Dallas: TxDOT trying floral yuccas for median landscaping

[txstateends]

After putting other plants out that died, or just required lots of watering, TxDOT has decided to put more drought-resistant plants along US 75 north of downtown.  The landscaping consists mainly of yucca plants with blooms of different colors.

https://www.dallasnews.com/life/gardening/2018/06/19/pretty-pink-plants-along-central-expressway

[Scott5114]

The site is being a little bitch because I'm using an adblocker.

[index]

The site is being a little bitch because I'm using an adblocker.

Do you use Adblock/Adblock Plus? That extension has gone to pot over the while. I'm using another extension called Ublock Origin, it uses less resources and is detected less often than Adblock/Adblock Plus. This site doesn't pick it up.

[Brian556]

At the Target where I work, some of our landscaping died in the drought of 2011. They tore it out and replaced it with landscaping more typical of AZ

[Chris]

The site is being a little bitch because I'm using an adblocker.

It's even worse when you visit from an EU country. Many American news websites are blocked due to the new privacy regulations. Nothing a VPN extension for the browser won't fix though. Free VPN extensions are too slow for streaming but visiting a news website generally works fine.

[Scott5114]

I usually just make a point to not click on links on websites that are run by little bitches. The Dallas Morning News joins that list alongside Forbes and Business Insider. Why should I have to change my browser when they're the ones who suck?

[formulanone]

I usually just make a point to not click on links on websites that are run by little bitches. The Dallas Morning News joins that list alongside Forbes and Business Insider. Why should I have to change my browser when they're the ones who suck?

I don't even mind advertising that made an attempt to show me products/services I might be interested in. Maybe they could figure out that I don't care about the intelligence-insulting celebrity clickbait and car insurance ads that seems to appear on 90% of the news sites out there.

[Henry]

The link works fine for me.

[wxfree]

It was kinda sad seeing all those bare planters.  As someone who loves the desert, I'm glad to see a bit of it brought this way.  Drought-resistant vegetation is something a lot more agencies and people are going to need to start using more of.  Beautiful green lawns require a ridiculous amount of water that some years we really can't spare.

A had trouble with that web site for a while, until I blocked the necessary items.  I use an old version of ABP, one that lists all of the elements and lets me easily set my own filters.  The new version sucks.  In the elements list, I found some interesting items on DMN's web site, such as this one: https://courier-js.dallasnews.com/fuckadblock.min.js  Classy!

[sparker]

Wonder if TXDOT has considered oleanders (the old CA favorite); they seem to hold up under desert/drought conditions quite well (just don't eat the leaves or flowers!) -- as well as being pretty damn resistant to exhaust fumes.  And while planted close together they provide a nice barrier against opposing headlights -- but not to the extent of fully stopping vehicles crossing the median (which is why Caltrans eventually added cable barriers and/or thrie-beams).  If they'll grow along I-10 in Beaumont Pass and I-8 in the Imperial Valley, they'll certainly thrive in Texas!

[DNAguy]

Oleanders have been used in the Houston area for along time.
Down in Galveston to a lot greater extent due to their resistance to salted air.

[Plutonic Panda]

Would Oleanders survive Dallas winters? It would surprise if they did. When I lived in Dallas, I had several Sago palms I grew and left outside year round. I have tons of tropical plants at my house in OKC, but I will usually have to bring them in for the winter or cover them during cold snaps.

Side note: it's amazing what a difference three hours makes. Thankfully I live in LA and can grow anything once I finally get a house out here. LOL. But it frustrates me that OKC gets so cold which, again, is where I have all my plants. I wonder if the Arbuckles okay any part in keeping the cold air from spilling too much down south, but I doubt they'd do much.

[wxfree]

The Arbuckles, and the Wichitas and Ouachitas, do nothing to contain cold air on a large scale.  Bigger mountains do.  You may notice that cold air pours south from Canada and spreads east but not as much west.  Part of the reason is that the general circulation is eastward, but the Rockies make a significant difference, because cold, heavy air does not want to climb mountains that big.  You benefit from that in Los Angeles.  The Appalachians can also affect cold air movement, but they don't stop cold outbreaks because they aren't as high and because the upper level push is in that direction.

The main difference between OKC and DFW is the difference in latitude.  During winter, the sun is a little stronger and the ground is a little warmer here, and the cold air will moderate as it moves south.  Also, the cold air mass will be thinner to the south.  A cold air outbreak can be compared with a bucket of sand on the beach.  If you fill the bucket and turn it upside-down, the sand stays in place.  If you pull the bucket off, the dome of sand collapses.  The sand layer is still thickest in the middle and is thinner further from the middle.  The thinner cold air layer is quicker to break down.  The proximity to the Gulf may make a difference.  Certainly it means sometimes we get warmer earlier here than OKC, which is farther away, but I don't know if it affects how cold it gets on the coldest day.

It comes down to probabilities.  How cold will it get during the average winter?  How frequently will the temperature reach some low level?  That affects which plants survive.  Occasional abnormal cold events affect that, too.  A local Mexican restaurant had some kind of semi-tropical plants in the ground, and they survived for years.  I think it was in 2011 when the low got to about 10, and the plants died.  Since then, it's been even colder, but before then it hadn't been in about 20 years.  Some plants can survive most of the time, but not the coldest times.

