We’ve certainly had our share of strange winters in recent years. For instance, 2009-10 was remarkable for sustained cold. After an abnormally warm December 2009, January ushered in the coldest two-month period since 1940. There wasn’t much frost, except in the most interior districts of southern Florida, but persistent very cool days and nights eventually took a…
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The Old Man Palm is endemic to Cuba, but grows very well as an ornamental landscape palm in S. Florida. It is a single trunk fan palm, with white-grey fibers covering the trunk. These fibers emerge from the new fronds and hang down and surround the trunk, giving the appearance of a grey beard, which is why this palm…
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If you are only passingly familiar with cycads, you’re missing out on one of the most ancient and interesting representatives of the plant kingdom. The first cycads arose somewhere around 280 million years ago, but came into their own in the Jurassic Period, the same time dinosaurs began to dominate, roughly 200 to 145 million years ago. But you can’t say that’s when cycads really flowered, because they’re…
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A very interesting flowering plant is blooming in the nursery this month. That’s not to say you’ll want one for its beautiful flowers; like most palms, the flowers of Sabal mauritiiformis won’t attract oohs and aahs. But here is what you’ll like about the palm: Sabal mauritiiformis is probably the fastest-growing of the 20 or…
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