Plant looks awesome nova thanks for the pics !

Looks like a pretty good deal to me. Great looking plant.

Well Nova, it looks a little leggy and stretched: Im just kidding, it looks great, size and color. Nice to see you didn't have to pay any shipping charges too to get a nice trachy.

Everything looks great novaplantguy. I'm glad your red abby recovered nicely. I wish Home Depot or Lowe's up here in PA would carry cold hardy palms.

Jay

Thanks guys! Donray, I KNEW someone was gonna come along and yank my chain with the whole "leggy and stretched" thing! LOL! I got a great laugh this morning out of that one! ;-)

Jay, Yeah, that red abby was very small, and in terrible shape when I got him. he was the last one left on the shelf, and only had 3 leaves, two of which were half gone due to rot or something else, and he was barely 1 foot tall, and I could easily wrap my hand around his "trunk".

The Home Depot here this year, is not only carrying cold hardy palms, but they are carrying 5 gallon sabal palmettos, (not sabal minor either) 10 gallon Washys, and some 15 foot tall queen palms,and I belive I did see a fairly large coconut palm t here too. They also have some Musa Basjoos, but there are only 3 left out of the 25 or so I saw back in may. (HD is where I got my Musa Basjoo this year) Not sure why all the sudden they have decided to go all out with the palms and such this year. They also have some rather large cordylines. Dunno what the deal is with them this year. Most of the bigger fan palms of all varieties have not yet sold with the exception of a few of teh washys and trachys. Ive been popping in there about once a month just to see if they have gone "on sale" yet, but not as of last sunday they have not. The Trachy's they have are pretty much the same size as the one I just got, but they are 100 bucks! Maybe thats why they are not selling so well. Who knows really. I just find it kind of ashame they will sell stuff that is clearly too large to be an indoor palm here, that will NOT survive our winters. They sell all those palms, but I have yet to see not even so much as ONE S. Minor or Needle palm anywhere in the area, not even at the higher end nurseries, that carry some cold hardy stuff like some Trachys and larger Yucca species.

Btw... Not to bring up a sore subject, but you did mention it in another thread and now it has be wondering, has your little one had his procedure yet, and did everything to well? I hope all is going to be fine!

Novaplantguy - Sorry, I kind of worded that wrong in my throws of passionate anger. LOL! We've already been to all the endocrinologist and geneticist appointments to get the chemical and hormone thing straight. The first appointment with the urologist was on Monday and we just went over a few things with him. The actual surgery wont be for another month or two. Little Joe needs to be the right weight before they can put him under safely. Not to worry though. Everything will be fine. They'll get him fixed up and he'll be perfectly normal. Thanks for asking. Sorry everyone else for being so off topic. I shouldn't have ever brought it up on this forum but there you have it.

BTW I laughed when I read what donray wrote also. I'm glad we can laugh at it now. I really am sorry and I hope all that is behind us now. Again very nice plants and trachy novaplantguy. GO SKINS!

Jay

It does look a bit leggy but over all its not bad and def, Home depot sometimes have real good deals

Nice trachy Novaplantguy. It would definately appreciate a bigger pot if your not going to sink it any time soon.

OH NO!!! Should we let the old wounds heal before we address this one? LOL
BTW, trachyhead, this has nothing to do with your post. It goes back a couple days!

Glad to hear things should go smoothly Jay, Keep us updated! And yes, GO REDSKINS!!!! WAHOO!!!!

Thanks everyone! I love it, even if it IS a lil on the leggy side! LOL!

In regards to its container vs Ground. I have been mulling this over, and I think it might be too late in the season to put it into the ground, and I am not totally sure I want it in the ground here. What do you think? Too late?

Also, with regards to a container: I was also considering doing a half whisky barrel. This would be plenty big enough, my only concerns would be cold. While we dont seem to have too many hard ground freezes here in the urban heat island inside the beltway, especially not here, in the middle of an urban environment, and right next to the Potomac river... "freezing" is still somewhat of a concern for keeping it containerised. I'm thinking of doing the half whisky barrel, and maybe putting the palm in a slightly smaller container inside of it, and insulating the space between for now. I was also considering further insulation with xmas lights around the trunk and maybe in the pot as well, and perhaps a small soil heating cable, just enough to keep the soil completely above freezing. What do you all think?

