Thank you for posting this information. It will be interesting to see if the survivors make it through this year.

johnnieb - Thanks for posting the pictures. Looks like they lost some privacy screening, but at least the foliage is not up against the house anymore. Wonder what happened to the Monkey Puzzle tree.

I think the survivors will be okay as long as we don't get another winter like the last one! Regarding the monkey puzzle, that did well for 3-4 years but then died for unknown reasons (and well before last winter). I know some people have had luck with monkey puzzles in this area, but they seem to be very iffy.

"that did well for 3-4 years but then died for unknown reasons (and well before last winter)."

No, not unknown reasons. Almost all (99%+) of them do eventually die on the east coast of root rots, or winter damage. Quite well known compared to some plant maladies, I daresay. High falutin' nurseries have been selling them since at least the early 80s, yet, where are the big ones? Dead, that's what. We should see them all over the suburbs of DC. Instead we know of 2 big ones, and 3-5 somewhat smaller ones on the whole east coast. not arguing with you, per se, John, more with the perceptual statistics. It cracks me up you still see these for sale at places like Merrifield Garden Center...and for $500.

Based on the light in these pictures, I wonder if the ones behind the house had an east exposure, and were thus burned by that. OTOH I don't have enough experience w/palms to know if this matters. With more tender BLEs in my climate at least, morning sun in winter is a death sentence.

This post was edited by davidrt28 on Wed, Oct 22, 14 at 15:53

Funny, I just got into an argument with Mr. Hirsh about monkey puzzles today. He took me to see a couple 10-15 footers. Well, as I noted over in the tree thread, the soil in Silver Spring is quite exception by US east coast standards. I've dug plants out of sand at my aunt's garden on the VA Beach coast. That Silver Spring stuff is LIGHTER than sandy soil! It's like digging a plant out of crushed vermiculite!
So, in any case, I still insist that most people on the east coast should not waste their time on monkey puzzles. (and certainly not plant them in confined spaces, since they are some of the most fearsome trees on Earth when mature...besides a few other species of Araucaria!) Maybe down south in zn 8, you could try one grafted onto A. angustifolia.

I think the lesson is that it's POSSIBLE to grow a monkey puzzle in the mid-Atlantic region, but it has to have exactly the right conditions. There are a couple of good-sized ones in Maryland, and the one in Washington, DC near Dumbarton Oaks has done well for over 10 years (although it hasn't been a fast grower by any means). But personally, given the expense and the iffiness, I wouldn't try it myself.

I agree John. Probably some of the most exacting conditions of any plants people try to grow here. Do you know the owners of this inn? It would be interesting to know if it died in summer or winter. A problem being either at the coast or along the bay is during late summer synoptic-scale rainfall events like hurricanes, rainfall is greatly enhanced in some of those locations. Even in pure sand, the former monkey puzzle there might have just drowned. OTOH, the ones in Silver Spring wouldn't see that high a 1 day rainfall total...and have the option to be planted on slopes since there are actually hills in Silver Spring.