McCarty Hall Palm Garden at the University of Florida update! (2008 - 2014) Some before and after pics!

[kylecawazafla]

Well, the title explains it all! Here are some pictures of one of North Central Florida's newest palm gardens! It started in 2008 and many palms have survived! There are many "tropical" species growing in this Zone 8 area of Florida, since they are protected from the urban heating effect (I'm assuming) as well as being surrounded by buildings! I don't think this area has been much below 24 F since it was planted. There are a few big surprises! It was such a great experience planting all of these trees thanks to donations from members and enthusiasts from this site!! Thank you all, once again!!!

First, here are some of the original palms! I forget who planted this old butiagrus… Maybe Merrill or his friend Noel Lake.

Butia capitata that is pretty old!

Alleged Sabal palmetto x causiarum (I have a few seeds…. PM me!)

Sabal causiarum …. The original!

[kylecawazafla]

Here are some "tropical" palms that have not grown too much

Dypsis lutescens

Kerriodoxa elegans… This is a surprise! It looks perfect! It hasn't been growing TOO slowly, actually.

Arenga micrantha…. I have never seen this palm with a whopping 3 leaves before. It almost always just has one.

Well, not a palm, but this heliconia rostrata is surviving since 2008!

This Ravenea rivularis is hanging in there!

[kylecawazafla]

Before and after!

Wallichia densiflora in 2009

Wallichia densiflora in 2014

Livistona decora, Livistona australis, Livistona mariae in 2008

2014!!

Butiagrus (left… you can see it!) and Ravenea rivularis right…. 2009

2014

[kylecawazafla]

My biggest surprise was probably this Acrocomia sp.!!! Here it is in 2010!!

And here it is in 2014… reaching for the third floor!!

A beautiful Caryota sp. 'himalayana' - this is from 2010… It was a reattempt, since the 2009/2010 winter was unfairly cold… It's now pretty happy looking!

2014!!

[kylecawazafla]

For the full collection of photos, go here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/36838058@N03/sets/72157644236351889/

[NApalm]

Nice!

[Jeff Searle]

My hat is off to you Kyle. What a great transition.

[palmsOrl]

Kyle, what an incredible effort. That I want to see in person! The ultimate (plausible) challenge would be to try a trunking Cuban Royal against the south side of a building to see if it could survive to maturity. Or you could put in a small one and protect it extensively until larger.

In the suburbs of Orlando, we got to 25F in 2010 and both of my large royals survived and look virtually flawless today. If that spot goes long periods without getting below mid 20s, it is worth a try.

Edited May 13, 2014 by palmsOrl

[Sabal Steve]

Well, the title explains it all! Here are some pictures of one of North Central Florida's newest palm gardens! It started in 2008 and many palms have survived! There are many "tropical" species growing in this Zone 8 area of Florida, since they are protected from the urban heating effect (I'm assuming) as well as being surrounded by buildings! I don't think this area has been much below 24 F since it was planted. There are a few big surprises! It was such a great experience planting all of these trees thanks to donations from members and enthusiasts from this site!! Thank you all, once again!!!

First, here are some of the original palms! I forget who planted this old butiagrus… Maybe Merrill or his friend Noel Lake.

Butia capitata that is pretty old!

Alleged Sabal palmetto x causiarum (I have a few seeds…. PM me!)

Sabal causiarum …. The original!

Do you, or anyone else, know the story behind the Sabal palmetto x causiarum?

[bubba]

Kyle, This is outstanding. One question I have. The last time I wandered through the McCarthy Hall area and your bodacious additions, I could not locate that extremely large avocado tree. I know sometimes the ground crews can be less than understanding. I hope I just looked the wrong way. Please let me know if you have any information.

[kylecawazafla]

Hey Bubba!!

The "Gainesville Avocado" was unfortunately cut down in fear that it would be a vector for Laurel Wilt to the South Florida avocado industry…. At least that's what I heard from my friends at Dickinson Hall! They have now planted a few replacement avocados in the original spot that I just saw while I was visiting. I wonder if they are of the same strand. Thanks for your help in making these plantings possible! I still can't get over how much the Acrocomia grew. I remember it was even defoliated once by a weed-wacker!

[kylecawazafla]

I think it's also worth showing this valiant Dypsis decaryi!

A Ficus elastica I snuck into the mix

And the Allagoptera is fruiting!

[kylecawazafla]

I also noticed, when driving to the springs afterwards, that there were people field growing butiagrus!

[tank]

Kyle,

Pictures look great. Kerriodoxa is plugging along and looks fantastic. Where did you get the Acrocomia? Was it one of mine? Only asking because the ones I was growing are only leaf hardy into the mid 20'sF. Hope you're doing well and good job!

Also, you should come and get another Caryota and plant it in the courtyard to bookend the one that is already there .

Bubba,

From what I was told from folks in the know was that that variety of avocado was only of "medium" hardiness (I believe this was called "gainesville"). It really benefited from where it was planted. Hopefully they have planted one of the hardier varieties. I have an "opal" and a "wilma" planted out at my house and they are supposed to be good down to 20F or into the upper teens. So far they haven't shown any damage from lows down near 20F.

[fr8train]

Cool. I really like the way Butia look when they properly trunk.

[tank]

Was at a talk at UF and took a few pics of Kyle's palm garden.

Caryota, triangle and allogoptera are moving fast. Everything else looks great. Wonder how warm the microclimate is higher up in the column?

My sarcastic wife for scale.

[bubba]

Jason, I greatly appreciate the updated pictures. Your attractive wife reacts the same sarcastic way mine does about "the palms"!