Ive spoken of the fantastic micro climate we have here before, and where that palm is sitting in the photos, is the SE point of the building I live in. As you can see, the brick wall goes on back about 10 more feet, and where it comes out to the corner goes on down (to the left in the pic) about another 50 feet to the end of the building. So there is a "indent of about 10 or so feet that runs along the back fo the building. Its a very long building, maybe 150 feet or so, and the back part is completely protected from strong north / northwest and northeast winds. As I said before, the few occasions we did get frost here, there was NO frost on anything within 10 feet of the building. Also, when it snowed the couple times it did, the snow did not stick to the grass at all within 10 feet of the building. It gets sun all day, and even when its 45 or so outside, in bright sunshine during the dead of winter, if feels more like 55 or so. Keep in mind the buildings are red brick and do absorb heat, and radiate it back out, and the bricks tend to stay rather warm even in winter long after the sun is gone. This is the area where I have also had many plants that are considered "annuals" live through the winter, and come completely back this summer. of course they slow way down in growth, and even stop all together, but they still stay green and never "die". Just another indicator of the micro climate that exists here... there is a large 40 foot silver maple tree in the center of one of the small yards" back here in this same space. It budded and flowered in late jan/ early feb, and had leafed out by late march this year. It was about 1 full month ahead of most other silver maples in this area.

So there you have it. Based on what I plan to do, and the micro climate I have, any suggestions / thoughts would be appreciated! Thanks guys!

Nova, In the picture I posted(and here it is to refresh your memory)

Jimhardy, thats awesome! great to know! now im torn! like I said, I dont "own" any ground here, so im really leaning towards keeping it containerised as long as possible, because I would like to haul it with me when i leave here no matter how big it is! LOL!

Has anyone overwintered outside in a container? If so.. thoughts, suggestions? If its likely that the palm will be severely damaged or not survive, then ill just put it in the ground.

Hmmmm decisions ... decisions..... =o)

I would just throw it in the ground,these things grow on trees,eeerr,well you know what I mean,besides you can always get a new one,try realpalms or chilly palm tree co.for a good laugh,oh,I mean deal.

LAMO!!!!! This is gonna be come the running joke of 08 on here!

Well yeah, I know that, but I want to KEEP this one alive, and possibly take it with me if I go. So I still wanna hear about overwintering in containers if anyone has experience doing this. Im still leaning towards the big half whisky barrel set up I mentioned above. I just dont want to have to dig it out of the ground if I go, and If I DO decide to leave it, id rather have to plant it INTO the ground, rather than to have to dig it out to take it with me.

I check the forum a couple of times a day when I am at work and it was sure alot more interesting when the poo was flying in the prvious posts. Oh well, it seems more civilized this way. THANKS for puting the past behind and moving forward.

Novaplantguy - your trachy looks great. That is a great purchase and take good care of it.

Windmills do well in containers but in our climate you cannot overwinter a T. fortunei in a container because the roots will freeze and if that happens the plant is toast. You will need to overwinter it indoors.

Johnnieb,

thats what I was thinking, however, what about with insulation/ heating cables? The containers I had out there all last winter right up next to the building and on the window sills (outside) never froze either. It just never got that cold, and it gets sun ALL DAY. Heating cables I would think would do the trick for nightime lows. It be very hard pressed to belive well have many DAYTIMES below 32F. That just hardly ever happens here anymore.

But keep in mind that last winter was unusually mild, and you can't count on that every winter! The lowest I measured in my back yard was 17 degrees but in previous years I've measured lows of 6 and 7 degrees.

With heating cables, you might be able to do it; I guess the main question is whether it's worth the trouble. I find that windmills do quite well indoors, so the one I still have in a pot just comes in for the winter.

I was going to mention heating cables too,but why not just use a cheap plastic pot and put it in the ground potted?Our better yet use a slightly larger pot in the ground and slip your potted trachy in that one,that way its easier to pull out if you need to.

Thanks guys, All are great ideas! I was considering the pot in a pot thing as well, however I was gonna do a slightly smaller pot ( than the size of a whisky barrel) inside of the whisky barrel, with xmas lights and heating cables to keet it from freezing.

Im still on the fence about all this. My LITTLE trachy is definately coming inside when they are calling for temps below 35. Its small enough. The big one, well, its big. Im 5'6", and its up to me chest, the leaves are fairly large maybe 24" across? and its just... well.. BIG. Almost too big for inside my place. I do have a spot for it, but really, id have to get a light rig up of some sort for it, because the spot i do have for it is pretty much not near any windows.

last winter was pretty mild here yes, but really no more or less mild than any given winter in the past 10 years. I can think of one winter, I think it was 03, where we actually had a REAL snow storm, and im not talking about an inch or two here or there when its barely 32 or above outside like most winters. Back in 06 winter, we DID actually get an 8 incher, with alot of sleet that same storm too, but it never really went any lower than the mid and upper 20s then either. The lowest I got last winter on my cheap little thermometer, which I since broke was 32F, 6 feet from the building. Who knows, im so up in the air at this point about exactly what to do and how to do it. Thank goodness theres still 3 good solid months left before any real threat of hard freezes! Ill keep you all posted on what I do.

