Sabal 'Lisa' at I-75 & Luckett Road in Fort Myers, FL

[SW_FL_Palms]

FYI

Sabal 'Lisa' palms at Luckett Road / I-75 in Fort Myers are in jeopardy of being destroyed

in the course of road construction this summer.

Lee County might consider relocating them to nearby preserve or park land.

They have been flagged by the LDOT with ribbon for reference.

Some at DOT think they are just Mexican sabals and want proof that they are something different.

[SW_FL_Palms]

LDOT & FDOT plan on getting the contractor to relocate the 'Lisas' to the Lee DOT Operations facility in Billy Creek.

It would be best if they could rope them off and work around them. But if they have to be relocated,

it would be better if they were planted in a public garden such as the Fort Myers Palm Park or Lakes Park, so that the public had access to them.

[SW_FL_Palms]

If you want to see the Sabal ‘Lisa’ palms in Fort Myers, go soon.

It would be nice if the ‘Lisas’ can be relocated to a public garden.

Perhaps the City of Fort Myers would be interested in placing them in one of their parks.

To answer the question of what is going on:

FDOT is constructing storm water ponds in those in field ramp areas. They need every cubic foot of water retention possible to comply with their permit. It’s not part of the contractor’s contract to relocate them but they said they’d remove and load them for relocation. LDOT is going to try to get them to take them to the DOT Ops center at Billy Creek as it is just down the road; Lee Co. doesn’t have equipment or funds to move them.

The contractor is going to start moving the royal palms on SR80 next week; LDOT is going to try to get him to move the Sabal Lisas while they were doing that. It will be about a month before the contractor actually has to clear and grubs the areas for the ponds.

[PalmatierMeg]

Geri,

Thanks for the info. I hope these valuable palms can be saved and survive transplantation. To confirm, will the contractor be moving both palms presently on opposite sides of I75? I wish they could be planted in a palm garden or native plant facility but sounds like hard times preclude that.

[amazon exotics]

Did I read that right??? Lee Co says they doesn't have the money or equipment to move two rare Sabals?? WTH!! What a sorry, crappy, broke ass county we live in...

[sarasota alex]

Maybe they could do what that contractor did with the variegated Sabal in Sarasota - Estimate its value at a high amount and donate it to a botanical garden, getting a tax write-off. Then it would be worthwhile for them to move it. Are there private collectors willing to take it and pay for the transportation? I just don't want these trees to perish.

No matter where they move though, that one cool thing to look forward to seeing on the way South on I-75 will be gone.

[SW_FL_Palms]

This is actually a state project (FDOT) who is coordinating with LDOT (Lee Count DOT).

The state’s contractor is only authorized to do so much, but they have agreed to save the palms.

So at least they won't be destroyed.

Robert Riefer (see attached article) has been notified and is also working to relocate the palms.

www.palms.org/palmsjournal/2005/vol49n1p46-47.pdf

Ultimately, we are trying to get them moved to a public park.

We are trying to see if we can get the City of Fort Myers to rescue them,

and place them in one of its palm garden parks.

There is also a landscape contractor that would be willing to move them;

he’d place one in a public area and keep one for compensation.

[JD in the OC]

There is plenty of room at the palm park in downtown Ft. Myers, on Lee Road by the docks. I think the contractor moving one and keeping one is a good idea. We donated a few palms to that palm park, I can forward you the contact info of the gentleman we worked with at the City if you need it Geri.

[SW_FL_Palms]

I can forward you the contact info of the gentleman we worked with at the City

Yes, please do. There are a couple people involved. I'll see if it is the same guy.

[SW_FL_Palms]

Latest Update:

City of Fort Myers is interested in moving them to a park. Probably the one on MLK (SR 82) in downtown Fort Myers.

Any travelers on I-75 south (Luckett Road) - let us know if they are gone.

Thanks

[SW_FL_Palms]

Yes,

The City of Fort Myers Parks Dept will plant the 2 sabal ‘Lisas” in the Bennett–Hart Park on MLK (SR 82) in downtown Fort Myers.

This should happen within the next month.

[Walt]

I was just down to Top Tropicals/All Native nursery today in Ft. Myers, and drove by Luckett Road before getting off on Colonial Blvd. The Sabal lisa on the west side of I-75 (south side of Luckett) appeared to be gone (I forgot to check the one on the east side of I-75 on my return trip). It appeared to me the palm was properly removed as the rest of the area looked pretty much undisturbed, except for some standing water (not retention pond type of water).

[tiffchichi]

I'm so happy to hear that they were rescued. They are beautiful! I saw this one in St. Pete, FL and fell in love!

[Moose]

Geri - has anyone seen the 'Lisas' in their new home? Hope the transplanting went well.

[amazon exotics]

Geri - has anyone seen the 'Lisas' in their new home? Hope the transplanting went well.

