Butia Yatay: The corner of Victory Drive and Abercorn in the median. There are senegal dates at the Landings on Skidaway Island but it is gated; AT the Wilmington Plantation on Wilmington Island you will see nice Canary Island dates...for a regualr date palm look at the base of the ICW brige in the little town of Thunderbolt..there is a nice 35 foot specimen that was planted in the 1950's. You've left out queen palms...drive around skidway or wilmington Island to see them as well as pygmy date palms. As to p. sylvestris, I have "heard tale" of several around the area, but they would, I assume, be post 1989 plantings and haven't sen what winter can do here if it decides to. The butiagrus I have not seen and the jubaea isn't likely to be found here as they reputedly abhor humidity and heat.

I live in Brunswick and grow countless palms. At first, I started collecting palms, then I began collecting tropicals and succulents. I grow chamaedorea, rhapis, butia bonnettii, syagrus, butia x jubaea, butia x syagrus, canary island, date palms, mediterranean fan, trachycarpus, jubaea, etc. I lost 8 out of 12 jubaea. They absolutely hate it here. 3 out of the remaining 4 look like absolute crap, while the 4th one looks fairly acceptable. I'm sure it's only a matter of time before those 4 die, too. I haven't photographed that many of my palms, but many can be seen in my succulent/tropical photos in webshots. My page of picture folders is: community.webshots.com/user/goldpianogarden

Thanks for the replys! I'm due for a palm safari.

Does anyone know of a good source for Butia x Jubaea or XButigrus? I've only found junglemusic stocking these (and they only ship with a $200 order).

I have Jubaea seeds that I might try growing just to see what happens. goldpianogarden: Is spotting an issue with Jubaea? Would periodic fungicide help? Also, were they in direct or partial sun?

I only recently moved to the Savannah area and I've taken to germinating palms. So far, I've germinated regular and canary dates and I'm working on the jubaea.

They spot badly! I've tried a few in sun, some in shade. Shade is better. Spraying them did absolutely nothing. They just like a milder, more arid climate. You'll think they're growing for a while, then they actually seem to shrink in size as they start their slow decline. I've tried them in pots and in the ground. Even tried one in the house in a 'dry' climate. I'll take some pics and put on my webshots site of what the last 4 look like. Junglemusic is your only bet, if they have any, but I seriously wouldn't waste your money on the plain jubaeas. The crosses are usually all okay (I have about a dozen mature butia/syagrus hybrids which all flourish except for one which always is yellowish). Talk to Phil (the owner) at Jungle Music and tell him that you're a friend of Barry's who bought all those jubaea hybrids from him and that I said you could buy from him without the $200 minimum. He'll let you. I also forgot to say that I'm trying (for the first time this year in the ground) caryota urens, ochlandra, and mitis. Also trying dypsis decipiens. I grow majesty palms, too, but wrap/cover them with extremely heavy frost blankets if it gets below 28*. Barry

Barry: Thanks for the connection at junglemusic. I'll have to order some hybrids this Saturday.

I wonder if the difficulties with Jubaea are somewhat due to the size of the plant and the fact that the crown is so close to the ground. It would seem that there is more humidity closer to the ground and more opportunities for fugus. Maybe a larger specimen would fair better.

I've considered that, also, and tried 2 in very large pots on open-weave shelving about 4' off the ground. Those actually did worse. The best-looking one I have left is one still in a very large size nursery pot that is stuck up underneath a trachy. I sat it there last winter to kinda protect it, because I didn't know how much cold smaller ones could take. Then I forgot about it until early summer. Just happened to be walking through that part of my yard that day and ran across it. I talked with several people in Florida right after I bought mine, and they all said that they always stay sickly looking in our area. So, that's when I opted for the hybrids........much more beautiful, and bloom non-stop all year. And, that's another reason that I decided to try the dypsis decipiens. Similar look, supposedly hardy to 18*, and has done well in all trials so far in our area/region. They're about as slow growing as the Jubaeas, too, so they're not cheap if you want ones with any size to them. I've also grown queens for years, but have always covered them if the temp is predicted to drop below 25*, to minimize damage, plus to keep them from dying. Although they are sometimes said to 'have recovered from lows of 18*', it takes about 2 years for that recovery to take place..........if it does. I didn't cover 2 a couple of winters ago when we had our coldest temps in over 100 years (18*), and they got burnt back to the trunk. The palms both tried to push out new growth for months and months, then finally died altogether the next fall. A new Lincoln dealership just built here, and I noticed the other day that they had just planted probably 50 queen palms around their parking lot. VERY BRAVE!!! I'm sure that they're not going to have anyone wrapping palm trees if the weather gets cold, so there's sure to be losses there!.....especially by just now planting them at this time of year. Stupid people! Anyway, gotta love palms! My 'mule palms' were not even phased when it got to 18* two different times. Every person who tours my yard raves about them, so I stick with them. They look just like a Howea, I think.

Sounds like you've covered your bases with the Jubaea. I'll opt plant some hybrids sometime next year.

Thus far I've stayed clear of most palms that are not hardy to 15*. Are you planning to wrap your dypsis this winter?

I haven't seen dypsis until now. Thanks for educating me.

Goldpiano: you might try the "silver queen" vairety which reputedly can take 15 degrees. Also, back in January 2002, did you get down to 18 for 2 nights? Where I am on the GA coast, about 10 miles SE of Savannah on a marsh island that has Wassaw Sound frontage, we got down to 18.6 degrees ( to be exact) for one night and the following night we only got down to 23. The coldest night it was below 20 degrees for about 3 hours. However, those certainly weren't the coldest temps in 100 years here. More like 10. Everywhere but the beach islands can expect a brief dip into the upper teens every decade or so.

