monkey puzzle

Windmill palm 3 years on site

my cactus

my experiment pindo palm under a clear plastic container for protection

These pics definately prove if you look hard enough, you will be surprised at what you find. I know yuccas are really catching on in in the NYC area (especially staten island which has some yuccas rated 7b thriving with NO protection) and southern magnolias too. Im going to post pics of everything left in my backyard and all my outdoor palms. There was also a yucca I saw (on staten island) that looked so perfect I thought it was plastic the first time I saw it (and if it plastic then I certainly apolozige) :)

Good luck and thanks for showing us around!

A lot of people have tropicals around here because they are sold at most nursery's and even big box stores

One thing I dont like about the yucca recurfolia is that they do collaspe when they are large and growing slanted. They always come back though. Usually the head of the plant grows roots on the ground where it fell and the plant takes over from there. They are very overpruned though, especially on SI(I guess people like the look).

Good luck!

Ive seen some large butias for sale by the local nursuries (that also includes the nursuries in Brooklyn and Staten Island, and even some on Long Island, dont know most of the names though). Im not sure if they are selling them as annuals or shrubs, but they arent cheap (10 foot double trunked x-mas palms go for about 80-100 dollars, which is a great price, but 5 foot butias go for about 200-300 dollars, which is kind of expensive).

$200-300 is a lot because some guy recently posted he picked up sizeable butias in the south for $75. So if you like to travel and have a friend or spouse to do road trips, driving south can pay for itself if you buy a palm or two. Only one trick, you need to leave room to take it home and I suggest prepare your travel partner in advance of your plan :-)

I found a bigger butia on staten island

i talked to the people in the nursery and they said it will be it's second winter

another potted one in the background

Thanks.

I bought a bundle of Butia seedlings off of ebay for $10, I potted them up and now I have 27 Butia palms. I plan to grow these up to 3 gallon size and then try to resell some of them.

Windy and subtropical weather. I work on the sixth floor in a large area hospital in Central Brooklyn the wind is picking up AGAIN!!! My desk is by the window. Its got to be gusting to 50+ mph currently (10:54 am)

Alot of them are planted in very well draining soil, but most of the natural soil is clay and very poor drainage.

Good luck!

Yucca recurvifolia

The Yuccas here are very hardy and really demand sun more than anything else from a zone 7.

I put all the lights on my palms already, so they are ready to do their job whenever the cold comes.

Unfortunately I wouldnt get too used to it this nice weather, the pattern is suppost to be literally the opposite of november. So instead of being mild and relatively dry (other than Ida) we will probably be rather cold, and very wet (maybe some snow comming up in the next few weeks too) which is very early for coastal areas even this far north.

I personally dont think we deserve a cold winter. We had a very slow start to the summer (I dont think a single day in june made it to an average temperature and there were literally only 2 days where clouds didnt completely cover the sky). All my plants other than the cannas were on standstill until july.

I hope the forecast is wrong, because this is the first year Im overwintering palms outdoors and even though im prepared to lose some of them, they arent going without a fight :)

Hopefully the predictions arent correct, but no matter what it looks to me liek there will be a lot of coastal storms in the next few weeks.

Good luck!

That's good you are prepared ahead of time. They really do not need the lights while its above freezing.

Some palm folks think this is the time to start to keep them dry so the roots aren't too wet when the freeze eventually hits. I do this by partially covering my palm now. Another consideration is that if the temps drop into the 20s with 50 mph icy winds, they can be harmed. Its not ONLY temps, but high cold winds and moisture that kills palms.

i havent seen them being sold locally yet, but you can get them online (I think liquid fence sells it)

My guess is that it would not completely protect from water freezing in the palm's sensitive bud and killing the palm if we have rains followed by sharp wind and cold in the low 20s.

Has anyone liked using it - please comment?

WiltProof keeps moisture in the plant and therefore will add some cold tolerance to the plant but it isnt advertized to keep the temperature down. Its been out for a while, and is probably available at home depot (but you might have to get some online).

