Silver saw palmetto in Austin TX area?

[Calosphace]

Anyone know of one in Austin or at least central TX? I'm moving there and wanted a little north Florida corner and this is my favorite local palm species. I hear they are difficult outside of their native range though.

I do plan on getting the two native palms  (Sabal mexicana and Sabal minor) and bringing one of my Needle palms with me so all those should be reliable with decent siting.

I also plan on having several evergreen canopy plants established e.g. local live oak, juniperus, I'm researching into viability of nearest pinus species

[ChrisA]

I’m not sure about Austin, but there are many of these around San Antonio.  I would think they’d do just as well in the Austin area. There was some damage from palmaggedon in 2021 but they have recovered.

[Chester B]

I would think they’d get enough heat but you’ll most likely need to be generous with the water. I have one but I’m in Houston so my climate is more similar to Florida than Austin. 

[Fusca]

On 10/8/2024 at 5:04 PM, Calosphace said:

Anyone know of one in Austin or at least central TX? I'm moving there and wanted a little north Florida corner and this is my favorite local palm species. I hear they are difficult outside of their native range though.

They need good drainage so if you have clay soil you'll want to amend the soil.  They're pretty tolerant of drought once established.

[Swolte]

Mine has been fine throughout all the terror the past years in College station. Not been growing great but I also don't pamper it. Great palm! At JFGardens (old pic attached after 21 freeze damage, I believe), they have grown to a mature size with long trunks so a testament to them doing well in Central Texas (Note, JFGardens does have better soil and in my experience a zone up from my yard).   

[Meangreen94z]

Yes, they will burn during bad winters but come back. Zilker botanical garden in Austin has them, they came back from 2021. The San Antonio Botanical Garden has them, as does John Fairey Garden near Hempstead. All saw single digits in 2021.

The big difference in Austin is west of I35 is limestone, vs. sand in their native habitat. I chiseled out holes for them in my front yard, and so far they seem happy.

[ryjohn]

They do great here in northern Louisiana.  Fast growing and trunks quickly only to have many trunks get knocked back from low teens and single digits.  Still plenty of suckers to keep the palms full at all times.  They are like unweildy chamaerops here… trunking very fast

[ChrisA]

Here is one of the examples at the SABG, there are several as you enter the garden.

 

 

[amh]

The silver saw palmetto should do fine in central Texas, but I think your biggest culture shock is going to be the snails pace growth of any canopy tree. You will want to select an area that already has a canopy and then add to it.