The January average low in Dallas is 37, in OKC is 29, and in Wichita is 22.  The same observation about the difference in temperature could be made about Wichita and OKC even though there are no mountains in between.  It's caused by the difference in latitude and the proximity to cold air sources (cold or snowy ground doesn't warm cold air intrusions as much as warmer ground).  It should be noted that the high point of the Arbuckle Mountains is only 200 feet higher than Oklahoma City.  The ground generally slopes upward to the north.  The city is higher than any part of Turner Falls Park.  The Arbuckles seem high because of the deep valley of the Washita River.

[Plutonic Panda]

Thanks for the in depth response. That all makes sense. OKC usually does seem to be about 10 degrees colder than Dallas in the winter.

[In_Correct]

The site is being a little bitch because I'm using an adblocker.

Do you use Adblock/Adblock Plus? That extension has gone to pot over the while. I'm using another extension called Ublock Origin, it uses less resources and is detected less often than Adblock/Adblock Plus. This site doesn't pick it up.

I use Ublock Origin and that site is still run by little bitches.

[sparker]

Would Oleanders survive Dallas winters? It would surprise if they did. When I lived in Dallas, I had several Sago palms I grew and left outside year round. I have tons of tropical plants at my house in OKC, but I will usually have to bring them in for the winter or cover them during cold snaps.

Unless Dallas experiences extended cold spells below 20 degrees F, keeping oleanders healthy shouldn't pose an issue -- according to all I've read about the plant.  Not surprising, since out here in CA oleander medians are found as far north as US 101 near Ukiah, I-5 around Redding, and CA 99 through Chico.  And yes, those areas (particularly the latter two) can get extremely hot during the summer -- but as anyone who's lived in or near the Sacramento Valley can attest, the inverse often occurs during the dead of winter -- regular spells where anything in the 40's is considered warm!  As long as there's some residual moisture in the air (and being east TX, that would be a given), the oleanders will survive and positively thrive once spring shows up (you can't keep a good poisonous plant down!).  Also, Beaumont Pass on I-10 tops out at close to 2700 feet and gets plenty of cold air blasts during the winter -- but the damn oleanders keep on truckin'!  But if you have a wreck on the median where they're present, don't get impaled on them -- you'll have at least one additional medical issue to deal with!

[rantanamo]

They could just look at what is planted along the length of PGBT, which has a ton of landscaping

[US71]

Would Oleanders survive Dallas winters? It would surprise if they did. When I lived in Dallas, I had several Sago palms I grew and left outside year round. I have tons of tropical plants at my house in OKC, but I will usually have to bring them in for the winter or cover them during cold snaps.

Side note: it's amazing what a difference three hours makes. Thankfully I live in LA and can grow anything once I finally get a house out here. LOL. But it frustrates me that OKC gets so cold which, again, is where I have all my plants. I wonder if the Arbuckles okay any part in keeping the cold air from spilling too much down south, but I doubt they'd do much.

I have cacti I'd be willing to donate

SM-G930V

[sparker]

Would Oleanders survive Dallas winters? It would surprise if they did. When I lived in Dallas, I had several Sago palms I grew and left outside year round. I have tons of tropical plants at my house in OKC, but I will usually have to bring them in for the winter or cover them during cold snaps.

Side note: it's amazing what a difference three hours makes. Thankfully I live in LA and can grow anything once I finally get a house out here. LOL. But it frustrates me that OKC gets so cold which, again, is where I have all my plants. I wonder if the Arbuckles okay any part in keeping the cold air from spilling too much down south, but I doubt they'd do much.

I have cacti I'd be willing to donate

SM-G930V

Now -- a median full of big ol' Arizona saguaros might have some novelty visual appeal!  Wouldn't want to run into one in an accident, however.........."oww.......oww.......oww"!

[US71]

Would Oleanders survive Dallas winters? It would surprise if they did. When I lived in Dallas, I had several Sago palms I grew and left outside year round. I have tons of tropical plants at my house in OKC, but I will usually have to bring them in for the winter or cover them during cold snaps.

Side note: it's amazing what a difference three hours makes. Thankfully I live in LA and can grow anything once I finally get a house out here. LOL. But it frustrates me that OKC gets so cold which, again, is where I have all my plants. I wonder if the Arbuckles okay any part in keeping the cold air from spilling too much down south, but I doubt they'd do much.

I have cacti I'd be willing to donate

SM-G930V

Now -- a median full of big ol' Arizona saguaros might have some novelty visual appeal!  Wouldn't want to run into one in an accident, however.........."oww.......oww.......oww"!

Just stay in your car and you'll be fine

[sparker]

Would Oleanders survive Dallas winters? It would surprise if they did. When I lived in Dallas, I had several Sago palms I grew and left outside year round. I have tons of tropical plants at my house in OKC, but I will usually have to bring them in for the winter or cover them during cold snaps.

Side note: it's amazing what a difference three hours makes. Thankfully I live in LA and can grow anything once I finally get a house out here. LOL. But it frustrates me that OKC gets so cold which, again, is where I have all my plants. I wonder if the Arbuckles okay any part in keeping the cold air from spilling too much down south, but I doubt they'd do much.

I have cacti I'd be willing to donate

SM-G930V

Now -- a median full of big ol' Arizona saguaros might have some novelty visual appeal!  Wouldn't want to run into one in an accident, however.........."oww.......oww.......oww"!

Just stay in your car and you'll be fine

......and get out a knife & fork and have an impromptu nopalitos snack! OK, where'd I put the salsa verde?