Wow nice to see you overwintering W.robusta B.capitata T.fortunei Cycas rev. Are you using the the heat lamps for warmth? They look great. No worry about sunburn in the spring being in a opaque plastic cold frame.

John

Those look great. Nice and green. Good job.

Wx,you did such a good job overwintering,those palms are going to blast off into outer space this season (with that much green to sart out with),or at least upper space! WELL DONE! 8)

Wow nice to see you overwintering W.robusta B.capitata T.fortunei Cycas rev. Are you using the the heat lamps for warmth? They look great. No worry about sunburn in the spring being in a opaque plastic cold frame.

John

Yeah I used 125 watt heat lamps in each cold frame and mini xmas lights around the trunk and fronds.

Wx,you did such a good job overwintering,those palms are going to blast off into outer space this season (with that much green to sart out with),or at least upper space! WELL DONE! 8)

I hope so. I want to add three feet of trunk on my robustas this year. Can't wait to put my mountain coconut in the ground too!

looking good, those are some well wintered palms. 😀

wxman I am in chicago and im heading down to florida did you need me to bring you a big palm back. I think I remeber seeing you wanted one on another board

Wxman (William?), you sure are ambitious with your exotic gardening! You really did an excellent job in a VERY COLD climate! Just wondering if you have an idea of how much the 125 watt heat lamps cost to operate over the winter? I'm in a colder zone (4b/5a) and had a low of -29C (-20f), I'm sticking with palms that are a little less ambitious then zone 9 (i.e. Washingtonia... ). I have 3 nice Sabal minors, 1 large needle, 1 small needle, and 1 small (now dead?) fortunei... Only one large sabal and the large needle had heated protection this past winter... The other minors had a leaf pile and the exposed leaves burned while those covered with the leaves look 100%.

I guess I'm too jaded now to consider some of the less hardy palms, or much artificial heat. To many plants lost over the years! I don't mind if they're seed grown but if I paid for them I expect survival! I've been doing this too long now to have huge expectations. I'm sticking with the truly hardy 'background' plants that really form the backbone of the exotic garden (of course I do still use tropicals, but not to the same extent). These are plants that are exotic looking, hardy, and require very little or easy care. What sorts of plants are you using for these purposes? I have a few that I would reccomend to anyone living in a zone 5... First off in terms of BLE's I reccomend Rhodo's (seek large leaf varieties or breed your own!), Kalmia latifolia, Ilex glabra, magnolia virginiana (tradily deciduous in our zone), and hardy bamboo (you can bend the culms to the ground to be covered with snow if temps are expected to go below 0f for more then a few hours)!

I'd also reccomend Miscanthus gigantus (floridus), a large grass growing to 15' by the end of the season. Very exotic looking and perfectly hardy. I actually like it better then pampas grass or Arundo donax!

In terms of deciduous trees and shrubs, basically anything with big leaves, or that is rare, is an idela option... Specifically paw-paw, Albizia, Magnolias, and similar.

There are a plethora of cacti and yucca that are perfectly content in temps below -20f. I suggest and and all of them. Yucca elata is your best bet for an exotic looking trunking Yucca. A MUST.

As for the truly topical plants, I've given up on Canna's, too much work for not enough substance. I was constantly disappointed with Canna musifolia... A miserable plant really. I perfer the following: bananas (better leaves), ricinus communis (HUGE leaves!), and the tender palms that can be moved in for the winter (I include Washingtonia in this!)...

Looking forward to yuor response!

Cheers,
Paul, Ontario, Canada. (z. 4b/5a)

wxman I am in chicago and im heading down to florida did you need me to bring you a big palm back. I think I remeber seeing you wanted one on another board

I don't think I'm getting anything right now. I think I'm gonna stick with what I have. By adding the mountain coconut, that'll be 6 palms to protect next winter 🙂

Paul,

I had five palm enclosures this winter, and the total cost for electrical for them per month was about $60 in Dec and Jan and $40 in Feb. The first two months were extremely cold and I wasn't able to take advantage of solar heating much due to cloudy days and cold temperatures. Next winter I might try to insulate better with the pink styrofoam.

As for more hardy tropicals, I'm really attracted to the more exotic palms and it presents more of a challenge to me to keep them alive during the winter. I grow them for the challenge, and for visual enjoyment all summer long. It's really nice to have a palm growing in your yard. I am considering getting more hardy cacti and yucca, however.

Nicely done! 8)

Steve

Paul.may I suggest X-mas lights and styrofoam? you can buy a strand of c-7 or c-9 lights for $7.oo u.s. usually they come in lengths with 25 light bulbs nowdays they are ceramic and each heat up to 150F,each bulb is 5 wts so,a total of 125 wts,its cheaper then buying a bulb and fixture and you can always unscrew bulbs for less heat and it looks cool at night!
I only needed 3 bulbs(15 wts) in my styrofoam "rose"covers to keep my Sabals etc in the upper 40s in below zero F temps.

Wxman,
I really like how you protected all of your palms. I feel like a bad member of the palm community for not protecting some of my stuff and now my Butia has spear pull etc. Good job! I should have taken more care of mine.

As for your bananas (not pictures here I don't think), I think you will have some pups sprout so don't give up hope.

Great overwintering, they look good.

With that GFI failure, hardly any damage on the palm.
Nice job insulating.
Barb