Ya, That's a great site. I have tried to contact him to get some seeds with no luck. So if you get any seeds i would love to try some out. 😀

Regards,
Jay

I have had one of his palms, but it died 😕

Maybe it`s all hype with little truth? Aaron what winter temps did you have? How old was it before you put it in the ground. I won`t bother trying to get seeds from the Bulgarian Trachys if I know what facts. 8)
Best Regards, John

Maybe it`s all hype with little truth? Aaron what winter temps did you have? How old was it before you put it in the ground. I won`t bother trying to get seeds from the Bulgarian Trachys if I know what facts. 8)
Best Regards, John

Sorry, I better give more info.
It died before I got to see what it would do. I was so happy to have it, but then it all of a sudden died before winter? I think it did not like the trance plant or something 😯
I hope to try again one day 😀

I garys nursery has some of those from bulgaria for sale, just call him. I am almost positive he does.

Thanks Macario for the info on Gary`s nursery in North Carolina. He has one big operation there. The only problem is he doesn`t do mail order only pick up and wholesale to other nurseries.
Regards, 8)
JOHN

Hi,

First time posting here. Much experience with cold tolerance in palms. Studied this since 1986.

Rhapidophyllum hystrix is most cold tolerant.
Our oldest flowered and produced a crop of fruit and seed in 2003; first palms we know of in Colorado to do that in 35 million years. Comfortable saying hystrix can go to -14F if soil is dry.

Sabal is good too. We have minor, and "birmingham," both of which are surviving, but not performing as well as Trachycarpus recently.

Trachycarpus are surprising us. Many failures at first, but a few years ago, learning from those failures, we developed a theory of equilibrium decline. These palms are never dormant, and while subzeroF always defoliated them, the bud often recovered. However if in the following growing season, they did not replace 100% of the lost mass, they entered "decline," where in a few years at best, the palm died, not from cold, but from exhaustion.

Equilibrium is a critical mass, when the crown of fronds achieves a unique balance, and the characteristic trunk develops. From that equilibrium point on, for every frond grown, one is shed.

If a Trachycarpus could be protected here in Zone 5b during those brief periods when subzero F cold occurs, usually only a few days each winter, limiting catastrophic cell and tissue collapse, a palm could enter a new growing season without the prerequisite of replacing lost mass, and instead increase mass, moving toward trunk formation equilibrium. It might be strengthened to more greatly resist lethal freeze, based on observation of Trachy experimenters in Zone 7. Our method was to construct a canvas tent in which the palm could be protected and kept dry, only when air temperature fell below 0F. The method was extremely successful. We currently have fortunei, takil, wagnerianus, nanus, and fortunei 'greensboro' in the ground, overwintering with minimal to no damage, for several years now.

This winter, an extraordinary development was observed. In early December 2005, we had a true Zone 5 period, with 36 sustained hours of subzero F cold, temperature bottom to -15F, coldest event in twenty years, and record cold for the date. I expected to see extensive damage on these Trachycarpus, based on the lab models of lethal freeze damage observed by Allen Hirsh and Dave Francko. Temperature inside the tent fell to at least -11F. When temperatures rebounded and the cover was removed, there was no visible damage to several of the palms. (Tissue collapse from lethal freeze is alwyas immediately visible) When I took leaf tissue samples for examination, I found cell walls in new growth exposed to subzero F cold last year, were up to 3x thicker than previously seen and measured growth. It appears Trachycarpus may have some adaptive ability after all.

Another observation in these palms is a peculiar creeping stem. While some less cold tolerant Trachycarpus exhibit a stem creep, some takil, wagnerianus and fortunei show a trait very similar to our alpine woody plants, in a sideways or even briefly upward growing root, to counter the effect of slope frost heaving, and quickly anchor the palm onto an alpine slope that creeps due to frost heaving and gravity. It was these Trachycarpus that also showed the massive thickening of cell walls, that resisted lethal freeze that we expected to severely damage them.

We are in an arid climate, and withold water most of the fall and all winter, limiting the palms to less than one inch total water per month. We found that the drier soil produces an osmolarity that increased resistance to lethal freeze temperature by several degrees F.

It appears Trachycarpus rank in order of cold tolerance, takil, wagnerianus and fortunei, but wagnerianus, with its smaller leaves, may eventually outperform all. Its osmolarity range is greater than the other species, suggesting it might be the most resistance to subzero F cold. There is also a great deal of hybridization, and fortunei, takil and wagnerianus might not be the separate species we think, but variations of a common ancestor, and adapted by changes because of specific and local Himalayans orogeny.

One final note. I am very skeptical about the so-called "tesan" claims, as most of those descriptions we observe in our specimens anyway. Importing plants is always risky, and severely limited by USDA regulations. Know them thoroughly before deciding to take a gamble. I personally doubt the tesan claims.

