Acrocomia totai in Savannah, GA

[JLeVert]

• Acrocomia totai in Savannah, GA

  Posted by Tom St Marys GA on 9/1/2013, 12:00 am

  There are just a handful of specimens of Acrocomia totai outside of Florida. The only other one I'm personally aware of is in a private garden in Charleston, SC.

  We planted this one in 2000 at the Bamboo Farm in Savannah. We were assured that the parentage of this palm was from a naturalizing population in Dade City, FL, a small town about 25 miles north of Tampa in a somewhat cold area for peninsular Florida.

  This particular specimen has been through a lot, losing its spear on at least two occasions and given up for dead (by me, anyway) once. In fact, after one particularly cold winter I recommended to the head groundskeeper that it be removed. Luckily, she didn't do it, and by the next July it had regrown nearly a full crown of leaves.

  Here is our Acrcomia as of last week. The palm has flowered and fruited in past years, but I don't know for sure if the seeds were viable.

  

  And here it is in September of 2000. My, how things change!

  

[PalmatierMeg]

That is a beauty!

[Steve the palmreader]

Being a landscaper I wouldn't touch it either

[Mauna Kea Cloudforest]

That's a real testament to its hardiness. Its a beautiful palm . What's the lowest temp it has endured?

[JLeVert]

13F. That's when it defoliated. The Bamboo Farm in Savannah is just a mile from the Ogeechee River and is in a cold pocket.

[_Keith]

Now that thing being around scares me way more than any poisonous plant that might be in my garden. But I want one anyway.

[Shirleypalmpaws]

Me too, it's beautiful.

[Kailua_Krish]

It would be nice if these were more available, even seeds. Sounds like its much more cold tolerant than a queen palm!

[redant]

I'd be shocked to be driving through GA and see that, nice job.

[Dave-Vero]

Impressive. I'm familiar with one in Ft. Pierce. Another on US 1 north of town (not cared for) is dying.

[Xerarch]

Excellent palm, this species ought to see much wider distribution, and I wish we could see some hardy cultivars named and distributed, A. totai is lumped in with A. aculeata and its a shame because not all aculeata are hardy. Rod Anderson has a wonderful specimen in Phoenix, actually he has one huge one and a handful of others as well.

[SailorBold]

Wo0wwwww!

[Stevetoad]

Shes a beaut! still one of my favorite palms.

[Josh-O]

they grow quite fast. and are pretty darn cold hardy! Anyone growing acrocomia aculeata?? This palm takes temps down to 22 F at my friends garden in Valley center Ca.

[Stevetoad]

they grow quite fast. and are pretty darn cold hardy! Anyone growing acrocomia aculeata?? This palm takes temps down to 22 F at my friends garden in Valley center Ca.

i dont know how to tell which one is which. i got one of them....

[Matt N- Dallas]

I'm growing a Dade City acrocomia Totai in Austin, Tx. It was defoliated last winter from temps in the high teens- it made a rapid recovery and grew a full crown by Aug this year. I wish these were easier to find as seedlings- they hate being in a pot. Once the taproot reaches the bottom of a pot, they begin to decline. This form of totai is substantially more cold hardy than the silver queens I had growing. The queens were killed and were much larger in size

[smithgn]

I plan on visiting Savannah for the weekend with my significant other and will surely drag her to see this palm lol Joe, assuming it's still alive and well, are there viable seeds and is there any chance we can collect any underneath it? Hopefully the grounds crew doesn't clean up around the base of the tree.

As for when its seeds become ripe, I came across this:

Phenology: A. totai blooms from the beginning of spring until mid-summer and its fruits mature by the end of winter, although they remain attached to the tree for some time after. Pollinators and dispersers: Besides the wind’s action, the main pollinators are Curculionidae, Nitidulidae, Escarabaeidae and bees, mostly honey bees. (Jose A. Grassia)

On a side note, I certainly do NOT plan on climbing this tree to grab any still attached seeds lol

 

[smithgn]

Mr. Le Vert, I hope you don't mind me adding some pictures, but this is the thread that motivated me to see this unique palm in person!

So I wound up making it out to the Savannah Bamboo Farm and hastily snapped some pictures. This was on the tail-end of our short excursion and daylight was waning, but still managed to take some decent shots. Including of course, the Acrocomia Totai:

Edited December 8, 2015 by smithgn

[smithgn]

A close-up of the crown and an even closer look at the spines, predominantly at the top of the trunk as they fall off at about the midway point and lower on the palm.

[smithgn]

And last but not least, my "artsy" photo. Thanks again to Joe Le Vert for making this thread which inevitably led me to see this neat palm for myself!

[palmsOrl]

Looks like it is making a very strong recovery from the last couple chilly winters which undoubtedly defoliated the palm completely.  If this winter is mild, it should look fantastic by this time next year.  Awesome palm!

[_Keith]

Sooner or later I will get one of these.  I intend to cordon it off with crime scene tape and draw a chalk line of a body next to its base.

[smithgn]

So far it has been mild, Mid-December looks pretty good for us and even better for y'all in Orlando.

Keith- Lol That's actually a funny idea

[Matthew92]

Anyone know the best way to get this cold hardy form of A. totai?

[Alicehunter2000]

Bump...you ever find any "Dade City" variety?

[DoomsDave]

Whoa!

The Armageddon Palm^TM looks loaded for bear!

 

[TexasColdHardyPalms]

I finally got my hands on five 5g plants and a few hundred seeds. The 5g plants were potted up to 15g and will be planted out next spring.