When I came home, it was 70oF! I quickly changed to shorts, t-shirt and no shoes. Drank the first gin-and-tonic of Summer
by the pool and admired my palms. They looked pretty good to me--after the second gin.
From best to worst:
1) Chamearops humilis with heat tape on trunk and under a bucket looks phenomenal. The past two winters, milder but with no heat tape, it defoliated. Not this year!
2) Butia capitata with heat tape on trunk under burlap in palm hut/dog house looks much better than I expected for its first winter in the ground.
My only wireless thermometer is in here. Was 23oF a couple of days ago. Today, it was 34oF in the morning and 84oF in the afternoon. No, no dog was responsible this time! The entire south side was open for both readings (it was closed for the 23oF).
3) Butia under bucket. Third winter in ground. Petioles and spear are green; spear is firm when tugged. Basically, same as always this time of year. It will look like my avatar image again by mid-summer.
4) Trachy blasted by wind. Petioles are green, as are the lower leaves. Spear is green and does not tug. I think it will survive.
I didn't take new photos as all four look the same as in February:
http://picasaweb.google.com/terdalfarm/ ... directlink
which to me is a good thing. Hey, not worse after another few weeks of cold weather!
It sure took a beating.
