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).
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| A nice Flamethrower Palm, (Chambeyronia macrocarpa) in one coastal neighborhood. According to Google Maps this palm has been there since at least 2011. |
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| Ribbon Fan Palm, notice to the right, a younger Carpentaria palm. Same place as the Flamethrower. |
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| Some nice royal palms. Royals were somewhat common right by the water, though largely outnumbered by queens and phoenix varieties. |
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| 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. |
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| Another big surprise, a Dypsis "TriBear" Dypsis decaryi x leptocheilos hybrid. |
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| Mature Spindle palm, quite a few were planted around, though this was one of the nicest ones. Most had some minor burn. |
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| 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. |
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| 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.
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| The largest Royal I saw. probably about 35 feet of trunk.
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| One of the taller Adonidia, Crown is somewhat shrunken with some browning due to cold. |
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| Bottle palm a mile inland with significant frond burn. |
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| Healthy Royal palm. |
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| healthy mature Royal palm |
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| Foxtails mixed with Adonidias. |
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| Double planting of mature majesty palms. |
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Old Phoenix palm, Looks mostly to be a Canary Island Date palm but some hybrid too. |
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| Smaller Fishtail palm clump. |
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| 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. . |
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| Old grove of wild Palmettos across the street from one of the coastal neighborhoods. |
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| Another view of native Sabal palmettos nearby. |
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| a Dypsis decaryi "Triangle Palm" a few of these around, |
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| Another smaller coconut, a fair amount this size were scattered around. quite a bit of burn. |
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| Another Royal palm. |
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| Christmas palm about a mile inland with noticeable browning and frond burn. |
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| The odd find of a Trachycarpus Windmill Palm. |
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| I thought this nice Butia was worth a mention. Around this region of Florida is where you start seeing the best Butia canopies. |
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| Spindle palm grouping. |
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| 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! |