I have seen them since transplant and they are doin fine

[PalmatierMeg]

I saw them after transplant last year and they looked good.

[Moose]

On 6/9/2011, 11:24:21, SW_FL_Palms said:

FYI

 

Sabal 'Lisa' palms at Luckett Road / I-75 in Fort Myers are in jeopardy of being destroyed

in the course of road construction this summer.

Lee County might consider relocating them to nearby preserve or park land.

They have been flagged by the LDOT with ribbon for reference.

 

Some at DOT think they are just Mexican sabals and want proof that they are something different.

OMG!

[Zeeth]

Good to hear they survived the move. S. lisa is really something special. 

[Josh-O]

would somebody go and collect some seeds please 

[SW_FL_Palms]

Here are the Sabal "Lisas" doing well in 2018.

[PalmatierMeg]

They do look great. I hadn't seen them in a couple years. Also glad to see someone put up an ID plaque. The one on the left is my avatar.

[Josue Diaz]

Wow, these are so dang cool. Can't wait for mine to grow up. 

[Moose]

Surprised that not too many of these meandered out to the West Coast. They could be very happy out there.

[Josue Diaz]

6 minutes ago, Moose said:

Surprised that not too many of these meandered out to the West Coast. They could be very happy out there.

They have, they're just tiny. I have a small army of them. 

[Moose]

Seeds have been available sporadically over the years from Meg. Just thought we would have seen some robust juveniles posted on Palm Talk by now.

[Zeeth]

2 hours ago, Moose said:

Seeds have been available sporadically over the years from Meg. Just thought we would have seen some robust juveniles posted on Palm Talk by now.

I put 10,000 seeds on RPS last year, and I plan to do the same this year, so hopefully that helps.

[Ben in Norcal]

2 hours ago, Josue Diaz said:

They have, they're just tiny. I have a small army of them. 

I have a billion seedlings too.

[Josue Diaz]

7 hours ago, Zeeth said:

I put 10,000 seeds on RPS last year, and I plan to do the same this year, so hopefully that helps.

I was wondering where those came from.

[Moose]

16 hours ago, Zeeth said:

I put 10,000 seeds on RPS last year, and I plan to do the same this year, so hopefully that helps.

[Turtlesteve]

Zeeth, care to make some seeds available directly?  I got some from Meg last year but killed all the seedlings.  I'd like to get some more going.

Steve

[Zeeth]

11 hours ago, Turtlesteve said:

Zeeth, care to make some seeds available directly?  I got some from Meg last year but killed all the seedlings.  I'd like to get some more going.

Steve

For right now I don't quite have the time to make them available on here, so it's easier to ship them to RPS and let them sort it out. 

[Zeeth]

Cleaning another batch of seeds to send off to RPS.

[redant]

Be great to see more of these planted. Was awesome those others where saved.

 

[PalmatierMeg]

That is a mess of seeds. The rescue palms in the Ft. Myers park are now too tall to access seeds.

[Zeeth]

Here's a photo of the palm I collected from. I've since cleaned off all the old boots, so it'll look a little neater from now on. I did an estimate of the seed batch based on weighing out 500 seeds and dividing the weight of the lot by that number, and it's about 20,000 seeds. 

 

[PalmatierMeg]

Kind of neat seeing a Sabal Lisa growing along a suburban street. I wonder if anyone else notices how special it is? Hope some developer doesn't come along and chop it down. 

[SW_FL_Palms]

On 11/1/2018, 5:12:33, Josue Diaz said:

Wow, these are so dang cool. Can't wait for mine to grow up. 

Fertilize them.    The seem to need a lot of potassium.  Takes a few years before the "kick in"

[Zeeth]

Here's an updated picture after harvesting the seeds and doing a rough cleaning of the old boots.

 

3 hours ago, PalmatierMeg said:

Kind of neat seeing a Sabal Lisa growing along a suburban street. I wonder if anyone else notices how special it is? Hope some developer doesn't come along and chop it down. 

The palm is actually in the original journal article describing the variety (Figure 1 on the left):

http://www.rarepalm.com/Sabal_Lisa_Article_1.pdf

I'm not so much worried about a developer cutting it down, but I am a bit worried about the fact that it's growing up into power lines, so it's only a matter of time before TECO starts chopping on it. Hopefully it can survive whatever they decide to do to it long enough for it to grow up and over. 

[FishEyeAquaculture]

@Zeeth, you should really approach whoever owns that Lisa and see if they’d be willing to let you save it from the inevitable slow death that Teco will put it through. 

If it’s a private owner, I would approach it as you would like to have it because of sentimental reasons (no lie, pictures above prove you care about it) and you would gladly pay for it to be professional ally removed, this way you only pay for a transplant. 

If the city of Tampa owns it, then try to get Lowry Park or USF involved in the importance of saving that palm. 

[NOT A TA]

Thank you for cleaning up that tree Keith, glad I'm not the only one who does stuff like that.