Hey Andy, welcome aboard.
Nice to have one more member from MA. 😀
Yup, you can get tons of stuff from Bill, maybe start with some smaller stuff to get the hang of keeping them alive.

Yup, yuccas are fabulous but don't give up on palms.
Lots of people here protect Trachies etc inground during winter...piece of cake (until the power goes out) 😆
And since you're in an apartment, you won't have the protection headaches yet.

But sorry...I simply have to post a summer picture.
I'm so sick of wearing longjohns and being cold and covering stuff or bringing it back inside in the afternoons.

Bring on summer...puhlease.

<img src=" " width="375" height="500" alt="DSC03785" />

Barb
another Canadian, feels like zone 3 right now... :verycold:

Hi Andy,

here's two Yucca rostratas in my garden, one is protected with a 'roof' to keep winter moisture off the leaf head and the other one was unproteced. The unproteced one did fine too.
<img src= >

Here's my palm protection......mini greenhouse with strings of xmas lights inside.
<img src= >

If you don't mine protecting, palms are great. Palms will need heat as well.

Regarding differences in our climate.....although your not far from us, your more inland and higher in elevation. This winter Providence had 50" of snow where Wocester had 87". Providence's low was -2F and Wocester was -9F. Coldest daytime high in Providence was +16F where Wocester was +8F. Bill & I are a tad colder than Providence but not that much colder.

Biggest advice would be to plant along a wall which is south facing and receives loads of sun.

Welcome Andy.

You really can't beat Cactus(if you buy the right varieties)
for winter hardiness-quite a few beautiful hardy flowering cactus as well.

They are much tougher and easier to protect than palms!

Not quite as big of yard bling as bananas and palms though! 8)

Bill doesn't really have to much small stuff for sale 😉

Maybe better to get a few decent sized palms to start with
anyway-from a hardiness point of view....lucky you live close to
Bill-I bet he could set you up nicely if your willing to spend the coin!

Thanks for all the replys! Tim, did you just buy regular xmas lights and wrap them around the palms? I'm trying to figure out where I should keep my palms when I buy them, would an indoor front porch be a bad idea or just keep them inside at first? I don't want them to be super warm over the winter, because if I ever plant them outdoors they'll experiencing pretty cold temps, but the front porch isn't insulated and might be as cold as outdoors in the nighttime <br>
Barb, your palm trees are amazing! What kind are those in the pictures, a sago? I'm guessing. I can't believe yours are that big and still in pots, won't they ever outgrow them? Where do you keep them during the winter?<br><br>Jim, I'll have to look into Cactus, I plan on buying a house in the next 2-3 yrs, and I plan on planting all sorts of things that aren't supposed to grow in MA, I want to try some bamboo as well, but what really fascinates me is just palm trees in general. I just think there so much better looking than say a Maple or an Oak tree.<br>Sorry about all the winter talk, I can't wait for warmer temps, although it doesn't feel like spring lately.

Andy,
Bottle Palm at left, and Spindle.

so much better looking than say a Maple or an Oak tree.

Attaboy!

Since you'll be a couple or three years before you're in a house with a yard, I'd recommend starting with small potted palms, but get some hardier stuff like Trachycarpus, Sabal minor, Needle palm (no tropicals yet...a little finicky).

Bigger ones have a tough transition to the indoors in the winter because of dryness of air.
Yet an unheated porch which can get as cold as outside might be hard on them because the roots are exposed to the same temps as the leaves because they're not planted below ground in soil.

You've probably read of various winter protection methods here (tons of topics on it) where people have wrapped pipe heating tape right up around the trunk of the palm, and that's OK.
But I wouldn't recommend doing that with C-9 Christmas lights, get too hot on the trunk (unless they're not touching).
Plenty of time next September to sweat about that.

Then there are crazy people who build a structure twice the size of a phone booth and place a ceramic heater inside... 😳 :geek:

...or buy that house sooner and buy Bill's 9-foot palms
8)

Barb

Hi Andy,

I have Trachycarpus takil 'nanital form', Sabal 'birmingham' and Wollemi pine in the greenhouse. I have a string of lights wrapped around each of them. I also have about five-1 gallon milk containers in their. Prior to the deep freeze I also placed a 2' long heating pad near the Wollemi pine. All seem fine as of today. Low in the greenhouse was 7F....so it still got cold but it was dry......dry is a BIG help.

Trachy:
<img src= >

Trachy closeup:
<img src= >

Sabal 'birmingham':
<img src= >

Wollemi pine:
<img src= >

I used the small xmas lights....they really don't throw much heat but they do make a difference. Unless you have ideal conditions inside your house, I'd plant any 'new' palms outside this spring and protect in the winter. Size does matter. Don't even bother with small seedlings outside unless you protect heavily.......can you say slow growing too? If you got time drive down to Attleboro and see Bill who has a load of larger palms.

Barb, thanks for the advice. I think I will get some smaller stuff, I don't have a ton of money to spend, and I can't plant them outdoors anyway. I want to start with a Trachycarpus.What do you recommend, putting them in a 1 gallon pot with filtered sun? <br><br>Tim, you have a couple of strange species there! I've never heard of the T.Takil or a Birmingham, but after I did some research apparently it was sold as a "T. Takil" for a few years until they figured out it was actually just a form of the Fortunei..the "nanital". And the Birmingham no one is really sure exactly what it is, it might be a cross between a S. palmetto and a S. minor....maybe you can confirm this, it's just what I read. Where did you get these? I'd be interested in purchasing some. What kind of heating pad do you have? I thought I read on here that you have the lights set to some type of a timer? Does your greenhouse have a frame with plastic over it? Sorry for all the questions I'm just interested in your winter setup and where to get this stuff. I would love to put some palms outside one day but I can't right now because I am in an apartment building.

Andy,
Lower cost + being in an apartment for another year or two means smaller palms are a better idea right now.

Young palms in retail nurseries should be in a pot, I'd leave them in their original pot (unless roots are busting out of the top/sides/bottom 😆 ) for a couple of months. If it's Trachycarpus keep it cool near a window, south windows get too hot especially around the rootball.
Mist it every day or two to combat dry house air which usually leads to spider mites.

Let's see pics of what you buy and everyone can help with instructions.
Barb

Hi Andy,

the S. birmingham was from Gary's Nursery in N.C. Bill picked a couple up last spring. I'm not sure what type of Sabal it really is.....there is speculation that it may be a hybrid between palmetto and minor. I'm not sure if Gary does mail order any more. You should be able to purchase a S. birmingham...........perhaps from Yuccado, Alligator Alley or even EBAY. My very small heating pad was purchased from Alligator Alley back in 2000. It's only a 2' long strip. Link here:

http://www.alligatoralley.com/home.html

My greenhouse is constructed out of 3/4" steel electrical conduit. I purchased a pipe bender too. I wrap a string of small xmas lights around each plant and plug into exterior outlet. I have a circuit breaker panel in my garage which has a breaker for the exterior outlet. When temps drop I turn on the circuit. When temps are warm I turn off the breaker. No timer. This winter the lights were on a lot.

Wish you the best Andy. Here's a few easy gardening tips, I hope this helps you or someone else out one day:

https://zintragroup.com.au/gardening-tips/