Palms around Lake Norman North Carolina

[Mr.SamuraiSword]

Last summer I visited the northern part of Lake Norman,  and was surprised at the large number of palms in the area.  I always thought north of Charlotte and you might see occasional windmills, but I found a surprising number of other palms too.  These are all in Western Mooresville (near where 150 goes to the bridge) and Sherrills Ford.  Heres a video i made showing some of these, as well as more I couldn't get good photographs of.

By far the most popular was windmills, on some roads they were the sole palm used, some look like they've been there a while.

Next up, the Sabals.  Surprisingly I found a fair number of mature established Sabal Palmetto, 

Across the street, some naturalizing Palmetto left to grow.

Mixture of a Palmetto, Needle palm and Trachycarpus

Sabal minor while less popular, was present including some large specamins,

Needles, also not so common though I happened upon a very large double clump mixed with Musa Basjoo

Among other palms, I only happened upon a single, small Butia.

A single small European Fan Palm

Few Sagos mixed in, 

More Windmills, 

Saw a fair amount of Cordylines in the area, none very big this a typical sized one

Interesting assortment of Prickly Pear, and trunking Yucca species

Hope you all enjoyed

[PalmatierMeg]

Great photos. I never used to see palms when I visited NC (my brother lives there). I’m glad to see cold hardy palms planted in places they once seldom existed. 

[knikfar]

18 hours ago, Mr.SamuraiSword said:

Last summer I visited the northern part of Lake Norman,  and was surprised at the large number of palms in the area.  I always thought north of Charlotte and you might see occasional windmills, but I found a surprising number of other palms too.  These are all in Western Mooresville (near where 150 goes to the bridge) and Sherrills Ford.  Heres a video i made showing some of these, as well as more I couldn't get good photographs of.

By far the most popular was windmills, on some roads they were the sole palm used, some look like they've been there a while.

Next up, the Sabals.  Surprisingly I found a fair number of mature established Sabal Palmetto, 

Across the street, some naturalizing Palmetto left to grow.

Mixture of a Palmetto, Needle palm and Trachycarpus

Sabal minor while less popular, was present including some large specamins,

Needles, also not so common though I happened upon a very large double clump mixed with Musa Basjoo

Among other palms, I only happened upon a single, small Butia.

A single small European Fan Palm

Few Sagos mixed in, 

More Windmills, 

Saw a fair amount of Cordylines in the area, none very big this a typical sized one

Interesting assortment of Prickly Pear, and trunking Yucca species

Hope you all enjoyed

Glad to see North Carolina represented on this forum. We have a good number of palms and I think of NC is the best place to trial and expand cold hardy palms. States further south have a LOT of options so they don't have to limit themselves to cold hardy varieties. Many states further north are just too cold for more than needle palms or using extreme cold protection methods during the winter. 

[Mr.SamuraiSword]

I was surprised to say the least, I only had the chance to explore a relativley small area for a short period of time, yet happened upon dozens and dozens of windmills, many less impressive specamins that I didnt post or had bad photos of.  The fair numbers of healthy established palmettos yet almost complete absense of butia was also a surprise.  A different time last spring I briefly drove through huntersville for like 20 minutes and happened upon two places with Mature healthy butia (also more sabals and european fans), could being on the south side make that much of a difference.

[SeanK]

Some residents are likely surprised with the size of mature Rhapidophyllum

[cm05]

I was in Charlotte this summer and I was shocked to see fully mature, fruiting Butias in Cornelius, near Lake Norman, out of the corner of my eye. I had to get pics of course. These were the only palms I saw while in Charlotte.

[PalmTreeDude]

Those look really good, not stunted or anything, they've clearly been there for a while! North Carolina is definitely that transition state where you can really start to grow some cool stuff. I bet some of those would be a bit hard to grow just 30 miles north of there. 

[Phassett]

Lake Wylie area is where you see more of variety especially the houses on the water.  Lots of sabals, pindos and a couple of big Washingtonia and date palms (interested to see how the last 2 made out in the recent cold we just had).  If your ever in that area I would def check it out!

[BigBilly]

I've seen a lot of palms around the area. But the only picture's I have are a mature sabal in North charlotte and a mature large windmill in Statesville. 

[905palms]

I've seen a few in Huntersville, NC off of Sam Fur, however not sure what nurseries in the area carry them.

 

[BigBilly]

Went on a palm hunt and found some nice finds, I had no idea sagos could even grow in this area unprotected, but those look pretty nice, I guess they have a nice microclimate 

[Aceraceae]

Mooresville and Lake Norman is a really nice area. Is the lake entirely manmade due to the dam, or was it already a wide river at least? 

[BigBilly]

31 minutes ago, Aceraceae said:

Mooresville and Lake Norman is a really nice area. Is the lake entirely manmade due to the dam, or was it already a wide river at least? 

There was a river there but it was no was not wide as the lake 

[RFun]

Yes, Lake Norman and Lake Wylie have some nice palms, no doubt.

