The Tropical Palms of Hudson Florida, January 2021

 I visited Hudson Florida in Pasco County, in January.  Hudson is designated a zone 9b by the USDA.  However right by the water, the warming effect makes a microclimate that benefits more tropical palms planted there, Adonidia, Hyophorbe, etc, though I found some real surprises.  I was surprised at how many zone 10 and warmer zone 9b palms were planted within a mile of the ocean.

King Palms (Archontophoenix) growing in a planting of Fishtail palms (Caryota).

 

A nice Flamethrower Palm, (Chambeyronia macrocarpa)
in one coastal neighborhood. According to Google Maps
this palm has been there since at least 2011.   

  Ribbon Fan Palm, notice to the right,
a younger Carpentaria palm.  Same 
place as the Flamethrower.

                     

               

Some nice royal palms.  Royals were
somewhat common right by the water,
though largely outnumbered by queens
and phoenix varieties.  

One of the most surprising finds, a
mature Coconut palm growing directly
on a channel.  It survived the cold spell
of  2018 according to Google Maps, though
I doubt it was there before the 2011 freeze.

Another big surprise, a Dypsis "TriBear"
Dypsis decaryi x leptocheilos hybrid.

Mature Spindle palm, quite a few
were planted around, though this
was one of the nicest ones. Most
had some minor burn.

Christmas Palm, Adonidia merrillii.  Many of
these were planted around far more then any other
 tropical including more hardy Royals and Foxtails. 
 Most  were small, and some had frond burn.

Another Coconut find, these planted
 right on a canal. Significant burn on the 
younger ones, though the largest one
located right on the canal, was mostly 
green. I assume these also aren't
watered properly.

More Royal palms

Nice Foxtail palms. These were 
somewhat common, and usually
quite healthy.

Majesty Palm (Ravenea rivularis)
though these do well in zone 9b,
they are less common then more
marginal species.

Line of Bottle palms, some had no damage,
others away from the water had significant burn

Young Coconut on a Canal.

The largest Royal I saw. probably about
35 feet of trunk. 

The tallest Coconut I saw,
also facing a canal

One of the taller Adonidia,
Crown is somewhat shrunken
with some browning due to
cold.

Bottle palm a mile inland with significant
frond burn.

Healthy Royal palm.

healthy mature Royal palm

Foxtails mixed with Adonidias.

Double planting of mature majesty palms.

 

Old Phoenix palm, Looks mostly to 

be a Canary Island Date palm but

        some hybrid too.

Smaller Fishtail palm clump.

Oceanfront home with lines of Adonidia triplets. Around
20 groups all together, these looked very healthy, albeit
some salt burn.  On the right, an old sabal palmetto,
probably there long before the area was developed.

.      

Old grove of wild Palmettos across the street from one of the coastal neighborhoods.

  

Another view of native Sabal palmettos nearby.

a Dypsis decaryi "Triangle Palm"
a few of these around, 

Another smaller coconut, a fair
amount this size were scattered
around.  quite a bit of burn.

 

Another Royal palm.

Christmas palm about a mile inland with
noticeable browning and frond burn.

The odd find of a Trachycarpus Windmill Palm.

                                                         

 

I thought this nice Butia was worth
a mention. Around this region of Florida
is where you start seeing the best Butia
canopies.

Spindle palm grouping.

Double planting of younger coconuts. I saw around 20 coconuts mixed in around this size, and
maybe 10 Strap leaf size ones.  Seems lots of people are trying these out and I assume the
 local Home Depot has been carrying these despite their being quite marginal in this area.
  Though as shown above, I saw 3 mature trunked adults that have done well this far north, despite being almost an hour from Clearwater, considered the most northern area
on the Gulf Coast where unprotected coconuts can grow. Hope you all enjoyed!

Raleigh Palms

I visited Raleigh in September 2019.  I did not have enough time to explore for palms as much as I would have liked to, nonetheless I did have a chance to check some out, and revisit some I had seen the year before.  The first place I had visited was Pullen Park, which I had not visited before.  The park is one of the oldest in the country, and featured an antique carousel, train ride, several ponds, bridges, and landscaping featuring lots of windmill palms.

The first palm I had noticed was actually a pair of large Needle palms.  This was the biggest I had ever seen, a good 40 or more years old.

Besides the needle pair, and some small scattered Sabal Minor, the only other palms found were windmills.  All seemed very established and healthy.

Nice pair of windmills with a volunteer below.

Another windmill palm pair.

Notice how this old one is shedding the fiber on
 the trunk.

Some were pushing 20-30 feet, and had clearly been there for years.

The tallest palms in the park.

This old windmill was by the duck pond and
had a noticeably smaller crown.

Clearly many of the palms had been there for quite some time, as many had been seeding and volunteer palms were popping up all over the park.

This one was near the first old one I had posted, 

Near one of the more natural ponds in the park, Windmills
were naturalizing all over the area.

This one was by a constantly flowing drain, and was always
 moving from the water flow

After leaving the park, I checked in on a Sabal Palmetto I had found the year before on S Person street. 

This Sabal Palmetto has been there since 2013

Another view, it faired well after the 2018
cold spell in NC

I checked in on the two Sabal Minor planted by the News Observer near Nash park.  They have been seeding for years, and both have been producing volunteers for years.

This Sabal Minor volunteer was across the street.

 

Nearby Nash Park also had some Sabal Minor planted around the circle.

Across the street from Nash park was an established Windmill too.

Some other palms I had seen were planted in front of several Businesses, Here are some drive-by shots.

These Windmill palms were by a Car Dealer.

these Windmill palms were In front of an Italian Resteraunt.

Heres some closeups of the Windmill Palms at the Italian place.




I also spotted some older Sabal Minor near the Raleigh Science center.

This one was very robust and was seeding.

Another one planted behind, near some Yucca.

Not a palm, but certainly an interesting find, a Century Plant AKA Agave Americana planted by a Hotel Front in the downtown area.  Hope you all enjoyed!

Agave Americana in Downtown Raleigh.