Monthly Update July 2010

FEATURED THIS MONTH: Satakentia liukiuensis

Satakentia liukiuensis crownshaft in the Beck garden. (Photo by Charlie Beck)

FRONT COVER: Satakentia liukiuensis growing in the Holton gar- den. (Photo by Dale Holton) 2 FEATURED THIS MONTH: Satakentia liukiuensis Palm Beach Palm & Cycad Society Officers by Charlie Beck

Betty Ahlborn, President (561) 722-8106 Satakentia liukiuensis is a me- to damage understory plantings Tom Ramiccio, First Vice President, Sales (561) 582-5915 dium-sized palm. It displays a long when released. Marshall Dewey, Second Vice President, Planting purplish brown crownshaft which is S. liukiuensis is endemic to Dale Holton, Third Vice President, Programs (561) 965-6792 especially beautiful after shedding moist forests in the Ryukyu Archi- Ruth Sallenbach, Secretary (561) 965-5430 an old frond (See photo on page 2). pelago. It is closely allied to Ingrid Dewey, Treasurer The pinnate fronds are deep green Clinostigma. S. liukiuensis is Elise Moloney, Membership Chairman and have a very formal appearance. monoecious and grows 60 feet tall Brenda Beck, Editor & Historian (561) 963-5511 This is a self-cleaning palm which in habitat. In 14 years, our oldest Appointees readily loses old fronds before they specimen has grown 15 feet to the Charles Beck, Librarian become unsightly. Unlike the Royal bottom of the five foot long crown- Marty Dougherty, Web Master Palm with its heavy fronds, Sa- shaft. The leaves measure 11 feet Ruth Lynch, Refreshment Chairman (561) 312-5046 takentia fronds are much less likely long and the stem measures 12 Kitty Philips & Susan Cioci, Activities & Events Coordinators inches in diameter at waist height. Twelve specimens planted in 2005 have al- VISIT US AT palmbeachpalmcycadsociety.com ready formed wood below their crownshaft. S. liukiuensis grows INSIDE THIS ISSUE: equally well in sandy soil 4 Featured this Month: Satakentia liukiuensis or on limestone rock. Most experts recommend - 5 Dr. John D. Kennedy Addresses Palm Beach Palm & Cycad Society ing in a shady location so 6 Dr. John Dowe Addresses South Florida Palm Society as the palm ages it grows (Continued on page 10) 7 Upcoming Meetings 8 Comparison of Winter 2010 Cold Temperatures GROWING CONDITIONS IN OUR GARDEN 8 This Month's “Thank You” FOR Satakentia liukiuensis 10 Name Drawing Prize Location 4 miles from ocean in suburban Lantana Soil Sand over a layer of hardpan (pineland flatwood habitat) Irrigation ¾ inch applied twice a week Opinions expressed and products or recommendations published in this newslet- Flooding Periodic inundation in sandy soil acceptable ter may not be the opinions or recommendations of the Palm Beach Palm & Cycad Society or its board of directors. Fertilization 3 times a year with Palm special analysis

Light Sun or partial shade Micronutrient Deficiencies None observed For permission to reproduce any article that appears in this publication, con- Insect Damage None observed tact the Palm Beach Palm & Cycad Society editor at [email protected] Hurricane Resistance Excellent 3 4 Dr. John D. Kennedy Addresses Palm Beach Palm & Cycad Society Dr. John Dowe Addresses South Florida Palm Society by Brenda Beck by Charlie & Brenda Beck

On June 7, 2010, Dr. Dowe acteristics and DNA: Rotundifolio, At the June 6, 2010, Palm So- was the guest speaker at the South Chinensis, and Australis. ciety meeting, Dr. John D. Kennedy Florida Palm Society meeting. Dr. The first group, Rotundifolia, was the guest speaker. Dr. Ken- Dowe is from the Australian Center are distributed in Malesia and con- nedy’s presentation was Palms 101: for Tropical Freshwater Research at tains the oldest palms (30 million

