Cold hardy palm resilience

[TonyDFW]

2 growing seasons after the deep freeze of Feb 2021  in Dallas. Low of 3F with 10 consecutive days below freezing. Here are the observations in my gardens 

These palms were unprotected during this event  we were also without power for 3 days  very cold in house when it is 3F outdoors 

brahea armata was defoliated  

12 foot tall green form chamaerhops humild killed to the ground

Sabal Lisa defoliated 

chamaedorea microspadix killed to tte ground

Nannorhops richtiana killed to ground 

woolly tomentum if Nannorhops richtiana 

chamaerops Humilis cerifera 

sabsl Lisa defoliated 

Sabal Louisiana un damaged foliage 

Sabal uresana defoliated 

Chamaerhops Humilis cerifera defoliated trunks remained intact  

washingtonia filifera defoliated 

brahea moorei defoliated 

Chamaerhops Humilis cerifera defoliated trunks remained intact

brahea decumbens defoliated 

sabal Lisa 

jubea chilensis 

Edited September 19, 2022 by TonyDFW

[jwitt]

I am glad to see the survivors and recovery from that extreme cold/freeze.  I am amazed the armata survival and the med next to it died to the ground. I think there is a lot to learn from.  Those sabal Lisa are gorgeous!

I think some palms are able to enter a "coma" (hibernation) state and come back from unprecedented and unknown cold. Filifera, CIDP, Armata come to mind. 

You are a pioneer in hardy palms and helped guide my interests in such. Thank you!

Do you have any area wide estimations on species survival percentage?  Winners/losers?

Maybe most importantly, what would you recommend and not recommend with what has been observed?

Hopefully Dallas never sees an event this deep in our lifetimes.

[Sabal King]

This thread, and your experiences help me understand what is possible here.  You are shattering all sorts of presumptions people have about palms, and their cold hardiness.  I'm not far away and this helps me know what I can or cannot accomplish.

Thank you Tony!

[PalmatierMeg]

Tony, your palms have made a remarkable recovery from the freeze. Your yard looks pristine. 

[ryjohn]

I haven’t added any new palms to my yard in years now, but seeing your Sabal Lisa’s may change that.  Did your larger Jubaea make it through?  Was straining to find it in your pictures…

[Las Palmas Norte]

Amazing ! ... Proof right there that "zones" are only part of the equation. In my zone 8 climate, I'm confidant every single palm would be annihilated. 

[TonyDFW]

6 hours ago, jwitt said:

I am glad to see the survivors and recovery from that extreme cold/freeze.  I am amazed the armata survival and the med next to it died to the ground. I think there is a lot to learn from.  Those sabal Lisa are gorgeous!

I think some palms are able to enter a "coma" (hibernation) state and come back from unprecedented and unknown cold. Filifera, CIDP, Armata come to mind. 

You are a pioneer in hardy palms and helped guide my interests in such. Thank you!

Do you have any area wide estimations on species survival percentage?  Winners/losers?

Maybe most importantly, what would you recommend and not recommend with what has been observed?

Hopefully Dallas never sees an event this deep in our lifetimes.

 

[TonyDFW]

Thanks for your kind words. Here are some other palms that I hadn’t included before. 
the palms that did the best during that cold event are Sabal minor, Sabal mexicana, Sabal Louisiana. Sabal Birmingham. I still have several trachycarpus fortunei towering over my houses. They did very well also. 

T  fortnei all grown from seedlings 

Another clump of C  microspadix 

my larger Jubea chilensis  

Sabal mexicana

Brazoria county Sabal

T  fortunei and Sabal birmingham  both were planted as seedlings in the same year  2005

Several tall trachycarpus 

T. Wagnerianus 

Edited September 19, 2022 by TonyDFW

[N8ALLRIGHT]

Your palms look amazing considering what they've been through 

I've gotta say that your Louisiana is a beast!  

[jwitt]

Tony-keep the updates coming. Your yard and post(s) are followed by many palm and especially those nutz pushing things. At the end of the day, I hope you have gained from this event.  

I have.

In fact, the knowledge I have gained(partly from your postings) allows me to sleep soundly, even on a cold winters night.

 

[OC2Texaspalmlvr]

@TonyDFW What a garden you still have after Palmageddon. Those sabal Lisa's are amazing. So what palms are you most bummed about losing ? Didnt you have a large JxB and BxJ ? Hoped they had survived =/ Of course you still got your Jubaeas so that's awesome. 

T J 

[TonyDFW]

My garden is mostly intact.  I did  B lose most of my butinaciae palms. I Edie silly miss  my yatay x jubea. It was a stunner. 
I’m also saddened by the loss of dozens of tall filiferas I planted as seedlings decades ago. 

[Collectorpalms]

3 hours ago, TonyDFW said:

My garden is mostly intact.  I did  B lose most of my butinaciae palms. I Edie silly miss  my yatay x jubea. It was a stunner. 
I’m also saddened by the loss of dozens of tall filiferas I planted as seedlings decades ago. 

Do you have any thoughts on what you would have done differently? You came out fairly lucky in my opinion because of the ability for some of those to regenerate. The diversity of palms was also key, and your soil and water quality also was key to your success in my humble opinion. 

