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Pushing the palm limits in Jacksonville FL
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Posted by vdels1 9a (My Page) on Sat, Jul 5, 08 at 20:40
| Just took a drive around my neighborhood on a nice hot sunny day here in north Florida. I have noticed that many people are planting more exotic palms and other tropical plants that you would not think you would see in the Jacksonville area. Here is a small sample of what I found.
Foxtail
This coconut palm is 20 miles from my home. I'm not sure how old it is. I do remember someone saying it has gone through at least three winters at that location.
Not reilly a palm but a very tropical plant
This one looked dead three months ago and is now almost back to normal
Ready to build my backyard paradise!
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Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Pushing the palm limits in Jacksonville FL
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| Global warming is helping. Just kidding they look nice though. |
RE: Pushing the palm limits in Jacksonville FL
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RE: Pushing the palm limits in Jacksonville FL
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| FYI for anyone in the North Florida area. Lowe's on Archer in Gainesville has 15 gallon Cocos for $169. The biggest one probably was 16' to the tallest frond (maybe taller). Not sure what type (forgot to look, in a hurry it was raining) but they had at least 5-6 palms all at least 14', very large crowns and healthy looking. |
RE: Pushing the palm limits in Jacksonville FL
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| Wow! I wouldn't have imagined that they would carry some that large this far north in Florida. I saw some at Ace hardware in the Mandarin section of Jacksonville that were 3 to 4 feet to the top of the frond for $25. I picked up ones in the picture from a home depot in Port St. Lucie for $12 each and they are more than 6 feet tall. I may have to drop by our lowes here to see if there are some. |
RE: Pushing the palm limits in Jacksonville FL
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| I wonder if those were just planted this year. I'd be interested in seeing a picture next March. I certainly hop they work out for them. |
RE: Pushing the palm limits in Jacksonville FL
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| That's great to see up there in Jacksonville. I'd say Foxtails have now joined Queens, Robustas, and Roebies as the 'common everyday palm' you see around here. Everywhere I go you see them happily growing in the landscape. One house around the corner from me has 9 of them surrounding their pool! Royals are becoming commonplace as well, just not as much as the Foxtail. Really the only palm you don't see here often in Central Florida is the coconut...which is why it's still fun to grow them. I spent the 4th of July down in South Beach and also in Ft. Lauderdale and the coconut palm is so commonplace there that I'd personally think the fun is lost. Where's the challenge in growing something everyone and their backdoor is already growing?!?! Is it any wonder 80% of the active posters on this forum are from the Northern U.S. or other zones 8a or less?!?! |
RE: Pushing the palm limits in Jacksonville FL
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| I salivated in awe when I seen the large Cocoas at Lowe's and even though $169 is a deal, I'd feel better investing under $20 on a marginal palm. Plus it would stand little chance in 9a without protection (or micro climate) and I would have to haul that monster in during cold winter nights. I'm trying to grow a King in the ground in Jax. My Queens are thriving but my Foxtail didn't pull through the winter. But after seeing what others are doing... I may try to push the limits again. Good luck with your palms vdels1. |
RE: Pushing the palm limits in Jacksonville FL
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| The only difference with Foxtails as a "trash palm" in central Florida, (as opposed to queens, pygmy dates ,or washingtonias) is that they are not as cold hardy. In my experience, foxtails are about as hardy as royals. When we start having normal winters again(mid-upper 20s at least once), they will likely be damaged and might fall out of favor as a landscape palm. They are attractive palms though so we can enjoy it while it lasts. |
RE: Pushing the palm limits in Jacksonville FL
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| Well I did it!. I planted my 2nd coconut palm and the next afternoon a thunderstorm nearlt blew it down. I took a few 50 + mph wind gusts as the storm moved though. Seem like it handled it fine. |
RE: Pushing the palm limits in Jacksonville FL
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| It's nice to see these palms growing in North Florida. I've seen that coconut palm in St. Augustine many times. I work as a mail carrier and I used to walk by that tree every day. I haven't been there in a few months now. I'm in Cresecent City now which is in Putnum co. Speaking of, there's a big coconut palm grwoing right by city hall there about 20 ft. tall. It's survived the cold. Last year I saw 29F on the sign right by that tree. It did look hurt soon after but has since recovered nicely. I'll try to take a pic of it one of these days. |
RE: Pushing the palm limits in Jacksonville FL
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| We are well into the cool season here in north Florida. So far in northwest St, Johns county we have had 4 mornings with frost with the first one on Oct 29 with a low of 34. Also, every night saw a low below 40 from Nov 16 to Nov 27 with the lows of 30 on 2 nights. 12 consecutive nights below 40! Not very tropical and certainly not the norm. I did not cover the coconut palm during the first frost as the low expected was near 40. It did suffer some damage to the fronds but not too bad. Check out the pic. |
RE: Pushing the palm limits in Jacksonville FL
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| I live in northwest St. Johns county too. I am at WGV and the coldest my house has seen is 32 last wednesday morning; it was so unexpected. We have had four frost has well. My Spindle Palm has no damage. My Coconut Palms fronds have some yellow spots on them. My Castor Bean is okay too, some leaves turned brown and crisy with the 32 degrees last week, we had very heavy frost. Today we had some nice rain with wind and thunder. I was worried about my Christmas decorations. First time I have ever had to worry about storms destroying my Christmas decor outside. Yesterday was also my first time putting out Christmas decor while sweating, lol. Upper 70's is wierd since normally in KY it has already cooled down. Jake |
RE: Pushing the palm limits in Jacksonville FL
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Hey Jake,
I was wondering if your coconut tree made it, I was at Home Depot Palm coast Yesterday and they had some for $49 about 9-10 feet tall. I want to get one but I can't decide yes or no.
It would have to go in the ground right away. |
RE: Pushing the palm limits in Jacksonville FL
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| Well, my Christmas Palm officially expired today. I pulled the spears, and all three came out, and I replaced it with a European Fan Palm that looks very good. |
RE: Pushing the palm limits in Jacksonville FL
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Sorry for your loss, I guess it wasnt suppose to be. I think Mediterranean fan palms are also very nice palms and they will have no problems at all in your zone, even in cold winters like this one.
Good luck! |
RE: Pushing the palm limits in Jacksonville FL
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| Kinda funny though, a single in the backyard that is potted got hit hard, but is already pushing up greenery on the spear, so that one will make it. Oh well, a Med Fan surrounded by pentas in red mulch looks much better. |
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