Palms in Norfolk Virginia

[NBTX11]

Sorry no photos.  I recently spent 4 days in Norfolk, Virginia and saw several large palms.  I was quite surprised.  I thought they were contained primarily to Virginia Beach, but this was Norfolk, not VB, and it was also away from the coast a couple miles.  I saw several large trachycarpus that were quite tall, maybe 15 or 20 feet tall that had healthy looking crowns, well inland.  Near the Beach in Norfolk, I saw Sabals and some type of feather palm.  It was quite far away, so I couldn't tell for sure, but the crown sure looked like a phoenix.  Maybe it was a Butia, it was quite far away, but the fronds were not curved like a Butia and from a distance it appeared to be a phoenix canariensis.  This was all in Norfolk, not Virginia Beach.

[Alex High]

9 hours ago, NBTX11 said:

Sorry no photos.  I recently spent 4 days in Norfolk, Virginia and saw several large palms.  I was quite surprised.  I thought they were contained primarily to Virginia Beach, but this was Norfolk, not VB, and it was also away from the coast a couple miles.  I saw several large trachycarpus that were quite tall, maybe 15 or 20 feet tall that had healthy looking crowns, well inland.  Near the Beach in Norfolk, I saw Sabals and some type of feather palm.  It was quite far away, so I couldn't tell for sure, but the crown sure looked like a phoenix.  Maybe it was a Butia, it was quite far away, but the fronds were not curved like a Butia and from a distance it appeared to be a phoenix canariensis.  This was all in Norfolk, not Virginia Beach.

Yes palms are common throughout the Hampton Roads area, decently so up to Williamsburg. The Norfolk Botanical Garden and Zoo have many palms. I have a video of a massive pindo palm in Norfolk, a survivor of many rough freezes:

And the supposed Virginia state champion windmill palm is in Williamsburg at the Griffin Hotel, and they have some other palms there too:

 

[WSimpson]

Great microclimate for that tall Trachycarpus .

Will

[Jack Lord]

A visit to Norfolk has been on my bucket list for awhile. I would think the usual suspects do quite well there. 

[MarcusH]

I've been to Virginia many times especially in Richmond and VA Beach.  You'll find many Sabal Palmetto lined up along Atlantic Blvd in VB I also seen Pindo palms in some neighborhoods.  Of  course VA doesn't have nearly as much palms like you would see in SC and further down.  The Hampton Roads are much warmer in winter than other parts of VA. 

[LeonardHolmes]

On 6/1/2023 at 10:14 AM, Alex High said:

Yes palms are common throughout the Hampton Roads area, decently so up to Williamsburg. The Norfolk Botanical Garden and Zoo have many palms. I have a video of a massive pindo palm in Norfolk, a survivor of many rough freezes:

And the supposed Virginia state champion windmill palm is in Williamsburg at the Griffin Hotel, and they have some other palms there too:

 

Nice videos! These Williamsburg palms were planted by Bob McCartney when he was head gardener at the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation prior to 1980.  He left that year to co-found Woodlanders mail order nursery. I first saw the palms when we moved to Williamsburg in 1981.  The Sabal minors were adults and seeding at that time, so don't be too impressed that there is an inch of two of woodiness at the bottom.  There is a windmill almost as tall at Ewell Hall at William and Mary (behind the Wren building against the wall of the building to the left and behind).  They also have some mature redwoods on campus.

 

[Virginia Palmetto]

Here are some Sabals, Washingtonia hybrids, and Sago in Chesapeake, VA. So far they've all survived temps down to 10F. The Washingtonias defoliate most years but Sabals are true evergreens. There is also a P. dactylifera on the side of the house that keeps freezing to the ground. No photo of that one.

[ZPalms]

4 minutes ago, Virginia Palmetto said:

Here are some Sabals, Washingtonia hybrids, and Sago in Chesapeake, VA. So far they've all survived temps down to 10F. The Washingtonias defoliate most years but Sabals are true evergreens. There is also a P. dactylifera on the side of the house that keeps freezing to the ground. No photo of that one.

The washies are awesome, good to see they bounce back every year without protection

[DreaminAboutPalms]

17 hours ago, ZPalms said:

The washies are awesome, good to see they bounce back every year without protection

That’s why They’re lowkey a great palm for some of these marginal climates cuz they can grow a full crown back super quickly once warm temps return. As long as you can keep it alive through winter it doesn’t matter if it defoliates cuz it’ll look good again by June. 

[Alex High]

On 6/2/2023 at 2:56 PM, LeonardHolmes said:

Nice videos! These Williamsburg palms were planted by Bob McCartney when he was head gardener at the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation prior to 1980.  He left that year to co-found Woodlanders mail order nursery. I first saw the palms when we moved to Williamsburg in 1981.  The Sabal minors were adults and seeding at that time, so don't be too impressed that there is an inch of two of woodiness at the bottom.  There is a windmill almost as tall at Ewell Hall at William and Mary (behind the Wren building against the wall of the building to the left and behind).  They also have some mature redwoods on campus.

 

Thank you for sharing this info, very interesting! It seems that there are a number of palms around the Williamsburg area. If you have any old pics of these palms I'd love to see them. Thanks!