We feel your pain.

Don't know what's worse.
Growing palms with brutal cold every 25 years,
or one week-long arctic outbreak every winter.

The Washys may surprise you.
Barb

Hope everything recovers! Don't give up on the Washy's, ones the size of yours are pretty resilient.

Steve

I know how you feel,who wants to take pictures of the dead?
What fun!
Try to keep them dry(crowns and soil) if this milder pattern turns to constant rain.

Thank God I brought in the two smaller potted washys. The Cannas are now coming up that were planted in the pots with the washys. I think our sun room makes a perfect greenhouse with all the windows and afternoon sun.

Needle palm- no protection and no damage

Pindo-Covered with plastic only with no damage

European Fan Palm - no protection with no damage

Queen Palm- no protection and completely fried

Pindos that weren’t covered but had Christmas tree lights on ground- fronds damage but appear to be otherwise okay.

Another European fan palm- no damage even without protection

Foxtail- no protection and absolutely no signs of life

Windmills- All three of these look great with no protection

Sabal minors and European fan palms- no protection and no damage

2 Sabal minors, 2 Needle palms, and a European fan in the middle- no protection and no damage

My two big Washys- Covered with plastic and a drop light

Thanks for the photos. I'm sure it was painful.
It was a bit colder here (3 oF vs. 14 oF) and fortunately I did a bit more protection.
As with your case, my Pindo palm (Butia) and Euro. Fan Palm (Ch. humilis) did surprisingly well.
My Trachy will live but it looks as bad as your Washies.
I lost my outdoor Washies last year and so am reluctant to try them outdoors again. 🙁
--Erik

The good the bad and the ugly.
Sorry for your loses.

Looks like the Washys have some life!

I would go out and mark the spears/and near by petioles with a permanent marker
to see if they are moving now that your weather is warmer.

Hope you find some surprises(the good kind)in the coming weeks!

Thanks. I'm already over the loss and have big plans for the ones that died. I can't wait until April to plant several Sabal Palmettos and trachys.

I plan to invest in Sabal this Spring, too. As with you, we had a much colder spell there than I am used to.
I saw your pool. We had pretty thick ice on ours, despite it being a salt-water pool with the pump going. We are definitely not used to that.

Those Washies aren't totally gone!
Almost cried at that Foxtail and Queen.

What puzzles the heck out of me is the pindos with the lights and no cover are in worse shape than the pindo with no light for heat, but a cover.
We all know how lousy a thin plastic sheet is for cold protection.
But those don't look like C7 or C9 lights?

Great needles, sabals, and chamaerops.

And the stars of the show...trusty ole' Trachies!

Barb

I'm grumbling about Trachies lately, but really my fault.
I'm celebrating his European fan palms, which I think are underrated for cold tolerance.
My hunch about his Pindo palms is that he had soil heat which the plastic trapped with aid from the wind protection, while the uncovered Pindo palms with the lights lost the bonus electric heat as a result of the wind. (Of course, I am extrapolating from my situation, where the cold was accompanied by strong winds. I do not know if that was the case in Charlotte.)
--Erik

5th pic: The frond-damaged Pindo(s)s had heat and no cover.

1st pic: Completely Undamaged pindo had plastic cover and no heat.

Erik and Jim, you may recall what that yellow halo around the Hastula meant (on the European fan palm).
We just read the research yesterday on EPS when Jim reposted John's damage data.
Something about nutrients can't get past cells where water froze.

But it's not dead, just affected by the cold more than the other European Fan.

Barb

"The bright yellow ring around the hastula and yellowish glow out into the disk suggests this frond is "inefficient" in sugar production.
Either it is old, or somehow not efficiently receiving and supplying nutrients and water to and from the roots."

This may be seen in newly planted palms(esp Trachys)where a lack of nutrients or root development left
the plant "wanting"going into winter.We also see that damaged leaves; W-S-Mites- are less efficient at dealing
with stress/cold etc.

horrible just horrible. Poor washys. Don't give up on them hopefully they'll recover for you.

The Washys will be fine and should be fully leafed back out by June. Wait until March and cut all but the emerging spear off & you'll be surprised how fast they leaf back out.