FreezePruf is a new product. this product works for cold. If you want your tomatoes to live past a frost, put this on 12 hours before a frost (but I dont think I would put it on a plant with food on it). This one claims to make your plants think you live 200 miles south.

With both of them you need to apply it to the top and bottom of the leaves very well, but putting it on the trunk will do nothing for the plant.

Im thinking of getting some FreezePruf, but not until after I see how well it works (this is the first winter it has been publicly available). I might get some wiltproof too to exeriment on, but for this winter I will probably be protecting my palms "the old fashioned way". Lol.

Sorry for the confusion, hope this cleared it up!

I may try it in the future as well.

Just cover her Dec 1 - April 1 and turn on lights for her when it drops below 25* and you have a nice pindo in a few seasons. Jim hardy had them survive his zone 5 winter.

thanks and i look forward to be hearing from everyone

mike

i saw the pindo palm at schweigers, looks pretty good since it is not protected .

thanks for your help

mike

The palm at shweigers is a replacment for one that died last year i have some pictures of it if u loook up the old threads

Photobucket is definitely the easiest way to post pics on here and an account is free and easy to make. Save the pics on your computer and then post them onto your photobucket account. After that you can click on the pics you have on your photobucket and see 4 links. Click on the html one and paste that link onto your message here. Hope to see some pics!!!
Good luck!
-Alex

will try the website you said

thanks
Mike

I only protect my trachys when temperatures go below 20F and even that is considered a lot of protection to some people. As it gets older I protect it less and less and even the protected trachys see temperatures in the teens as much as possible. They are in a very warm part of the yard though so I doubt they really need any protection at all anymore.

And if you really like the tropical look you can plant other things too like cannas, elephant ears, gingers, castor beans, etc. The Cannas, Elephant ears, and ginger can all be started by bulbs from nurseries online (or locally) and they will get large in one summer. The Castors can easily be started from seed (still not too late to start them now, but they wont get as massive as they would have if you planted in April). Warning about Castor beans though, they are EXTREMELY toxic if eaten!

Good luck! It can definitely be done! Here are a few pics of my yard from last year with the ID's of the plants in the pics to maybe give you some ideas!
Sky glory vine

Mediterranean fan palm (now in bloom)

From left to right.... Brugmansia, Musa Saba Banana, spiral ginger (the plant with the white flower)

White Mandevilla

Sabal Minor palm

Ice Cream banana, philodendron, majesty palm, and some cannas in the background

Livistona palm (not that cold hardy, but I protect it every winter with a garbage bin, frost cloth, and christmas lights and it looks like this by fall!)

Passion vine (this is hardy and will survive the winter)

Plumeria in bloom (tropical and need good care, but make great blooms!)

This pic shows the coloration and height some cannas can reach. The fence is 6 feet tall and the plant reached a maximum height of 9 feet last summer. They survived the winter in the ground last year but many dig the bulbs up.

Hope this helps a little!
-Alex

Californiamike64@aol.com

take care and look forward to be hearing from you

Mike

You trachy looks like it was grown in a lot of shade (I know this because the petioles are very long, those are the things that attach the fan part of the fronds to the trunk). It was grown in shade so your plant looked bigger, but if it is in sun now then the new fronds will be shorter (and healthier too!) so just a heads up on that so dont be alarmed if it looks like your palm is getting shorter as it grows, dont worry, it's growing how it should!

Good luck! Keep us updated!
-Alex

By the way, there are more palms on staten island by some of the houses near Carmens restaurant. also, big yucca rostratas on Genesee near Wainwright and on Barlow off Greaves.

Good luck! And as far as pruning the brown fronds on the trachy, you can cut them off because the brown fronds do not do anything for the plant since they no longer collect the sun's rays, but some people like to keep them on for a while anyways. Just make sure to never cut off green fronds unless its an established palm and even then its better off to leave them on since the more green leaves, the more energy the palm is getting.
-Alex