Mine usually puts out 3 to 4 leaves per year which isn't bad. Each leaf gets larger over time.

Jaynboro,
I know the feeling.I have a 7gal. S.birmingham that put out 3 fronds this past summer.It started putting out a 4Th frond,but it came half the way out and it just stopped.I think it stopped growing because of the change in seasons.Sabals love hot humid weather,and in the south we say you cant give them to much water in summer.As far as I know S.birmingham is the slowest growing Sabal palm.It is my slowest growing palm period.My S.minors grow faster than my Birmingham.

There are other minor Sabal palms just as cold hardy and grow much faster.S.louisiana and S.brazoria are the first two that come to mind.Hope this helps.
Randy

I have a potted 7 gallon Birmingham, and mine put out 2-3 new leaves this past summer, despite being repotted from the nursery pot. Even with root disturbance it grew, although agreed with the other posts, my sabal minor grows faster, and probably put out about 5 leaves. Sabal Louisiana put out about 7. I would think Sabal Louisiana is the way to go, and could recover from cold damage much faster. But I still have a Birmingham, just because it's one of those Holy Grail cold hardy collector palms.

I had one that grew slower than one made out of plastic--it ended up in the compost pile as I grew to hate it. Most of my experience is with containerized ones. Unfortunately, among Sabals there is a strong relationship between how cold hardy the palm is and and how slowly it grows. Sabal mauritiiformis, for example, is one of the fastest but one of the most tender. Minors are cold hardy but SLOW. Try S. Louisiana as suggested above (I have one of these in the ground and it survived last winter and beginning to get established). My S. palmetto is healthy but slow. Sabal texana/mexicana is one of my favorites. I believe it's hardy to 7b in a nice microclimate, but it it's growth is nice and very robust. Time will tell how fast my S. bermudana is. Take heart, even in Miami, they are slow growers! I went to over a dozen nurseries down there looking to buy a Sabal (any Sabal). Finally, I was told at one nursery that don't carry them because they're too da/n slow!

Sounds like they need a warm microclimate like being planted south facing. I do not think they trunk very much. I saw a huge one planted in front of the post office on the Outter Banks of NC. The fronds were huge and it had a thick but low trunk.

NJoasis, potted trunking sabals are extremly hard to find anywhere. I too thought I'd be able to waltz right into any garden center in the south and find a great selection of sabal palmetto, etc. This is why you only see hurricane cut sabals in lanscaping for "instant" gratification tropical look. HC sabals are a very poor choice for marginal areas like the mid Atlantic because they don't recover quickly in our colder winters and shorter growing season. Smaller potted sabals with a good rootball and crown are better, but only available through growers like Garys Nursery in NC.

I had a similar experience with one and also T.Nanus.

If you think it's doing nothing now,wait until it dies!

Actually,that was the only thing my Nanus & S.Birmingham ever did.

I think I also had one a few years back that did grow,sometimes it's just finding the right plant.

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Funny, I was going to add what Jim has observed about the "right plant". You do sometimes come across a specimen that does NOTHING and another one that shows a different robustness. I actually recently acquired another Sabal minor that is actually growing in the basement under
florescent for the time being. I purchased a smaller grapefruit tree a couple years back that did nothing as the other citrus trees outgrew most any container I had.--It had a similar fate to that non-growing S.minor and was euthanized in the compost pile. Might be difference in individual genetics or maybe long-standing problems at the roots that we don't see. Currently, have my share of Sabals though--and I DO like them. I also get the feeling that Sabals are especially slow growing when small and pick up in growth rate as they mature. Here's my current Sabal inventory:

Sabal mauritiiformis
Sabal bermudana
Sabal palmetto
Sabal minor
Sabal 'Tamaulipas'
Sabal texano/mexicano (think they're the same--?) AND

Sabal louisiana (even the one in the ground survived the winter of 2011-2012 here, so being that this one is a faster growing Sabal, it holds great promise for the NYC Metro/Zone 7a/b area.)

Hopefully it will start growing this spring, but I won't hold my breath. Speaking of some things growing and some not, I had a waggle trachy that grew quickly a few years back and have one now that just sits there and puts out ONE new frond a year. Aggravating.

Love Sabal Louisiana,also S.Brazoria.

Very beautiful/fast growing Sabals...the gorgeous blue color doesn't hurt either!

I am also looking forward to seeing what S.McCurtain looks like close up...need to get one planted next spring..ahem,this spring(-:

I was lucky to find some seeding sabal Louisiana growing wild along a back road in Cajun Country this November. They are truly impressive and if they are as hardy as reported will do well in our 7b/8a coastal climate. Looking forward to experimenting with these.

Here is 3 yrs growth of my sabal Birmingham. (chick waterer for scale). Told you it was small! Ha ha. (Grrrrrrrr!)

Jay

I hear you about Waggies...I was actually going to bring that up as
I have one that is as fast as Fortunei(o.k.one of the Fortunei,the other is slow)and
puts out 10-12 leaves per year and that is with/after spear-pull !

Anyway I had 2 that didn't grow at all....you know there maybe reoccurring
issues with some varieties because they all seem to speed up as they get bigger.

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This is mine in Trinity Al. I planted a seedling from Plant Delights Nursery around 20 years ago. Sorry you can't see much of it since the R Hystrix is sort of crowding it out. It started out slowly but put on a lot of growth a few years later.