One site on Dave's Garden rates Sabal Minor McCurtain as hardy to zone 5b:

http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/133718/

don't know if they are reliably hardy in zone 5b but with the results you've had, it seems possible. I'm really interested in getting a S. Lou now. The size of the fronds is much more impressive than with the McCurtain (though just having a palm in zone 5 is impressive to me). I'm wondering if maybe close to the foundation in a zone 5b, if a McCurtain would be reliable as a die back perennial.

probably would be,in spite of losing its leaves
for the last 3 winters, this is the biggest it has grown.

I would say z6 for sure,well sited.
If I start over at a new place I think
I would leave out Sabal and Needle palms.

Pretty impressive Jim! How may GDD do you have there? I can't get anything close to that level of recovery up here!

I think we are around 3000 GDD

My sabals have been extremely hardy for me too Jim. I love those Louisianas and brazorias. I have purchased 6 more sabal Lou this year and another Brazoria.

Glad you never asked me as I'd have said, "none."
Also glad Sabal proved me wrong!

Chad

I did the same thing,I think I had 2 Brazoria(still do,one in a pot)
and I bought 6 or 7 of the Lou 😀

Eric

Their cold hardiness is because the growth point is
still protected underground but regardless...that ground was hard!

source of the sabal lou? would like to get a few myself. the sabal braz i got from you had massive burns from last winter jim..cover with no heat but has put out lots of new growth and done extremely well this year. only palm i had survive last winter.

All of my Sabal Lou came from Steve (e-bay store
NorthofFlorida palms)...He was the third man into
an argument/discussion on another forum and would not
mind his own business = now he wont sell me palms anymore!-lol
Kind of a paranoid asshole but he does grow some sweet palms... 🙄

I bought my Sabal "Lou" from a vendor in Oklahoma City:
http://www.alligatoralley.com/palminfo.html

Great guy, good to do business with.

My Sabal "Lou" survived (with protection) our "colder than the south pole" event in 2011.
I passed it on to another Palmsnorth member, KrisK. It is doing better for him than me.

So, check with this vendor. He isn't on this forum.

I bought my Sabal "Lou" from a vendor in Oklahoma City:
http://www.alligatoralley.com/palminfo.html

Great guy, good to do business with.

My Sabal "Lou" survived (with protection) our "colder than the south pole" event in 2011.
I passed it on to another Palmsnorth member, KrisK. It is doing better for him than me.

So, check with this vendor. He isn't on this forum.

I got my S. Minor McCurtain from them. I was happy with the quality. This will be it's first winter outdoors, so we'll see how hardy it is.

I bought my Sabal "Lou" from a vendor in Oklahoma City:
http://www.alligatoralley.com/palminfo.html

Great guy, good to do business with.

My Sabal "Lou" survived (with protection) our "colder than the south pole" event in 2011.
I passed it on to another Palmsnorth member, KrisK. It is doing better for him than me.

So, check with this vendor. He isn't on this forum.

I got my S. Minor McCurtain from them. I was happy with the quality. This will be it's first winter outdoors, so we'll see how hardy it is.

I hope you have the same experience I
did,mine has been covered but not heated
for 3 winters and is still with us-amazing palm!

I bought my Sabal "Lou" from a vendor in Oklahoma City:
http://www.alligatoralley.com/palminfo.html

Great guy, good to do business with.

My Sabal "Lou" survived (with protection) our "colder than the south pole" event in 2011.
I passed it on to another Palmsnorth member, KrisK. It is doing better for him than me.

So, check with this vendor. He isn't on this forum.

I got my S. Minor McCurtain from them. I was happy with the quality. This will be it's first winter outdoors, so we'll see how hardy it is.

I hope you have the same experience I
did,mine has been covered but not heated
for 3 winters and is still with us-amazing palm!

So it survived the 2013/2014 winter with nothing but a cover for protection! 😯
that's 13 consecutive days below freezing. Did the fronds burn that year?

From the 4th to the 10th of Jan/2015
was a nice warm stretch...the lows...
3,0,-5,-9,-13F,-2,0....it hit -13 again
the next week but it all started in November
with 10 days below freezing in a row,I have
never seen it that cold for that long in November.

All the leaves on all the Sabal were toasted.