washy1

Washingtonia #1 (robusta)

June 2005
This sad looking palm survived the brutal winter inside my house in a poorly-lit room at a comfy 65-70 degrees 24 hours a day. I over watered it and didn't give it enough light and this is what it looked like when I brought it out for the summer.

September 2006
After a half year in a greenhouse and another half year outside, it's starting to look like something.

September 2007
Pretty good growth for being in a container. This is the last summer it would spend out of the ground. The following winter it took up way too much room in my greenhouse, so I planted it in the spring of 2008.

April 2008
Just finished planting it in its new home.

September 2008
Only 5 months later it's put on some decent growth. This fall and winter will be the big test - this one's going to be difficult to protect because of its location.

October 2009
A full uninterrupted season of growth already acclimated to its new home! It's hard to measure, but it's grown about 2'. I had 2' of spare room in the enclosure the previous winter, but this winter the tops of the leaves are right up to the top of the enclosure. A note about aesthetics: Frankly I don't like the look of the palm in this picture. It looks more like a Needle palm or some other type of a palm "bush". But I kept as many leaves on as possible for one single reason - faster growth. As this thing develops a trunk that's actually worth seeing, I'll keep the crown trimmed more neatly - like you would see palms being groomed where they can actually grow. For now it's just a bush.

November 2010
I had a scare during January 2010 - one of my enclosures wasn't sealed from the weather very well. Water leaked in the structure and tripped that circuit's GFCI which happened to also feed this palm. The electricity was off for almost a week. I noticed it during an early morning where the lows were about 18 degrees. I immediately fixed the problem, but knew some damage had been done. Luckily the damage was minimal. The 2 north sides of this enclosure had 2" thick foam and that side was hardly damaged at all. Several leaves on the south 2 sides were damaged because there was no insulation. At least the bud suffered no damage at all.

This palm gained 2' in overall height, but most of that was from petiole length. The trunk grew about 9". These pics show before and after fall trimming getting ready to be protected for the winter.

October 2011
My protection for the 2010/2011 winter was a great success. That meant the palm had all the above leaves (in the above pic) intact when I opened up the enclosure and it took off in growth once warm weather hit. The trunk grew about another 9" Even though this palm looks more massive than my windmill, the windmill adds the most trunk per year.

The picture on the right is the freak late October snow storm.

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