As you know your garden was a great motivator to the early cold hardy palm gardens like myself starting 22 years ago. I may have 1 more go at it.

Any words of wisdom to share to the board?

[Collectorpalms]

Historic Data for Urban Dallas. 

[OC2Texaspalmlvr]

17 hours ago, TonyDFW said:

I Edie silly miss  my yatay x jubea. It was a stunner. 

Your BYxJ will be missed, it was a specimen palm already at that size. 

T J 

[jwitt]

15 hours ago, Collectorpalms said:

Historic Data for Urban Dallas. 

Sure looks like the 3 months(Nov,Dec,Jan) were exceedingly mild heading into the event. Not on an individual basis, but when taken together.  Very warm 9b/10a winter until mid Feb.  Not sure what station this is. 

Exceedingly and very abnormally warm according to the data.  Not even a hard frost!  Then coming out of the non existent winter,  BAM! 

Let's cut to the chase, it was the warmest, since 1944.  

Could that alone added to the damage? 

What station is this labelled urban Dallas?

 

[TonyDFW]

More of our chamaedorea growing in deep  Dallas shade. They all came though 2021 unprotected 

[Collectorpalms]

4 hours ago, jwitt said:

Sure looks like the 3 months(Nov,Dec,Jan) were exceedingly mild heading into the event. Not on an individual basis, but when taken together.  Very warm 9b/10a winter until mid Feb.  Not sure what station this is. 

Exceedingly and very abnormally warm according to the data.  Not even a hard frost!  Then coming out of the non existent winter,  BAM! 

Let's cut to the chase, it was the warmest, since 1944.  

Could that alone added to the damage? 

What station is this labelled urban Dallas?

 

 

[jwitt]

Just now, Collectorpalms said:

 

Thanks. 

I know inner Dallas can be very mild.  Was the preceding winter as mild or milder as you went south?  Your area, Houston.?

Was stuff actively coming into spring when the bottom hit? 

It's like the North pole  full on visited for 2 weeks!

From one extreme to the other in mere hours! Yep, Texas. Crazy and even hard to grasp! 

 

[Collectorpalms]

24 minutes ago, jwitt said:

Thanks. 

I know inner Dallas can be very mild.  Was the preceding winter as mild or milder as you went south?  Your area, Houston.?

Was stuff actively coming into spring when the bottom hit? 

It's like the North pole  full on visited for 2 weeks!

From one extreme to the other in mere hours! Yep, Texas. Crazy and even hard to grasp! 

 

The previous winter (2020) had the highest minimum low. 2019 was very warm too.

The weeks before the Feb 2021 are very mild. The temperatures just fell off the cliff. There was a cold push on the 13th that caused temperatures here to drop below 32F, but the freight train of cold arrived around 2am on the 15th, with heavy powder snow (dry) and dropped quickly to the teens. Then even after the worst day the 16th, ( low of 4F, high of 19F) it moderated over the Houston area, but not much here and there was an ice storm of about an inch of ice. Without that ice, I think a few more palms may have survived but it froze their crowns, because the overnight lows dropped again into the teens without ever getting above 32F. Seemed like it was a week before all the snow melted. 

[jwitt]

Yeah the event was crazy in cold and length.

I was wondering since Dallas did not even see as much as a hard frost(28f) for the entire winter leading up to the February event, was it more pronounced further south. 

Did College Station or Houston even register a temperature below 32f in the winter preceding this event? 

In Dallas case, it was unprecedented of a winter ever being that mild going back nearly eighty years.  

In my mind it seems this could have also contributed to the extreme damage. 

Also on the other hand, minus this extreme event, what could have been grown with hardly even a freeze. Wild!

On a side note, those pics are hard to take!

Edited September 21, 2022 by jwitt

[TonyDFW]

This young filifera survived 2021 deep freeze in Dallas with no protection 

[DreaminAboutPalms]

How did ultimate low temp vary across town? I know of 4 Washingtonias that are 2 stories in height in Carrollton/Addison area am curious if that area was spared a little 

Edited September 22, 2022 by DreaminAboutPalms

[Sabal King]

10 hours ago, DreaminAboutPalms said:

How did ultimate low temp vary across town? I know of 4 Washingtonias that are 2 stories in height in Carrollton/Addison area am curious if that area was spared a little 

I'm 35 minutes or so north of Dallas, and our ultimate low in the backyard ended up being -1.8F on 2/16/21... brutal, but I imagine Dallas was just a few degrees warmer.

[TonyDFW]

(ButiaxJubea) x queen un protected 
4 years in the Dallas ground. Survived 3F of 2021. Probably because it’s growth bud was so close to the ground and the snow covering it reflected ground heat to moderate cellular damage. 

[TonyDFW]

[TonyDFW]

Lost most of my large Butia including this beautiful yatay x jubea hybrid. 

[OC2Texaspalmlvr]

21 minutes ago, TonyDFW said:

Lost most of my large Butia including this beautiful yatay x jubea hybrid. 

That is a shame what a beautiful palm 

T J