Canadian Plant:

When you see that Edmonton is below -40c, that is the International Airport readings, 20km outside of the city in a sinkhole. Its always on average 10 degrees colder than the city centre and my backyard seems to mimic city centre. It was -35C this year as a low (-46 airport) and that was one day in the morning. On average Edmonton normally hits between -28 and -34 as an absolute low for one or two days a year. The extended cold sits in the -20's for a couple more days than that. Either way, its brutal compared to most cities in this world.

I repeat there was zero protection with the exception of the natural snow cover that fell on it and stayed for a couple months. I had another poster on a different website that has been downright rude about me posting this and he said:

Nate,

Thanks for the good laughs...

Its made me happy that there is a website like this where everyone is supportive. I have no point to lie about something like this. It will not make me famous.... Thank you everyone for the good discussion. I will decide on winter protection in the fall. I will update pictures in a month.

Oh and I got it from www.tropic.ca This guy grows them on the west coast.

Thanks for the web link, great pictures.

This past winter was pretty unusual for most of BC and some of Alberta...we had cold in mid-December for a couple of weeks and then it was no snow for the duration.
My unheated NainiTal, covered with only an inverted garbage can and some tarps--didn't survive, when other Nainitals at similar temps, but considerably more snowcover did make it.

It's in the genes, and we're all hoping we've got "good ones".
Obviously Nate's got one.

Barb

Thank you barb. I have been conditioning it every winter but not to take -30 or worse! This palm deserves my attention this winter.

dude dont worry about non believers. Hell even it if was specilized onditions, or a one in a million chance.. the fact of the matter is it survived.

I also hear you about temp differences. My city is rated zone 3, but my area is some where around 4 or 5.

When you post mor epics, can you take some so we can see the conditions is growing in please?

Nate,
I believe you!
That buddy is going to get so heat this year though right?

Bill

So far the west cost has been getting the crappy end of the stick this year. They got some really nice wawrm temps early this year, but also had snow till the end of may, and many days in may that were around 9C ( at the airport). Even Calgary has been cool and wet compared to last year. Vancouver was almost warmer during the olympics, making many vacouverites "wishing it was february again".

Mind you, Canada itself had a warm snowless winter in almost the entire country, especialy the east. Almost all the cold and show went to the midwest/eastern half of the USA..

I don't think that anyone would be foolish enough to think that a Trachycarpus fortunei could survive an air temperature of -35C. It's not, physiologically speaking, possible for the palm to survive that low temperature. The best that a Trachycarpus can handle, and maintain foliage is something around -18C (0f). There are reports of SURVIVAL of lower temps but at a certain point the extreme cold and duration will kill the palm.

The reason that these palms seem to be hardy to extreme temperatures are many. First, when the extreme low temps hit (i.e. below -18C) the palm has to be covered in some way if it is to survive with foliage intact and/or living viable bud tissue. I've used frost cloth in the past, but snow would be better (it's a better insulator, and can be much thicker than the 2 cm thick frost cloth. So, if the outside air temp does hit -35C the palm can survive if it is covered and/or there is a thick layer of snow. The palm itself may not even see temps below -15C! What kills the foliage in this case is suffocation. Palms have no true dormancy period (they will continue to grow) and when they can't access water from the roots the leaves will continue to transpire and the palm will get drought stressed (leading to foliar death, and either a dark greenish colour or brown when the air temps warm up in spring.) which actually improves cold tolerance (many of the same processes protect against both drought and cold temperature)...

Anyway- to the point, yes small palms can easily survive a zone 3 Edmonton (or even zone 3 Thunder Bay) winters, provided they aren't actually exposed to temps below, say, -25C or below -20C for extended periods (i.e. the bud tissue remains viable). Jim's post's earlier this year are examples of what can happen after cold temps, and subsequent rotting, occur in the heart of palms. Some of these will rebound as he has shown, but they are of little use as ornamentals, they are merely discussion pieces. I've seen Sago's act the same way here in Toronto, not pretty to look at, but interesting nonetheless.

I've not discussed rot in this post, but it is also a huge issue, and probably kills more palms than the extreme cold (esp. in places with high humidity and/or freeze/thaw cycles over the winter)!!!

I think it depends on how it survives, like paul, states. Is it really worth to have a palm tree thats only a ground cover?

As far as it surviving -35C. I dont think it technicaly did. Sure the air temp was -35, but placement, and ground heating, and how much sun can make its area warmer. Then theres the warmer winter this year, on top of that, edmontons regular winter warmups ( I wont call these chinooks, but the warm ups are reminicent of Calgarys Chinook winds), I wouldnt be suprised if the palm really didnt see temps below -25 or even -20C. I guess in simple terms.... you got very very lucky. Im glad your taking different procations this year.... I bet itll survive quite nicley there with some persistance, and patience. Post some pics after it gets some heat 😀

Also, you have to think of variability of the seeds. Gardeners are pushing the limits with these palms, and each generation of seeds give the chance of having a super hardy palm, or one more hardy then the original. Sure this takes dozens or hundreds of years to happen on a mass scale, but these plants are being pushed to the limits, and so their offspring will be more able to handle the temps of the growing area, probably better then the parent. I dont think it would be to farfetched to say, the plant you have, may be hardier then most trachys...