Although sticking it in the ground is your best bet i understand if you want to take it with you. I would think that a container would be fine, it is a big enough plant to survive a frozen pot to -6c as long as it is not over a long period of time. All my potted trachys froze solid last winter and 95% of them made it and tehy were a third the size of yours, the few that spear pulled i binned anyway coz i have too many of them ;-) If your worried just keep it near the house.

With the temps your talking about I don't think being in a pot is a prob,if you have a attached garage you could just wheel it in on nights in the teens,(does'nt seem like you have to many of those anyway)the main thing is cutting back watering in fall and winter esp before and during extreme cold,and keeping moisture off the plant,and even more importantly out of the crown.My trachys experienced brief exposure to single digits(and remember they were not planted untill nov) with no leaf burn and no ill effects at all.As long as temps gradually cool down over a period of time during the fall these palms are pretty much bullet proof!Don't worry about freezing temps at all,just gradually cut back on water starting in Oct were you live.If you have never read through "palms in colorado springs usda zone 5b"I highly recommend it,the imformation on this site is the closest thing to a holy grail for growing palms in cold weather in my opinion.

You could put Wall-O-Waters over the pots and fill them. Two here survived 11F and snow outside last winter in them, with only a sheet and plastic over them during one snow/cold outbreak. Placement in a microclimate right next to a structure should help--kept two Cordylines in urns alive through three winters down to 11F with no added protection.

Thanks for all the tips! Im definitely going to take all this info to heart! Ive still not fully decided what I am going to do, but I still have plenty of time. Right now I'm leaning more towards figuring out some container type scheme, and maybe using a light, clear plastic tarp with some air holes to just throw over it should it get super cold.

Slightly off topic here... Today I went with a couple friends down to a nursery about 20 minutes south of Old Town Alexandria ( for those living in and familliar with the Washington D.C. Area / Northern VA) called Holly Woods And Vines. I have not been there in about 4 years. I have to say, I was blown away and completely impressed!!!! Its cold hardy palm heaven, at least for this area.

In the past, they have always been a fairly good, larger nursery, with reasonable prices. Probably id guess one of the top 5 or so nurseries in the D.C. area at least in size. In the past, they would always have a few large mexican fan palms, a nd did have 5 sable palmettos planted at the front of the property on rt 1. ( they are just between Mt Vernon rd, and Ft. Belvoir. Anyway, so they always held somewhat of an attraction for me because of those palms. Well I was very pleasantly surprised to find today, they have finally figured out the whole cold hardy palm / yucca thing. They had at least 15-20 VERY LARGE (12-18' tall) T. Fortunei's in in large containers, running for about $850. Were talking full grown, flowering, tree size trachys! many of them were in the parking lot forming a row between lines of spaces, and several were in the front entrance along parking spaces there. They also had another 15 or so ranging in sizes from... 7-9 foot ones for $400, and some 4 to 6 foot ones for $199. Thats not a bad price for a plam that is as tall or taller than I am, and im 5'6". They also had some rather sizeable European Fan palms, about 4 of them. I was really blown away to find the next couple of things I did. They had 7 gallon Needle palms, wich were 1-2' tall clumps with several in each pot. One central large one producing fan leaves, and several other smaller "suckers" producing both strap and fan leaves. These were all $89.00. Not a bad price for such a good size and very FULL palm!

The other thing I was stunned to find, was the sheer number, and ranges in sizes of Yucca Thompsonia, and Yucca Rostrata, and many other of the "tree/ palm tree" like Yuccas, from 20' tall on down to 1' tall. I found one Rostrata that was about 4' tall of trunk, for under 100 bucks. In thier "back area" they had literally hundreds of VERY TALL Yucca's, that looked to be mainly Thompsonia and Rostrata, and some other kinds mixed in. Some were upwards of 20' or more tall. They also had back there a very large collection of very large Agaves, one of which had a 20 foot tall bloom spike on it. Then another area, also in the back, they had some VERY LARGE, maybe 15+ foot tall Sago Palms, and a couple even TALLER Widmills, probably around 20-25' tall. We did not go all the way back in, because it looked somewhat like an area that was not really "for customers" if you know what I mean.

I was very appy to see that it seems they have FINALLY caught on to all the cold hardy palm / yucca options available to us here in our area. I have been waiting for one of the big nurseries to finally figure this out, and it looks to me like they are the first ones! I plan on going back possibly tomorrow, or next weekend, and I will be taking my camera with me.

And some cash!

OH I definitely plan on taking cash! I plan on picking up at least one of their nice needle palms! =o)

I wish we could get needles for that size and price here :-(

I wish we could fine oreophilus and manipur (plants) in the states

I posted this over in the Banana forum as well, but ill post it here too since it IS a new addition. If you want to try and ID it... go for it, but I think it very well just might be a grand nain after all. IF that in fact is the case, hes comin in for the winter. I already removed the largest pup, and he did have roots of his own.

