Zone 10 Palms in the Orlando Area Mega Thread

[GottmitAlex]

On 9/21/2020 at 5:43 AM, Eric in Orlando said:

Found these Coconuts north of Orlando. They are growing between Longwood and Sanford north of the NW corner of Lake Jessup on Myrtle St. This is a more open, colder location. By looking at Streetview images they look to have been planted around 2016/2017.

Whoah!

[Eric in Orlando]

A Royal and Coconut growing at a nursery along Piedmont-Wekiva Road, between Apopka and Forest City. 

[CodyORB]

On 9/28/2020 at 10:58 AM, Eric in Orlando said:

A few palms at my Mom's house near downtown Orlando. 

a flowering Caryota no nearly 50ft tall,

Better have a lot of $$$ put aside for when it's done flowering!

[chinandega81]

Looks like South Florida from that pic at the nursery. I hope Central Florida is becoming more tropical long term!!

[pj_orlando_z9b]

Found these nice veitchia (?) While golfing at Disney's Lake Buena Vista course. 

[pj_orlando_z9b]

Some majesty palms at Ventura Lakes 

[Eric in Orlando]

Its amazing researching through old letters, photos, etc. in Orlando's history that zone 10 palms in Orlando are not a recent trend. In the past I have found photos and accounts of fruiting coconuts, mature royals, Adonidia, Caryota, Polyandrococos, etc. in the Orlando area prior to the freezes in the late 1950s. I just came across this from a summary of a letter of famous horticulturalist Henry Nehrling to another famous horticulturist Theodore Mead (both lived in the area; Gotha and Lake Charm). It was written May 2, 1924 and concerns a mature, fruiting Elaeis guineensis growing in Lake Eola park in downtown Orlando. At the time Nehrling was splitting time from his house in Gotha and his other residence in Naples.

"...When spending a few days at home during ------ April I found an Elaeis guineensis in fruit in Eola Park at Orlando. Werner had written me about it. He said that he planted it out about eleven years ago. I thought that he must be mistaken and told him so. But he insisted that he was right, and while up home he took me to the specimen and surely, it was Elaeis guneensis. It had still a number of red ripe fruits, and I brought a few home with me."

 

https://lib.rollins.edu/olin/oldsite/archives/nehrlingletters.pdf

 

[Oviedo_z10b_lol]

On 10/29/2020 at 1:44 PM, Eric in Orlando said:

famous horticulturist Theodore Mead (both lived in the area; Gotha and Lake Charm).

I’m assuming Theodore mead is the namesake for the Mead Manor neighborhood in oviedo? 
 

and thanks for sharing!

[Eric in Orlando]

19 hours ago, Oviedo_z10b_lol said:

I’m assuming Theodore mead is the namesake for the Mead Manor neighborhood in oviedo? 
 

and thanks for sharing!

Yes, he owned 80 acres just west of Lake Charm., a lot of it planted in citrus.  At that time Lake Charm was a separate community from Oviedo.

[Eric in Orlando]

Some nice Ptychosperma elegans at a house on the south side of Lake Silver in the College Park area of Orlando. 

[Eric in Orlando]

[Eric in Orlando]

On 10/28/2020 at 9:48 AM, pj_orlando_z9b said:

Found these nice veitchia (?) While golfing at Disney's Lake Buena Vista course. 

These look like they are actually Archontophoenix alexandrae. 

[pj_orlando_z9b]

My alfredii putting on some size. 

[RedRabbit]

Winter Garden is the warm spot tonight:

 

Downtown Orlando is 41-42f currently by comparison. Sanford, Belle Isle, and some of Windermere also appear to be warmer than the urban core of Orlando..

[pj_orlando_z9b]

On 12/2/2020 at 1:56 AM, RedRabbit said:

Winter Garden is the warm spot tonight:

 

Downtown Orlando is 41-42f currently by comparison. Sanford, Belle Isle, and some of Windermere also appear to be warmer than the urban core of Orlando..

