New growth on palm trees after the big freeze

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It's nice to see strong, healthy growth on my palm trees after the devastating freeze of last winter. You can now trim them back as much as you want, if you haven't done so already. These are dwarf date palms (Phoenix roebellini). They still look kind of sad but you can see that they will be OK. In addition to the strong growth in the center, they are producing inflorsescenses, which are the beginnings of its flower stalk. They will grow out to be about a foot long, open up, and produce tiny flowers. Whether to cut them off or leave them is a matter of personal taste. They can be messy over a sidewalk, but I like to leave them alone, let the flowers form, and then cut them off when they are all dried up.

If you are not seeing any new growth on your Phoenix roebellinis, they probably died in the freeze. I lost a nice-sized one over by my east wall. Here is how to check: tug gently on the inner leaves. If you can pull them out with normal finger strength, the plant is dead. Cut it down. A hand saw works best.

I planted the trees pictured as tiny seedlings back in the mid-nineties. They are now getting pretty big, for the species, as you can see the trunk of one of them is almost as tall as the block wall, which is six feet. In my lifetime, they may get twice as tall. I need to live a long time!

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