I have also been growing hardy palms for the past two decades and propagating them by thousands for the past 15 years. R.hystrix is with out a doubt the hardiest bush typespecies then I would have to say S.minor. Both of these palms do prefer higher Summer heat. I have these growing in my garden here at 48 degrees north latitude. I have Two R.hystrix in the ground, one I grew from seed collected in Alabama and I planted it in 1993. The other I planted a few years ago from a 7 gallon size. My oldest S.minor is full of flower spikes, but is a lower growing blue form. I also have the regular green forms in the ground as well. My oldest was shipped to me as a seedling in 1990 from a friend of mine in Tennessee. In the R.hystrix natural habitat of the south eastern U.S. they can be found growing in dappled light or more shaded positions. However as the latitude increases they can be planted in more to full sun. At our latitude full sun is best, however one specimen I grow in more shade with C.radicalis and it has done very well, but grown at a slow pace. As for the arborescent palms, T.fortunei is a big hit among most northern experimenters because it is so readily available. The coldest temps. I have heard of mature T.fortunei surviving unprotected was -23 Celsius with complete defoliation, but to regrow new fronds when the warmer weather returned. I believe the hardiest in the genus is T.takil and not quite as common in cultivation, but in the last several years has become more popular. I have several of these in my garden and so does my neighbor and in the past 7 years it has grown quite rapid, considering they were all planted out as one leaf size seedlings in 1999. Their hardiness is understandable since they grow in a native habitat up to 8,000' ft. on cool north east facing slopes of the Himalayas. T.wagnerianus is also very cold tolerant, but not as much as T.fortunei. It is more wind resistant with it's stiffer smaller fronds. I have many Trachycarpus species I am currently experimenting with and they include T.nanus, T.princeps, T.manipur and T.latisectus. I had a nice T.martianus, but lost it to -6.1 C. two Winters ago. Brahea edulis is hardier in my opinion. I planted my Brahea edulis in Oct. 1995 and it is thriving. I also have some very nice hybrid Trachycarpus palms out in the garden for more than a decade now and they thrive. It is always fun to experiment! Cheers, Banana Joe

Over the years I have exchanged seeds with Kiril in Bulgaria. I do have Bulgarian strain growing in the garden, but our winters are never really cold enough to put it to the test. I also have many W.filifera palms I grew from seed that Kiril sent me. So far they have survived out a couple of Winters and they are still small. It is more the dampness that gets them before the cold in our climate. Joe

Hi Joe - JohnCO5b!

The takil as they looked a few days ago - well after the stiff early December cold test!

Joe, have you tried growing Phoenix theophrasti yet? I am increasingly interested in testing this palm, and plans are under way to do so. I suspect it might be the most cold tolerant feather palm, especially if kept dry. Native populations relatively high altitude in Atlas mountains, and possibly as cold tolerant, or more so than C. humilis.

Pilgerodendron that is a wealth of information regarding replacing fronds after defoliation. I believe I have seen your site regarding palm experiments zone 5b Colorado. I keep reading over and over that it is the T.fortunei sp. that is the most reliable cold hardy Trachy sp.The adaptability that you mentioned regarding cell wall enlargement to protect against lethal freeze damage is "GREAT"news to anybody under zone 7. Thank you for your insight. 8)
John

John, The first time I heard of this palm was in the late 1980's. A good friend of mine and I imported some cold hardy palms from Southern California. I purchased Serenoa repens, Nanorrhops r. and Jubaea chilensis. He imported Phoenix theophrasti , Butia c. and S.minor. That was in 1989.Unfortunely the P.theophrasti ddin't pan out to be as hardy as they claimed, at least not in our damp winter climate. However in a drier climate it may work just fine. Chamaerops h. have no problem here what so ever. I do have a friend here with a Theophrasti in a pot out on his sundeck and he will be planting in the future I'm sure. I bet in a climate such as St.George, Utah P. theophrasti may have a chance if it was planted large enough. I really don't know that palms's true hardiness. I believe they are native to Turkey. Cheers, Joe

Somebody gets no idea about T.fortunei cv Tesan and even doubts its existence .The truth is that T.fortunei cv Tesan is the only palm that is living in Beijing,China -4F (-20C minimum,zone 5-6), north Yellow River,China whereas T.forunei can only grow in the south of Yellow River.All of this knowlegde is for science promotion and let all the palm enthusiasts know T.fortunei cv Tesan is.

T. fortunei cv tesan was a new cultivation varigated species,that is never seen outside of China and rarely seen even in China. It was first experimented in Jiangsu (zone 7) in 1970 and proved to bear the cold temperature 5F (-15C)and our domestication in Beijing proved that they were able to stand -4F (-20C minimum,zone 5-6) and so some people even call them Beijing Palm as this is the cold hardiest palm that are growing north Yellow River in China. But the number of the this palm is not many as the cultivation costs are high and many foreign palms came to China greatly affecting the local palm sales and few will take the challenge to grow them. Right now the palms are growing in the branch farm located in Kongsou (-15C) .After 15 years cultivation, some palm even grow to 4 m trunk height. But they have distinct features from T. fortunei.

Difference between T.fortunei cv Tesan and T.fortunei showing by pics

1. shorter petioles than T.fortunei , it is judged in a comparative sense.
2. stronger trunk than T.fortunei , normally T.fotunei in China is thin whereas T.fortunei cv Tesan is much stronger comparatively.
3. the big difference - better cold hardiness (-4F/-20C) than T.fortunei (5F/-15C) , T.fortunei cv Tesan can grow north Yellow River like Beijing (zone6-7) while T.fortunei are growing in south Yellow River .This is proved by many experiments of the research Institute
4. powder-like wax or fuzza on the seeds which is rarely seen on the seeds of T.fortunei or leaves when young
check the attached pics
5. thicker fiber air layer
Those who wanna know more details abou this new palm, send your inquiry to my email cnnursery@yahoo.com

Garry

www.coldplant.com