Growing Cold Hardy Palms and Tropicals

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The Virginian
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Growing Cold Hardy Palms and Tropicals

Post by The Virginian » Mon Mar 21, 2011 4:04 pm

My other hobby as I am President of the Virginia Palm Society.
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Niner
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Re: Growing Cold Hardy Palms and Tropicals

Post by Niner » Mon Mar 21, 2011 8:37 pm

Palm Society? That's different. I know we have a lot of native palms in the US and not just in Florida. My home town, a hundred or so years ago used to be known for it's palms. Now it is known for giant oaks that line Government street..... and azaleas.

Check out this story.

http://blog.al.com/living-press-registe ... g_his.html
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Re: Growing Cold Hardy Palms and Tropicals

Post by The Virginian » Mon Mar 21, 2011 11:16 pm

Yes, there are two that are native to the Southern half of the US, the large bush like Needle Palm and the Dwarf Palmetto (Sabal minor) and an Asian import the Windmill Palm (Trachycarpus fortunei) that will grow here in Northern Virginia and points south. In Alabama you all probably have the Sabal palmetto that grows a very nice trunk too.
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Re: Growing Cold Hardy Palms and Tropicals

Post by Niner » Tue Mar 22, 2011 8:37 am

I've got this palm in my back yard. It grows out but not up very much. My son says if I chop off some of the lower branches it will grow taller. Do you think he's right in his opinion? The trunk is pretty thick. Maybe it's just supposed to look like this.
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The Virginian
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Re: Growing Cold Hardy Palms and Tropicals

Post by The Virginian » Tue Mar 22, 2011 12:06 pm

The sago palm, as it is incorrectly refered to since it is really a conifer like a pine tree, I see is doing well in your garden. You all are so lucky to be 2 zones warmer than we here in Northern Virginia and they can be planted outside with no protection. My feeling is unless the fronds (leaves) are 50% or more dead, then it is best to leave them on the plant because they need their fronds to photosynthize and grow so, if you cut the fronds back, it will slow the growth of the sago. It won't kill it, but by trimming off healthy fronds you will end up stunting its growth and possibly making it less hardy going into the winter. I would put a good palm fertilizer or 10-10-10 or 8-8-8 regular fertilizer on it and give it Miracle Gro atleast 8 times during the growing season which is April to August and then stop until next Spring. Cutting fronds off will not make it grow taller, this is a common misconception about most plants in general, all it does is make the sago look taller and possibly stunting its growth in the process. If it were mine I'd leave it alone unless the fronds were in bad shape as described above. It looks happy where it is. I hope this is helpful.
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Re: Growing Cold Hardy Palms and Tropicals

Post by Niner » Tue Mar 22, 2011 12:31 pm

Thanks for sharing your knowledge. I think I'll just have to get to raking some oak leaves as my yard work and leave the palm alone.
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Re: Growing Cold Hardy Palms and Tropicals

Post by The Virginian » Tue Mar 22, 2011 8:33 pm

Niner: Pile up those oak leaves and let them decay for some aweome mulch to put around your Sago before you put your pinestraw down. We too have live oaks here but not as large as you all have them down there. I have 30 bales of pinestraw coming this Saturday so I will be a busy Southern gardener soon.
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Re: Growing Cold Hardy Palms and Tropicals

Post by Niner » Tue Mar 22, 2011 9:03 pm

I started on raking up some oak leaves today. Seems like all the old leaves fell off at once as the oaks put out new spring leaves. Probably put a lot of large bags out for the trash...but maybe I could start another mulch pile with a lot I haven't gathered up yet. I got a pretty large lot and there are a lot of trees and a lot of leaves. :shock:
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Re: Growing Cold Hardy Palms and Tropicals

Post by The Virginian » Tue Mar 22, 2011 11:12 pm

Niner: Live Oaks up here keep about 60-70% of their leaves through the winter and now they are getting ready to drop them so I will either mow or rake them up and put them in the compost pile. For some reason, palms, sagos and other hardy tropical plants like oak leaf mulch/mould probably because they are high in iron and they add even more acid to the soil than pine tags (Virginia name for pinestraw). By all means pile them up and by summer they will rot down to less than 1/4 the original size, ready to use around the plants. :D
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