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They try lipstick palms in S. FL, and based on forums I'm on, they eventually don't make it. Hawaii, yes, Florida no they do not. They can't grow them long term.
The other common name for them is sealing wax palm and they do well in Hawaii, provided they're in a wet climate or otherwise get lots of water.
You really want to compare Broome or Darwin with Miami? You will lose. There are many very tender palms that cannot grow below 40F, which happens in South FL all the time.
Pygmy dates in Orlando are not long term hardy. When the 80's type weather returns, they will bite the dust. It happened in the past, and will eventually again. We all know that extreme anomalies are far more likely in the Southeast than other subtropical regions. New Orleans lost all kinds of palms, including pygmy dates as well.
The official station (MIA) here hasn't dropped below 40F since Dec 2010. An unusually long stretch of strange fortune including a night last year which was 4F above forecast and therefore did not drop below 40F. This streak has allowed certain species of plants and animals to flourish. Fortunately, based on models there is a meaningful chance of temperatures around 40F in the area over the next two weeks. We'll see.
The warmest parts of S. Florida (Miami Beach, Key Biscayne, etc.) definitely do not drop below 40F "all the time"
By the way, lipstick palms don't start appearing in Australia until about the latitude of Townsville and will not grow in northern Vietnam (winter means are too low)...average temps are just as important as extremes and "anomalies"
Almost all tropical palms will grow in Miami. 40F is really not holding it back much. Tropical vegetation is also native to S. Florida.
If we went solely by hardiness zones, then London would be full of Phoenix dactylifera, which it isn't as they struggle in humid climates and need desert heat. Phoenix canariensis does well here as it likes humidity, even though it had the same cold tolerance as dactylifera.
Heat and humidity is an issue for date production, rather than the growth of the palm itself. P dactylifera grow in NZ, although not common.
The warmest parts of S. Florida (Miami Beach, Key Biscayne, etc.) definitely do not drop below 40F "all the time"
By the way, lipstick palms don't start appearing in Australia until about the latitude of Townsville and will not grow in northern Vietnam (winter means are too low)...average temps are just as important as extremes and "anomalies"
Almost all tropical palms will grow in Miami. 40F is really not holding it back much. Tropical vegetation is also native to S. Florida.
I live in Key Biscayne and my lowest temperature last year (40F) was colder than that of MIA (42F) Miami Beach was 42F. See here for a comparison of this month. //www.city-data.com/forum/weath...jan-march.html
You're right about te tropical plants though. They're everywhere.
Heat and humidity is an issue for date production, rather than the growth of the palm itself. P dactylifera grow in NZ, although not common.
I've seen CIDPs in streetview here in the Southeast, and to my surprise many are growing quite well. However, they arne't as tall, vibrant, or full of dates like the California CIDPs. One thing I did notice though, looking at CIDPs in the US compared to the ones in Spain, the Spanish always like to prune the bottom half of the fronds leaving like a crown on top; whereas Americans prefer CIDPs to grow fully without pruning to get the sphere shape
The warmest parts of S. Florida (Miami Beach, Key Biscayne, etc.) definitely do not drop below 40F "all the time"
By the way, lipstick palms don't start appearing in Australia until about the latitude of Townsville and will not grow in northern Vietnam (winter means are too low)...average temps are just as important as extremes and "anomalies"
Almost all tropical palms will grow in Miami. 40F is really not holding it back much. Tropical vegetation is also native to S. Florida.
Do you still agree with these statements you made? I also recall a statement you made about Australia being able to grow far more super tender tropical vegetation that the US mainland.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Asagi
Subtropical Queensland/New South Wales has more tender vegetation then S. Florida.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Asagi
Over the long term (30+ years), places like Sydney and Auckland are able to support more palm species than most of USDA hardiness zone 9 in the U.S. (Houston, New Orleans, Jacksonville etc.). All because of those rare big blue northerners that come rolling down every few decades
The argument of course. Darwin and tropical Australia will never ever approach the cold that Miami has gotten and will get in the future.
There is no argument. I stated that the vegetation in Florida is more appealing to me than the vegetation in Australia.
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Miami Beach was 42F. See here for a comparison of this month. 