Thankfully those waters are warm this time of year to help.  How about this difference of temps last night near Daytona. I am assuming there must have been a slight onshore breeze.  20+ degree temps over 10 miles.

[NickJames]

29 minutes ago, pj_orlando_z9b said:

Thankfully those waters are warm this time of year to help.  How about this difference of temps last night near Daytona. I am assuming there must have been a slight onshore breeze.  20+ degree temps over 10 miles.

I’m the 45 icon at the very bottom. It was a shocking difference last night. That 63 icon had a NE wind of 5-10. 

[pj_orlando_z9b]

1 hour ago, NickJames said:

I’m the 45 icon at the very bottom. It was a shocking difference last night. That 63 icon had a NE wind of 5-10. 

Nice. What weather station do you use? Mine broke but just treated myself to the Davis Pro 2 with aspirated fan. I should have it up and running this weekend! 

[RedRabbit]

3 hours ago, pj_orlando_z9b said:

Thankfully those waters are warm this time of year to help.  How about this difference of temps last night near Daytona. I am assuming there must have been a slight onshore breeze.  20+ degree temps over 10 miles.

Wow! I’ve seen Daytona do this a few times recently. I recall early this year we had our coldest day with a low around 34f here and Daytona was in the 50s due to an onshore wind. 

[NickJames]

1 hour ago, pj_orlando_z9b said:

Nice. What weather station do you use? Mine broke but just treated myself to the Davis Pro 2 with aspirated fan. I should have it up and running this weekend! 

It’s the most accurate I’ve ever had. I also have great unobstructed wind readings to SE, S, and E. 

[chinandega81]

With this past cold front which made it all the way down the peninsula, I noticed the the land breeze in South Florida kept inland suburban areas very similar to urban heat islands nearer to the coast and the beaches. The difference was minimal, perhaps 3 degrees at the most. I think these advective cold fronts are some of the worst for the people in the warmest microclimates. It got down to about 50 in most of Miami. Fortunately we are in a warming trend now, but the weather people say we are in a "progressive" pattern which means a lot of large dips in the jet stream, one after another. It looks like we have several cold fronts lined up over the next 10 days. Does anyone know what the longer forcase looks like beyond? I'm hoping for a nice strong subtropical high to build in and keep up warm at this time of the year with the shorter days and lower sun angle.

[pj_orlando_z9b]

Nice weekend to snap some pictures. My coconut is now tall enough I can stand underneath without ducking. Are coconuts everbearing? Since July, new spears have continually pushed out. 2 news ones are emerging in late Dec. 

[pj_orlando_z9b]

Drove by the I-drive coconut today. Looks flawless in this cooler winter.  They haven't removed the fruit yet...I wouldn't want to be under that. 

[EastCanadaTropicals]

Some dypsis are hardy to zone 9 or maybe even 8b.

[kinzyjr]

2 hours ago, pj_orlando_z9b said:

Drove by the I-drive coconut today. Looks flawless in this cooler winter.  They haven't removed the fruit yet...I wouldn't want to be under that. 

Time to practice my climbing skills

[pj_orlando_z9b]

Royals near Sea World. 

[Mr. Coconut Palm]

On 12/21/2020 at 12:45 AM, pj_orlando_z9b said:

Nice weekend to snap some pictures. My coconut is now tall enough I can stand underneath without ducking. Are coconuts everbearing? Since July, new spears have continually pushed out. 2 news ones are emerging in late Dec. 

Gorgeous!!!

[Mr. Coconut Palm]

On 1/29/2021 at 6:39 PM, pj_orlando_z9b said:

Drove by the I-drive coconut today. Looks flawless in this cooler winter.  They haven't removed the fruit yet...I wouldn't want to be under that. 

Looks perfect!  I hope they don't remove any fruits or trim it.

[pj_orlando_z9b]

These are some of the tallest Royals I know in our area. In Belle Isle. 

