Corpus Christi Palmageddon

[ahosey01]

Was looking at street view in Corpus Christi (long story) and saw this.  I thought Corpus got cold enough to kill off all the tropical stuff.  Clearly a Bismarck survived.  How cold did it actually get there?

[Allen]

Couldn't it be planted since then?  It doesn't look too full for a bizzy

[Xenon]

There are some surviving Bismarckia in Corpus and even further up the coast in Galveston. Wouldn't consider Bismarckia "the tropical stuff"...now "the tropical stuff" aka anything with a crownshaft is dead dead and we're talking big old 20 year old or more royal palms, big mangos, etc not a small dying zone push here or there lol. Corpus saw upper teens in Feb 2021 and low 20s in Dec 2022. 

Edited June 21, 2023 by Xenon

[Xenon]

27 minutes ago, Allen said:

Couldn't it be planted since then?  It doesn't look too full for a bizzy

Here it is in 2007

 

There's another one directly across the street, growth rate slower probably from the shade 

 

 

 

 

Off topic but look at the Arenga engleri and the big Ficus elastica next door

 

[WisTex]

On 6/21/2023 at 10:24 AM, ahosey01 said:

I thought Corpus got cold enough to kill off all the tropical stuff.  Clearly a Bismarck survived.  How cold did it actually get there?

Corpus airport in the middle of nowhere on northwest side of city:  February 2021 = 17f.   December 2022 = 22f.

North Padre Island, in Gulf off of Corpus south side: February 2021 = 20f.  December 2022 = 26f.

In 2021 on North Padre all unprotected Foxtails, and Queens were killed.  Nearly every Bismarck also although there were few to begin with.  In 2022 every unprotected replacement Foxtail and nearly every unprotected replacement Queen were killed.

The Island did not have a severe palm killing incident for 30 years, and many of the Queens and Foxtails killed in 2021 were good size.  The danger posed by and cost of removing the mature Queens killed in the 2021 event, along with the replacement kill in the December 2022 freeze resulted in Island residents becoming cold tolerant aware when it comes to palms.  Pindos, Sylvesters, Sabals, fan palms are frequent replacements for Queens.  Very few Foxtails have been replanted even though nurseries and the big box stores keep pushing them along with Queens to "a palm tree is a palm tree" buyers.

Edited June 30, 2023 by WisTex

[SeanK]

Corpus and all of coastal TX is at a disadvantage in a cold event. While L.A. has the Pacific to the NW and West Palm has the Gulf 125-miles to the west, the Texas Riviera has the great plains and Rocky Mountains that funnel Arctic winds to its coast.

[MarcusH]

The only place to grow more exotic palms are the RGV . Unfortunately the artic blasts are too severe to grow 9b plus palms in other parts of Texas. I have 2 Queens planted since May 2022 and February 2023. The one I planted last year here in SA  surivived lows of 16,21,24,28F with light protection , a bucket and thin bedsheet wrapped around it. No other heat sources were added to it.  Without protection it would have been a goner no doubt.  I might not protect it anymore because I don't want to constantly be worried about it.  The two Queens will be replaced by a Sabal Palmetto and a Washingtonia Filifera.  I'm already growing Filiferas in a pot and use it as a back up palm. The Sabal will be an expensive replacement about 2500 Dollars (incl. tax/installation) for a 8 footer ( clear trunk) but it's a palm that I never have to worry about it plus they keep looking good no matter what the temperature is here in SA.  Texas isn't Florida or California even we share the same latitude and most of the climate we're just an open door for artic winters.  Queens are cheap and fast growing there isn’t anything wrong with growing them in our climate if you don't mind 0 to 20 years of growth getting destroyed by one event . So far we had 2 brutal winters within 3 years ,that would kill almost all 9b plus palms without some serious protection.  This is kind of discouraging to me to stick with more exotic palms. I would pick a palm that can survive our winters without protection , just giving you my two cents. Most commercial businesses don't know anything about palms . They just plant what they can buy at their local store .