Texas Palms

[MarcusH]

Only a small portion of Robustas at The Rim in San Antonio.  They also brought back some Phoenix Dactylifera at one of their entrances.  Pretty large ones. 

[MarcusH]

55 minutes ago, Chester B said:

I’ve been all over today and am spending the night in Corpus Christi. I’m playing tour guide and am the driver so sadly I haven’t been able to snap any good pics. I was on Padre island and was shocked to see a yard full of coconut palms. They were all planted post 2021 as they weren’t huge. One might’ve been 8 feet or so. I think it was Caravel drive if anyone is in the area.  I saw a few Bismarkia at a hotel but they were recently planted. In general the CIDP down here are huge and are the best I’ve seen in Texas. 
 

Ocean drive is very reminiscent of California to me with the abundance of robusta. Stopped in at Neuces Brewery and their beer was pretty tasty. 

CC is full of Robustas . Looks like California,  you're right about that. Best looking Texas coastal cities in my opinion . 

[Chester B]

About as Texas as you can get. Whataburger and Palms. 

[Robert Cade Ross]

On 10/18/2024 at 10:40 AM, Chester B said:

Picture of the small weeping Chamaerops I saw for sale. And a random shot from downtown Galveston. 

Saw these queens back in march they replaced a few here . Pre 2021 the original ones were huge and so healthy 

[Robert Cade Ross]

A&M corpus tonight;) 

[MarcusH]

15 minutes ago, Robert Cade Ross said:

A&M corpus tonight;) 

You've found another Queen survivor.  Those Bismarck palms look amazing. 

[ChrisA]

Some real palm love being featured along the beautiful Texas coast! Thanks for sharing those awesome finds. 

 

[Chester B]

Jungle vibes at Kemah. 

[Robert Cade Ross]

3 hours ago, Chester B said:

Jungle vibes at Kemah. 

Kinda depressing that place used to have massive queens , foxtails Bismarcks kings :v 

[Robert Cade Ross]

10 hours ago, ChrisA said:

Some real palm love being featured along the beautiful Texas coast! Thanks for sharing those awesome finds. 

 

More 2021 survivors this Everglades is a huge surprise! We took every seed haha 

[ChrisA]

Wow, that’s a GREAT find.  Good luck with those seeds!  In normal winters I think those would do great for you.

 

[Chester B]

1 hour ago, Robert Cade Ross said:

More 2021 survivors this Everglades is a huge surprise! We took every seed haha 

I saw a few big Everglades palms in Corpus Christi when I was there as well planted in commercial settings.

One question I have is does anyone know what the trees with the red flowers are?  I saw them all along the main highway in the older areas,  but did not see any close up.  They looked like they might've had legume type foliage, but didn't look like Royal poinciana to me.

[Xenon]

3 hours ago, Robert Cade Ross said:

Kinda depressing that place used to have massive queens , foxtails Bismarcks kings :v 

Yep all of these pics are depressing, everything is a shadow of what it once was. Never in a million years did I think people would be posting pics of queen palms in Corpus as something unusual 😂🤣😭 

And yes the zone 8 hellscape Carolina-esque landscape in Kemah. Hopefully we've hit rock bottom. Can only go up from here right? 😜

[MarcusH]

8 minutes ago, Xenon said:

Yep all of these pics are depressing, everything is a shadow of what it once was. Never in a million years did I think people would be posting pics of queen palms in Corpus as something unusual 😂🤣😭 

And yes the zone 8 hellscape Carolina-esque landscape in Kemah. Hopefully we've hit rock bottom. Can only go up from here right? 😜

We'll keep the faith for sure.  It would be nice to have some mild years of winter where we can enjoy the looks of palms without burned fronds.  

[Austinpalm]

1 hour ago, Chester B said:

 

One question I have is does anyone know what the trees with the red flowers are?  I saw them all along the main highway in the older areas,  but did not see any close up.  They looked like they might've had legume type foliage, but didn't look like Royal poinciana to me.

Maybe Pride of Barbados (Caesalpinia pulcherrima)?  Do you have a picture of them to share?

[MarcusH]

52 minutes ago, Austinpalm said:

Maybe Pride of Barbados (Caesalpinia pulcherrima)?  Do you have a picture of them to share?

