slow.

First, Bismarckia several months after planting a 5 gallon bought at a big box store. Everything but the spear had heavy mold spots so I kind of treated it as a rescue. It seems to have that purplish hue after winter that is often associalted with a whiter leaf. It adapted fast to sun after being tortured inside the box store with palms stacked in a pile around it. It put 5-6 new leaves out the first year.

late july 2010 bismarckia

then about a year later I planted a sabal uresana "icy blue" I bought from tejas tropicals in texas. It was a strap leafer and I put it in a pot. About 6 months later it was ready to go into the ground as the pot was root bound.

A little over 2 years later in sept 2013 both had grown well. IN this pic the uresana looks a bit bigger than it was (relatively) since it was closer to the observer. It had turned darker with less "icy blue" color but was clearly not just a green sabal. The uresana was about 6' overall and the Bismarckia was closer to 10' in this pic

At this point the bismarckia was trunking and growth was accelerating and here is the pic from june 2015. The uresana not trunking was putting more leaves for a bigger crown

About 4 years later the uresana had lengthened it leaves and had gone into trunking mode. It went skyward chasing the bismarckia but still 6-7 feet over all behind the biz in height

Last week I took another pic and noticed about a 10' gap even though the uresana had sped up and grown to about 25' tall. compared with 35' for the bismarckia

I thought it was interesting that the growth burst of each happened at trunking, as we are often told by the literature. Yes even sabal uresana grows well after trunking.

I also though it is interesting to note that Sabal Uresana has a wider crown, that was a surprise. I had always thought Bismarckia would be wider as it throws more shade but its a couple fee less in width of the crown. The Uresana crown is more open though, and it took a lot less damage than the Bismarckia in hurricane Milton(oct2024). Part of the lesser damage suffered by uresana could be due to less wind damage as there are higher wind velocities at height, but also part might be the Uresana having an open crown with smaller leaves that have less wind drag. I do think Uresanas will have more blue than mine in a drier hot climate. Bismarckias are very versatile, they don't need much fertilizer and mostly they are self shedding. Just keep them happy and the weevils wont come to dinner(I had a sick one attacked by weevils and killed). I treated the Uresana same as Bismarckia, limited fertilizer compared with my other palms The Uresana has persistent leaf bases which are still strongly attached near the ground. Since I do the trimming, I am happy that Uresana is a slower grower, as the Bismarckia is now too tall for me to trim from the ground. And the Bismarckia(female) is a mess, dropping 150-200 lbs of seed a year. I just got done raking up half a trash can full of Bismarckia fruits, and there is at least that much still hanging on the tree. Uresana has not fruited yet at 15 yrs. Sabals are notorious for liking heat to grow fast and they both had plenty of Florida heat. For those thinking about Sabal Uresana, its not Bismarckia fast but its more of a medium grower for me after trunking.

Awesome and interesting comparison

Thank you for sharing

Thank you, two of my favorites.

Nice little time lapse pics!

The direction I took the pics from provides the best overall ground to crown visual. But it has the least reflective sunlight to show off the grey colors at that time of day(AM). If you want get a better white grey view, you put the sun at your back, this would be the opposite direction in the AM. This is optical physics applied to plant reflectance and diffuse transmission. I placed these palms so that I had the better view from my yard, not the street view. Here is the opposite view where the sun is at the obvservers back. So consider the view you want with either uresana or bismarckia. I try not to give the street the best view.

I have both of these palms, planted at in 2024 at roughly the same size as yours were. So far the Bismarckia is growing faster, but mine loses a lot of fronds to cold each winter so it slows it down. The uresana is growing a whole lot faster than I was expecting based on what people have said, and the glacial pace the seedlings grow. The first time I went and saw some of the very large uresana around here I was shocked at how big the crown was, they are behemoths. Planted in the same area are some mature Sabal causiarum and there is virtually no size difference between uresana and causiarum. Same enormous canopy, same chonky trunks.

Bismarckia is about a foot taller than the uresana but does have a small trunk.

52 minutes ago, Chester B said:

Bismarckia is about a foot taller than the uresana but does have a small trunk.

How long in the ground and from what size chester? I would also comment that bismarckias like deep roots, water for the bizzie, not for the shallow rooted plants. A plant water cycle for mine would cause them to suffer. I had (2) one eaten by weevils had a low spot with neighbors irrigation and mine nearby at staggered times(by necessity, HOA well pump alternates houses) and the soil was not great draining. I tried growing roses near one of mine in arizona, I had great roses but the Biz was not cold hardy being continually wet and kicked it one winter while 3 others no so situated with plants did ok and came back strong from the cold. I learned that you either prioritize the plants or the bizzie, cant do both. Some palms do great with water lovers nearby. My biz is separated from the water lovers. I saw a few mature ones 25-30' tall in miami that were in that rocky wet soil they have down there in some places and they had think trunks('a tad less than 18" base) and I could move the crowns with a push on the trunk, not root stabilized. My bizmarckia has a swollen base of 33" thick.

