HOPEFULLY...........

[floridasun]

I realy hope people dont start planting ugly frost tolerant "things". i mean not that there ugly but theres just too much of them already i wanna see some more coconuts and royals...... not indian hawthorne . just cause things might not look that great now, but were probably not gonna have a winter like this again in forever, so im not gonna give up planting things that do great here like PALMS, i mean we have 80s usualy in winter so why shouldnt we have coconut palms

[palmsOrl]

I second that.

[epicure3]

To lose mature or even juvenile palms and tropicals is a pretty emotional deal for people on this board beacause we care about our gardens. You get a little gun shy after a winter like this.

[Eric in Orlando]

Doesn't discourage me. The coconut I have planted at my mom's house looks sad and I don't think it will make it but I will plant 1 or 2 again there this summer.

[happ]

I beleive this has been a century+ event & encourage Florida gardeners to plant coconuts again!

[gsn]

Even if we never have another winter like this winter, with the number of freezes and the total number of nights that didn't freeze, but were below 40F, which has been considerable since our warm November and December.

The fact remains that central Florida on average has at least one or more freeze events every other year.

There are plenty of beautiful palms to plant that are still green after a freeze event, and are not BROWN for 18 months to 2 years after a FREEZE event, even if they do recover.

I will keep that in mind when I replant!

Edited February 26, 2010 by gsn

[floridasun]

i can't remember a freeze at my house before 2009 since 2001 or maybe it was 2002, but i lived in wabasso, just north of vero...........its great to here nobody is discouraged by this stupid cold. theres some larger coconuts in my area that still have green on them, but royals did great, and most queens look horrible even when theres not a freeze so what one would you plant?.

Edited February 26, 2010 by floridasun

[SunnyFl]

I realy hope people dont start planting ugly frost tolerant "things". i mean not that there ugly but theres just too much of them already i wanna see some more coconuts and royals...... not indian hawthorne . just cause things might not look that great now, but were probably not gonna have a winter like this again in forever, so im not gonna give up planting things that do great here like PALMS, i mean we have 80s usualy in winter so why shouldnt we have coconut palms

To lose mature or even juvenile palms and tropicals is a pretty emotional deal for people on this board beacause we care about our gardens. You get a little gun shy after a winter like this.

I think you are both so absolutely right! By "ugly things" - yes, yes, YES! I don't see how Pinellas could squeeze in any more ligustrums and yaupons, there are so d--- many of them, and the ubiquitous Indian Hawthorne (zzzz). I would truly hate to see more of this sorry-looking junk where beautiful palms used to grow. So, yeah, I'm really afraid of what St. Pete's going to look like, after the hammering we took.

OTOH Epicure knows exactly how it feels, to see a palm you've lovingly nurtured just killed outright - no matter how freakish the winter may have been. I didn't lose a lot - not compared to some people who post here, but what I did lose made me very sad. So I can only imagine how others felt, who lost a lot more.

Especially those who fought so hard to keep their beauties going.

There are wonderful tropicals, though, that aren't quite as sensitive. Mule palms aren't cold-sensitive at all - they are quite tough and can handle most of what this wacked-out climate can dish out. Chamerops humilis cerifera is another beauty that can take the blitz of winters like this. Phoenix are terrific; queens are still good for the southern central areas and good micros. Brahea isn't supposed to do well here - but Palmateer (who lives up the road from me) has an armata, which - the last time I saw it - seemed to be thriving - so maybe that's a good choice. And perhaps others; recently I read of someone in Pinellas who was growing D. decipiens - which hasn't been too successful around here - yet.

So yeah, it's a bummer if we can't take the hassle of growing the very sensitive palms, but planting the more cold-tolerant varieties sure beats giving up on palm-growing completely.

Anyway - there was a good thought posted in Discussing Palms forum, in the thread started by a guy in Myrtle Beach - about planning a landscape. Someone recommended planting the hardy palms in the front, and leaving the zone-pushers in the back yard. Just an idea. Won't do anything to ease the heartache of losing them all to one night of frost, though.

[floridasun]

Thanks, sunnyfl have you guys noticed that alot of those frost tolerant palms are from DRY climates and mostly get fungus here in florida or look bad. and those ugly "teardrop bushes". ugh nasty!!! although i saw a store plant bismarks the other day, so thats a good sign

Edited February 27, 2010 by floridasun

[tropicbreeze]

That's a good attitude. There's lots of things that can happen to garden plants. Even out in natural settings there's always the possibility of upheavals. Nature itself isn't protected from "Nature". Just recently I lost 3, possibly 4, Coconuts to a lightning strike. Could have been worse though, had I been out there admiring them when it happened. Everything's in a state of constant change, just that occasionally we're faced with a bigger change than usual.

