Picture 4/27/10

This Needle Palm (Rhapidophyllum hystrix) was purchased as a one- gallon bare-root plant from Central Florida in December of 2006.  I bought 4 at the time for $8 each, and promptly planted them in 3 gallon containers.  Every Spring I planted them into the ground (still in pots) and left them until New Year's Day to acclimate to our cold winters.  Then I would dig them up (pot and all) and place them in my unheated, attached garage until the middle of March.  Many Decembers the temperature dropped to near zero and on one 10° day we had 30 mph winds for 24 hours.  I stood out in the chilly wind and thought, "no way will these survive".

The palm pictured sat here all winter (2009-10) covered with a pillow case, and I mounded up some of the pine bark mulch around it, mostly to keep the pillow case in place.  I may have sprayed it with Wilt-Pruf and Daconil before covering.  I don't remember. It has actually survived in the ground since 2008 and at this point I would consider it established.

At the end of March 2010 when we had about 5 straight overcast days, the cover was removed.  As you can see, it sustained no winter damage whatsoever and has tossed out a new spear already.   It is actually on the West side of the house, which isn't ideal.  I'm hoping that if it survives a couple more winters that it will continue to flourish where planted with little care.  In March of 2011 I again uncovered the pillowcase and the palm showed no winter damage other than about 1/4" of browning on the tips which I trimmed off with scissors.

Picture 4/27/10

This Needle Palm (Rhapidophyllum hystrix) was purchased as a one- gallon bare-root plant from Central Florida in December of 2006. The story is the same as the palm above.  This one is also on the Northwest corner of my house but more exposed than the one above.  Like the previous palm this one showed no winter damage when uncovered in March.  It did take a beating from the sun once uncovered and the fronds browned-up on the ends.  The center spear also died and "pulled" the first winter it was left out (2008).  With evergreens it's always hard to tell when the damage actually takes place, but I think the March sun zapped this palm more than the winter cold.  I remain optimistic since it has also survived at least 3 winters in the ground.  As of 2011 it has 3 healthy growing spears that have suckered up from the main plant.

Picture April 2011

This Needle Palm (Rhapidophyllum hystrix) was purchased as a three-gallon plant from a Walmart in Central Florida for $15.  I brought it back in my car and planted it Spring Break 2010. When I took the pillow case off it at the end of its first winter in the ground, it exhibited NO damage at all, but later began to turn brown and eventually lost all of its foliage over a period of a month.  The picture is about a week after it was ucovered.  Once again, I'm not sure if it died during the winter (and remained green in the cold weather) or if it was still dormant when I uncovered it and the bright sun did it in.  Obviously, it is best to uncover evergreen plants gradually and on overcast days.  It's a shame because as you can see in the picture this plant was actually developing a trunk of over a foot which is unusual for hystrix.

Picture April 2010

I bought this Yucca Rostrata from Alligator Alley/Amazing Gardens in Oklahoma in 2005 for $60 plus $5 shipping.  Alligator Alley

This is a great deal if you have ever tried to buy one this size on Ebay they are around $200 and up.  I potted it in a 7-gal container of cactus mix with some crushed limestone.  I left it out until New Year's Day the first year and then I took it into a greenhouse for the winter.  Shortly thereafter, it began dropping leaves and what was left "pulled".  I was so sick I couldn't bear to toss it out.  It sat in a corner for 3 months without any water.  I walked in one day in April and much to my surprise it had a new cluster of leaves about 6" long seemingly overnight.  I planted it where it sits now but it really hadn't developed many roots at that point since the bare-root shipping.  Being a desert plant its enemy is not the Zone 5 cold temps as much as it is moisture.  It will tolerate April Showers and rain in the hot summer months, but in the winter it prefers to be dry.  This is why I built the plastic structure pictured below.  It mimics desert conditions where it will heat up on sunny winter days and then get cold at night.  But more importantly, it stays dry!  Notice the flap on the back is not stapled down so that heat can escape if it gets too hot in there.  The structure will collapse flat if I take out 8 screws from the 4 horizontal braces.  There are stakes pounded into the ground in all 4 corners and the structure is screwed to these stakes.  This Rostrata has been in the ground since 2006 averaging about 2-3" of growth per year, but this summer is put on 5-6" so I think it finally has established itself and soon I will have a nice tropical tree.  The tips of these spines will definitely poke out an eye so plan to plant it somewhere away from foot traffic.  I tie the spines in a vertical bundle before I work around it or trim it.  Also you have a choice of leaving the brown spines hang (top left) in which case you will have a nice "Hawaiian grass skirt", or you can trim them up (top right) and have a palm-looking trunk.