Update on Storm-damaged Palms

[PalmatierMeg]

Yesterday, January 1, I took many photos of our devastated yard, including current survivors, 3 months after Hurricane Ian rampaged through. Some of these palms barely squeaked through being crushed by falling vegetation. Some I was sure had been rubbed out of existence sent up tentative green leaves weeks later. Whether all of them will survive long term I don't know. Palms have the ability to be dead and not know it until months later when they collapse. I may not get a complete casualty list until next summer. But these individual palms are giving survival a shot. I will organize the photos by garden location

GARDEN LOT: our largest garden, a 3-lot, 125' x 125' corner site landscaped except for our 10' x 16' garden shed. Ian shredded all our landscaping and left the shadeless Lot open to the brutal FL sun

Copernicia baileyana - many broken leaves but we won't cut them while they are still green

Sabal palmetto Lisa x2 - note how the wind ripped pleated leaves to ribbons

Gaussia gomez-pompae x2 - leaning east

Bismarckia nobilis & Sabal blackburniana - Bizzie was the smallest of 6. One other survived. We are digging seedlings out of the roadside swale. The Sabal now has full sun.

Chamaerops humilis - thought it had been crushed and taken away with debris until it sent up a leaf weeks later

Hemithrinax ekmaniana - crushed along with 3 other siblings. It survived (maybe?); the others did not

Sabal minor - see Chamaerops above. I grew it from seeds of a Savannah, GA, minor that the sender told me might be dwarfed. Is it? I don't know

Sabal or Coccothrinax? - too soon to tell. I alternated species along the edge of the Lot

Attalea phalerata - Ian snapped its crown in two but missed the growing point. Only surviving Attalea

Tahina spectabilis - growing slowly but growing

Sabal grethereae - crushed flat but sending up two leaves

Borassus flabellifer - largest of two, no damage. Now enjoying full sun after Ian took out the mahoe shading them

[Kim]

Some tough palms you have there! I hope winter will not present additional challenges to them. Some may be very happy to soak in the full-strength sun and grow faster as a result -- or am I being too optimistic?  The Borassus flabellifer looks awesome!

I note the palms in the distant background don't look so hot either, so "punk haircuts" for palms is the look until next summer. Embrace it.

[PalmatierMeg]

Moving on to:

Side Yard West

Hyophorbe verschaffeltii x2 & Latania loddigesii + Latania lontaroides  (R) -  Spindles and both Lantanias took on Ian with no damage or lean. Tough palms

Damaged Palms (mainly Archonotophoenix)

Heterospathe elata - only windburn

Saribus rotundifolia planted next to Elaeis stump

Back Yard Jungle

Elaeis guineensis - whole leaf

Howea belmoreana - windburned and hiding behind the mutant oil with no canopy. Will it survive FL swelter?

Livistona drudei - long hampered by shade, now in full sun. Dead leaves caused by Ian

Archonotophoenix purpurea - doing okay even after Ian

Caribbean Garden

Thrinax radiata - took a hit from Charley in 2004. Took another hit from Ian in 2022

Sabal minor 'Blountstown Dwarf' - original mother palm still only 30" wide x 15" tall

[D. Morrowii]

Nice to hear regarding the spindles and latanias. In the pics at least they look to be in fantastic shape.

[PalmatierMeg]

Container Garden and East Side Garden - Before Hurricane Ian I kept a large container garden under canopy in the Back Yard Jungle and in the bird cage over our lanai. Ian destroyed almost all the canopy and ripped away screening. Rare shade loving seedlings and palms were shredded and exposed to sun that is brutal even in December. I moved the surviving palms up against the east side of the house where they are shielded from sun by landscaping palms and Sabal Row. There they may remain until canopy grows back

Sabal Row - In 2009 I planted alternating seedlings of Sabals causiarum, domingensis, mauritiiformis, martina and palmetto along the empty lot between us and the vacant home one building site removed. It was built in 2004, never occupied, bashed by Hurricanes Charley, Jeanne & Wilma, then abandoned for years during the Great Recession. Sabal Row proved itself a boon in 2017 during Irma and again during Ian in 2022. We suffered no house damage other than torn screening even though our yard was destroyed by both storms. Thing is, Sabal Row is not on our property and never has been. We knew it was on borrowed time when a builder showed up to announce he would be starting a house in November 2022. My husband pleaded that at least the Sabal causiarum be spared as it is his favorite palm. Then the real estate slump hit, followed by Hurricane Ian. The empty lot was trashed by fallen invasive Australian pines that also fell on our property and Sabal Row suffered many broken leaves shielding our home. We were overwhelmed with cleanup to our own property and had nothing left for someone else's. Fast forward 3 months + and the gung-ho builder is nowhere to be found. The lot is still trashed and Sabal Row untrimmed. Eventually Cape Coral Code Enforcement will come looking for this guy, assuming he hasn't already skipped town. Just another day in Paradise

Sabal palmetto trunk (L) & Sabal causiarum trunk (R)

Fallen Australian pines