[floridasun]

i know what you mean tropicbreeze, theres a better chance of one coming back after a freeze than a lightning strike. although i am happy to see the ones at seaworld are okay, the melbourne area has some good cocos (there more common than royals), near downtown there still GREEEEEEEN, once you cross the causeway it looks like nothing happened. i wish people would plant royals more, i mean there native and frost tolerant, i think they will prove there cold tolerance after this winter.

[SunnyFl]

That's a good attitude. There's lots of things that can happen to garden plants. Even out in natural settings there's always the possibility of upheavals. Nature itself isn't protected from "Nature". Just recently I lost 3, possibly 4, Coconuts to a lightning strike. Could have been worse though, had I been out there admiring them when it happened. Everything's in a state of constant change, just that occasionally we're faced with a bigger change than usual.

EXACTLY!!! This is just what I said in one of those endless "lessons learned" posts about not zone-pushing blah blah blah. Truth is, you can plant ONLY (yawn) stuff for your zone - not that this protects you from freak winters - or you can plant only natives, and still lose your plants to a hurricane, tornado, lightning strike, fusarium outbreak, ganoderma, and so on. There are lots of plant-killers out there; cold is only one of them.

Btw - I lost 4 huge, very native, pines to a tornado. Not cold. Not zone-pushing. Just a bad storm.

[floridasun]

whatever "zone means" if it means anything, zones always seem to be differant every year. ahhhh coconut palms . i really think coconuts do better than our natives. accualy alot of exotics do better. i cant wait for summer heat.......and hopefully next winter will be warm. if i see sombody plant those ugly "things" in there yard i will throw a fit and complain how ugly it looks lol

[Zeeth]

In downtown Bradenton, royals were undamaged, but coconuts still had some browning. In Manatee county, Anna Maria island is about the only safe haven from the freak cold winters, but they can even be damaged out there. There will always be something, be it LY, texas palm decline (that is killing our native Sabal palmetto!), cold, hurricanes etc. It's a wonder there are ANY plants around with everything that can kill them! I will still plant coconuts, but mostly the "talls" that are less cold sensitive. If LY eventually reaches my area (we have been safe so far), I will count my losses and restart with more "talls", as the cold kills coconuts way before LY, and with a coconut that gets up and out of the frost faster, I have a better chance at growing them.

I'd like to see Beccariophoenix alfredii planted by the city in areas where they don't want coconuts to die from the cold. Only problem is the fact that the largest ones in cultivation are still not trunking yet. Hopefully they go the way of Bismarckia and become popular even among non palm people.

[floridasun]

It seems like people that are crazy about the beach plant coconuts alot even non palm people, sometimes ill see a yard with only coconut palms, people like that almost always have boats too. i like talls better too, there better looking and have huge crowns.

[Zeeth]

It seems like people that are crazy about the beach plant coconuts alot even non palm people, sometimes ill see a yard with only coconut palms, people like that almost always have boats too. i like talls better too, there better looking and have huge crowns.

That's how my yard is going to be! I'm going to get property closer to the beach, so the climate is better, with hopefully close to an acre and I'll plant all the coconut varieties I can get my hands on! I've already got both Jamaican and Pacific tall, and Kris is keeping an eye out for an East coast indian tall. One variety I'd like to try is the niu kafa, or the wild type coconut. Very hard to find though, only occurs alone on north Keeling island. Everywhere else it occurs among the domesticated coconuts, so collected nuts wouldn't be pure.

Just the other day, we were driving around on one of the barrier islands, and one guy had close to 30 coconut palms, all mature and fruiting, in his front yard alone. It was a small yard too, so the entire place was shaded completely by coconuts alone. It was way cool.

[floridasun]

i love the barrier islands, on jungle trail in wabasso theres huge coconut palms planted near old houses probably built when they started the orange groves, they must have survived all the freezes from whenever the houses were built, there cracker houses, and there condos surrounding them , i like how west coast florida has more old florida areas. ill take a pic of the cocos people wrapped up in my neiborhood whenever i have camera. there still green

Edited February 27, 2010 by floridasun

[Zeeth]

i love the barrier islands, on jungle trail in wabasso theres huge coconut palms planted near old houses probably built when they started the orange groves, they must have survived all the freezes from whenever the houses were built, there cracker houses, and there condos surrounding them , i like how west coast florida has more old florida areas. ill take a pic of the cocos people wrapped up in my neiborhood whenever i have camera. there still green

Cool, there are "old florida" spots here, like pine island, but most of the rest of them are located out east, in areas where coconuts don't grow normally. They still exist though. Anna Maria island has many laws to prevent the island from becoming too big, such as the "no building taller than the tallest tree" (probably norfolk island pines), and laws which prevent big companies from coming there, there has to be under a certain amount of buildings of the business at the time of building to put it up. The only fast food is a subway built in the 60's before they were popular. It's pretty nice out there, lots of old coconuts.

