The Montreal plants guy posts here sometimes. Maybe you can send him a PM? Someone must recall his username...

CoconutMike

There was another one wasnt there? The one who build those huge sheds to protect them?

I just ordered two 15 gal sabal minors and one 15 gal needle from Mike today.
Pretty excited. They should arrive by the end of May.
If anyone else wants some palms from Mike just let him know you want them on the same shipment and we can split the cost of freight. Another fellow from Victoria just did that so we will be splitting the costs of freight. The only drawback is it will be shipped to my place in North Vancouver. You would have to come by my place to pick them up. Let me know if you are interested.

Hello everyone. Just letting everyone know that I do have needle palms and sabal minor and they are living for me and seeding and most have just minimum protection. It is true that these 2 palms do not like winter rain, but that is pretty much true for all living things. When we go to the beach we test the water with our toes before going in. Ha-Ha. West coast has no problem with these 2 palms. BananaJoe has needles and sabals all over the place in his upper and lower gardens with snow on them and they are fine. Plant slightly higher than soil level by mounding up existing land. Add gravel and sand to your composted soil and mulch base for winter. We are organizing a truck to North Vancouver to WES and AARON and we have a few more interested people in that area. This would be a great time for you guys to experiment with these palm and share the shipping cost at a reduced rate. We also have other palm varieties. I opened up windmill-needle-sabal minor and nanital last week in my garden here is video and here are my sites if you want to see what we have.
www.montrealplants.com
www.windmillpalms.info
www.montreallandscaping.ca
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GF9z6nRlq34
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6itBsGqWIs

Nice job overwintering!

(The "uncovering" video is 3rd from the end in list, the "...RLQ34" video).

Barb

Thanks Barb/lucky1
regards
Coconutmike

I cannot believe it, but true: I have not been back to the Red Slough since then, until this weekend.

I volunteered/was volunteered to organize a Field Meeting of the Oklahoma Academy of Sciences and choose mcCurtain County. The meeting was this weekend. For my Friday night keynote speaker, I invited Dr. Chris Butler, who has been doing recent research on McCurtain County Sabal minor (and Sabal more generally). Plus he enjoys growing a variety of cold-hardy palms at his home north of Oklahoma City. And has given me palms he started from seeds hard to find elsewhere (Nannorhops, stuff like that). 😀

Saturday, we set out for Red Slough. Not having been since February, 2011, I got lost. Pavement gave way to gravel, then the gravel ended and the roads were mud. Then we left those when we went through a locked gate (Dr. Butler has access for his research).

Sadly, my good camera wasn't working. Dr. Butler took some photos I think he will share. In the meantime, here is a cell phone snapshot I took:
<a href=" http://www.flickr.com/photos/drterdal/9889238555/" title="Red Slough Sabal minor tour group by drterdal, on Flickr"><img src=" " width="600" height="800" alt="Red Slough Sabal minor tour group"></a>

In brief, they looked healthy. Seeds were still too green to be ideal for picking. A few more weeks.
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I also examined the small population further north, at Beaver's Bend. Again, they looked healthy. Here is one I took a photo of this morning, once my camera was working:
<a href=" http://www.flickr.com/photos/drterdal/9889165673/" title="Sabal minor Beaver's Bend by drterdal, on Flickr"><img src=" " width="800" height="594" alt="Sabal minor Beaver's Bend"></a>

Great pictures, beautiful green colour, preparing for the winter in their rocky surrounding.. you are happy to live "near" cant beleive you didnt visit that place 2 years? I would like to buy some 10-20 seeds from you (straight from the field), would like to see the population with my own eyes too but the gators..!! Were you afraid going alone the first time? All in all very nice, thanks.

My Saturday night speaker was a young man studying the Alligator population there. We did see a young one, about a meter long. No, not worried about Alligator. There has NEVER been a documented attack on a human in Oklahoma history.

We did disturb a cottonmouth snake (Agkistrodon piscivorus) resting under a Sabal minor clump. Also about a meter long. They are quite venomous, and have a reputation for being aggressive, but this one moved away from us.

As always, the wildlife I worry most about in the woods is the human (Homo sapiens). McCurtain County has a reputation for illegal production of drugs like meth out in the woods, so my main concern is not stumbling upon an operation like that. I feel safer going in a group like I did on Saturday vs on my own.

Ok, Dr. Butler shared a couple snapshots he took of me on Saturday in the largest (10 hectare) population.

Me holding a seed stalk, too early for the seeds to be ready yet birds have already eaten most:
<a href=" http://www.flickr.com/photos/drterdal/9898972033/" title="Erik holds Sabal minor seed stalk at Red Slough by drterdal, on Flickr"><img src=" " width="800" height="600" alt="Erik holds Sabal minor seed stalk at Red Slough"></a>

Me kneeling in front of a clump:
<a href=" http://www.flickr.com/photos/drterdal/9898878044/" title="Erik kneels in front of Red Slough Sabal minor by drterdal, on Flickr"><img src=" " width="800" height="600" alt="Erik kneels in front of Red Slough Sabal minor"></a>

Nice to see those Sabals again Erik.
Thanks for the update.

How are those Nannorhops doing that he gave you?
I have some seedling Nannorhops arabica, and wow, are they ever blue.

Regular green Nannorhops, I understand, like to sit in water so I have them sitting in 14" pots in a bucket with 4 inches of water.
A few frogs in there too. 😆

Barb

All the little palms he gave me look good. I should do a separate post on them. Fan leaves when I got them--no strap leaves from Dr. Butler! 😆

In brief, they looked healthy. Seeds were still too green to be ideal for picking. A few more weeks.
-------------
I also examined the small population further north, at Beaver's Bend. Again, they looked healthy. Here is one I took a photo of this morning, once my camera was working:
<a href=" http://www.flickr.com/photos/drterdal/9889165673/" title="Sabal minor Beaver's Bend by drterdal, on Flickr"><img src=" " width="800" height="594" alt="Sabal minor Beaver's Bend"></a>

I love Dwarf Palmttos. Why do you think I have so many in my Garden.

Insane P.N., how do you protect them in winter there?