The Fatality List Is Ugly

The carnage from this past winter with our extreme cold temps (8 degrees F) is showing its ugly head. The dead include:
1. Two European Fan Palms, in semi-heated pavilions
2. One Saw Palm, in pavilion

The extensively damaged:

1. Mexican fan palm. Completely defoliated, but greenish in the central spear area.
2. Windmill palm: A lot of leaf damage, but continued to grow throughout the winter.

Not phased at all:

1. Sabal Birmingham
2. Sabal Minors
3. Sabal Palmetto
4. Needle palms.

The Ugly Reality of a Cold Winter

The damage of this cold winter is starting to show its ugly face in my front and back yard, where temperatures reached 9 degrees F one night. This is the first single digit reading at my house in at least 5 years. Despite the heavy protection, I'm not sure if the Mexican Fan Palm Survived. The central spear is fried, but not mushy. It hasn't pulled out yet, and appears to be green deep down. Despite being enclosed in plastic, the feathery leaves of the Pindo Palm and European Fan Palm are badly burnt. The Chinese Windmill Palm, in the front yard, has some leaf damage but is sending up a new leaf nevertheless. The Sabal Minors: unfazed.

What Lies Beneath?

I've been looking at my W. Robusta, wrapped in blankets and plastic (and heating cables) and despite the efforts, all I see is dead fronds. When I peel back the plastic, I smell dry, dead leaves. I'm not sure if I'll have anything left of my Mexican Fan Palm by the time this winter is through with us. It got down to 9 degrees in my backyard, which is certainly cold enough to kill the palm. Sans winter protection, that is. The question that won't be answered until March 15th when I unwrap the palm is whether or not this protection was sufficient. I guess I need to enjoy the winter and know that time will tell....

Before the Freeze

Well, tomorrow it'll be November first, and not a sign of a pending freeze, with the Weather Channel giving us the clear sign through the 9th of November. But a freeze will certainly come, and the fruiting bananas will die, and the shelters on some of the less cold hardy palms (W. Robusta, B. Capitata) will go up. But before the freeze, one last photo of this year's growth.

S. Minor Thrives in the DC Sunshine

The S. Minors that I planted four years ago - and have never been protected - have again produced a prodigious amount of seeds. It appears the squirrels did an efficient job of scattering the seeds from last year, as my front yard is littered with S. Minor seedlings. The leaves are huge, and beautiful, as you can see from the pix. I have two of the stately palms at the front two corners of my yard.

Chinese Windmill Palm

The 5 and a half feet tall Trachycarpus Fortunei in my front yard has sent up at least 20 new fronds this year and seems well prepared for the upcoming winter. The trunk has thickened considerably this year which should provide it with the needed protection from the cold. This palm has not been protected - not even heavily mulched - in 3 years. Prior to that, I did provide a plastic-sheeted covering around it to allow it to attain a good enough size to tolerate the zone 7 cold we get here.

The Last Few Weeks Before the Freeze

Here are a few shots of my back yard taken yesterday afternoon. First, the W. Robusta is impressive, and will be quite the challenge to protect this year.

The next shot is my Pindo Palm, which unfortunately finds itself squeezed between the Mexican fan palm on its right and the grove of fruiting bananas on the left.

The last photo, for the hardy banana lovers out there, is my Muso Basjoo, which just started bearing fruit (close up shot) this week.

See the budding flowers and small bananas?