Big box stores -2024

[Chester B]

Huge queens, Pygmy dates, Washies, Bottle palms! And Bismarckia at the Kingwood Lowes here in the Houston area. Only one Bismarckia left as the bluest one is coming with me!

[BeyondTheGarden]

Did you buy all of them?

[SeanK]

Wouldn't call those Queens "huge". 

The Bizzie was the best choice.

[Leelanau Palms]

Late winter (for my zone) eye candy 😎

Edited February 17, 2024 by Leelanau Palms

[Chester B]

53 minutes ago, BeyondTheGarden said:

Did you buy all of them?

I'm thinking on those bottles, they were really nice.

34 minutes ago, SeanK said:

Wouldn't call those Queens "huge". 

The Bizzie was the best choice.

For $60 they were pretty big.  Twice my height.

 

[BeyondTheGarden]

Well since you're planting needles, the Hyophorbe would be on the opposite end of the hardiness spectrum.  Are there any around that look like they have any tenure? 

[Chester B]

28 minutes ago, BeyondTheGarden said:

Well since you're planting needles, the Hyophorbe would be on the opposite end of the hardiness spectrum.  Are there any around that look like they have any tenure? 

None.  I was thinking of trying it in a big pot.  Bring inside the great room for Jan/Feb

[Xenon]

17 minutes ago, Chester B said:

None.  I was thinking of trying it in a big pot.  Bring inside the great room for Jan/Feb

 

46 minutes ago, BeyondTheGarden said:

Well since you're planting needles, the Hyophorbe would be on the opposite end of the hardiness spectrum.  Are there any around that look like they have any tenure? 

I've seen them last a few years not too far away (this is in Galveston). Would make an interesting zone push considering your proximity to Lake Houston 😛

[DAVEinMB]

1 hour ago, Chester B said:

For $60 they were pretty big.  Twice my height.

That's a solid price for that size, I'm curious to see what the tags here say in a couple months

[Chester B]

@XenonI already have the King and now the Bismarckia, I think that's about as adventurous as I'm going to get.  I don't want to be in the protection game.  

 

@DAVEinMB Foxtails were $65, Bottles which were about 7-8' were $70, Bismarckia $74.  I didn't bother to look at the Pygymy dates.  Larger Washingtonia were $35.  They did have one enormous triple Pygymy on clearance for $110.

 

[Keys6505]

19 minutes ago, Chester B said:

@XenonI already have the King and now the Bismarckia, I think that's about as adventurous as I'm going to get.  I don't want to be in the protection game

Don't sleep on the Bizzy.  I think there's somewhat of a genetic lottery that you might have play a few times but I have a Lowe's Bizzy that's survived 15° and 17°(wrapped), 20° unprotected.  I've also had 3 others that were not as fond of the cold and died at those temps in the same conditions.

[Chester B]

1 minute ago, Keys6505 said:

Don't sleep on the Bizzy.  I think there's somewhat of a genetic lottery that you might have play a few times but I have a Lowe's Bizzy that's survived 15° and 17°(wrapped), 20° unprotected.  I've also had 3 others that were not as fond of the cold and died at those temps in the same conditions.

Good to know.  What I neglected to mention is I took the one that was more icy blue with a lot of pink/purple in the petioles.  I know people on here have surmised these were traits of ones that were more cold hardy.  First and second pics were of the one I bought, the third pic was of the more green one.

[Paradise Found]

Eye candy so early is great    👍 good luck with all of them.

It will be fun to see them grow from month to month, year to year.
Still stuck in the 50’s here in pnw.  Winter shrubs are in full bloom. A week ago had 1/2 inch of snow rain in afternoon.  So glad when spring hits us.   

[SeanK]

5 hours ago, Chester B said:

I'm thinking on those bottles, they were really nice.

For $60 they were pretty big.  Twice my height.

 

I guess the photo is deceptive. What size pots?

[JLM]

My Walmart had a bunch of spindles and queens, as well as adonidia all for half price like 2 weeks ago. Now here’s the kicker, they were all dead from the freeze lol

Gulf Breeze, FL Lowe’s had quite a lot the other day. They had some foxtails, 3 different sizes of queens (small w/strap leaves, 6.5 gal, and something around 13 gal, some of the 13s had trunk rings), Pygmy dates of various sizes, Washingtonia of various sizes, a couple sylvestris, a couple livistona chinensis, the typical majesties, and probably the largest sagos I’ve ever seen sold in a big box store.
 

I ended up taking home a small queen. Why? The Lowe’s had them priced at $19.98 while the Gulf Breeze Walmart had the exact same size of queen priced at $25. 

