Howdy from Little Elm, Texas

rgrin1 · Post by **rgrin1** » Thu Oct 08, 2009 4:25 pm

I ran across this board while browsing for information on cold hardy palms. I became interested in palms about 6 years ago, and after some experimenting with a few varities I now have a few palms in my yard doing well. Our summers can exceed 105 degrees F while our winters can hit the low teens for a day or two at a time. Also our winters can be quite wet which can e a problem for some cold hardy varieties.

By the way while mowing my back yard Saturday I found several dozen Pindo seedlings growing around my Pindo palm. I replanted about a dozen of these in small containers and mowed over the rest. If anyone here lives in the area and wants some seedlings just let me know.

Rocky

Mark · Post by **Mark** » Thu Oct 08, 2009 5:35 pm

Welcome Rocky!

Wish I could have palms in my yard. (Not in Pots)

Any pics you care to share.

Mark

Okanagan desert-palms · Fri Oct 09, 2009 12:39 am

Rocky welcome. Some pics of your palms and those seedlings before you mow them over

John

DesertZone · Post by **DesertZone** » Fri Oct 09, 2009 8:32 am

Man....I would love to have some seedlings

You could mail them bare root, would be cheap. (I would Pay) or maybe a trade?

Oh...by the way welcome to the forum.

BILL MA · Post by **BILL MA** » Sat Oct 10, 2009 9:09 am

Welcome to the forum Rocky!

You have some great options living where you do. I looked on google for your location, Lake Dallas looks like it will help moderate your temps too.

Bill

rgrin1 · Post by **rgrin1** » Mon Oct 12, 2009 6:06 pm

Thanks for the welcome. I will post some photos of my palms. I have to read about that, I assume I post them elsewhere and then link to them. I will learn how and then post.

Desert Zone: I will follow up with you on the seedlings. I would be happy to send you some as well as a bunch of seeds.

oppalm · Post by **oppalm** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 11:06 am

welcome Rocky. Look forward to pics of your palms and seedlings. stay active in the forum.

DesertZone · Post by **DesertZone** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 11:37 am

rgrin1 wrote:Desert Zone: I will follow up with you on the seedlings. I would be happy to send you some as well as a bunch of seeds.

DesertZone · Post by **DesertZone** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 11:38 am

What planting zone are you in?

rgrin1 · Post by **rgrin1** » Wed Oct 14, 2009 6:32 pm

Not sure if this is going work but giving it a try.

These photos show most of my Palms. The windmill palm in my front yard was a half dead tiny palm I paid 3 dollars for on clearance at walmart. The first couple of years it grew a little and then just took off.

My Pindo palm some years is loaded with fruit. This year was one of those years. It had pods of fruit for most of the summer.

The large yucca in my front yard is growing like crazy. It was getting dangerous so I had to cut all the lower leaves off.

If this works I will try the others. Thanks

rgrin1 · Post by **rgrin1** » Wed Oct 14, 2009 6:44 pm

Check out the photo with the Pindo beat down with snow. I tried a couple of Pindos. I protected them both the first three winters. One died and the other was not phased. I don't know if I believe the cold ratings some web sites give this palm though. There are others much more cold hardy in my opinion.

rgrin1 · Post by **rgrin1** » Wed Oct 14, 2009 6:55 pm

Here are a few others. I don't know if it shows in one of the photos but I have a Sabal Minor with a wire cage around it. This Sabal Minor is of the variety Tamaulipas. I planted two of these along with several other varities all in the sae day. Rabbits ate both of these Tamaulipas Sabal Minors to the ground killing one of them but they will not touch the other varieties.

Okanagan desert-palms · Sat Oct 17, 2009 10:57 pm

"Rgin"That looks awsome! Dallas is zone 8b and it shows how well palms and yuccas grow in north east Texas considering your longer growing season vs. a zone 8b British Columbia. It`s nice to see that Trachy doing so well with what looks like full sun. The full sun planted Trachy`s here dealing with over +100 f degree temps we see here in the summer in the Okanagan valley. I now know T.fortunei are a lot tougher and thriving with the full sun desert climate here.

John
http://okanagan.com/photos/

DesertZone · Post by **DesertZone** » Sat Oct 17, 2009 11:42 pm

Your place looks amazing! Love the palms, but is that a yucca faxon out front?

BILL MA · Post by **BILL MA** » Sun Oct 18, 2009 8:17 am

Beautiful property Rocky! Looks like you got a very nice selection as well.

