This past winter not kind to palm trees, they aren't native to area (Houston: transplants, neighborhood)

[cBach]

Okay, let me gripe a bit. I was driving around today and I couldn't but help noticing that all the palm trees look almost totally dead. All the leaves are brown and I'm not sure if any of them will make it. I think the severe winter weather we had earlier in February did them in.

At the same time, I looked at the cedar and oak trees and they are doing fine. So are the lugustrims, magnolias, and a myriad of native local plants. I would say that they look "unfazed" by any previous winter weather, just as I would expect of these native plants.

I've noticed that many of my CA friends insist on putting palm trees in their yards, and I've warned them over many years that palms aren't native to Texas, and while they could last years and years, there will be those really cold years that will kill them off. Of course, they didn't listen but now they're complaining that they've lost their palms. I hate to say "I told you so" so instead I said "Now's a good time to plant some oak trees in their place and those trees will last hundreds of years."

Note to Californians: This is not California. Unless you live in far South Texas, palm trees don't really do well here. Although we are warm most of the year, our winter is indeed cold (if short) and it can get cold enough to kill off most varieties of palms.

I do indeed love the look of palm trees, but they just plain don't belong here and now there are tons of ugly dead palms everywhere.

Okay, I'll stop now...

[sxrckr]

Completely agree!

The only area of Texas that should have palms is the coastal part of the state. Possibly also near-coastal, like Houston.

Otherwise, NO! They WILL die/brown in the winter. This is not a California climate in the least!

[Cathy4017]

Originally Posted by cBach

Okay, let me gripe a bit. I was driving around today and I couldn't but help noticing that all the palm trees look almost totally dead. All the leaves are brown and I'm not sure if any of them will make it. I think the severe winter weather we had earlier in February did them in....

I do indeed love the look of palm trees, but they just plain don't belong here and now there are tons of ugly dead palms everywhere.

Okay, I'll stop now...

I didn't know that Austin got cold enough to kill the palms....so did El Paso, and they are EVERYWHERE there.

I agree. Palms do not belong in most of Texas....OR.....New Mexico. People as far north as Albuquerque plant them, and southern NM where I now live is full of them.

Since we got down to -11/13, all of the palms are most likely dead, and they are all over this town on public property. Ugly to the max, and I doubt that the city will remove them any time soon, so we'll be looking at dead trees for the next several years.

Palms are pretty in their native element, but ugly out of it.

At least most of the palms in private yards will be cleaned up--hopefully.

I'm moving soon where it is too cold for palms to survive at all.

[atxcio]

Perhaps everyone just assumed global warming would take care of things by now.

I personally think most of the large established palms will be fine; although the dead foliage obviously will remain for a couple of months or more. But I could be wrong, we'll see by about June. We should resurrect this thread around then...

[10scoachrick]

Not sure I agree with the notion that palms simply shouldn't be planted here. There are some in the Breakaway neighborhood that were at least 30 feet tall. Are they dead now? Not sure. They likely provided some pleasure for a number of years. We're lucky to have some really large live oaks in our yard; but, to plant an oak now(unless you have $$$ to transplant something sizable) means quite a few years before there is really anything to 'enjoy'. Our Japanese Maple is small but beautiful...if it gets clobbered by weather, I'll be sad...but I had a chance to enjoy a beautiful tree while it was around! Who knows...we may go quite a few years without the serious cold snaps like the past two winters. ' Ya pays yo money and ya takes yo chances!'

[eichlerfan]

As an ex-Californian myself it is really hard to let go of palms trees, but some cold hardy palms will survive below freezing temps. The Needle Palm, the Windmill Palm and the Mediterranean Fan Palm will all survive the Austin climate just fine. My favorite is the Queen Palm but it gets too cold for those to grow here. Some of the palms you see around town are actually fine even though they look bad, and they will come back in a couple of months.

[cBach]

Originally Posted by sxrckr

Completely agree!

The only area of Texas that should have palms is the coastal part of the state. Possibly also near-coastal, like Houston.

Otherwise, NO! They WILL die/brown in the winter. This is not a California climate in the least!

I think even Houston got into the 20's but Galveston was in the 30's so perhaps only Galveston Island and then a narrow coastal strip down to Corpus Christi and then extending south and southwest from Corpus. Brownsville definitely is a good climate for palm trees.

[capcat]

Originally Posted by cBach

Okay, let me gripe a bit. I was driving around today and I couldn't but help noticing that all the palm trees look almost totally dead. All the leaves are brown and I'm not sure if any of them will make it. I think the severe winter weather we had earlier in February did them in.

At the same time, I looked at the cedar and oak trees and they are doing fine. So are the lugustrims, magnolias, and a myriad of native local plants. I would say that they look "unfazed" by any previous winter weather, just as I would expect of these native plants.

I take issue with the pass for wax-leaf ligustrum, which I assume is the variety you are referring to. That was one plant that didn't fare well at all during the freezes of the 1980s. We lost an entire hedge around our backyard, and that was the case all over town. Red-tip photinias did well, but not ligustrum.

[oldtoiletsmkgdflrpots]

I've seen them turn brown before and then come back. Not right away, but they do appear to grow green again. I don't like the looks of them even when they're green.

[GlobalistPotato]

It's funny that Californians want to bring over palm trees when it's not even a plant native to California nor suitable for the semi-arid climate of SoCal.
I dunno. Maybe Texans who move to other states would have trouble leaving the wildflowers and cedar trees behind.
But gosh, as if Texans didn't have enough reasons to laugh at Californian transplants..