After morning lows of 15f and 12f, it's a good thing I wrapped the date and queen palms. Within a few years, the queens will be too big to wrap, but I'm hoping the date palms - phoenix canariensis and sylvestris - will become more cold hardy with a few more years of root development. I'm also sincerely hoping the temp never drops to 12f again in my backyard. They also double as Christmas decorations - sort of.
LOL, reminds me of the wrapped banana plants the year before last. Sorta kinda has a Christmasy feel to them. It surely has been a cold fall, that's for sure. It's not even winter yet and we've also hit 14F here two nights in a row. Craziness.
Hey keon! For what it's worth (not much!), now accuweather is predicting Jan and Feb will probably be on the "mild" side. We'll see. We have to get through Mon and Tue night's forecast lows in the teens. I'll never plant another zone 9er - this wrapping of the palms is too much trouble and incredibly unsightly. I plan to buy 2 mule palms this spring, and keep them potted until they're big enough to withstand our winter temps. I piled pine and cypress needles around my bananas, but I'll be surprised if the "zone 8's" survive this crazy cold. Hope your marginals fare well this winter.
Thanks, I hope so too since I haven't really protected anything. It was such a warm/mild start to the fall I had hoped it wouldn't get this cold.
Honeslty, you've done a really nice job with the covering and lights, mine always looked so tacky, but yours look good.
Thanks, keon. I started out wrapping the fronds with twine, but in the chaos of extension cords, lights, frost cloth, and panic, I lost my huge ball of twine. I was sweating it (literally), until I spotted a roll of wire and wire cutters in my wheel barrow, left behind by my DH, who was too sick with a stomach virus to help me in my hour of desperation. The easily pliable wire made it much simpler and faster to secure everything - no need to tie knots. Frost cloth is light weight and easy to handle - plus it doesn't matter if it overlaps. Anyway, aw shucks, thanks again.
what and you didn't call me to come help ya! you know I would have...
Thanks,neighbor, I know you would have come to my aid! Since my DH was sick, I was going to wait until the next day to complete the annual and festive "wrapping of the palms". But as the winds picked up and the midday temps started tumbling, I realized it was do or die(or fry) for the palms. I can just see myself falling off the ladder and injuring both of us. Then, in order to avoid a lawsuit, it would have been necessary to off you - lol. Seriously, the most difficult aspect was getting the extension cords organized - had to rush into town to buy a few 3 prong adapters. I need to mulch my gingers today - hope they're not already turning to mush from last week's brutal cold. And where the heck are my ear muffs!
Still looking forward to our visiting McKenzie farms next month, when it's nice and mild :-)
Donna,
Plant Delights Nursery sells mule palms. I bought one. They are too small to plant out now, but should be big enough in a few years.
I have two queen palms a few years ago and mulched with pine straw. I didn't go to the lengths you did, perhaps if I did, they'd still be alive. But, then...I'd have to do what you're doing! Hhmmm.....
Barb
Hi Barb, Good to hear from someone who owns a mule palm. A vendor on ebay is selling 2 sizes - small and very small. I'm thinking that if they grow as fast as queens, and if I bring them indoors the first few winters, they should be big enough to survive my zone 8a winter. I think they're borderline cold hardy here - I've seen some websites that only list them as cold hardy to zone 8b. If that's the case, I would probably wrap them the first winter or 2 inground, until they establish a good root system. I'm anxious to find out how much your mule grows this summer and I hope it looks more like a queen than a pindo. You must post a pic next fall!
You know, Barb, if you're only protecting a few plants, and if they're close to your home, wrapping in lights and frost cloth doesn't take much time. Most of the 9 palms I protected are located very far in my backyard - a few are even out of sight behind my barn. It was coordinating 12 extension cords that really had me befuddled. In a few years, heat producing incandescent lights are supposed to be phased out, so I'm going to be stocking up on them like crazy during after xmas sales until then. You shouldn't have to resort to such heroics in your coastal zone with the mule. Good luck!
I agree. I need to buy some lights and put them inn one garden that I have ti plants and variegated schefflera in the ground. I'm definitely zone pushing with these, but I have them at a landscape customers house and they survived in much more exposed locations with no protection.
We shall see!
Barb
In my zone, it's necessary to bring ti plants inside for the winter. They're blooming now in my crowded back porch, which I keep warm and humid throughout winter. For the first time since my return South 5 years ago, my jack frost ligustrum and pittosporum are a little burnt around the edges. It's also been interesting to see some varieties of oleander burnt, while others are unfazed. Two of my 3 varieties of bottlebrush are burnt, but the stem tips are still supple and green when scratched. I peeked underneath the frost cloth protecting one of my my phoenix sylvestris palms, and the fronds are still lush and green. Extended weather forecast permitting, I'll be removing the lights and frost cloth around Valentine's day. I only burn the warming lights when the temp drops into the low 20's or below. Ofcourse, I'm still hoping for a mild winter. Meanwhile, good luck with the ti's, and have a great holiday!
On the note of Ti plants, I decided to experiment and left one of my Ti out last winter - and despite the frigid temps and snow it came back and grew to about 3ft in height this year. I cut it down before the first frost and brought newly grown tops inside for planting next spring around the house, but I feel pretty confident it'll come back every year now. I even left another two in the ground this year to see what would happen with them too. I think with a tap root as long as Ti's have, it will always survive. One less thing to bring indoors :) Well, if I can resist the urge to keep cutting the tops off like I did this year.
I have quite a few Ti's - the largest over 4' tall. Based upon your experience, keon, I'm going to take the plunge and plant a couple outside this spring. I already have so many potted tropicals scattered throughout my gardens that it's really difficult remembering where they all are when I'm watering - especially in stifling summer heat and humidity with mosquitoes ,yellow flies, and sweaty, dirt stained glasses creating a perfect storm of misery. Sometimes it's so bad I stop watering and start running to my backdoor as fast as my bad hip allows, while flailing my arms and screaming obscenities. So glad I live in the sticks. BTW, this crazed behavior seems to turn on yellow flies.
Donna - I think I've read that about yellow flies. Wasn't there a double blind study done a few years ago proving this??? HA!
I do agree about forgetting where some pots are and I seem to forget the same pots over and over. The plants in those really have to prove their toughness.
Barb
Barb, last summer I allowed maypops to grow and cover everything around them. It wasn't until last Oct that I realized I had forgotten about a potted sago that was completely hidden the entire summer. I have lots of healthy sagos, but the fronds of the "forgotten child" were completely covered by scale. It was the worst infestation I've ever seen on a sago. I had to remove all the fronds and then I sprayed the trunk and surrounding soil with Hartz ultra flea and tick spray. (This worked for me a couple years ago.) The potted sago is recovering on my backporch, but any new fronds are
probably going to be stunted for a couple of years. There was another large sago only about 4' from it that was scale free. Go figure. Death to ground voles AND yellow flies!
This message was edited Dec 20, 2010 5:01 PM
Yep, scale will creep in under those conditions. I've been surprised with an infestation on sagos before. Who looks under the fronds???
This summer I had that happen with a hibiscus that got partially covered with a black-eyed susan vine.
Barb
