A Tale of Two Windmills

This update has been a long time in the making, and to fully steep yourself in the issue, you probably need to scroll back through my blob a few months and update yourself on what appeared to be the certain demise of two Windmill palms. I am happy to say that on both accounts, I was 100% wrong when I declared them dead.

What is most surprising to me is the resilience of this species. If you continue to read, you will see how both of these palms were tested at two different extremes. Both looked dead – but both are very alive today and again growing .

The first update regards the Windmill Palm in my brother-in-law’s backyard (see Monday, April 16, 2007 post) in Tallmadge, Ohio, that was overcooked during the winter by his overambitious heating system and looked like an old sombrero when I saw it this April. Dead, dead, dead.

Now in all fairness, Tallmadge Ohio is about 12 miles south of the Arctic circle, so palms there do need some heating. But I think the palm pavilion got hot enough on a few of the mild winter days to cook a small turkey. My brother-in-law, although disheartened, agreed to give the palm a month or two before removing it from its site, where it had spent 3 years. Update: The palm is alive and well, and sending up new fronds.

The second update is on a small windmill that was located in my front yard (see Saturday, March 24 posting) until I declared it dead, yanked it out of the front yard (literally) and threw it in the trash. At the urging of friend from the DC Tropics group (dctropics@yahoogroups.com), I decided to give the palm a second chance and transferred it from the trash can to a nice place in my back yard.

Honestly, it set there for at least 6 weeks, with nothing but a hole in the entire middle of the central section (which I did, at least, treat with fungicide) . Lo and behold, we have a live one here. New growth has emerged (below) and it appears that this little guy is going to make it.