large highway planting of Copernicia alba, north of Orlando

[Eric in Orlando]

Interstate 4 that runs through the Orlando area is under a major renovation and widening project. Part of the plan is major landscaping when it is completed. Though it is still a few years from completion a few areas are showing progress. One area is about 8 miles north of downtown Orlando. Just north of the Maitland overpass on the east side a large grouping of Copernicia alba has been planted along with some Livistona decora. What a great mix. They have planted 11 clusters of palms with 3 Copernica alba and 2 taller Livistona decora. Since construction is still going on its hard to get close photos. I got these from a side road with my phone.

[Eric in Orlando]

[dmc]

Nice!

[Missi]

NICE!! I wish Naples would start using Copernicia and even more Livistona species...something other than Roystonea, Sabals, Phoenix, Veitchia, and Ptychosperma in their landscaping 

[palmsOrl]

Zone 10 is slowly becoming somewhat standardized for Orlando.

[Reeverse]

That looks great. Nice pics Eric!

[Eric in Orlando]

2 hours ago, palmsOrl said:

Zone 10 is slowly becoming somewhat standardized for Orlando.

Copernicia alba should be a good zone 9 palm, solid in 9b and for the warmest parts of 9a. Mature specimens survived around 20f in the 12/89 freeze in a private garden in Maitland and 22-23f in  Melbourne. I don't know of any others in Central Florida that were around for that freeze.

[TexasColdHardyPalms]

Alba is very cold hardy.  Solid 9A palm just like a queen.

[Matthew92]

Very nice. I really like Livistona decora. Up in the Panhandle, they did a bunch of similar highway/road plantings- I've seen Butias, Sabals, and some mule palms. Near a highway interchange on the northern outskirt of the Ft. Walton Beach area, they planted several small what I think are Livistona nitidas. That location probably sees a bit colder temps than areas in town and closer to the water. This past winter had freezes of 22, 20, and 18. They were mostly defoliated, but last I saw looked to be coming back strong. I also think they would have taken it better if they had been more established.

[jreich85]

I saw those last week too and was pretty excited. It also appears that there are a bunch more at I-4 near John Young Parkway.

My old neighborhood in north Jacksonville (on the south bank of the St. Johns) planted one last year and it easily survived our harsh January freeze, which somewhat surprised me since it wasn't even totally established at the time.

[redant]

There has been a big push on palmafying the roads in FL. Personally I really like it all.