2 hours ago, Chester B said:

I have both of these palms, planted at in 2024 at roughly the same size as yours were. So far the Bismarckia is growing faster, but mine loses a lot of fronds to cold each winter so it slows it down. The uresana is growing a whole lot faster than I was expecting based on what people have said, and the glacial pace the seedlings grow. The first time I went and saw some of the very large uresana around here I was shocked at how big the crown was, they are behemoths. Planted in the same area are some mature Sabal causiarum and there is virtually no size difference between uresana and causiarum. Same enormous canopy, same chonky trunks.

I have a causiarum and the width of the crown is very similar to the uresana. The uresana has longer petioles and smaller leaves. I am surprised how much less shade it throws than causiarum which is also much less than bismarckia. The view up on my uresana appears most sparse of the three but it is wide, ~ 25' I think.

biz crown

Uresana crown lighter shade. Being closer to the uresana my lens cant get any wider(17-55mm cannon EFS crop frame).

The uresana also has a thick trunk with leaf based on, similar to my Biz with a smooth trunk. The pavers are 9" on one side 11" on the other. I see 3 of them on the 11" side is about the thickness of the trunk base.

Local Sabal uresana. Some or all of mine came from these trees.

Another group in Houston.

On 6/4/2026 at 10:28 PM, sonoranfans said:

When I first moved to Florida, I planted a Bismarckia in mid2010 and a sabal uresana in summer 2011. Uresanas are often mentioned as alternatives to bismarckia in 9a. These palms have stood next to each other over the years making for an easy growth comparison. Bismarckias are generally regarded as fast growers and uresanas are said to be slow.

First, Bismarckia several months after planting a 5 gallon bought at a big box store. Everything but the spear had heavy mold spots so I kind of treated it as a rescue. It seems to have that purplish hue after winter that is often associalted with a whiter leaf. It adapted fast to sun after being tortured inside the box store with palms stacked in a pile around it. It put 5-6 new leaves out the first year.

late july 2010 bismarckia

then about a year later I planted a sabal uresana "icy blue" I bought from tejas tropicals in texas. It was a strap leafer and I put it in a pot. About 6 months later it was ready to go into the ground as the pot was root bound.

A little over 2 years later in sept 2013 both had grown well. IN this pic the uresana looks a bit bigger than it was (relatively) since it was closer to the observer. It had turned darker with less "icy blue" color but was clearly not just a green sabal. The uresana was about 6' overall and the Bismarckia was closer to 10' in this pic

At this point the bismarckia was trunking and growth was accelerating and here is the pic from june 2015. The uresana not trunking was putting more leaves for a bigger crown

About 4 years later the uresana had lengthened it leaves and had gone into trunking mode. It went skyward chasing the bismarckia but still 6-7 feet over all behind the biz in height

Last week I took another pic and noticed about a 10' gap even though the uresana had sped up and grown to about 25' tall. compared with 35' for the bismarckia

I thought it was interesting that the growth burst of each happened at trunking, as we are often told by the literature. Yes even sabal uresana grows well after trunking.

I also though it is interesting to note that Sabal Uresana has a wider crown, that was a surprise. I had always thought Bismarckia would be wider as it throws more shade but its a couple fee less in width of the crown. The Uresana crown is more open though, and it took a lot less damage than the Bismarckia in hurricane Milton(oct2024). Part of the lesser damage suffered by uresana could be due to less wind damage as there are higher wind velocities at height, but also part might be the Uresana having an open crown with smaller leaves that have less wind drag. I do think Uresanas will have more blue than mine in a drier hot climate. Bismarckias are very versatile, they don't need much fertilizer and mostly they are self shedding. Just keep them happy and the weevils wont come to dinner(I had a sick one attacked by weevils and killed). I treated the Uresana same as Bismarckia, limited fertilizer compared with my other palms The Uresana has persistent leaf bases which are still strongly attached near the ground. Since I do the trimming, I am happy that Uresana is a slower grower, as the Bismarckia is now too tall for me to trim from the ground. And the Bismarckia(female) is a mess, dropping 150-200 lbs of seed a year. I just got done raking up half a trash can full of Bismarckia fruits, and there is at least that much still hanging on the tree. Uresana has not fruited yet at 15 yrs. Sabals are notorious for liking heat to grow fast and they both had plenty of Florida heat. For those thinking about Sabal Uresana, its not Bismarckia fast but its more of a medium grower for me after trunking.