The McCarthy Hall "micro-climate" existed all the way back in my day.They planted Meleluca, Brazilian Pepper and Traveler's and I remember the extremely well grown Queen, which now is much taller. I also remember the extremely large butiagrus.I even have vague memories of eyeing what appeared to be a very fat Sabal and wondering.

Kyle did a great job taking advantage of that micro-climate with "the palms". A truly great monument. Your update portends a new era for Gator Football in my reptilian brain! I apologize in advance to your wife for bringing in football, yet another topic that my wife trends towards the sarcastic!

[Dave-Vero]

It's looking fine. One of my better moments at McCarty was outside the old library. Two wildlife biology professors, one from UF and one from the University of Georgia, happened to show up. They didn't know each other, so I introduced them.

[NApalm]

Hilarious. My wife would put on the same face if I asked her to stand next to a palm for scale. Everything looks healthy

[NorthFlpalmguy]

Great additions to the campus and I am surprised at how well some are doing. That's the nicest way I can think of to beautify McCarty.

[tank]

Jason, I greatly appreciate the updated pictures. Your attractive wife reacts the same sarcastic way mine does about "the palms"!

The McCarthy Hall "micro-climate" existed all the way back in my day.They planted Meleluca, Brazilian Pepper and Traveler's and I remember the extremely well grown Queen, which now is much taller. I also remember the extremely large butiagrus.I even have vague memories of eyeing what appeared to be a very fat Sabal and wondering.

Kyle did a great job taking advantage of that micro-climate with "the palms". A truly great monument. Your update portends a new era for Gator Football in my reptilian brain! I apologize in advance to your wife for bringing in football, yet another topic that my wife trends towards the sarcastic!

Bubba,

Hopefully if our gators improve, it will temp you to take more trips up north. I'm wondering how long the McCarty will be around as it has to be one of the oldest "non-renovated" buildings on campus. Although I did read somewhere that they were replacing the HVAC system in a couple of the buildings, so maybe that portends an extended life for the complex. Can't imagine what the microclimate would be like if they replaced all of those crank windows. Those leaky, inefficient buildings are keeping everything healthy.

[SubTropicRay]

Nice job!

[kylecawazafla]

Wow!!! Thanks for the update! I can't believe how big the Caryota is! I see that they finally removed the oleander that choked the Bismarckia! I also can't believe how big the D. decaryi is now!

[kwtimo]

What a great project! Thanks for this post. Is there a complete palm list available for this garden for reference?

[Matthew92]

Was at UF for a family member's graduation. Luckily was able to quickly stop by to see these palms. I mainly wanted to see the old causiarum, but then realized all the others were very close by and subsequently had a little trip into palm heaven. Only had my not-so-good itouch to take pictures with, but still was able to capture most of the good ones.

The old Sabal causiarum: didn't realize how eroded the trunk is, but still a magnificent tree. I noticed many other sabals nearby that looked like either causiarum or hybrids with regular palmetto.

I thought this was a coconut at first: or is it a stunted majesty palm?

Extremely vigorous looking Acrocomia. Anyone know which species?

Very nice mule

Beautiful Arenga e.

Very happy queens dropping much fruit. Picked some off the ground. Anyone know if they are just regular ones, or the mold cold hardy variant?

Was stunned at such a nice fishtail palm in Gaineseville!

I've always loved this big queen

Love this courtyard: wonderful plantings here!

 

 

 

Edited May 12, 2016 by Opal92

[bubba]

Great update! Thank you.

[kylecawazafla]

Here are some updates for two years later in the 2016/2017 winter.

Click Here for the Winter 2016/2017 Photos

Some teasers:

The Bismarckia is doing well

 

Caryota sp. 'himalayana'

 

 

Acrocomia sp. 

 

[bubba]

Masterful by Kyle

[tank]

Thanks for posting Kyle.  Those palms are getting big!

[kylecawazafla]

Here are some photos of the winter damage from the 2017/18 winter. I don't know how cold it got, but I'm guessing below 27 F! 

Click here for photos

Is this dead?

 

26945860637_2e90034d3c_z.jpg

[Palmsbro]

48 minutes ago, kylecawazafla said:

Here are some photos of the winter damage from the 2017/18 winter. I don't know how cold it got, but I'm guessing below 27 F! 

Click here for photos

Is this dead? 

 

26945860637_2e90034d3c_z.jpg

Yeah, that is most likely dead unless if it is a clumping palm.

Nice album though.

[Dave-Vero]

Dypsis decaryi 2018 McCarty hall.html   Palmsbro's photo of Dypsis decaryi looks roughly like mine after 26º.  

Dypsis decaryi 2018 McCarty hall.html

[Palmsbro]

41 minutes ago, Dave-Vero said:

Dypsis decaryi 2018 McCarty hall.html   Palmsbro's photo of Dypsis decaryi looks roughly like mine after 26º.  

Dypsis decaryi 2018 McCarty hall.html

That was me quoting kylecawazafla's post.

I can't see your html documents/photos (I am on mobile platform, could that be why?).

[Dave-Vero]

I forgot to save the image as jpg, then ran into problems posting the jpg.  Then ran out of time to edit.  Fail.  Here's the image showing a lightly toasted triangle palm, which had obviously been growing fast.

[bubba]

Would enjoy seeing an update on the status of Kyle's Tropicals in the McCarthy Hall microclimate at UF! 

[kylecawazafla]

I was just wondering the same thing! 

Edited December 24, 2018 by kylecawazafla

[Bigfish]

On 12/24/2018, 4:22:52, kylecawazafla said:

I was just wondering the same thing! 

I stopped by today.  What Sabal is this, Kyle?

[Bigfish]

Dypsis looks rough, lol...but hey!  It’s alive!

[Bigfish]

[Bigfish]