An Introduction, which focused on James Cook University in Towns- years). It includes brevfilia, choco- planting palms that will perform ville, Queensland. latina, merrilii, papuana, rotundifo- well in Florida. Based on Dr. Ken- The topic of his presentation lia, surru, tothur, and woodfordii. nedy’s research and growing experi- was Livistona. John has recently The fruit of this group usually go ence, he recommended the following Dr. John D. Kennedy issued a taxonomic account of Livis- through an orange phase. palms for the Florida landscape: tona which reduced 38 species to 36 The second group, Chinensis  Acoelorraphe wrightii (native) species. The most relevant change are distributed in East and Southeast

 Acrocomia aculeata to Floridians is lumping L. robin- Asia plus the Horn of Africa and  Corypha taliera  Allagoptera arenaria soniana with L. rotundifolia. John Southern Arabia and includes  Cyrtostachys renda (not cold hardy) has also recently released a new boninensis, carinensis, chinensis,  Archontophoenix cunninghamiana  Dypsis leptocheilos book, Australian Palms. endauensis, exigua, halongensis,  Arenga engleri  Latania lontaroides Livistona is located in the jenkinsiana, saribus, speciosa, and  Bismarckia nobilis Livistoninae subtribe. Livistona is tahanensis. The fruit of this group is  Livistona chinensis  Borassus flabellifer most closely related to Licuala, but either green or purple.  Livistona decora [decipiens]  Burretiokentia vieillardii the subtribe also includes Johannes- The third group, Australis, are  Phoenix reclinata  Butia capitata tijsmnnia, Pritchardiopsis, and located in Australia and New  Rhapis excelsa Pholidocarpus. In addition to its Guinea and includes the youngest  Carpentaria acuminata  Roystonea regia (native) current range, Livistona fossils have palms which are alfredii, australis,  Caryota mitis also been found in North America, benthamii, concinna,decora, drudei,  Sabal minor  Chamaedorea cataractarum Japan, Central Europe, and England. eastonii, fulva, humilis, inermis,  Sabal palmetto (native)  Chamaedorea metallica As of 2009, all identified lanuginose, lorophylla, mariae,  Serenoa repens (native)  Chamaerops humilis Livistona have been categorized muelleri, nasmophila, nitida, rigida,  Syagrus romanzoffiana into 36 different species. These spe- and victoriae. The fruit of this group  Chambeyronia macrocarpa  Leucothrinax () morrisii cies have been broken down into are dark brown or black.  argentata (native) (native) three groups based on physical char- John showed slides and de-  Copernicia alba scribed all 36 species of Livis-  (native)  Copernicia baileyana tona. He also explained that  Veitchia arecina  Copernicia macroglossa many of the species are diffi-  Wallichia disticha cult to cultivate because it is  Corypha utan  Washingtonia robusta difficult to duplicate their natu- ral growing conditions. Many species have filled niches by Please share your garden experiences. growing in very inhospitable Submit your stories and photos to [email protected] areas. ***

5 6 Comparison of Winter 2010 Cold Temperatures By Charlie Beck We all know that our past win- mum temperatures recorded at loca- ter was hard on our topical plantings tions from Stuart to Homestead. even though we did not set any one These tables are shown on page 9. GENERAL MEETING day low records. We experienced One interesting observation was many cold fronts which lasted for made by comparing mean vs. mini- many days at a time. According to mum temperature. Although Loxa- Date: Wednesday, July 7, 2010 the National Weather Service, the hatchee minimum temperatures Time 7:30 p.m. average temperature recorded at never fell more than 2¡F below West Palm Beach International Airport for Palm Beach’s, the mean temperature Location Mounts Botanical Garden January through March was 6.1¡F difference was as high as 8¡F. So Subject: Invasive Non-Native Species - Can We Predict the Future below normal. This was an all time comparing minimum temperatures record cold. In March alone, the does not tell the whole story. How Speaker: Kristina Serbesoff-King, Invasive Species Program Manager average temperature was 6.5¡F be- quickly temperatures rise during the for The Nature Conservancy low normal which was a .4¡F higher day must also be considered when than the all time record set in 1915. comparing growing areas. West Palm Beach recorded *** EXECUTIVE BOARD MEETING minimum temperatures below 40¡F on 10 days. I compiled tables com- paring maximum, mean, and mini- Date: Wednesday, July 28, 2010 Time: 7:00 p.m. Location: Ruth Sallenbach’s Home General Membership Meeting Refreshments 6285 S. Military Trail, Lake Worth (561) 965-5430 Debbie Anderson Tom Ramiccio Ruth Lynch Patrick & Lauren Urrutia

