Last year, we wrote about the famous Sabal ‘Birmingham’ palm, but until a few weeks ago, I hadn’t visited the old specimens at Raleigh’s Jaycee park in well over a decade, so I thought it was time to check on their status. We don’t know an exact planting date, but best guesses are that they
A Visit to Birmingham Read More »
As of September 2025, we officially have a newly published hardy palm species, Sabal tamaulipensis, although it’s one that we’ve been growing since 1995, and offering for sale through Plant Delights since 2006. From the first time we laid eyes on it, we knew it constituted a new species, but our and other palm collectors
The Newest Species of Hardy Palm Read More »
Twenty five years ago, my late wife Michelle and I, headed to Bermuda for a botanizing excursion….I mean, vacation. One of the collections I returned home with (legally declared) was a few seed of their native palm, Sabal bermudiana. I didn’t really have high hopes that it would be winter hardy here, but wanted to
Bermuda…with Palms in Mind Read More »
Sabal ‘DeFuniak’ is a mystery palm, first spotted years ago, in the town of DeFuniak Springs, Florida, as an oddity and potential hybrid. Palm experts agree that the trunk looks like Sabal bermudana, while the foliage more closely resembles Sabal minor var. louisiana. Our first Sabal ‘DeFuniak’ plants are currently flowering this year at 5
Deciphering Defuniak Read More »
Looking lovely in the garden now is one of the most overlooked of the Southeast US native palms. Sabal etonia may look superficially similar to the better known Sabal minor, but while Sabal minor is typically found in swamps and ditches, Sabal etonia comes from dry sandy scrub habitat in North Central Florida. It is
We love planting garden combinations that cause visitors to have a moment of cognitive dissonance. One of those moments in the garden currently is illustrated in the combination of Picea orientalis with Sabal ‘DeFuniak’. I remember a visitor once commenting that they didn’t like it that we had planted cactus with ferns, since they found
Hot and Cold Detente Read More »
One of the legendary palms of the Southeast US, is a plant known simply as Sabal ‘Birmingham’. It’s origin is the stuff of legends, and like a good legend, grows better with the passage of time. What we know is that the palm first came to the knowledge of the public in 1976, when a
We’ve planted quite a few forms of our native Sabal palmetto through the years. Only two have survived long term; the the form from Bald Head Island, NC, and one propagated from an ancient specimen in Mt. Holly, NC, just west of Charlotte. Taken recently, our Mt. Holly specimen is now 22 years old. It’s
Mt. Holly Palmetto Read More »
I had to chuckle as folks on several Facebook plant groups were wringing their hands in worry prior to the recent cold snap, while we were secretly hoping for even colder temperatures than forecast. JLBG registered three consecutive nights in the teens recently; 11F, 19F, and 19F. While this was certainly not abnormal for our
Hey Bartender…Give me Another Shot of Winter Read More »
One of our favorite palms for the garden is the US native Sabal minor var. louisiana. While it can’t outgrow the Himalayan Trachycarpus fortunei (windmill palm) for speed of developing a trunk, Louisiana palmetto is the most winter hardy of all trunking palms. One of the mysteries is that in the wild, the same population
Origin of the Bayou Babes Read More »
