What do you consider a success?

[Advective]

It can be difficult to keep palms alive long term in hostile climates and losing them to the rare, extra-severe winter can be devastating. To keep a positive perspective, what do you consider a success for individual plants?

20+ years of palm life?

A palm reaching a crown height you can walk under?

One foot of clear trunk? Perhaps for those in zone 7 climates growing Sabal Birmingham and the like?

 

[DTS]

For me it would be to keep a palm alive for 2+ years that isnt struggling.

[N8ALLRIGHT]

4 minutes ago, DTS1 said:

For me it would be to keep a palm alive for 2+ years that isnt struggling.

Tundra Life

I know the feeling 

[MarcusH]

Success is to keep a palm alive until it dies by natural cause. Everything else is just borrowed time and shouldn't be planted in the wrong location.  

[Allen]

All of my zone 7 palms have done much better than expected so I consider pretty much all a success.  I always wanted palms I could walk under and I now have several of them grown from small palms.  My mule has gotten much bigger than I ever thought and has been a success for my space.

Edited November 25, 2023 by Allen

[Las Palmas Norte]

What do you consider a success?

Reaching 65 and not being on any medications.

[WSimpson]

Success for me is for my Washy , Butia ordorata , Chamaerops humilus and cerifera  , and  Sabal palmetto   to look good  . All the other varieties of palms  I don't protect , and I hope we don't get anything weird as  far as  temperatures go .  Now that I'm a zone 8A I'm sure everything will be OK 😬 . 

Washy getting too big . I'll have a person  model it  soon . I think it looks  smaller without some scale . 

Will

[WSimpson]

This should be my screen saver picture . Before the first frost /freeze .

Edited November 25, 2023 by Will Simpson

[WisTex]

Property owners on North Padre Island found out Mother Nature always eventually wins when you play the weather odds.  Mature Queen and Foxtail palms, after 30 years of great palm growing temperatures, destroyed during 5 days in February of 2021 resulting in hundreds of dollars per tree in removal costs.

Edited November 25, 2023 by WisTex

[JohnAndSancho]

I dunno. I only got into palms during the pandemic, and to date I've planted exactly zero things in the ground. I also left a lot of stuff behind when I got evicted, and I spent tons of money on various pots/soils/fertilizers and I've killed a bunch of stuff, too. 

 

Now that I live off of a gravel road with no neighbors, this doesn't happen much - but when I lived in my apartment, it always felt good when random people would compliment my plants as they walked by. And it was hilarious that neighbors would tell the Doordash/pizza drivers they were x doors down from all the palm trees.

My Queen was 8 feet tall from the soil, which doesn't sound like much until you're trying you squeeze it into a studio apartment during a snowstorm lol. That was a success. 

[kinzyjr]

A success is enjoying what I grow while it grows. 

[RFun]

23 hours ago, Advective said:

It can be difficult to keep palms alive long term in hostile climates and losing them to the rare, extra-severe winter can be devastating. To keep a positive perspective, what do you consider a success for individual plants?

20+ years of palm life?

A palm reaching a crown height you can walk under?

One foot of clear trunk? Perhaps for those in zone 7 climates growing Sabal Birmingham and the like?

 

20+ years would be pretty good for those who are in more challenging areas.  But, it really can be more than that if you're adding protection for those not so tall varieties.

[Fusca]

For me today success was getting this 10-gal Syagrus into my little Nissan by myself and getting home safely!  😄

Edited November 25, 2023 by Fusca

[EJPalm05]

My biggest success is probably my largest washingtonia that I grew from seed in 2021.  A fast growing palm indeed!

[JLM]

6 hours ago, Fusca said:

For me today success was getting this 10-gal Syagrus into my little Nissan by myself and getting home safely!  😄

That’s the best looking potted queen I’ve ever seen. That in of itself is a success. 

[Dwarf Fan]

Success is the ability to grow over 100 different species of Palms in my zone (finding the yard space will be the most difficult part after joining Palm Talk).

Current count: 38 different species.

Pinnate: 15 different species

Palmate: 23 different species 

[Dwarf Fan]

“A palm reaching a crown height you can walk under?” -Advective

^^^ This will be a nice milestone though.

[ChicagoPalma]

Keeping a palm alive in chicago!