[DAVEinMB]

Blue store starting the season off strong

Edited February 28, 2024 by DAVEinMB

[BeyondTheGarden]

@DAVEinMB You should be good to do a few species of Livistona there right?

[DAVEinMB]

1 hour ago, BeyondTheGarden said:

@DAVEinMB You should be good to do a few species of Livistona there right?

L. Chinensis does pretty well here and they're becoming more common. I have one with about 7' of clear trunk that's been in the ground for 4 years iirc. I also have a decora and a nitida. The decora is getting pretty big but has gotten a good bit of protection. The nitida is small but it has gone palmate. 

Here's a fairly recent pic of the decora

[BeyondTheGarden]

Guess I should make a run down to Myrtle.  I believe those queens would be like $25 down in Florida though...

[JLM]

41 minutes ago, BeyondTheGarden said:

Guess I should make a run down to Myrtle.  I believe those queens would be like $25 down in Florida though...

Queens of that size are about $60 (6.5 gal) in this part of the state. The only reason they’re $80 in the above pic is because of the pot it comes with.

[BeyondTheGarden]

5 minutes ago, JLM said:

Queens of that size are about $60 (6.5 gal) in this part of the state. The only reason they’re $80 in the above pic is because of the pot it comes with.

I see.  It is a decorative pot and looking again they're bigger than I thought. 

[Keys6505]

Mini Majesties back at HD

[DAVEinMB]

1 hour ago, BeyondTheGarden said:

I see.  It is a decorative pot and looking again they're bigger than I thought. 

Yea they weren't bad, 7 or 8 feet 

[Robbertico18]

Any one ever encounter a Phoenix reclinata at a big box store ?

this thread inspired me to go out looking, ended up bringing home a decent sized washy for $25!

[Chester B]

9 hours ago, Robbertico18 said:

Any one ever encounter a Phoenix reclinata at a big box store ?

this thread inspired me to go out looking, ended up bringing home a decent sized washy for $25!

Nope

I was at Lowes in Atascocita the other day, they had Pygmys, Washingtonia, Chamaerops, Queens, Bottle palms and one lone Bismarckia.  Some of them were in the decorative pots so were $15 more than the ones I saw at the Kingswood location.

Summerwood HomeDepot only has Pygmys, small Washingtonia, and two sizes of Queens.

[Harry’s Palms]

With a lot of these big box stores the palms are grown in huge greenhouses , they are not hardened off. The overall height is deceptive as the fronds are “stretched” out . The fronds will be much shorter after they harden off to the real environment. Some palms are more likely than others to have this. The interim period of hardening off can be problematic depending on where you live . I am in Southern California where we have a warm temperate climate and even here these palms go through a hardening off period that can be lengthy. I think where I am , it is the lack of humidity that the palms are used to , coming from a green house. When buying from big box stores don’t go by the height of the palm but look at the “nut”. The area of the palm that is coming out of the soil , or trunk , if you will. I would rather buy old inventory for this reason. I bought a L. Australis that had been sitting at a nursery for …who knows how long. It looked sad but the new growth was good . It just hadn’t been trimmed up . It was a 5 gal. container and the “nut was quite large. I got a great deal(30% off) because it was old stock and it acclimated immediately to its new home , no hardening off. It gained size rapidly for the species. Just a thought , Harry

[Brian M]

Found this little dypsis decaryi stashed in between a bunch of cat palms this morning. 

Edited March 3, 2024 by Brian M

[ChicagoPalma]

Lord help me I did not know one big box store has 30 ft queens in it… Heck I found pindo palm and lady palm and other palms but some palms are underpriced overpriced. Posting a video on my channel of some videos I took at it. If you are in Chicagoland, visit it or buy some nice palms!

[necturus]

I've had three Bizzies. Only one survives.

Two came from TCHPs. One TCHP Bizzie died in a freeze before the 2021. I can't remember the year or low temperature, but I was surprised because he claimed his were hardy into the teens. The second one died in 2021.

I bought a similar sized Bizzie at Lowes and planted it the summer before 2021. I couldn't cover it completely but wrapped the base. It lost all leaves but eventually pushed new growth. I believe all trunking Bizzies in my greater area (SW Houston) died that year.

In each of our low 20s - high teens freezes since then it completely defoliated. I have trunk cut both times. It is already pushing growth.

Part of me wishes it died. They're beautiful palms. I didn't plant it in a good spot, and I am worried it'll eventually take off and then die in a bad freeze, leaving me with a big mess.

[FilthyFiveHole]

The new moon valley in San Antonio has huge Jubaeas! 