Bill

Mark · Post by **Mark** » Sun Oct 18, 2009 9:01 am

Rocky,

Your place is beautiful!! $3 Trachy and it looks like that? WOW!! Hope my $2 Trachy looks like that one day.

I only wish my yard could look like that.

Mark

rgrin1 · Post by **rgrin1** » Sun Oct 18, 2009 9:53 am

Thank you all. The larger Trachy actually only receives morning sun. The ones I have seen here that are planted in full sun don't look as robust as the ones I have seen planted with evening shade. My house faces east so it receives some evening shade during a few of the summer months. I have also found my sabal minors planted with evening shade seem to do much better than the ones planted at the same time in full sun. I am trying to create a shady corner in my back yard so I can plant a couple of pawpaw trees. I grew up in the mountains of upper east Tennessee and remeber these trees as a kid.

As for the zone here, I work with people who swear we are just inside zone 7, but looking at what seems to be the official zone map we are clearly in 8. I do know that Waco TX is not that far away and they can easily grow palms we cannot have here. People here (me included the first couple of years) waste a lot of money at Home Depot and Lowes buying palms that are meant for houston and south of there. For example a California Fan will do well here but you can only find Mexican Fans for sale. The Mexican Fan will do great so many years but we will suddenly have that winter that kills them all. One problem here is the sudden drop with no warning. Winter before last we went from 79 degrees to 17 degrees in less than a three hour time frame.

The yucca had maybe four leaves when I bought it. It was labeled as a Great Yucca. I am not sure what it is but I have no doubt one of the leaves could go straight through a person. I didn't want to cut the leaves back but I had no choice because of the risk of seriously hurting someone.

My wife is from Colombia South America and the last time we were there I took a photo of one of the most beautiful palms I have ever seen. The photo does not do justice but if I can find it I will post it on here.

TerdalFarm · Post by **TerdalFarm** » Sun Oct 18, 2009 7:09 pm

Rocky,
thanks for sharing the photos. I was especially impressed with the pindo palm. I hope mine looks that well in, oh, a decade.
I bought it at HD. As you said, they do not seem to pay attention to local climate the way locally owned nurseries do. I can only assume Tulsa got a shipment because it was in a distribution zone with you folks down there.

lucky1 · Post by **lucky1** » Fri Dec 18, 2009 9:41 pm

That's it! I'm moving to Texas!

Fabulous palms, beautiful yard.
And that Yucca!

waste a lot of money at Home Depot and Lowes buying palms that are meant for houston and south of there.

Right about now, you'll hear a loud groan from all of us in Canada.

Rocky's Zone 8B and Zone 8B in Vancouver BC are seriously different because of hours of daylight/latitude.

A belated welcome aboard!
Barb

rgrin1 · Post by **rgrin1** » Wed Dec 23, 2009 6:10 pm

Thanks Barb. There are other palms I would like to try here but I am concerned about the wet winters we can have. This winter is unusually warm. It is now 8PM on December 23 and I have my windows open. Usually by now we have had an ice storm. I think I would trade you this palm tree climate for your Walleye fishing climate

jimmythesnake · Post by **jimmythesnake** » Wed Dec 23, 2009 6:46 pm

Rocky,
Nice photos, I grew up not far from you (Aubrey). Wish I knew palms would have grown there. There were plenty of yuccas and cacti. I remember a wall of very large agaves that grew in a yard in Denton, just off of Hwy 380. A few years ago I visited a palm dealer in downtown Dallas. Do you know if he is still there?
Jim

DesertZone · Post by **DesertZone** » Wed Dec 23, 2009 8:24 pm

rgrin1 wrote:The yucca had maybe four leaves when I bought it. It was labeled as a Great Yucca. I am not sure what it is but I have no doubt one of the leaves could go straight through a person. I didn't want to cut the leaves back but I had no choice because of the risk of seriously hurting someone.

Again...very nice.

I think it could be yucca treculeana?

lucky1 · Post by **lucky1** » Wed Dec 23, 2009 10:52 pm

Would trade you this palm tree climate for your Walleye fishing climate

DONE!

My window's open too...frozen.
Barb

PalmsNorth.com

Howdy from Little Elm, Texas

Howdy from Little Elm, Texas

Thanks

Re: Thanks

Photos 1 from Little Elm Texas

Photos 2 - Palms from Little Elm Texas

Photos 3 - Little Elm, Texas

Trachy in full sun!

Thanks

Lovely!

Re: Thanks