Wowo interesting

Great post! I planted a Bizzy on my hill , it only took a little over a year for the gophers to find it and eat the roots right up to the trunk! The Sabal is still there. What is said about speed of growth after trunking is my observation as well . Most of mine , with the exception of the Bizmarkia , were very small palms . Once they started trunking , it seems like the growth rate sped up. Harry

21 hours ago, sonoranfans said:

How long in the ground and from what size chester?

Bismarckia was a 5 or 7 gallon and planted May 2024.

That September 2024 I planted the Sabal uresana - I'm thinking this is a 15 gallon pot. I've included a photo of the Bismarckia at that time to show its growth.

Today there is 1-2' foot overall height differential between the two with the Bismarckia displaying a trunk and being the taller of the two. The Sabal uresana has no real sign of a trunk yet, but is growing at a decent pace.

On 6/11/2026 at 10:41 AM, Chester B said:

I have both of these palms, planted at in 2024 at roughly the same size as yours were. So far the Bismarckia is growing faster, but mine loses a lot of fronds to cold each winter so it slows it down. The uresana is growing a whole lot faster than I was expecting based on what people have said, and the glacial pace the seedlings grow. The first time I went and saw some of the very large uresana around here I was shocked at how big the crown was, they are behemoths. Planted in the same area are some mature Sabal causiarum and there is virtually no size difference between uresana and causiarum. Same enormous canopy, same chonky trunks.

Yeah the cold has really stunted your bizzy, it has that look with a real thin trunk and the wrinkled leaves. Thin trunks on bismarckia are also sign of too much water, maybe soil is too rich or doesnt drain so well. I see this around my own neighborhood. My side of the street has high drainage sandy soil with some clay, the other side has mostly clay. Mature bizzies in the mostly clay side have trunks are are a little over half the thickness of those on the sandy side. My smooth trunked bismarckia has a trunk that is the same thickness as the Uresana trunk with leaf bases still on. The sabal causiarum smooth trunk is about 8" thicker than either, its not close. The causiarum came from the same source as the uresana, planted at the same time.

Bismarckia trunk, long side of the paver is 11 inches as in the above uresana trunk pic

Causiarum trunk with same paver size

Hard to tell yet as my uresana hasnt shed its leaf bases but it seems to taper off more slowly with height than the Bismarckia. Both the bismarckia and causiarum have noticeably thicker petioles(half again or more). I love your uresanas, they look very happy down there in houston.

I have not watered either palm other than the initial couple of months. We have what is called Gumbo Clay down here, it expands and contracts greatly depending on how much rain we get. The Bismarckia started falling over last fall due to the soil shrinking. Twice I have added more soil to the base of the trunk and had to support it with the stakes. The wind here is very strong and those large fronds act as a sail. I had similar issues with Washingtonia but not with Sabals. The Sabals drill down into the ground.

The pictures of the mature Sabal uresana I shared do not convey the size of these palms at all. I had seen photos of these for years, but when I saw them in person for the first time I was blown away at how massive they are. Bigger than any Bismarckia I saw recently in Florida I would say.

3 hours ago, Chester B said:

I have not watered either palm other than the initial couple of months. We have what is called Gumbo Clay down here, it expands and contracts greatly depending on how much rain we get. The Bismarckia started falling over last fall due to the soil shrinking. Twice I have added more soil to the base of the trunk and had to support it with the stakes. The wind here is very strong and those large fronds act as a sail. I had similar issues with Washingtonia but not with Sabals. The Sabals drill down into the ground.

The pictures of the mature Sabal uresana I shared do not convey the size of these palms at all. I had seen photos of these for years, but when I saw them in person for the first time I was blown away at how massive they are. Bigger than any Bismarckia I saw recently in Florida I would say.

My uresana is a couple feet wider in crown than my bismarckia, and just about the same width as the sabal causiarum but the Causiarum has thicker heavier petioles and leaves and a thicker trunk. Mature bismarckia petioles are thicker yet and the leaves can be 9-10' wide. I am impressed by my Uresana, glad I got one, though I expect it would be happier out west in a more arid setting. Bismarckia native habitat is wet summers low 80's for highs and cool dry winters in high drainage lateritic soil, in winter there is rarely a freeze. Love those uresanas, they are even more impressive in a grove like that, I'm sure. Pictures cant really get you to the place where you appreciate size in person. All my larger palms seem to shrink in a picture.

On 6/12/2026 at 1:45 PM, Chester B said:

I have not watered either palm other than the initial couple of months. We have what is called Gumbo Clay down here, it expands and contracts greatly depending on how much rain we get. The Bismarckia started falling over last fall due to the soil shrinking. Twice I have added more soil to the base of the trunk and had to support it with the stakes. The wind here is very strong and those large fronds act as a sail. I had similar issues with Washingtonia but not with Sabals. The Sabals drill down into the ground.

