Here is a slide show from my trip yesterday to see how the McCurtain County, Oklahoma, Sabal minor fared after the recent cold weather.
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Very cool thanks for sharing. Only if they would live here. 😡
Shoshone Idaho weather
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Here's to all the global warming pushers, may your winters be -30 below and four feet of snow in your driveway. Because I want you happy.
-Aaron-
Thanks Erik! Those strap leaves certainly look cold damaged to me! What was the low like there?
Paul,
the mesonet site (mesonet.org) lists +9 F for Idabel.
The site where the possibly cold-damaged palm was found was a little (30 km) north and up higher, and down at the bottom of a steep gorge where cold air might have settled during the radiational cooling event we had. That is why I wanted to look there. The particular strap leaved plant with apparent cold-damage was in the open. So, I thought if it as a worse-case scenario.
My over-all impression though was of astoundingly healthy plants. --Erik
Edit for clarity: the +9 for Idabel was for Feb 10; the 2011 low for Idabel (largest town) so far is +4 F (-16 C). Again, this particular habitat likely got colder.
Great pics!! You're very lucky to have such a cold-hardy strain of minor native to your state!
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Cool pics Erik. How far away from your place is that???
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Scotty,
I have been drinking some of W's home-made muscadine wine and so have (mis)interpreted your question as a request for a travelogue.
Context first. I live in Bixby, one of the wealthiest communities in OK. The photo below was taken by my wife back in November from her office, a Bell helicopter. Her "bird" was made in 1978 and bought at auction recently for US$8,000. They fixed it up some. She flew over me this morning doing about 200 knots with a good tailwind. I was burning trash out back.
I guess in some places gov't folks pick up trash and burn it for you. Does that happen up in Canada? I last spent time up there in Port Harcourt, BC. Seemed pretty rich to me.
McCurtain County is the poorest of Oklahoma's 77 counties. So, not so many double-wides down there--mostly single-wides and shacks.
To save on gas, I drove my Toyota Rav4 (2wd, 5-spd, just 190k mile on the odo.). I should have brought the old Chevy truck with 4wd. Gravel roads gave way to mud, then the roads ended. I drove as well as I could fully off-road, then got out and walked. So, Scotty, the drive home took four hours. If you do a google map search you'll scratch your head and wonder why it took so long for so few miles. Trust me--I was doing 80 mph the last couple of hours.
Anyway, I'm back with my chickens, goats, horses etc. Probably going back down next month as I loved it down there. Did I mention that it was warm in February?!?
--Erik
<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href=" https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/-zoYUr6020zF1Jm94CmDXg?feat=embedwebsit e"><img src=" 
" height="383" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href=" https://picasaweb.google.com/terdalfarm/November2010?feat=embedwebsit e">November 2010</a></td></tr></table>
Erik,
Nice habitat pics.
Glad you made it out of there in one piece...
Those Sabals did amazingly well considering the lows they experienced.
but like all palms, it's the duration of cold that's important.
Port Harcourt?
B.C. had a premier named Harcourt once (thank God only once!)
Seems it's the capital of Rivers State in Nigeria.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_Harcourt
:scratch:
Ahem...did you happen to have a shovel along? 😀
Barb
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If you drink, don't drive. Don't even putt.
Oops--I have been to Nigeria. I meant Prince Rupert, BC.
No shovel. I think Sabal are hard to transplant. 🙁
Wow eric,
They dont look to bad at all. Concidering the winter you have down there.
As for the garbage up here...... In my city, and in Calgary, garbage is either city collected, or rural areas have their own designated dump sites. As far as I know, burning trash here is illegal..
"The definition of insanity, is doing the same thing over and over, and expecting different results" - einstien
Check out my new Blog! http://canadianplant.wordpress.com/
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Erik- I don't think that 9F would injure a McCurtain, even at that size. I do, however, think that if it was much colder than that (say -16C), a strap leafed specimen, even from that population, could be burnt!
Any Gators?
I saw one, and heard a splash from another. Basically, I think the Alligator population came through as well as the native palms.
I am about to start a new thread on Sabal minor at the Tulsa Zoo, where they are naturalizing. It is close (c 1 km) to the Tulsa airport where the NWS station is so we have reliable temperature data.
Are you trying to say there are Alligators in Oklahoma????? :sign6:
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😆 😆 😆
We have 'gators and palms in OK!
I am willing to bet that 99% of Okies don't know it. 😯
OT:
If you want to read more about these critters, here is a link to an article on them:
http://digital.library.okstate.edu/oas/oas_pdf/v86/p17_21.pdf
That is pretty cool. Thanks for the pics. Looks like a fun trip.
I reckon I could drive the 200 miles to Virgina Beach and see native Sabals.
We are both so close, yet so far. 🙁