PLACE YOUR Kitty Philips Business Card Ad, FOR SALE Ad or Discount Coupon $6 PER MONTH OR $66 PER YEAR (approximately 3” X 1 3/4” space) Plant Donations HALF PAGE—$20 A MONTH Marshall Dewey John Irvine FULL PAGE—$35 A MONTH E-mail your ad or any photograph or information you would like included to [email protected]. Dale Holton Send your check to: Palm Beach Palm Special Thanks & Cycad Society c/o Brenda Beck to P.O. Box 21-2228 Lew & Cathy Burger Royal Palm Beach, FL 33421 for arriving at 5:00 p.m. to keep the Mounts building open for us. (Check must be received prior to print.)

7 8 (Continued from page 4) Days Below 40 Degrees in West Palm Beach: A Comparison into the sun. I have had good luck planting three Historical data from Weather Underground gallon size in the full by Charlie Beck sun. 2010 Minimum Temperatures Years ago S. liukiuen- Date 1/4 1/5 1/6 1/7 1/9 1/10 1/11 1/13 2/26 3/5 sis had limited availability Stuart* 38 37 35 37 34 32 34 41 42 41 so it was an expensive Loxahatchee 38 35 32 33 33 31 32 36 38 39 palm. Today it is readily West Palm Beach 39 37 34 37 34 32 33 39 39 39 available and is more rea- Boca Raton 41 41 38 41 37 34 34 41 44 40 sonably priced. Homestead 40 37 36 37 39 34 31 37 38 38 This is the perfect palm for Palm Beach County. It was unfazed by our Miami 43 40 40 39 39 35 34 42 41 44 past winter cold temperatures. It also looked great after our 2004 and 2005 hur- 2010 Mean Temperatures ricanes. We were so impressed with how well these palms held up in the hurri- Date 1/4 1/5 1/6 1/7 1/9 1/10 1/11 1/13 2/26 3/5 canes, we planted an additional 12 specimens in our garden in 2005. Our Sa- Stuart* 47 45 42 46 41 40 45 52 50 51 takentia have never displayed any nutritional deficiencies. Loxahatchee 47 41 40 50 39 37 46 49 47 50 Plant this palm for its formal appearance, interesting crownshaft, and resis- West Palm Beach 49 47 45 50 47 41 48 52 52 53 tance to high winds and cold temperatures. Smaller than a Royal Palm, S. Boca Raton 48 48 44 49 46 39 44 51 53 51 liukiuensis will fit into most home garden landscapes. Homestead 49 48 45 47 46 39 44 51 52 51 I have had 100 percent success with this palm. S. liukiuensis is definitely Miami 51 50 47 49 47 41 47 54 54 55 on my list of top five pinnate canopy palms. 2010 Maximum Temperatures *** Date 1/4 1/5 1/6 1/7 1/9 1/10 1/11 1/13 2/26 3/5 Stuart* 56 52 53 57 54 46 56 59 58 58 Loxahatchee 57 55 55 65 58 48 62 65 68 65 West Palm Beach 58 56 55 63 59 50 62 65 65 66 Winner of the June 2nd Name Drawing Prize Boca Raton 56 55 53 63 60 46 56 59 65 61 Homestead 58 59 57 60 57 47 59 64 66 64 was Roland Grondin Miami 61 61 59 63 59 48 61 68 65 66 who left the meeting before the drawing. He missed out on receiving *Willoughby Creek a M. Espinosa numbered print of a Pseudophoenix ekmanii.

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July 2010 Monthly Update Monthly 2010 July

Satakentia liukiuensis growing in Homestead

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Palm Beach Palm & Cycad Society Cycad & Palm Beach Palm 21 Box P.O. 33421 FL Beach, Palm Royal

Five year old S. liukiuensis growing in the Beck garden

11 12 happy and

4th of July 4thof Have Have a safe