Hi Kirk,

Welcome to the forum. So in northern Utah do you receive lots of snow in the winter or just a little?

Regards,
Jay

In a typical northern Utah winter, we do see quite a bit of snow. However, the last couple of winters haven't snowed as much as it has in the past. At least in my area, we haven't hit 0F in quite a few years, though we did get close last year (2.5F).

What do you use to protect your palms for cold spells?

Regards,
Jay

I wrap trunks with burlap-like material, and string x-mas lights around the trunks as well. It seems to have worked pretty well in the past.

Awesome 😀

That's what i'm going to do when i plant mine outside.

We'll all have to keep one another informed when cold weather hits - perhaps we could help keep each other's plants alive with our mutual ideas! Luckly, where I live, it's pretty rare to go below zero F, so hopefully that will help!

Sounds good 😀

Yes it sounds great! I have been keeping record of highs/lows, Dewpoint, heat index, and wind chills for my area. I began 7/7/04...so it will be a few years before I have any data worth going by. It would be great to fill each other in on growing tips!... I have been working on a simple and cheap way to protect palms on those really cold nights, or when snow is expected. I'm going to build it first to see how good it will actually work! 😀

I'm living in Allen, TX now, and we have plenty of good results here in solid zone 8. The Taco Bell down the street has some awesome Washingtonia Filifera's on their site, and several front yards here have nice examples of Washingtonia, Sabal Palmetto, Windmill Palms, and various cycads.

In my native Baltimore, there has been success with most of these as well. Relatives of mine have sabal palmetto and washingtonia palms that flourish with no protection. Baltimore was moved to Zone 8 under the new USDA Map, as well as Washington DC, where I have seen windmill palms and washingtonias as big as 10 feet high.

-Matt Swann
Allen, TX