Wouldn't that be a yellow/orange bloom if it's a Pride of Barbados?  

[Chester B]

1 hour ago, Austinpalm said:

Maybe Pride of Barbados (Caesalpinia pulcherrima)?  Do you have a picture of them to share?

No these are large trees.  Like 25-30 feet tall.  It's a terrible picture but its to the right of the Sabals.  Newer flower buds/pods? looked more orange and they turn red.

[Robert Cade Ross]

8 minutes ago, Chester B said:

No these are large trees.  Like 25-30 feet tall.  It's a terrible picture but its to the right of the Sabals.  Newer flower buds/pods? looked more orange and they turn red.

I’ve seen them before lol there’s some in Alvin I don’t know the name 😂😂

[Xenon]

22 minutes ago, Chester B said:

No these are large trees.  Like 25-30 feet tall.  It's a terrible picture but its to the right of the Sabals.  Newer flower buds/pods? looked more orange and they turn red.

Hahaha looks like the seedpods of Chinaberry, one of the most invasive trees in TX (it's all over Houston too). 

Royal poinciana is super mega tender, gotta drive another 2.5 hours to see them (and they are traffic stopping when in peak bloom). 

[Chester B]

7 minutes ago, Xenon said:

Hahaha looks like the seedpods of Chinaberry, one of the most invasive trees in TX (it's all over Houston too). 

Royal poinciana is super mega tender, gotta drive another 2.5 hours to see them (and they are traffic stopping when in peak bloom). 

Definitely not Chinaberry.  The closest I can find is Erythrina crista-galli, also known as the cockspur coral tree or common coral tree.  That looks like what I saw.

[Austinpalm]

Ohh,  that looks like maybe golden rain tree (Koelreuteria paniculata).

 

[Xenon]

52 minutes ago, Chester B said:

 The closest I can find is Erythrina crista-galli, also known as the cockspur coral tree or common coral tree.  That looks like what I saw.

Agree with Austinpalm. That tree is also very common in certain parts of suburbia 

Speaking of crista-galli, I ran into one in SW Houston back in the spring coming back. Some died outright 2021, was kinda weird considering much more tender things like Ficus always come back. You used to be able to find some big trees here and there. It and Cordia boissieri are some of the prettiest subtropical flowering trees for Houston imo. The lone Peltophorum dubium in town was on another level. 

[Chester B]

7 minutes ago, Xenon said:

Agree with Austinpalm. That tree is also very common in certain parts of suburbia 

Could be that based on photos online.  They looked like that to me., but I have only seem them as having gold flowers, at least back in Canada that's how they present.  However the photos online do show orange and red.

I stopped in at Turner's Gardenland and they had Foxtails, but I was surprised by the large Coco Queens they had.  Nice looking palms, I should've gotten a photo.  They were in boxes and pretty big, price was $999.

[SeanK]

@Robert Cade Ross - Acoelorapphe wrightii is a nice find.

 

[Fusca]

2 hours ago, Chester B said:

I stopped in at Turner's Gardenland and they had Foxtails, but I was surprised by the large Coco Queens they had.  Nice looking palms, I should've gotten a photo.  They were in boxes and pretty big, price was $999.

Here's mine - not exactly $999 size but looking good for a $15 seedling from a couple of years ago.  I got it directly from the hybridizer (is that a word?) Erik Brown as a small 2-strap-leaf.  It's begging to go in the ground so it will this February.

[Robert Cade Ross]

Flour bluff corpus today ! Lots of coconuts if you actually look hard enough lol .coco queen 🤩🫣😆 

[MarcusH]

1 hour ago, Robert Cade Ross said:

Flour bluff corpus today ! Lots of coconuts if you actually look hard enough lol .coco queen 🤩🫣😆 

Dan lives close by on NPI . Whenever I go down there I give him a call. He showed me a lot of cool palms on his island . I know Flour Bluff pretty well. Best palms I have seen are on NPI and Ocean Dr . All the other areas are heavily Robusta.  Some of the pics you've posted I know where it is. CC is pretty awesome . 