[Ben G.]

38 minutes ago, blake_tx8b said:

The new moon valley in San Antonio has huge Jubaeas! 

Nice find. I am shopping for homes in the San Antonio area right now and I have been wondering about the best places to find palms. Moon Valley was on my radar, so I will have to check them out once I get moved in.

[Chester B]

1 hour ago, blake_tx8b said:

The new moon valley in San Antonio has huge Jubaeas! 

How much were they?  $25,000 each? 

[Chester B]

31 minutes ago, Ben OK said:

Nice find. I am shopping for homes in the San Antonio area right now and I have been wondering about the best places to find palms. Moon Valley was on my radar, so I will have to check them out once I get moved in.

You should get a checkup from your doctor before you go.  Just wait until you see the prices!

The one here had Trachys with 2-3' of trunk for $1800.  They had palms up to $20,000.  Basically there prices were 4X or more than other nurseries.  

They do have nice palms I will give them that.  I've been once, never again.

[FilthyFiveHole]

1 hour ago, Chester B said:

How much were they?  $25,000 each? 

Haha I think so!! But they were 50% off!!! 😝 Hahaha, still very nice to see Jubaeas!!!

[ChicagoPalma]

I've seen a moon valley nursery while traveling in texas once, went there because my mom wanted something from there, yeah it is expensive for the larger palms, they are nice though, I'd rather buy that overpriced b&b windmill from northeast ohio palms for 1200 dollars though.

[Ben G.]

5 hours ago, Chester B said:

You should get a checkup from your doctor before you go.  Just wait until you see the prices!

The one here had Trachys with 2-3' of trunk for $1800.  They had palms up to $20,000.  Basically there prices were 4X or more than other nurseries.  

They do have nice palms I will give them that.  I've been once, never again.

Yikes. That sounds rough. Have you found any nurseries in the area you tend to prefer?

[Chester B]

5 hours ago, blake_tx8b said:

Haha I think so!! But they were 50% off!!! 😝 Hahaha, still very nice to see Jubaeas!!!

Yes it is always nice to see Jubaea.  

Funny though when I was at Moon everything was 50% off too?  Almost seems like they are having such a great sale, lucky us.

 

54 minutes ago, Ben OK said:

Yikes. That sounds rough. Have you found any nurseries in the area you tend to prefer?

I've only been to a few so far.  

Natius nursery is interesting, but its like a scavenger hunt.  Everything everywhere all at once.  Lots of things with no prices.  But their prices seem reasonable and they have all sorts of things.

I like Buchannan's, it was more along the lines of what I am used to seeing in Oregon.  Prices were decent, not great but decent.  But there were deals to be had.  All the plants were in top notch shape.

Houston Garden Centers have a decent selection, I think they stick to more of the common things.  However there prices were quite good I thought for the size of plants you get.

Other than that I'm still exploring.

 

[BeyondTheGarden]

All you spoilt zone 9 gardeners!  The nearest nursery that's not a BBS (big box store) is an hour away from my "new" place.  Luckily once I get that close to Raleigh, I've got 3 within 15 minutes of eachother (PDN, Fairview Garden Center, and Garden Supply Co which has the best selection and worst prices).  I've picked up a Caryota mitis, Mahonia "nari-hira", some exotic ferns, loquat, etc.  To get to the marginal palms though, I have to drive to Myrtle Beach, 2 and a half hours away.  They (Plants Direct, Conway SC) were selling 3 gal Serenoa repens for $40... I didn't realize it at the time otherwise I would have bought more!  There are some Washingtonia down there at the big blue box store, I need to run back down again.  

[Keys6505]

14 hours ago, Chester B said:

I've only been to a few so far.  

I'd suggest checking out Caldwell in Rosenberg while you still can.  It was a husband/wife operation until the wife passed away about 3 years ago.  They had some pretty unusual stuff when they were fully operational.  Unfortunately I just came across a note on their website that they are shutting down for good in a few months.

[Chester B]

2 hours ago, Keys6505 said:

I'd suggest checking out Caldwell in Rosenberg while you still can.  It was a husband/wife operation until the wife passed away about 3 years ago.  They had some pretty unusual stuff when they were fully operational.  Unfortunately I just came across a note on their website that they are shutting down for good in a few months.

It’s funny that you mentioned this.  Just this morning I was looking at a list of nurseries that I had compiled that I wanted to visit. And beside Caldwell I had a star so I must’ve thought this was a real good one. I had written down to visit Caldwell and Enchanted Gardens on the same trip. Looks like I need to do this sooner rather than later.