Good looking palm pics from your yard!

[Swolte]

Lets do a runway show of our cold hardy palms after this past winter. One at a time. I'll start!

Sabal Bermudana!

[jwitt]

My yard saw 4f.  

Define good?

[Zone7Bpalmguy]

Trachycarpus Fortunei 

[ChrisA]

Nice bluebonnets Steven!

Here’s one of my Mexican Fan palms, it’s common I know but I really love this species. They’re growing gangbusters right now and shaking off their winter damage. I’m excited to see how they will have grown come late summer into the fall!

 

[Harry’s Palms]

Most of my cold hardy palms are down on my south facing slope , but cold for me is 40f! They easily brush off winter as the cold air mass flows from the top , where my house is down the hill. Harry

‘From our deck

Brahea Armata , “what winter!”

Livistona Australis easily growing through the coldest part of my yard.

[DTS]

Needle Palm Before and After Winter:

Butia Odorata Before and After Winter:

[Jubaea_James760]

Brahea edulis 

[Harry’s Palms]

@Jubaea_James760 That is a very healthy specimen. Harry

[Jubaea_James760]

Thank you @Harry’s Palms 👍

[idontknowhatnametuse]

Acrocomia aculeata in the sidewalk of my house

[Ben G.]

Everything in my yard is still less than a year in the ground, so it's nothing too special. Maybe it can give you an idea of how new palms reacted to two events with temps in the low to mid twenties Fahrenheit:

Butia had slight bronze coloring to some fronds, no burn, no spear pull

Washingtonia (likely hybrid, leans filifera) appeared untouched until about a month after the second freeze event. It then showed some damage to a few older fronds and pushed a little bit of brown spear out, without a spear pull

Both of my Sabal mexicanas are fine. One or two of the oldest fronds are starting to get some brown tips, but I don't know if that has more to do with transplanting them or the little bit of ice we received.

In just the last week or two, I had a spear pull on one of the growth points on my little Chamaerops cerifera, but it is already growing out nicely.

My sad little trachycarpus takil pushed about a centimeter of growth over the winter. It has otherwise sulked for the last 18 months or more now. It didn't spear pull, but hasn't done much either. Maybe it will get settled and grow again eventually. Take home lesson is that takil doesn't like to be transplanted.

My little waggie x fortunei cross did spear pull on me though. I never cease to be amazed at how easily young trachucarpus and needle palms will spear pull. It hasn't pushed any new growth yet that I can see.  Fingers crossed that it does so soon.

C. radicalis got chewed up by rabbits last fall. The rabbits actually killed three other small radicalis seedlings I around this one. I was pretty mad about that. Fortunately this one sailed through winter, and I have other seedlings I can plant...after they get more size this time around.

[Ben G.]

On 3/27/2025 at 8:47 AM, Harry’s Palms said:

Most of my cold hardy palms are down on my south facing slope , but cold for me is 40f! They easily brush off winter as the cold air mass flows from the top , where my house is down the hill. Harry

‘From our deck

Brahea Armata , “what winter!”

Livistona Australis easily growing through the coldest part of my yard.

Those palms certainly add to an already nice view you have there.

[Harry’s Palms]

Thank you . Even after 28 years here I never take it for granted. Harry

[jwitt]

I am gonna go on a limb and say "good".  Unprotected.  

Today's shot

Earlier 

[jwitt]

@Ben G.two questions:

1. What time of year did you plant the trachies and med palm last year? Do you know if they were actively growing when you coldest temperatures hit?

2. How long did ir take your radicalas to get palmate leaves and how long did you pot grow before planting?

Nice looking plants, even with spear pull. Those med thorns look wicked, worse than the green form, which is bad enough. 

[MIKE82397]

Sorry here’s a 4for took today3/31 as I was taking pics of my planting bed. 3 Trachycarpus 1 butia. Largest trachy unprotected except Christmas lights but kept spear dry. Winter low 12f. All sailed through no issues. The big windmill has flower stalks? for the 1st time. I think 4 winters in ground now. Trunk is large maybe 10-12” diameter. 

[Ben G.]

19 hours ago, jwitt said:

@Ben G.two questions:

1. What time of year did you plant the trachies and med palm last year? Do you know if they were actively growing when you coldest temperatures hit?

2. How long did ir take your radicalas to get palmate leaves and how long did you pot grow before planting?

Nice looking plants, even with spear pull. Those med thorns look wicked, worse than the green form, which is bad enough. 

1. The trachies and med fan were all planted on October 5th last year. I planted the trachycarpus late in the year on purpose, to take advantage of the cooler temps over winter to settle in. The med fan got planted late just because it took me a while to decide where I wanted it 

The trachycarpus were likely growing when the cold hit. Fall, winter, and spring will be much better for trachycarpus here than summer...and those three seasons only last from probably late Oct to early April around here. 

2. I would only be able to guess that I think it would take between 2 and 3 years for a radicalis to go from seed to mature pinnate leaves. 

Judging by the seedlings I germinated last summer, I would say my mature radicalis was about 18 months to two years old when I got it. It matured quickly, and it has grown well for me in the ground and in a pot for the last 10 or 12 years.

It grows about 4 to 5 new fronds every growing season. I left it in ground in Oklahoma for several winters. It always got fried, but it always recovered. It has a weird habit of losing fronds one at a time though. So, if it is hit with cold below say 15F, it doesn't turn brown all at once. One leaf turns brown, and then the next starts turning brown. Just when you think it will lose its last leaf, it pushes out its first new leaf of the new growing season.

Here is what it looked like before the rabbit got it in October:

[Ben G.]

