ISO opinions from someone "in the trade" of pygmy date palms

[Von]

Hello everyone!

   So this is my very first post since joining palmtalk! My name is Von, im 25, and i live in Nacogdoches Texas. I absolutely LOVE palm trees,although I must admit I don't have many "exotic" species, most of my collection is comprised of the "regulars"... Sabal minor, sago, Mexican fan, euro fan, canary island, etc. Since we sit right on the cusp of zones I'm pretty limited because one year temps may stay warm through winter and then the next year we will fall into a deep freeze that kills everything, and I am NOT a potted-plant-person. I religiously try to get plants out of pots and into the ground as soon as possible. 

However, the point of my post is to ask a question ... 

I am curious, 

WHAT IS THE DEAL WITH PYGMY DATE PALMS?? (Phoenix roebellini).

The reason I'm asking, is because this past year I noticed that literally EVERYWHERE carried them... lowes, garden center, every nursery within 100 miles, home depot, etc. It's as if they've taken over the palm trade! 

I find this suspicious because I've recently dubbed them "gimmick palms". 

After spending several hundred dollars trying and trying to own one over the course of the past few years, I've officially given up... only 1 single potted one I purchased several years ago continues to survive, albeit barely. All the rest have invatiably, and quickly died.

They absolutely, positively CANNOT survive in the ground here. Unless there is some major winter structure affixed over the top, they just simply do not belong here. 

I am SUPER curious though if anyone is actually in the business and can give an explanation as to WHY so many places carry this when it does SO poorly... 

I never, ever see them used in landscaping, ever, (and believe me, I look!), I RARELY see them used as container plants except for at a handful of restaraunts closer to the coast, but even those appear to be completely replaced each year by landscapers... (meaning they're torn up and thrown away each year). I just don't understand why such a "universally poorly performing" palm is touted and sold in such wild abundance like it is... hence why I've started calling it the gimmick-palm because it truly appears as though it's sold with the total expectation of dying and forcing you to buy another.....and another.....and another...   

Thoughts? Tricks? Please, someone tell me "well I live in Texas and have a yard full of em"! Or are they REALLY just entirely unsuitable to our climate ? 

Thanks everyone!! I wish there was a palm-master closer to my area who's brain I could pick, but it seems they gravitate towards Houston/Dallas metropolises instead! 

 

[Manalto]

1 hour ago, Von said:

WHAT IS THE DEAL WITH PYGMY DATE PALMS?? (Phoenix roebellini).

...those appear to be completely replaced each year by landscapers... (meaning they're torn up and thrown away each year).

Hi Von,

Well, there's the "cute" factor, which is not to be underestimated. There was just a discussion in another thread about disposable palms, full-size coconuts on the Maryland shore, I think it was, that are tossed in the fall and replaced the next year. Maybe you don't see many PDPs because most of them are sitting on the patios of private homes. Tropical hibiscus is treated this way too around here - discarded at the end of the season.

P. roebellinis are not hardy in Nacodoches in a normal 8b winter. I'm not sure of their hardiness or where they look best, but I used to work for a landscape company in Fort Lauderdale and PDPs were a staple landscape item in Broward County.

Maybe you can try Chamaedorea radicalis for a small-scale palm that has a better shot at survival in 8b.

Edited October 22, 2018 by Manalto

[Rickybobby]

You can always leave it in a nice pot and enjoy it on the patio like us northerners. My Phoenix grows like a weed indoors or out and Always looks great 

[kinzyjr]

@Von Here in the I-4 corridor, they are splendid plants and are everywhere.  Once in a while, we'll have a winter that fries a few, but the bulk of them recover and continue growing.  People like them because they are a pinnate palm that doesn't take up a lot of space.  They sometimes don't like them when they trim the dead fronds off and find out how sharp those small little spines are.

Where you're at, you're a few hundred miles to the north too far to think about growing these in the ground.  Low to Mid-20s is about as good as one of these can handle.  When mine were briefly exposed to 24F, the tops of the fronds burned, but they recovered.  There were others that didn't fare so well in the area and ended up in the mulch pile.

The reason they are everywhere is because of their soft, pinnate fronds, their compact structure allowing home owners to have them on their patios in pots, and the price (as low as $5 for a pot of 3) due to the fact they reproduce like rabbits.  You can see in the picture just one season worth of seeds from 3 clumps in my garden.