[floridasun]

Bokeelia seems like the perfect place to live, VERY OLD FLORIDA, but i love where i live now its beutifull. vero beach and sebastian have a law like that too no building taller than three stories or something, you guys have alot more royals on the west coast i dont know why, they do just as good where i live, if you ever pick up any royal palm seeds, you think you could send me some?

Edited February 27, 2010 by floridasun

[Zeeth]

Bokeelia seems like the perfect place to live, VERY OLD FLORIDA, but i love where i live now its beutifull. vero beach and sebastian have a law like that too no building taller than three stories or something, you guys have alot more royals on the west coast i dont know why, they do just as good where i live, if you ever pick up any royal palm seeds, you think you could send me some?

Sure, I have collected hundreds and distributed them throughout the forest and swamps here, so this summer/spring when I get some more I'll send them your way. Downtown Bradenton is loaded with numerous 60+ feet royals, some rival those at Edison's house. The college I wish to go to next year has a section called "palm court" where there are probably 20 or so huge royals (which is why it was named that). When I was in Ft. Lauderdale I noticed a lot of royals too though, so it may just be your area

I agree about Bokeelia being really cool. We're supposed to visit there in March, so I'll probably make a travel log out it. I've heard there are tons of Jamaican talls that escaped LY.

[floridasun]

theres 3 large royals that i know of in about a 7 mile radius, thats not too bad, the coconut palms got hit hard but it looks like they are still green in the very very center,and some even pushed out some green, thats good right? whats weird is that where theres damage it changes from fried to completly green, its realy noticeable when you go into downtown melbourne and beachside, i guess the gulf stream did its job. brevard dosnt landscape well, fort peirce planted litteraly hundreds of royals downtown.

Edited February 27, 2010 by floridasun

[SunnyFl]

Sure, I have collected hundreds and distributed them throughout the forest and swamps here, so this summer/spring when I get some more I'll send them your way. Downtown Bradenton is loaded with numerous 60+ feet royals, some rival those at Edison's house.

Yeah, there's a stand of a few royals growing in the woods - or so it looks from the interstate - in the Palmetto/Bradenton area, over by Amerson's Nursery. Always wondered if they came up on their own, rather than being planted there.

[floridasun]

florida west coast has all those bays and stuff we just have one straight island, but its nice though. i heard of royals growing near lake george in north fl a long time ago like 1890 or something but then a freeze killed them. anyone know how the banyan at cypress gardens is doing?

[Zeeth]

Sure, I have collected hundreds and distributed them throughout the forest and swamps here, so this summer/spring when I get some more I'll send them your way. Downtown Bradenton is loaded with numerous 60+ feet royals, some rival those at Edison's house.

Yeah, there's a stand of a few royals growing in the woods - or so it looks from the interstate - in the Palmetto/Bradenton area, over by Amerson's Nursery. Always wondered if they came up on their own, rather than being planted there.

http://www.palmtalk.org/forum/index.php?showtopic=18505&st=0&p=309909&hl=House&fromsearch=1&#entry309909

If you look closely, you can see the house when driving by

[floridasun]

wowowowowowowowow i freakin love royals, those are HUGE . i want it, anyway that is cool. im sure by that pic anyone can know why there called the royal palm, the most bestest palm ever!!!!

[tropicbreeze]

Mind you, there is a word of caution about having a lot of coconuts growing. Falling nuts and fronds can be very dangerous. A lot of schools here have cut out all coconuts and won't allow any to be planted.

For anyone who wants any, I have probably over 50 sprouted nuts, from 2 metres high to only just sprouting, that I can't get rid of. But you'll have to sort out postage and quarantine. Friends usually greet me by first saying, "No, we don't want any coconuts", and then go on with the normal pleasantries.

[Zeeth]

Mind you, there is a word of caution about having a lot of coconuts growing. Falling nuts and fronds can be very dangerous. A lot of schools here have cut out all coconuts and won't allow any to be planted.

For anyone who wants any, I have probably over 50 sprouted nuts, from 2 metres high to only just sprouting, that I can't get rid of. But you'll have to sort out postage and quarantine. Friends usually greet me by first saying, "No, we don't want any coconuts", and then go on with the normal pleasantries.

You guys in the tropics are so lucky. Here I am, trying to get all the different tall types I can find, to see if one variety will grow more inland because it's too cold for malayans, and you've got sprouted nuts you can't give away! Which variety are they?

[floridasun]

but they grow so quick, and its not like we'll have a winter this cold in a while, once they get so tall they dont get affected as much......im talking about the malayans.

Edited February 28, 2010 by floridasun