[Chester B]

@Robert Cade Ross it looks like you found the house I saw with all the coconuts. I was staying at the Candlewood Suites on Flour bluff. It’s a convenient spot and lots of fishing going on just outside the hotel. 
 

If you’re looking for good donuts and kolaches I recommend CC Donuts on Everhart. 

[Robert Cade Ross]

Few more pics .

[Robert Cade Ross]

2 hours ago, MarcusH said:

Dan lives close by on NPI . Whenever I go down there I give him a call. He showed me a lot of cool palms on his island . I know Flour Bluff pretty well. Best palms I have seen are on NPI and Ocean Dr . All the other areas are heavily Robusta.  Some of the pics you've posted I know where it is. CC is pretty awesome . 

I met Dan today he’s a awesome dude 🌴🌴🌴🤙

[Dwarf Fan]

43 minutes ago, Robert Cade Ross said:

I met Dan today he’s a awesome dude 🌴🌴🌴🤙

Always great to meet a fellow Palm Talker in real life, although now I am going to have to get my eyes checked I can’t believe I have driven by and not noticed so many baby Coconuts… also great catch on that CocoQueen today as well! 

It was a pleasure to meet you and chat about palms today as well!🏝️🤙

[Xerarch]

9 hours ago, Austinpalm said:

Ohh,  that looks like maybe golden rain tree (Koelreuteria paniculata).

 

That's exactly what they are Koelreutaria, Golden Rain Tree, they're all over town, and I don't know why.

[Xerarch]

49 minutes ago, Dwarf Fan said:

Always great to meet a fellow Palm Talker in real life, although now I am going to have to get my eyes checked I can’t believe I have driven by and not noticed so many baby Coconuts… also great catch on that CocoQueen today as well! 

It was a pleasure to meet you and chat about palms today as well!🏝️🤙

Yeah there are really quite a few young coconuts around, I've posted a handful of them on other threads, but Robert seems to have found a lot, and he didn't even catch John's (Mr. coconut palm) in his yard, or his neighbor who he has supplied, or mine for that matter.  But mine are in the back and would have been hard to notice, my house is also unlikely to drive by at random also.  I've been waiting to catch those coco queens from Turner's out in the wild, they really are nice, just that price tag was too steep for me.

[Robert Cade Ross]

48 minutes ago, Xerarch said:

Yeah there are really quite a few young coconuts around, I've posted a handful of them on other threads, but Robert seems to have found a lot, and he didn't even catch John's (Mr. coconut palm) in his yard, or his neighbor who he has supplied, or mine for that matter.  But mine are in the back and would have been hard to notice, my house is also unlikely to drive by at random also.  I've been waiting to catch those coco queens from Turner's out in the wild, they really are nice, just that price tag was too steep for me.

I know John well but this was enough palms for me to see lol ! 

[Robert Cade Ross]

Picked up two pindos and two Bismarck’s tonight:) 

[Chester B]

@Robert Cade Ross I think you missed this behemoth at Lowe’s. 
 

[Chester B]

Here’s a few newly planted mexicana at Roberts Point Park in Port Aransas.  Pictures don’t do them justice they all had an enormous girth to the trunks.  The fattest I’ve seen yet. 

[Robert Cade Ross]

2 hours ago, Chester B said:

@Robert Cade Ross I think you missed this behemoth at Lowe’s. 
 

No lol it’s too big to handle haha 

[Xenon]

13 hours ago, Xerarch said:

  But mine are in the back and would have been hard to notice, my house is also unlikely to drive by at random also.  I've been waiting to catch those coco queens from Turner's out in the wild, they really are nice, just that price tag was too steep for me.

Just wait till your royals start sticking out, will ping palm radar immediately. I'm surprised there are more CC coconut pics than royals LOL

[Fusca]

4 hours ago, Chester B said:

Here’s a few newly planted mexicana at Roberts Point Park in Port Aransas.  Pictures don’t do them justice they all had an enormous girth to the trunks.  The fattest I’ve seen yet. 

Those old leaf boots can really make the trunk look fat.  Once they're removed the thickness kinda normalizes.  There's a massive one here in Harlingen I'll have to get a pic.  Gotta love the thick trunks!