North Texas palm planting

[NBTX11]

I visited my mom recently in North Texas, and brought her some palms to plant in her yard.  They live in extreme N. TX, 25 miles south of the Red River (Oklahoma border), 100 miles Northwest of Fort Worth in Wichita Falls TX.  I planted some small 1 gallon Washy Filifera (thanks to the person on this board that I got the pure filiferas from).  So does anyone want to speculate on the long term success of these palms.  I will take pics frequently and post on the progress.  For those unfamiliar with that area, they are a zone 8a (newer maps) or 7b (1990 map), with winter lows usually in the low to mid teens (12-16F), although they can get single digits once every several winters.  On the other hand even in Jan they get warm ups into the 70s.  Summers there are extremely hot and desert like with tons of 100F and numerous 105-110F days or even higher.  For whatever reason they seem to have some of the hottest summer weather in TX for whatever reason.  Also is a semi arid climate.  I am expecting them to do well, they are doing good in DFW not too far away.  Comments???  

[ron@springhammock]

From these parts, W. filifera is not an easy grow, but I've seen W. robusta getting damaged at ~20F here.  One advantage, is that these guys grow super fast, so typically recover well.  It's always interesting to see how things fare at their limits, so keep us posted.

[ed110220]

I think it is worth a try, especially if the winters are reasonably dry. W. filifera grows fine in the high interior of SA that gets cold in winter, for example at Bloemfontein at an altitude of about 600 m where average daily minimums are -2 C in July and the lowest recorded was - 10 C.

[ed110220]

Sorry, that should be more like 1400 m, not that it makes much difference to the issue.

[NBTX11]

(ed110220 @ Mar. 25 2007,15:16)

QUOTE

I think it is worth a try, especially if the winters are reasonably dry. W. filifera grows fine in the high interior of SA that gets cold in winter, for example at Bloemfontein at an altitude of about 600 m where average daily minimums are -2 C in July and the lowest recorded was - 10 C.

ed, what or where is "SA".  To me SA is San Antonio, but that is obviously not what you are talking about.

[NBTX11]

(ron@springhammock @ Mar. 25 2007,12:55)

QUOTE

From these parts, W. filifera is not an easy grow, but I've seen W. robusta getting damaged at ~20F here.  One advantage, is that these guys grow super fast, so typically recover well.  It's always interesting to see how things fare at their limits, so keep us posted.

Filifera are much hardier in TX.  20F doesn't touch them here.  They have been known to take single digits and recover.  I have personally seen old mature ones (30-40') as far north as Killeen TX, and seen pics of mature ones in DFW.  Plus interior TX is somewhat drier than most areas of the Southeast US.

[ed110220]

Sorry, SA in this context is South Africa. Most of the interior of the country lies at a high altitude and experiences a continental climate with cold winter nights. I should hope you don't get -10C in San Antonio in July!

[NBTX11]

(ed110220 @ Mar. 25 2007,19:21)

QUOTE

Sorry, SA in this context is South Africa. Most of the interior of the country lies at a high altitude and experiences a continental climate with cold winter nights. I should hope you don't get -10C in San Antonio in July!

HaHa. No it's about 35-40C in July here.  We don't get -10C in January, our lowest winter temps have recently been around -4C with the average low of about +4 or 5C, and Filifera do fantastic here.

[ed110220]

I haven't got a W. filifera photo, but I did find this one. It is possible to see a nice large Phoenix canariensis in the background of Bloemfontein City Hall. It was probably around to survive the -10C low recorded for the period 1961-1990.

[Kris]

Dear Syerj  

nice stills & cut little fan palms,please gives us feedback on

who its grouth rate is for 6 to 8 months_Please !

Dear ED  

your still is of very hi resulotion but the palms that you mentioned were not clear for me to appriciate...its buety !

Thanks & Love,

Kris