******************

Ok,

A small local neighborhood nursery and gift shop had a banana plant left over from this summer's plant stock. This guy was in a "display" arrangment, in the center of a large pot, with some sweet potato vines in with him draping over the sides. I asked if they would sell it to me, and they said sure, for $20.00. So I had them dig him out and plop him in a plan old plastic nursery pot just to transport him the few blocks home. There WAS actaully a tag in with him, and it says he is a Musa Grand Nain.

I would like to know if anyone can verify this, or if it might be something else like a basjoo, or cavendish.

He is loaded with pups, about 5 or 6, a couple of which are fairly big, maybe approaching 2 feet.

The main reason I want to know is so I can determine how I am going to handle him for the winter. If its not a basjoo or other cold hardy (corm hardy here in my zone 8) I would like to know so I can figure out how to deal with him indoors for the winter.

Here are the photos:

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This last photo below is of one of the large pup's leaves. They have the familliar dark sploches on them, that look like a deep redish to me.

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Also, in one of the photos above, you can see the pseudostem is fairly red in color. I did pull away 2 of the oldest, and very small leaves which revealed the more red part of the stem.

Any ideas if this is in fact a grand nain? If it isnt, then what exactly do you think it is? It sure does look ALOT like my basjoo, but its alot smaller. It was grown in a smaller container so far this whole summer as well. My basjoo is in a gigantic pot, which is probably why hes gotten real good hight.

Thanks for the help!

So, a short trip to home depot here in Alexandria (S. Pickett St. for those familliar) and what do I find that had just arrived there?

.......

Sabal Minor. About 30 of them. The tag calls them "blue dwarf palmettos", and then the actual name underneath the title on the tag was S. Minor. $23.00. I couldnt resist. I went thru them and picked out the one that was the most visually appealing to me. The one I liked only had 2 growth tips, most of them had 3. I know they are young, but some of them are producing fan leaves like the one I got. Some of them were just starting to produce fan leaves and had mostly strap leaves, while some had shed most of their strap leaves, and had more fan leaves like the one I purchased.

Was completely NOT expecting to see those there, so of COURSE I had to purchase one, especially when I discovered the price. =o)

Man, I think I have a problem! Ok, off now to pick up my Needle Palm! LOL! SOMEONE SAVE ME BEFORE ITS TOO LATE!!!!!!!!!

It's too late Nova! No looking back at this point. Great deal on the minor. Seriously, how could you resist that? I've seen those pots before, any chance the nursery name is on the tag?

Wow! Nova, you sure found some GREAT palm deals! I just may take a ride to my Home Depot to see of they might also have any of those Sabal minors. I am definately in the market for some more minors along my side fence where I have a nice "double" which I got from a local nursery that has quite a few palms. My Sabal minor came in a Monrovia pot and was listed as "Tropical - zones 8 to 10". It has done well for me in southern New Jersey (zone 7b/8a).

And you said I have a palm addiction!Seriously when you can find a good deal like those... man its nice to find sabals with fans at a reasonable price.I have heard that sabals can put out 3-4 leaves a season,that would be nice,My sabal etonia finally put out its first leaf.It will be interesting to see if they make it through the winter.Congrads on your new palms they all look nice!

Donray, Here is the answer to your question:

It says right on the tag that they are "KNOWN" hardy to zone 6B-7A, and that they are "reported" hardy down to a zone 6A.

Palmfan, definitely check out your local HD. They just might have em.

Jimhardy, Well yeah, that was me being the pot calling the kettle black! LOL! I was just saying to a friend today that I need to go to PA. Plants or Palms anonymous! LOL!

Check your "needle palm" thread for the pics of the nice needle I got today! =o)

Thank you Nova, I thought I have seen those before but I forget easily! I spent twelve years in Florida right out of high school around the UF and recognized the pots from prior posts here.

Started:1981

State of Incorporation:FL

URL:N/A

Location Type:Single Location

Stock Symbol:N/A

Stock Exchange:N/A

Also Does Business As:N/A

NAICS:N/A

SIC #Code:5193

Est. Annual Sales:$6,600,000

Est. Employees:80

Est. Employees at Location:80

Contact Name:Paul Z Okean

Contact Title:President

Pretty good size nursery huh? Located in Delray Beach Florida. Bet they grow more than cold hardy palms too! Your new palms look great, but we need to talk! I hope you're not spending grocery money here?! Got plenty of nuts stored for the winter? LOL! Now's the time to get em! It's either sell em cheap or pay the price to house them through the winter.(Like Delray has a winter to speak of)
But, gotta make room for next years stock. Great deal you got there! Keep looking, bet you'll see more before first frost hits!