Louisiana Palm and Cycad Society

[Kathryn]

The Louisiana Palm and Cycad Society will have their August Meeting at my home in Destrehan. I began my palm collection eight years ago with a Phoenix roebelenii. I now have about 40 non-cold hardy palms and cycads in pots and about 80 in the ground, representing a total of 70 different species.

2:00 Business Meeting

3:00 While we tour the yard, I will lead a discussion on how to select the right palm for your garden and avoid the mistakes I made, the discussion will focus on non-common palms that can be grown in South Louisiana, growth rate, light requirements, etc.

4:00 Beef and Veggie Burgers and BBQ Chicken will be served, please bring coordinating side dishes or dessert

4:30 Palm and Cycad Auction

Contact me at Kathryn_O@bellsouth.net for more information.

[Jeff Searle]

Kathryn,

    I wish I could join you all, but alittle far. I love visiting other gardens to see whats growing. I was just curious what was some of the more tropical palms that you have success with in your area.Many thanks !

 PS, hope you have a good turnout!

[Kathryn]

Jeff,

These are some of the palms in the ground - the ones I can remember right now.

Acoelorrhaphe wrightii

Arenga engleri

Arenga micrantha

Attalea cohune

Bismarckia nobilis

Butia capitata

Butia x Syagrus

Carpenteria acuminata

Caryota mitus

Caryota urens

Chamaedorea microspadix

Chamaedorea radicalis

Chamaerops humilis - silver

Copernicia alba

Copernicia macroglossa

Dypsis decipiens

Livistona chinesis

Livistona decora

Livistona saribus

Nannorrhops ritchiana – silver

Parajubaea sunkha

Phoenix theophrasti

Phoenix reclinata

Phoenix roebelenii

Ptychosperma elegans

Sabal uresana

Rhapis excelsa

Sabal causiarum

Sabal domingensis

Sabal etonia

Sabal uresana

Serenoa repens – silver

Syagrus comosa

Syagrus romanzoffiana

Syagrus sancona

Trachycarpus fortunei

Thrinax morrisii

Trithrinax acanthocoma

Trithrinax campestris

Many are small. Some have been in the ground for only two years and haven't seen temperatures colder than about 28F. Many have been in the ground for several years and have been down to 22F. Everything is doing great except for the Ptychosperma elegans which seem to be struggling.

[SubTropicRay]

Hi Kate,

How is the Parajubaea doing for you?

Ray

[Kathryn]

Ray,

The Parajubaea is doing great, but it has only been in the ground for a year. I bought it to plant on my farm, but put in at my house after the storm last year. It gets a little cooler here than it would like.

Kate

[SubTropicRay]

Kate,

That's great news.  I've always been told Parajubaea can't tolerate high nightime suumer temps.  I guess anything is possible.

Thanks,

Ray

[Kathryn]

I've always been told Parajubaea can't tolerate high nightime suumer temps.

It didn't make it through the hot August temperatures last summer.

[Jon North Padre Island]

Kate,

RE: the parajubaea.

It's doing great... (but)  ...it didn't make it through the hot August temperature?

This has my interest.

[palmsrgreat]

Kate,

I've been growing Livistona decipiens with great success in this hot/wet environment. I think you'd like it if you don't mind that weeping look. I see you are growing saribus too. How is it doing? I was considering growing each of these near each other. I like how tall the saribus grows.  

[palmsrgreat]

Oh and do you have a pic of that T. campestris? I've got a small one still in a pot I want to plant out (3 gal).

I'd like to make the meeting but I won't be back in the area around then. I know Houston has a chapter, but their website has a 2 yr old notice??

[Kathryn]

RE: the parajubaea.

It's doing great... (but)  ...it didn't make it through the hot August temperature?

This has my interest.

Jon,

One day I went out there and the Parajubaea was toast. All the leaves had turned brown and there was no sign of life. It was in an area that I didn’t look at often so I didn’t witness its decline. Sorry I don’t have any pictures.

Kathryn

[Kathryn]

Michael,

This message is about a meeting from last year, but you are welcome to stop by any time you are in the area.

I love weeping palms and Livistona decipiens (decora) is one of my favorite palms. I have six in the ground.

Here is the oldest, planted in 2004 from a three gallon.

Here is another from the same seed batch that wasn’t planted until 2005.

My Trithrinax campestris was a small seedling and didn’t seem to be doing much, so I dug it up and put it in a pot. I have a Trithrinax acanthocoma that has been in the ground since 2005. It had gotten lost at my farm and didn’t receive much water for about a year. I put it in the ground just before Katrina hit and watered it really well.

Here’s a picture from July 2005 just before I planted it.

And here’s a picture from today.

It is a very slow grower but seems to be doing well.

[palmsrgreat]

Well I feel like an idiot! hahaha should have looked at the date.

Thanks for the pics Kathryn and the invite. I just planted a 10 gallon D. decora a few weeks ago, yours look nice! Look forward to meeting you next time I'm down there, which looks like Voodoo Fest at this point.

[SunnyFl]

Beautiful decipiens/decora!  And your list of palms is amazing.  Is the P. elegans still alive - in an earlier post, you said it was "struggling."

How is your roebelenii doing - isn't that the one that actually had snow on it a couple of years ago?

Gotta ask - how large is your morrissii (have any pics?) and how long has it been in the ground?

And in the last pic, think there was some purslane and plumbago - I like those and have them in my garden, also.

[Kathryn]

Sunny,

I planted three very small P elegans about 3 years ago. They were probably too small to go in the ground, but I had so many I decided to try. One of the three is still alive and finally seems to be taking off. I still have some of the seedlings in pots and they are at least twice as big as this one.

The roebelenii is doing great! It seems to be able to recover from periodic damage – once very three to five years. I doubt it would survive if that type of damage occurred every year. Here’s a picture from a few months ago.

The morrisii is small also. I don’t have an updated picture, but will take one later today.

Everything else seems to be doing well. When I planted the P elegans, I also planted three Carpentaria. Again, I had many seedlings and planted three close together hoping that at least one might make it. The first picture below shows all three. The one on the left is putting out its first new leaf, the one on the right sat for the first two years, then took off. The one in the middle began growing soon after planting. All three growing very close together under the same conditions and have very different growth rates!

[SunnyFl]

Kathryn, the roeb is gorgeous - cannot believe how healthy it looks - up in Louisiana!  The decipiens/decora are beautiful (I think I said that already ) - I do love that weepy look, but I didn't know they could live that far up north.

Is that ixora growing around elegans and the Carpentaria?  Does it make it through the winter?

I'll bet the morrissii will be a good choice for you - I've heard that some of them have even made it through 22F.  Slow, but worth the wait - they're beautiful palms, esp. when the wind blows.

Sorry it took awhile for me to reply - life (and gardening) have kept me very busy.

[Kathryn]

The ixora has made it just fine through the last three winters, which were very mild. Check out the bougainvillea that has done well also – too much so in fact. I guess I need to start chopping at this monster!

There is a window behind there somewhere.