1 hour ago, MIKE82397 said:

Sorry here’s a 4for took today3/31 as I was taking pics of my planting bed. 3 Trachycarpus 1 butia. Largest trachy unprotected except Christmas lights but kept spear dry. Winter low 12f. All sailed through no issues. The big windmill has flower stalks? for the 1st time. I think 4 winters in ground now. Trunk is large maybe 10-12” diameter. 

They look good Mike!

[jwitt]

@Ben G.I figured trachies would grow in the fall and winter there, kind of why I asked.  Also kind of explains the higher temperature causing damage(also newly planted).  Hopefully they recover and set in. 

I asked about the radicalis because I started some seed last spring. About gave up, and lo and behold, nearly November, I had sprouts.  So the the sprouts sat inside over winter, now been outside for nearly a month. Just slow, but picking up. Something I have not grown so, that is why I asked. 

Now you opened a can of worms.  So another question or two. Can you tell me what kind of conditions/microclimate you had them growing in Oklahoma? Sun/ shade, near house, protection, watering, that kind of thing.  I wanted to try one or two in ground if possible, but I also had my doubts.  

Thanks for your answers. I often suspected some of the SA damage was partly due to growing activity when your infrequent cold hits, and wondered about inducing drought in your type of climate to slow down the growth for a month or two.  How I would do that, I have no idea, and think it would be futile.  Just something stuck in my desert/palmporn mind. 

[Ben G.]

14 hours ago, jwitt said:

@Ben G.I figured trachies would grow in the fall and winter there, kind of why I asked.  Also kind of explains the higher temperature causing damage(also newly planted).  Hopefully they recover and set in. 

I asked about the radicalis because I started some seed last spring. About gave up, and lo and behold, nearly November, I had sprouts.  So the the sprouts sat inside over winter, now been outside for nearly a month. Just slow, but picking up. Something I have not grown so, that is why I asked. 

Now you opened a can of worms.  So another question or two. Can you tell me what kind of conditions/microclimate you had them growing in Oklahoma? Sun/ shade, near house, protection, watering, that kind of thing.  I wanted to try one or two in ground if possible, but I also had my doubts.  

Thanks for your answers. I often suspected some of the SA damage was partly due to growing activity when your infrequent cold hits, and wondered about inducing drought in your type of climate to slow down the growth for a month or two.  How I would do that, I have no idea, and think it would be futile.  Just something stuck in my desert/palmporn mind. 

I grew my radicalis in the ground in the Oklahoma City area on the northwest side of my home within a foot of the foundation. It was a narrow bed that ran between my sidewalk leading to the front door and the bricks on the outer garage wall. It was right near the front porch as well, so it had overhead protection as long as the precipitation was falling straight down.  It grew well there, but still did the slow, one leaf at a time defoliation when temps dropped below the mid teens.

When I lived in Tahlequah it spent a year out in the open in a small bed that got sun from sunrise until probably 1 to 2 pm in the summer. It did pretty much the same.

I eventually moved it to a spot on the south side of my home with some overhead protection from sabal leaves above it. It did fine there, but our winters went below zero most of the years I was there. So, it slowly defoliated each year, even if I covered it during snow or ice. I never heated it.

[jwitt]

@Ben G.

Thank you! Just the information I was seeking. 

[happypalms]

On 3/28/2025 at 12:47 AM, Harry’s Palms said:

Most of my cold hardy palms are down on my south facing slope , but cold for me is 40f! They easily brush off winter as the cold air mass flows from the top , where my house is down the hill. Harry

‘From our deck

Brahea Armata , “what winter!”

Livistona Australis easily growing through the coldest part of my yard.

Hey Harry’s got a nice view from the deck. I like it!

Richard 

[KPoff]

On 3/30/2025 at 11:30 PM, jwitt said:

I am gonna go on a limb and say "good".  Unprotected.  

Today's shot

Earlier 

@jwitt how is your chamaerops doing? Is it growing out again? 1/2 of Maine took no damage this winter with only frost cloth. The other one was about 50% frond burn. The one that took no damage has one big center trunk and a few very small ones off the side. The one that took damage had 3 smaller trunks and more suckers in between so very different in growth patterns but both 15 gallon. I haven’t had any spear pull on the one that took damage so that’s a good sign. They were both planted on the south about 3-4’ from brick house. I also planted a cerifera this year (15 gallon) which I’m super excited about because of the experience others have reported on the higher cold tolerance. It’s on the east side and protected and gets 6-8 hours of full sun each day. It’s flowering already as well.

[jwitt]

1 hour ago, KPoff said:

@jwitt how is your chamaerops doing? Is it growing out again? 1/2 of Maine took no damage this winter with only frost cloth. The other one was about 50% frond burn. The one that took no damage has one big center trunk and a few very small ones off the side. The one that took damage had 3 smaller trunks and more suckers in between so very different in growth patterns but both 15 gallon. I haven’t had any spear pull on the one that took damage so that’s a good sign. They were both planted on the south about 3-4’ from brick house. I also planted a cerifera this year (15 gallon) which I’m super excited about because of the experience others have reported on the higher cold tolerance. It’s on the east side and protected and gets 6-8 hours of full sun each day. It’s flowering already as well.

Mine probably had about 75% leaf loss. It is growing with no spear damage.  I probably could have avoided leaf loss with a tarp for 2 nights.  

Yours look good. I think they will be good for you.  A bit slower than a Trachy, they take a season and a half to recover from total defoliation in my climate. 

At least the wife will be happy, as she is always harping on me to "trim" it! 

For me, below 10f is when leaf damage starts.  Mine survived -10f and zero the following winter unprotected.  Albeit with total defoliation but only 1 trunk loss.  

So it is not "good" looking, but ok.  Needs a "final" trim touch up. Not a fun palm to play around!

[Cody Salem]

Chamaerops

 

Not a palm, but cycas panzhihuaensis laughed at 16F