[NWpalms@206]

When my biggest jubaea starts clear trunking I will raise a glass to celebrate! 

[teddytn]

Palms/ plants gardening in general is a lot of work at least if you have a bunch. Takes years for plants and areas of the garden to develop. I remember a specific moment a few years ago when I realized the only time I spent out with any of my plants is working…pulling weeds, cutting dead fronds, watering, mulching, always looking for new plants to plant as an excuse to be out there with them. So I was chasing the joy….I instantly made a shift in the way I interacted with my garden. Started putting chairs and benches in different places and finding time to just hang out and enjoy it. What got me into gardening was seeing others gardens and potted plants and feeling joy from it, thinking that if I had that I would enjoy it. So what do I consider gardening/ palm success? When instead of just putting energy into it, you also start getting in return. This doesn’t have to be a whole garden full of plants. One single palm will do it, or should anyway, it’s just perspective. I know when I’m randomly driving and see a cool plant in someone’s yard I alway let out an audible “Whoaaaa”! Lol. Rambling complete - As soon as you feel joy from gardening you’ve succeeded. 

[NWpalms@206]

On 12/3/2023 at 5:31 AM, teddytn said:

Palms/ plants gardening in general is a lot of work at least if you have a bunch. Takes years for plants and areas of the garden to develop. I remember a specific moment a few years ago when I realized the only time I spent out with any of my plants is working…pulling weeds, cutting dead fronds, watering, mulching, always looking for new plants to plant as an excuse to be out there with them. So I was chasing the joy….I instantly made a shift in the way I interacted with my garden. Started putting chairs and benches in different places and finding time to just hang out and enjoy it. What got me into gardening was seeing others gardens and potted plants and feeling joy from it, thinking that if I had that I would enjoy it. So what do I consider gardening/ palm success? When instead of just putting energy into it, you also start getting in return. This doesn’t have to be a whole garden full of plants. One single palm will do it, or should anyway, it’s just perspective. I know when I’m randomly driving and see a cool plant in someone’s yard I alway let out an audible “Whoaaaa”! Lol. Rambling complete - As soon as you feel joy from gardening you’ve succeeded. 

Although Im still young(ish) 36... I love this idea of a shift in mindset from the work to enjoyment. I am still in the beginnings of building my paradise , so theres alot of work and some stress and energy spent as well. But even now i try to stop and just take it in and enjoy the process as much as the results!

[Swolte]

I agree, I tend to underestimate how much I enjoy the process! The reading about palms. Following heated discussions on PT. Figuring out the best spot. Preparing the spot to give it the best chance ever. Finally pulling the trigger and getting that rare palm you've been scouring the internet for. Unpacking is usually a joy. Planting is my favorite. Taking pictures and finding interesting companion plants great pastime.

Given the unique challenges we've had in Texas the past few years (100+ year record breaking cold and heat/drought events), I am happy if palms stay green during the warm months and show a bit of growth. Patience will pay off (I hope). I have made peace with the idea that I may move at some point and I will never get to see some plants reach maturity.

[Brandon James]

For me success is treating seasonal affective disorder. Winters are long and can be hard in maine. On the coast we have frequent warmups and the snow will melt, but the humid cold is no joke. Since I planted the trachy in March 2019 I started out just hoping to enjoy the view while I can, but I decided to make a green house for winter to keep the palm looking its best and I even made an enclosed area for a bench to go into and sit looking at the palms even on a snowy cold afternoon. 

[Than]

Since I was little I used to watch documentaries about the tropical rainforests and dreamt of visiting them. Finally I made it when I was 35; I spent 6 years in Indonesia and visited the jungle a few times - once even got lost and had to be rescued, scary! Being in that kind of nature, seeing green all around me, wild, full of life, made me happy. 

My goal is to recreate that nature. Create a small space where I can stand in the middle and get that feeling of being surrounded by lush greenery. No idea if I will ever make it (my area gets frosts often) but I will try (frost fleece is my best new mate). That will be success for me. A couple of iconic species, like Kigelia or Wodyetia would be super awesome!

Now if we are talking about absolute success, having the only cocos nucifera in the ground in continental Europe would be that. It will remain a dream I'm sure

Edited December 7, 2023 by ego

[Allen]

My big success is going for a year round tropical look in zone 7 which is pretty much there.