Ugh, palm trees. Can we all agree that palm trees have no place in Austin? This isn't California and I don't want it to be. I feel like I'm seeing more and more of them lately as Californians get wistful about their home state.

Anyway, good pictures, guys.

I've got about 20 Palm trees in my yard, so I'll have to disagree. But I wish people would stick to planting mostly Texas Sabal Palms which are native to South Texas and they do great here compared to most species.

Certain species of palm trees can grow here without any sort of hand holding. But yeah, this isn't Hawaii and it's silly to have true tropicals all over the place since they can't handle our climate of drought and cold winters. That said, we have two Mexican fan palms in our yard. One that my dad planted 20 years ago alongside the house, and another one that was planted near the street when the neighborhood was built almost 50 years ago. Our neighbor also has two of them by the street that were planted when the neighborhood was built. There are a few more in the neighborhood that have survived, but a lot of them froze in the 70s and 80s. The one alongside the house just about died when the temperature got down to 15F degrees that one February a few years ago. I've taken to leaving the fronds on for added insulation in the wintertime.

Mexican fan palms are actually indigenous to Texas anyway. You start to see them all over the place south of San Antonio and down on the Texas coast.

One type of tree I do love are banana trees, which we've had, but they're hard to keep alive when it's cold.

I hate to turn this into a nerdy plant thread, but the only palm trees native to Texas are the large and awesome Texas Sabal Palms and the scrubby bush size Gulf Coast Sabal Minor Palms. Mexican Fan palms are not even native to California where they are iconic. California Fan Palms (similar to Mexican Fan Palms) are native to the Desert Southwest and do great in the southern half of Texas. It's amazing how something with so much green foliage can grow so fast in the heat and constant droughts we have here.

Yeah, through the drought last year and 2011 when even our Live Oaks were looking bad, and we've pretty lost a Pecan tree and our neighbor's 70 foot Sycamore is completely dead, the palm trees did just fine. I only lightly hand watered them a little. There are still trees dying in our neighborhood and that have been damaged by the drought. A tree up in the neighborhood fell over a month ago or so after a storm, and then just in the last few days another house in the neighborhood had an Ash tree that fell over in their driveway and clipped their house.

How about some faked in Pecans instead? Ha.

http://venish.com/apc-Buford-Tower2.jpg

Nice work. But marketing a 3K a month apartment with a pool deck surrounded by trees growing naturally in suburbia probably doesn't work as well as exotic Date Palms. :)

I think one other reason is the bird issue. Deciduous trees create a canopy that might cover an area and might present the problem of bird poop. Tropical palms like those tend to be less of a problem since they have smaller canopies. Our Mexican fan palm, though, always has birds and squirrels that nest up under the dry fronds. I'm always pulling weeds and digging/cutting out unwanted sapplings they've inadvertently planted.

Downtown Westin
 

Anybody hear any news on the start date for the downtown Westin?

I highly recommend checking out the WildFlower Center's bi-annual plant sale. It is amazing how many plants grow natively in Texas and that you can use to substitute potentially invasive or high maintenance plants.


There are actually quite a few palm species native to Texas, I would list them, but it is easier to go to www.wildflower.org and use their plant database. Seriously, if you enjoy planting at all, go visit as they are very critical to Austin. Lady Bird Johnson is extremely important to our city and it is one of her legacies.

The palms in that photo are Phoenix canariensis; from the Canary Islands off the north African coast.

The only palm native to California is the Washingtonia filifera of the Palm Springs area.

Texas native palms are the Sabal mexicana from the lower Rio Grande; Sabal minor native to AUSTIN and most of the eastern half of Texas (even Dallas); and Sabal ×brazoriensis found only in Brazoria County.

So....Texas 3 and California 1 as far as native palm species. ;)

Several permits have been filed between last December through this month for developing the site. They include demolition of the parking lot that is there now to temporary rerouting of traffic signals for hotel construction.

Developers like palms because they're easy to install, have lower maintenance over time, and have an exotic feel. Palms also have a very shallow root system, so they can be propped back up if they fall over in a storm. At least, that's what I've been told.

I hate them.

Does anyone know what this construction is going on in-front/beside the Skyhouse?

http://www.venish.com/apc-infront-of-the-skyhouse.jpg

That's the Skyhouse parking garage.

The parking garage, most likely.

Yep. Our neighbor works at the wildflower center. Their yard is full of native plants. He works in West Texas in the oil and gas industry, so he's only in town every other week. When he's not in town, she stays at her place. His daughter lives there and doesn't even bring up the trash cans, so having some native plants that don't need a lot of babying is perfect for them.

The Great Outdoors also has a free booklet listing all the native plants or ones that can grow here and what kind of conditions they like.

Nice that you mentioned the Great Outdoors. Definitely my favorite nursery, mainly because of the setting. I don't buy much, but like to walk around and look at the old oak that supposedly is about 500 years old.

I think I've mentioned it before, but my dad knew the woman who owned the house before it was sold and became the Great Outdoors. She was an antique/pottery collector/dealer. We fell out of touch with her after my dad died.