The pictures of the mature Sabal uresana I shared do not convey the size of these palms at all. I had seen photos of these for years, but when I saw them in person for the first time I was blown away at how massive they are. Bigger than any Bismarckia I saw recently in Florida I would say.

I missed that your Biz fell over, that would seriously weaken/reduce viable roots for a few years or so. The Uresana down there seem to like the clay. I had caliche clay in arizona but I used amendments and dug 4-5' through it to the native soil to improve drainage. I think the clay soil is probably part of the problem for your bizzie and establishment of its roots. Wind is no a problem for mine, never tipped over even in 110mph winds of Hurricane Milton. The leaves on the Biz were 2/3rds shredded in the wind as were a smaller number of the oldest Uresana leaves. The Uresana was a very impressive survivor of MIlton. Little damage and it was totally exposed to high winds near the south(eastern wind) and then the west (northern wind direction) of the eye. I am a little surprised by how well Uresanas have done in clay soils in wet Houston, I didnt expect them to look so good.

I have a couple of the green form of uresana as well. They are small but are growing very fast compared to the blue. Multiple times as fast so far. I expect they will be trunking in a fraction of the time.

7 hours ago, Chester B said:

I have a couple of the green form of uresana as well. They are small but are growing very fast compared to the blue. Multiple times as fast so far. I expect they will be trunking in a fraction of the time.

Would be great to see both forms of uresana side by side in your climate. One of the Florida legends of palmtalk, Merril Wilcox(RIP) had a huge green uresana up in northern FL. The leaves looked very large, in his pic standing next to it. I have found that having the right climate for you palm can lead to a bigger more healthy palm. When I lived in arizona, all the desert palms, FIliferas, dactyliferas etc were larger and more impressive than in florida. CIDP in California are massive, they make Floridas CIDP look smallish by comparison. Bismarckia is well adapted to florida, they grow close to 2x faster here than the ones I grew in Arizona. My sabal causiarum, a carribean native, grows very fast after trunking, over 2' of trunk a year. Beccariophoenix Alfredii are from a little lower elevation than Bismarckia in Madagascar, they grow relatively quickly here in Florida. Uresanas habitat isnt too far from Texas, I wouldnt be surprised if they grew faster in Texas. There are variables in every grow climate. In florida dry hot spring, drip irrigation is a NO for me in my soil. that is how you kill many small palms in the ground. I had to learn to adjust from arizona clay soils and drip irrigation. I use 7-14 gph microsprayers and the pop ups sprinklers from the lawn system.

I came from arizona where drip irrigation was king, it just outperformed sprinklers due to evaporation, andsprinkler runoff that result from low drainage in a dry climate. I used to run (3-4) 2gph drippers for each palm(planted in clusters w/ shared drippers) and let it run for 4-5 hrs 3x a week in the heat. 4-5 hrs got to 4'+ of depth in the heavily ammended soil(half clay or more). The watering depth you wet to there is a function of time, not flowrate. My results are what they are: Growth rate in Florida climate in part clay on top but in high drainage soil. Our lots have some clay brought in to support the roads and houses, but under it is grey/white sand. When you dig to 3', you get mostly sand, but you have clayish soil on top near the hardscape. Away from the house there is a lot if sandy soil, its native soil. RIght now in our 9-10 month drought, I see straw colored sabal palmettos on the unirrigated larger lots, they are dead.

I agree with you palms will take on a different appearance with the climate. Coming from Oregon the CIDP's were behemoths, and the Trachys could be very large trees. In Houston CIDP's here are hit and miss, the Trachys are pathetic little sticks.

The two green uresana I have are descendants of the Merrill Wilcox tree. I planted one last fall and it is now starting to put fan shaped fronds but it is a small palm maybe 2 foot overall height, but is growing quickly. I planted the second one this spring and it seems to be faster than a similar sized domingensis I planted at the same time about 20 feet apart. I am finding that they attract scale insects where the blue ones do not. I was under the impression that green uresana were very large palms.

As far as watering, I only hand water when needed. The annual average rainfall for my area is 50" and with the clay soils once established they shouldn't require additional watering unless we're in a drought like last year. I am fertilizing with Palmgain to optimize growth. The further you dig the worse the clay looks, it is extremely dense. Most places its a primer gray color, other spots a little rusty colored.

I will post photos of the largest green one when I get an chance. We're getting heavy rain the next few days from a tropical system.

Here are the pictures of the green uresanas. Both planted as large strap leaf palms. All the palms grow much faster in the ground. The larger was planted maybe November 2025 and the smaller 2-3 months ago.

13 hours ago, Chester B said:

Here are the pictures of the green uresanas. Both planted as large strap leaf palms. All the palms grow much faster in the ground. The larger was planted maybe November 2025 and the smaller 2-3 months ago.

Dont look as green as I expected. They look very happy?