Current Weather, Queen Palm, Palm fertiliser( From Jan 2007)

[turtile]

For those in Europe, how are your plants holding up? I heard about the strong winds on the news here.

We've been having strange weather here too. Its gone up to 74F on some days and broken records.

[Dave Brown]

For those in Europe, how are your plants holding up? I heard about the strong winds on the news here.

We've been having strange weather here too. Its gone up to 74F on some days and broken records.

It has been an unusual month, extremely mild but sometimes wild. We had winds of 54mph with gusts to 62mph here. Not much plant damage, but Trachies looking pretty trashed. Cassy Cordy was was rocking in the ground. I moved the cars just in case she came down. Main problem is the Trachycarpus leaves crashing into the seed branches has knocked 1000s of them off. They are normally only just ripening, but this year due to the warmth, thay are fully ripe and will germinate everywhere if I don't pick them all up. Not a job I'm looking forward to. Wind has gone round to the NE today and is only 4C (39f) that is 10C (18F) colder than Friday.

I've not seen the US weather maps but it sounds like you have got the good side of weather system, while California has the bad side.

Palmdale near Los Angeles recorded a low of 10F. I bet there are a lot of frost fried plants there now.

Best regards
Dave

[Dave Brown]

Well, it had to happen, we had our first frost of the winter this morning... It went down to the staggering low of -0.1C (31.8F)! Only got up to 3.1C (37.6F)

I had to go to Bristol for a meeting so haven't seen the garden in daylight. It's down to 0.9C already at 18:30 so I think it will be colder tonight.

[Dave Brown]

Woke up to snow this morning and the temperature dipped to -1.7C overnight.

[mixiepalms]

Will it wont it? Whatever way it goes i recorded - 5 last night. poor little plants frozen solid.
I am hoping we do not get it too bad.
Still dog doo doos easier to pick up!! ewwwwwwwwww.

[turtile]

Your lucky, its been below freezing for 5 days straight here. It went down to 10F one night.

[Dave Brown]

Will it wont it? Whatever way it goes i recorded - 5 last night. poor little plants frozen solid.
I am hoping we do not get it too bad.
Still dog doo doos easier to pick up!! ewwwwwwwwww.

Had it down to -4.1C here and definately mushed the basjoo, and the Washie dosn't look to good. Wind and frost bashed now.

Still, spring in a couple of weeks, hopefully.

Best regards
Dave

[Dave Brown]

Your lucky, its been below freezing for 5 days straight here. It went down to 10F one night.

Yes, feel sorry for you, but isn't that your normal temperatures? WQe have got used to Meditterannean temps. Just a bit of a shock going back to real winter.

Best regards
Dave

[turtile]

Its normal to get that cold but not at this time of the year.

Last year our lowest temp was 15F. Here is a picture of the Queen Palms that survived last winter (pic taken jan 2007). The largest trachycarpus I've seen in the state was 5ft w/ no protection since it was planted. It seems many people don't realize what they can grow here. Even a Butia Capitata survived unprotected for two years.

I believe these palms aren't going to make it through this freeze since they are rated at 20F.

[Dave Brown]

Turtile,

I wouldn't regard the Queen Palm (Syurgus romannzofianum)spellings? to be frost hardy at all, just about everyone of them planted outside in the UK has croaked. I have one in my unheated courtyard which has gone down to about 0C (32F) and it doesn't look happy.

Are you sure it is not a Butagrus which is a Butia/ Queen palm cross, they are much more hady, more like Butia but looking like Queen palm. They are an F1 hybrid that does not produce seed (the Mule Palm) and are very expensive. I'd love to have one but even seedlings are around £100 ($200).

I suppose the bulk of your winter has passed by February. Here in the UK, being maritime, Autumn and early winter are tempered by the Gulf Stream, and coldest sea temps are in Feb/Mar, so our spring is much cooler than the autumn.

Trachycarpus fortunei and wagnerianus are reputed to br hardy to -18C (0F), but the coldest I have had is -13C (9F).

[turtile]

Its a pure Syragus Romanzoffianum. They are used as annuals by commercial tourist areas (cheap). They plant them in spring and leave them in until they die. A few died last winter so they did not replace them.

[Dave Brown]

Its a pure Syragus Romanzoffianum. They are used as annuals by commercial tourist areas (cheap). They plant them in spring and leave them in until they die. A few died last winter so they did not replace them.

Hi turtile,

When you say cheap, what do you mean. A Queen palm 6ft tall with a beginning of a trunk would set you back £100 or more here. Your picture looks like the palm is about 15ft or so.

Best regards
Dave

[mixiepalms]

So far jus a large red cordy, the wind blew the fleece off and it snowed. Seems ok in the centre so will trim the dead leaves off later,

my experiment with an unwrapped basjoo is so far wroking, it seems fine. When one has too many of one plant its fun to see just how hardy they can be.

My Phoenix canariensis_CIDP which i purchased from alumree is fine, no damage, seems to still be growing.

my motto is if they cant survive they dont belong in my garden.

[Dave Brown]

So far jus a large red cordy, the wind blew the fleece off and it snowed. Seems ok in the centre so will trim the dead leaves off later,

my experiment with an unwrapped basjoo is so far wroking, it seems fine. When one has too many of one plant its fun to see just how hardy they can be.

My Phoenix canariensis_CIDP which i purchased from alumree is fine, no damage, seems to still be growing.

my motto is if they cant survive they dont belong in my garden.

If the Cordy is Purpurea thay are hardy around here I have a 14 footer in the back, and there are loads of 10 footers around. Dazzler and the like are conspicuous by being very small which implies they don't last long enough to get big.

Basjoo is fine, and stem hardy most years, occasionally a winter will kill the stems of smaller suckers.

Phoenix canariensis_CIDP does fine around here unless I plant it out???
Doesn't baud well for the Southsea seedling. Some big ones in Gravesend area.

[mixiepalm]

Mine are thriving.
slow to establish but now the have they are both rocketing.
the cordy is an unknown one Dave, purple but with thick strap leaves like those of indivisa. Ive checked and as said before centre is sound.
Strange that some plants survive in your garden and not in mine and vice versa.