I had a 4' Washingtonia robusta persist in an unheated winter enclosure for several years.
Current condition ... dead as a door nail.

Cheers, Barrie.

Sorry to hear that Barrie, Scott's will do fine since it will be heated and he's been keeping it on the dry side coming into fall. Right Scott!

Bill

No worries Bill ... I never expected it to be long term. These only seem to be reliable in the southern Oregon. The coastal regions are best but the hot interior zones (Medford etc) are great for the most part.

Cheers, Barrie.

Here's a couple Trachy's planted out last spring, not much to look at 😀
100*F temps, lack of rain, and being munched on by grasshoppers has taken it's toll.

Steve

Right Bill!!! 😉

Steve ... you might consider getting some of the competing plant material away from those palms. Water and eventual crowding are the two main reasons. Good start there 😀

Cheers, Barrie.

Barrie, Thanks for the advice, I've been a bit lax in my weeding duties 😀
With the cooler weather they have started growing again, going to put up a rain shield & mulch them in for the winter.

Steve

Hi all! Here are 2 new Trachys I planted back in April. They're on the North side of my home in front of a south-facing retaining wall with almost a full day of sun (but now this time of year they only get brief periods). They've established quite nicely and put out a lot of growth despite our hot hot dry temperatures this summer.
I kept a record of their growth rate since they were planted. In June I recorded the first one had grown 4 inches in a month and a half. The newest spear from May grew 5 1/2" by June. At that point temperatures had been 33C (91.4 Fahrenheit) for a week and no rain for a month. Needless to say I spent much of my time out back giving them tons of water. Wonder how they would have looked, had we seen our typical rainy Vancouver weather!
(hope these turn out, I'm having trouble posting them!)

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/lRVuIU1Q0x2t_qmonR3i0g?authkey=Gv1sRgCLz8nP7F4KLa7QE&feat=directlink

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/-IQFdQD9ytYTwY6g5jGURA?authkey=Gv1sRgCLz8nP7F4KLa7QE&feat=directlink

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/H4KHjl5YsznJI3BLLMVPoQ?authkey=Gv1sRgCLz8nP7F4KLa7QE&feat=directlink

Awesome Heidi.
Good to see these are getting rooted down and settling in. "Rainy Vancouver" ? ... we're a shoe in for good summers here.

Cheers, Barrie.

Thanks Barrie!

I guess I was thinking May - June 'monsoons'... yes we do have awesome summers! Hope we don't get a winter like last year though...YIKES!

Heidi

Looking really good and healthy Heidi, Did your yellow rings go away?

Bill

Thank you Bill! I did find one more older frond with a yellow ring but a bit more faded. I haven't found anymore on the newest spears so I'm hoping it's ok now. Thanks for asking!

Heidi

Thanks Barrie!

I guess I was thinking May - June 'monsoons'... yes we do have awesome summers! Hope we don't get a winter like last year though...YIKES!

Heidi

Out of curiousity I check with EC (Environment Canada) for average precip levels for May and June.
87.6 mm (3.44") at the Departure Bay station.
94.8 mm (3.73") at the Nanaimo Airport.
Again, both May and June combined. (Can't see it being hugely different over your way - mainland BC)

Barring an extremely bad year, hardly a "monsoon" season.

I suppose it seems rainy once the full on summer season hits. Hey you want to see rain, wait til November. 😯 😆

Cheers, Barrie.

Barring an extremely bad year, hardly a "monsoon" season.

Yes Barrie this was a less than average year for precipitation to say the least. I just remember my neighbors talking about the big 'monsoon' coming as we remember the past couple of years it being the two dreaded months of rain before summer. I also checked EC for my city and we definitely got way more than the areas you stated.
May-June 2009 = 179.2mm
2008 = 224.2mm
The year before that from April - June total was 324mm, so that's probably why I've heard it dubbed 'monsoon'.

Anyhoo ....until November, I'm really enjoying this warmer and drier weather. EC says the North West Coast is supposed to be warmer and wetter than average for this winter. Fingers crossed!

Heidi 🙂