This past July I took a whirlwind trip around Savannah in about an hour and snapped some shots of Tropical plants/Palms in the area. The Bamboo Gardens was closed but I could get a few shots from the fence alongside it. I also noticed that dealership with the Queen Palms but didnt get a pic (is it the one on Abercorn that you are referring to?) I was in awe by all the Queens there..and nice looking ones at that. If you go to the next page there is also a brief tour of some of the tropicals around St. Marys Georgia...like I said, brief.
Michael M.

Here is a link that might be useful: Sav. Pics

I drove around today and found the date palm near the thunderbolt ICW bridge and also the yatay palm on abercorn. It's amazing I never noticed these until now.

I noticed an abundance of Yatay palms driving around Ardsley park. I thought it was interesting that Yatay's are very rare in the newer sections of Savannah but are prevalent in Ardsley. Maybe Yatays were in more plentiful supply when they were planted in the 1920-1930's around Ardsley.

Andrew

I had originally lived here from winter '89 to 95, then moved back to Arkansas. Snow followed me from up north to Brunswick. When I arrived in town, I had to drive the rest of the way to my house with my windshield down because my wipers had frozen, as had my windshield. That was the big record setter regarding snow. Then I moved back to Arkansas. I moved back to Brunswick again about 3 years ago, and it got down to 20* once that first winter. Then the next winter it got to 18* 2 different times very briefly, and all the television stations were going on an on about how that was the coldest it had been here in 100 years, blah, blah. So, their expertise is what I'm basing that on. I've documented every temp while I've lived here, but can't speak for prior times personally. It dipped to 26* once last winter, but that was the size of it. I'm praying for a miracle this winter because I planted several hundred more tender succulents and palms in my yard this year thinking that I would have no trouble covering them (I already cover a zillion things as it is). However, an unexpected career change a few weeks ago has ended my previous schedule of having all my days free to frolic about in the garden. So, don't know what I'll do this year. Regarding the dypsis, yes I'll cover them. The place I bought them from had them listed as 2-3 foot planted height. If they're even one foot tall, I'd be surprised. So, I'll protect them until they get bigger. Hoping to eventually phase out my majesty palms and replace with the dypsis. Majesties are such work. I got 3 of the 'silver queen' palms this spring, so we'll see how they do. I have a number of golden palms that I'm really anxious to get big and purty. The Lincoln dealership is here in Brunswick. There's one in Savannah, too, with queens? I rarely ever get to Savannah; however, I may be going there more often come the first of the year. Does anyone know where the old Sheraton would be in Savannah? I play the piano for a living, and a contractor friend recently bought it and is redoing it into some kind of club/resort kind of thing that I might play at maybe 3 times a week. When I'm heading north and get off 95 at the Savannah exit (the one right past that old outlet mall......I'm not sure what exit that is)and hook a right, I always notice that hotel on the left that has the queen palms. Been there quite a while now, I guess. Surprising because they're out in the open with no protection. Whatever exit that is, that highway then turns into Abercorn. And I remember seeing the sign for the Bamboo Farm several miles further down, but never visited. Speaking of, I have ended up spraying most of my bamboo with brush killer to kill it because it was spreading so rapidly. The black bamboo, sasa palmata 'nebulosa', sasa veitchii 'kima zasa', and the variegated pleioblastus auricomis is the only ones I mess with now, and may soon kill the veitchii, also. I'm also growing 3 of the everglades palms (acoelorraphe wrightii). Supposedly hardy to 20* maybe. We'll see!

Oops, sorry. The dealership I am thinking about is on Abercorn in Savannah. While I am not sure what car maker it is, it is on the right side as you are going into town. There are probably a dozen or so Queens at that one. They actually look very healthy...better than the ones at the Hotels on the Interstate.
Arent there some plantings of Acoelorraphe wrightii on Saint Simons? How much warmer are the islands than inland around Brunswick?

The barrier island s themselves are a good bit warmer. The low temperature recored at Tybee Island in January of 2002 ( coldest snap here in at least 7 years, most say 10 years) was 27 degrees; just 7 miles west across the marsh the low was 18.9. The worst part of this freeze is that it was advective, and only the beach itself had enoough strength to tangle with old man winter. During this same freeze it dropped to 16 degrees in western Duval county, Florida ( West Jacksonville) while the beachfront only saw 29 degrees. During advective freezes, just about everything but the immediate coast freezes. And Superman: I have seen a few other butia yatays out around Savannah, but I think most of what you are seeing are the regular "pindo" palms, the butia capitata. They are very similar after, all, and many of them may indeed have some yatay ancestry..but the one at victory/abercorn is one of the few "true" yatays that I have seen. GoldPiano garden: The Old SHeraton is on Wilmington Island ( where I live). It is now calles the Wilmington Plantation and is VERY nice...your friend has stirred up quite the pot with his plans for a "mega-marina" at the site..but has done an excellent job with the property. It looks great.

I am in upstate SC and are growing Pindo palms for sale or trade. I have large 2 year old seedlings (15 to 18 inches) tall for $2.00 ea ($5.00 Fed Exp shipping no matter the qty) and will trade for certain other palms, Sagos, small tree seedlings that I don't already have. Let me know.

Mark
SC
Marcc5150@aol.com

Does anyone have a recipe for palm-fruit jelly?
Thanks!

Found a page with some links to some recipes:
http://members4.boardhost.com/speps/msg/2505.html
Barry