https://www.chron.com/culture/article/houston-palm-trees-river-oaks-22391878.php
I can’t find in the article on why the palm trees are being replaced.
If I remember these are Canary Palms.
They are awesome but they are very fragile. They have to be maintained with equipment that is cleaned every time before maintenance. They get a disease? They go quick and turn grey. There is no way to save them. Landscaping contractors are well known for having “complications” with them.
A hard freeze will often kill palm trees. They’re not a native plant to the Houston area and so they really won’t ever thrive here.
True and landscapers often do not clean their cutting units. When you see grey branches the Canary palm might have been attacked by a disease. It’s almost impossible to get rid of it. Other type of palm trees are a bit more resilient.
yet another example of why you can’t have palms in houston. despite the year round tropical climate, palm trees dont grow in houston. my grandfather lived in miami. he could put a peach pit in the ground and have a peach tree in two years; houston is nothing like that; which is why all palm trees in houston are doomed aand the should NEVER be allowed on the U of H campus !
joins CAPTS (cougars against palm trees) today !
we are currently taking donation and mail out t-shirts to lifetime members, join today !
That’s just not true
They are not native but depending on the variety you can have them in the area
I had 3 large palms in clear lake for 20 years and 3 smaller arid palms
The arid palms are desert palms and do fine with colder weather as deserts are cold at night
I have 3 large fan palms about 30 feet high around my pool in magnolia
Gets colder here than in clear lake and they are just fine with it
Here’s what ChatGPT has to say about the question. Sounds like the hard freezes are the big challenge.
Yes. Palms can grow very well in Houston, but species selection matters because Houston occasionally gets hard freezes.
For Houston’s hot, humid climate, some good choices are:
** Sabal/palmetto palm — excellent choice; handles Houston heat, humidity and freezes quite well.*
** Pindo (jelly) palm — very attractive blue-green foliage and reasonably cold hardy.*
** Windmill palm — extremely cold hardy, although Houston summers are hotter than its ideal climate.*
** Mediterranean fan palm — tough, cold hardy and stays relatively compact.*
** Washingtonia/Mexican fan palm — grows very fast and gets the classic tall Houston-palm look, but severe freezes can damage or kill them.*
The biggest issue isn’t Houston’s normal weather—it’s an event like the February 2021 freeze. More tropical palms such as queen palms, foxtails and Christmas palms can look great for years and then get wiped out by one major freeze.
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seems Microsoft disagrees - copilot:
" Why Some Palms Don’t Grow in Houston
Palms can grow in Houston, but not all species survive because the city’s climate and soils present challenges that only certain varieties can handle.
1. Cold snaps and hardiness zones
Houston is in USDA Zones 9a and 9b, meaning winter lows can dip into the 20s°F. While most tropical palms die in these temperatures, cold‑hardy species like the Texas Sabal (Sabal mexicana) , Windmill Palm (Trachycarpus fortunei) , Pindo Palm (Butia capitata) , and Mexican Fan Palm (Washingtonia robusta) are chosen for their ability to withstand brief freezes greensoul.blog**+1**. Species like the Queen Palm or Canary Island Date are more tropical and often die during cold snaps www.greensoul.blog.
2. Soil drainage issues
Houston’s heavy clay soils (often called “gumbo”) retain too much water in winter, leading to root rot in less hardy palms greensoul.blog**+1**. Even cold‑hardy palms need amended soil with sand or expanded shale to improve drainage."
technically you can grow a few palm species but its not easy because houston’s climate and soil aren’t good for palm trees. i suppose banana trees grow just fine in tropical houston too.
This picture must have been taken in Los Angeles. I have never seen a palm tree here that I wouldn’t cut into little toothpicks. They are scrofulous, ugly growths, like a bent, black hair growing out of a mole on grandma’s chin. I hate them.
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The palm trees at the old Sonny Looks restaurant on S Main seem to be holding up just fine, despite being a vacant lot for what, a decade or two?
That said, I’m not a palm tree fan. Not enough shade for my tastes.
All I know is the palm trees at Robertson were glorious and I will accept no slander to the contrary.
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I don’t remember a restaurant by that name.
It was before my time, but it was Sonny Look’s Sir Loin Inn. I remember the sign at least, if not the building.
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Now, I remember that place but never went there. For some reason I thought of it as Lion’s Inn or something rather than Loin and didn’t remember it being called Sonny Look’s but it has been gone 35 years, not 20 lol.
Dustin, you might have been thinking of another place called the Red Lion which was also on South Main but about a mile or so further north toward the medical center.
I might have conflated the names but I certainly remember the castle.
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I worked at Sonny Look’s Sir Loin Inn as a bus boy when I was a freshman through my junior years in high school (1968 - 1970). $1.25 per hour plus 10% of server’s tips.
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did you ever see that palm trees they put up along I-45 near the UH exits that they did for the houston superbowl ? they did not last and looked terrible. yep, a palm will make it in houston as long as you baby it and keep spending over and over to keep it going.