[BigBilly]

Also, there are some nice palmettos near I-77 in Cornelius, They were looking pretty good after the freeze we had a while back ... They're also in a pretty good microclimate with the lake being so close by 

[SeanK]

The south side of the lake is good evidence to the effects of water bodies to microclimates. Better presentation of palms than in NE GA, just 200 miles to the southwest.

[RFun]

5 hours ago, SeanK said:

The south side of the lake is good evidence to the effects of water bodies to microclimates. Better presentation of palms than in NE GA, just 200 miles to the southwest.

There aren't a ton of palm growers in NE GA.  It's just another on the list of places where they don't have dedicated growers (where they could grow different varieties).

[RJ]

6 hours ago, SeanK said:

The south side of the lake is good evidence to the effects of water bodies to microclimates. Better presentation of palms than in NE GA, just 200 miles to the southwest.

I’m very close to lake Murray , it definitely makes a big difference. I usually leave for work around 4 am, I can drive two miles down the road further away from the lake and it’s often 5 degrees colder a lot of times. Large bodies of water make significant microclimates. Slight elevation near the body of water seems to make a difference as well. I’m at a relatively high spot on my peninsula. 

[BigBilly]

1 hour ago, RJ said:

I’m very close to lake Murray , it definitely makes a big difference. I usually leave for work around 4 am, I can drive two miles down the road further away from the lake and it’s often 5 degrees colder a lot of times. Large bodies of water make significant microclimates. Slight elevation near the body of water seems to make a difference as well. I’m at a relatively high spot on my peninsula. 

I can attest to this whenever we had out freeze back in January it was 9F at my house, While it was 17F near those sabals .... makes me wish I lived farther south 😆

[SeanK]

4 hours ago, RFun said:

There aren't a ton of palm growers in NE GA.  It's just another on the list of places where they don't have dedicated growers (where they could grow different varieties).

Not it at all. The 5° last winter was enough to wipe out most Jelly palms. Back in 2014, the cold (10°, 12°) and snow took out The same that were inside the perimeter. I never see Mediterranean Fans anymore; I guess they're not worth the risk since they closely resemble Trachycarpus.

[BeyondTheGarden]

Wow.  It got down to 9.9° in my yard a couple weeks ago during the polar vortex/arctic blast and my freshly planted 15-gallon-sized butia didn't take any visible damage, unless there's latent damage that has yet to show.  Were there any extenuating circumstances to that 5 degree incident?  Prolonged duration or precipitation? 

[RFun]

4 hours ago, SeanK said:

Not it at all. The 5° last winter was enough to wipe out most Jelly palms. Back in 2014, the cold (10°, 12°) and snow took out The same that were inside the perimeter. I never see Mediterranean Fans anymore; I guess they're not worth the risk since they closely resemble Trachycarpus.

I've still seen Butias and Mediterranean Fan Palms in the Atlanta Metro Area despite the recent cold.  My friend lives there and I have a good read on things from him (as well as visiting).

Edited February 3, 2024 by RFun

[RFun]

4 hours ago, BeyondTheGarden said:

Wow.  It got down to 9.9° in my yard a couple weeks ago during the polar vortex/arctic blast and my freshly planted 15-gallon-sized butia didn't take any visible damage, unless there's latent damage that has yet to show.  Were there any extenuating circumstances to that 5 degree incident?  Prolonged duration or precipitation? 

Still Butias and Mediterranean Fan Palms in the Atlanta Metro Area.  I'm not sure what exactly the situation was with the palms he's speaking of.  My friend's Butias and Mediterranean Fans made it through the recent cold Winters fine (no protection).  It did get down to 7 at his place one night in December of 2022.  The cold snaps don't last long there.  His Butia and Mediterranean seedlings were unfazed as well.

Edited February 3, 2024 by RFun

[knikfar]

On 2/2/2024 at 9:11 PM, BeyondTheGarden said:

Wow.  It got down to 9.9° in my yard a couple weeks ago during the polar vortex/arctic blast and my freshly planted 15-gallon-sized butia didn't take any visible damage, unless there's latent damage that has yet to show.  Were there any extenuating circumstances to that 5 degree incident?  Prolonged duration or precipitation? 

From what I've seen, 10f is easily cold enough to kill a lot of butias. They often show no damage until the temps are consistently in the 70s. Then you get a spear pull. Sometimes a bunch of healthy looking fronds come out with the spear. We had a low of 10f during the Christmas freeze last year. I covered my butia with frost cloth and then a quilt on top of that. It looked perfect after that for months. Then in May, part of its new spear started pushing out half rotted. It survived but I definitely thought I came through that cold snap unscathed. Our low this year was 18f here in Raleigh. I didn't protect it because they're supposed to be hardy to somewhere between 12f and 15f, depending on the genetics of the specific plant. But I won't be surprised if it starts showing damage when the temps warm up consistently. If it dies, I'm not going to try a butia again. 

