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Rio Rancho, NM z7b

Cold hardy palm trees in Dallas zone 8a at 15F after sleet storm. 🌴🥶

I know there are older threads with similar themes, but hopefully we can get this forum moving again. Post your pics before the snow melts.

Welp, NWS is forecasting 29F for my house tonight. Just going by feel spending a little time out there, it certainly doesn't feel like it's going to get that cold out. Still breezy but not crazy, radiative effect won't be that bad and advective is behind us after the front moved through. This freeze, for Brownsville, is almost certainly not as bad as last year's around this time. Not particularly wet, not going to be prolonged, doesn't feel frosty. It's 40F out right now and you can't even see your breath in the street light. Only precautions I took were three: 1.) Covered my small 6ft Cocos nucifera with a wool blanket. 2.) Put my potted Tahina spectabilis under my roof on the patio. 3.) Brought my flowering citrus in so the flower buds don't get fried. Here's to good luck! Best of luck to all of you north of the Nueces River!

It was perfect tour weather for @PalmBossTampa and @Midnight Gardener over the weekend. The high at the airport today was 88F, breaking the old record by 3oF. Now we get about two weeks of garbage weather. Since the NWS and Weather.com forecasts are almost identical, we'll just stick with the graphic below +/-1. We'll see how this holds up and how the plants hold up to it:

Cold hardy palm trees in Dallas zone 8a at 15F after sleet storm. 🌴🥶

Cold hardy palm trees in Dallas zone 8a at 15F after sleet storm. 🌴🥶

When I first started germinating seeds I was using a heating pad and I absolutely do not recommend those at all. Google and see how hot it actually gets. Granted my heating pad was half broken and only worked on high but it got just a wee bit too hot. I'm all for upcycling, but between closeouts and Black Friday and eBay deals, I'm pretty happy with my actual seedling heat mats now. Thermostats and knowing exactly what temp your soil/baggies are is nice, especially when you can check them from your wifi. I scored some 48x20 mats for $9 apiece and got the Inkbird wifi thermostat for $20 shipped all in. I'm having a lot more success now.

If the forecast holds up, Monday and Tuesday nights will likely be too much for those palms to handle.

Was recommended to get something similar to get something similar to Agri Fos so I got this.

It may be too early to ask, but does anyone know the cold-hardiness of Sabal lougheediana? I know people have only been growing these for a few years, so it may not be known yet. Point is, I have some seedlings (when they get a bit larger), I’d be interested in donating to botanical gardens or other public gardens that want to add to their collections. BTW, these were sourced by a friend here in Satellite Beach, who has a house on Bonaire. He scoured island on scooter, and found a private property (Apt Complex) and was given permission to collect.

Nice to see you posting again! I don't think that they start suckering until they get some height to them - I have one single that is probably 50 cm and hasn't started suckering yet. And yes, to get the multiple effect in the first photo they have planted multiple seeds in the pot. In the second photo there's probably 4 palms that have already suckered to account for the varying heights. I believe that the multiple seedlings would eventually thin out due to competition for nutrients and water. "Areca Palm" is a confusing common name since there's an entire genus of 36 Areca species.

Beautiful (when it's short lived)! I covered my Washingtonias last week since they just got put in the ground last spring. So no pictures. They will be uncovered again this week as temperatures get back up. The Sandia and Manzano mountains did there thing in protecting us from the brunt of the arctic blast once again!

Same here in Big D! Rough last couple days and it looks like almost 70 hours below freezing from what i calculate. Gawd knows how low it will go tonite if the skies clear as the whole region is compacted frozen sleet, snow. I guess the 2020s will go down as the icy epoch, will it continue into the 2030's? I covered and did the xmas lite addition thanks to all the peeps on here giving me the idea🤓 But, to my dismay, I was unable to find my old xmas lites in the attic or basement! Oh well, i think it will be more like the previous 5 winters- heavy leaf damage on Sabal bermudana and even Trachys but the minors and needle palms, minimal if any damage! Another cold wave next weekend but dry so far predicted, not that these forecasts have been worth a hill of beans😑

My latest forecast has improved. 23 tonight and 24 tomorrow. With the no freezing rain last night, I’m feeling a whole lot better. I expect everything to make it through ok. Spent some time protecting the Bismarckia today so it should be all good. What a nice surprise that they overestimated the cold and effects here. It’s still temps lower than our zone but not by much!

I can get these if there’s enough interest. Smallest/Stoutest Hurricane Palm from Round Island in Indian Ocean. .25 each.

I think this week is going to stress me if it hasn’t already. Yesterday I wrapped up the bismarkias with their blankets, tarps, and lights well ahead of the cold since I didn’t want them rained on. Woke up to 69 degrees this morning but dropped 20 degrees in the last hour or so and is down to 49 already. Got about 1.5” of rain last 24 hours so everything’s going to be soaked for this freeze. Weather report says low 24 degrees tonight and 22 tomorrow night. tropicals are still on the porch drying off a bit before they come in. They’d be dry if it wasn’t raining sideways. Plus one butia that’s still in a pot waiting to be planted. Then to add to the dramas my neighbor bulldozed one of my Washingtonias and I now have it staked because it won’t stay up on its own. I hope it makes it through all this because it has been my fastest grower and is bigger than some of my others that are a year or two older. To top things off Ive got a short notice need to leave town later in the week and there’s some weather reports for next weekend looking bad so the potted palms will stay inside but not sure what I’ll do with the bismarkias. I may have to just let them out and hope for the best. Weather channel says everything will be fine with lows in the 30s next weekend. My phone is calling for some apocalyptic freeze to 19 degrees at the same time. Anyways good luck to all this week.

You are ultimately correct on the Rockies protecting us. Our arctic cold never comes from the north, only the east. Which the Sandias/Central Highlands offer us some protection. But when that arctic air is on the plains to our east, and a low pressure system to our west, we can get our coldest(east winds). The cold is "sucked" thru and over the Sandias.

Thanks! Yes, the "twins" or curved filifera are settling in. The largest filifera is about 16' tall.

But 90% of your yard needing protection is usually far more interesting. Atleast protection from the last few years, not an eventual average one. I drove into Pearland and spent about 4 hours protecting various palms and other species, some didn’t need it, but there’s a good chance all will survive another year . Sounds like a lot but less than most have spent staring at weather updates. last summer

Sandias did the protection And a microclimate definitely helps 40f in ABQ 41f double eagle 20f Moriarty 6f in Amarillo 50f+ something in my backyard/porch with partial sunshine! Might be a different story if the low pressure was to our west.

It looks like the southern Rockies protected us from the arctic blast. Check out the difference in temps just to the east.

At an attempt to carry on what Mr sparkman used to offer. I do have pollen for the following species: E. arenarius E. Arenarius blue E. Caffer E. Ferox E. Horridus E. Eugene marasii E. Lehmanii E. Princeps E. Longifolius E. Trispinosus I do have several different forms of some species so feel free to message me with any questions.