[RedRabbit]

45 minutes ago, pj_orlando_z9b said:

These are some of the tallest Royals I know in our area. In Belle Isle. 

What’s going on with this picture? Those royals look really big, but they’re not that much taller than the 2 story house in the background. Is that house unusually tall?

[pj_orlando_z9b]

7 hours ago, RedRabbit said:

What’s going on with this picture? Those royals look really big, but they’re not that much taller than the 2 story house in the background. Is that house unusually 

It's def a large house. Google maps photo with comparison of other homes and a washy in the background. 

[RedRabbit]

11 minutes ago, pj_orlando_z9b said:

It's def a large house. Google maps photo with comparison of other homes and a washy in the background. 

That was a good find, you’ve got a lot of zone 10 palms right in that one area.

[NickJames]

On 2/8/2021 at 2:56 AM, RedRabbit said:

What’s going on with this picture? Those royals look really big, but they’re not that much taller than the 2 story house in the background. Is that house unusually tall?

Yes, it appears to have incredibly high ceilings on each level. For comparison, my home only has 10 feet on 1st level (except in foyer which has no living space above it) and 9 feet on second level. 

[pj_orlando_z9b]

Now that winter in our area appears to be over, here is the result of my coconut. I thought it took a bit more damage from the Dec and Jan chill compared to last yead but very good overall. New flowers emerging as well. 

[NickJames]

2 hours ago, pj_orlando_z9b said:

Now that winter in our area appears to be over, here is the result of my coconut. I thought it took a bit more damage from the Dec and Jan chill compared to last yead but very good overall. New flowers emerging as well. 

Mine does not look as good, but has resumed growing. The blue plumbago around it certainly appears to be enjoying the Florikan LOL. 

[NickJames]

Spotted at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom. 

[chad2468emr]

Some Dypsis and Archontophoenix (and K. oliviformis?) I noticed near Leu Gardens and Palmers nursery today. (It feels real weird to take a pic of a strangers house but I was too excited to see these live and well in the area so I apologize if it’s one of yours! Haha) 

I had half the mind to knock on the door and thank whoever lived there for planting something actually interesting to see! 

[chad2468emr]

13 hours ago, pj_orlando_z9b said:

10 hours ago, NickJames said:

Both of these are encouraging! Particularly yours, Nick. I know you had some real frigid temps this year so good to see that your efforts to protect paid off with a living palm! Central FL overall didn’t have a mild winter by any means so both instances make me happy, though. 

Are certain coconut species more tolerant of cold than others? I have what’s some variant of a Malayan dwarf. I think I’ve heard these are some of the least cold tolerant so I may be keeping mine potted and experimenting with some regular ol greens in-ground in the future. 

[kinzyjr]

@chad2468emr My assumption was that Jamaican/Atlantic Tall and Pacific/Panama Tall would be great for record cold and perpetual cool, respectively.  I've had good results from Maypans over my way.

[chad2468emr]

19 minutes ago, kinzyjr said:

@chad2468emr My assumption was that Jamaican/Atlantic Tall and Pacific/Panama Tall would be great for record cold and perpetual cool, respectively.  I've had good results from Maypans over my way.

Good to know! For that level of coco-specificity I’m probably going to have to snag it the next time I’m in SFL, unless you know of a spot around here that has them. 

Now where is the thing gonna go (or fit, haha) is the next question... 

[kinzyjr]

1 minute ago, chad2468emr said:

Good to know! For that level of coco-specificity I’m probably going to have to snag it the next time I’m in SFL, unless you know of a spot around here that has them. 

Now where is the thing gonna go (or fit, haha) is the next question... 

I got my coconuts (other than my Green Malayan) from Calusa Palms: http://www.calusapalmsnursery.com/ShowSchedule.html

The above link will give you the show schedule for them.  If you want Marc (the owner) to bring specific types of coconuts, it's probably best to email or call, have them reserved, and then arrange to pick up at one of the shows.  The email and phone are available here: http://www.calusapalmsnursery.com/contact.html