[ChicagoPalma]

1 hour ago, knikfar said:

From what I've seen, 10f is easily cold enough to kill a lot of butias. They often show no damage until the temps are consistently in the 70s. Then you get a spear pull. Sometimes a bunch of healthy looking fronds come out with the spear. We had a low of 10f during the Christmas freeze last year. I covered my butia with frost cloth and then a quilt on top of that. It looked perfect after that for months. Then in May, part of its new spear started pushing out half rotted. It survived but I definitely thought I came through that cold snap unscathed. Our low this year was 18f here in Raleigh. I didn't protect it because they're supposed to be hardy to somewhere between 12f and 15f, depending on the genetics of the specific plant. But I won't be surprised if it starts showing damage when the temps warm up consistently. If it dies, I'm not going to try a butia again. 

It just depends on genetics and and other variables. But I think it will survive.

[RFun]

3 hours ago, knikfar said:

From what I've seen, 10f is easily cold enough to kill a lot of butias. They often show no damage until the temps are consistently in the 70s. Then you get a spear pull. Sometimes a bunch of healthy looking fronds come out with the spear. We had a low of 10f during the Christmas freeze last year. I covered my butia with frost cloth and then a quilt on top of that. It looked perfect after that for months. Then in May, part of its new spear started pushing out half rotted. It survived but I definitely thought I came through that cold snap unscathed. Our low this year was 18f here in Raleigh. I didn't protect it because they're supposed to be hardy to somewhere between 12f and 15f, depending on the genetics of the specific plant. But I won't be surprised if it starts showing damage when the temps warm up consistently. If it dies, I'm not going to try a butia again. 

It depends on where the Butias were sourced from and their genetics.  I haven't seen much evidence to support that one night of 10F (or even 7F) would be enough to kill most Butias.

Edited February 5, 2024 by RFun

[knikfar]

1 hour ago, RFun said:

It depends on where the Butias were sourced from and their genetics.  I haven't seen much evidence to support that one night of 10F (or even 7F) would be enough to kill most Butias.

You've been lucky. I know multiple people here in Raleigh that lost butias last year during the December cold. And that was a low of 10f. Perhaps it was due to the quick drop from 60f to 10f, then a full day below freezing. But I also know a lot of butias were killed along the NC Coast during the winter of 2018. And the lows there were in the lower to mid teens. 

[SeanK]

6 hours ago, RFun said:

It depends on where the Butias were sourced from and their genetics.  I haven't seen much evidence to support that one night of 10F (or even 7F) would be enough to kill most Butias.

I had one years back that started losing the older fronds first, one-by-one, until Labor Day the spear pulled.

 

[NCFM]

18 hours ago, knikfar said:

You've been lucky. I know multiple people here in Raleigh that lost butias last year during the December cold. And that was a low of 10f. Perhaps it was due to the quick drop from 60f to 10f, then a full day below freezing. But I also know a lot of butias were killed along the NC Coast during the winter of 2018. And the lows there were in the lower to mid teens. 

I pulled mine through 5f during that horrible December freeze in 2022, but that was with heavy protection.  The low so far this winter has been 13 and I did not protect it, although it was a very brief dip overnight.  No immediate damage but I will be interested to see if any shows up later this spring. 

[knikfar]

3 hours ago, NCFM said:

I pulled mine through 5f during that horrible December freeze in 2022, but that was with heavy protection.  The low so far this winter has been 13 and I did not protect it, although it was a very brief dip overnight.  No immediate damage but I will be interested to see if any shows up later this spring. 

I wish you the best of luck. So much is dependent on the genetics of the specific plant. My low this year was 18f and I'm already starting to see some yellowing of the older fronds. 

[NCFM]

5 hours ago, knikfar said:

I wish you the best of luck. So much is dependent on the genetics of the specific plant. My low this year was 18f and I'm already starting to see some yellowing of the older fronds. 

Thanks.  I haven't been home in several weeks, so I wouldn't be surprised if some has developed since then.  I may make a trip back this weekend and I'll be sure to check up on it 

[BigBilly]

[RFun]

On 2/18/2024 at 6:11 PM, BigBilly said:

Looks great there!  You have nearby concrete and brick wall areas.  That also never hurts.

[BigBilly]

Huh, a Washington, Guessing it's dead now but it survived 2020-2022? It could still be alive but 10 F probably killed it, Charlotte NC Btw a

Edited April 6, 2024 by BigBilly

[RFun]

3 hours ago, BigBilly said:

Huh, a Washington, Guessing it's dead now but it survived 2020-2022? It could still be alive but 10 F probably killed it, Charlotte NC Btw a

If it's a Robusta, then yeah.  If it's a Filifera, then no.  Filibusta would have probably taken one little short stretch of 10F ok.  It does look like it's pretty close to the building as well.

Edited April 7, 2024 by RFun