very sad. I am posting a few pics of a beautiful Strellzia Nicolai i had for 11 years in a pot and finally one year it rotted and died, it was huge and beautiful too, don't know what got it in the end????? Probably snails/bugs I'm thinking at the root base.

Then there was the trouble I had to plant and site this Sabal minor last spring/ summer.
Saved it! It just wasn't growing.
Cause: When dug up after two months, the root ball had begun to rot in spots. We trimmed any decay and tousled the roots slightly. We had noticed soil had shrunk AWAY from the tight rootball, perhaps leading to cycles of humidity then drying out and spotty rot.
When replanting, we bashed the soil super tight against the root ball with soil that allows drainage around and below the roots. Also planted it a couple inches higher up in the soil of its bed. And created a sand/humus/mulch filled drainage "ditch" for runoff to avoid drowning roots in our clayey yard. Growth in the following three weeks was much more apparent than the previous two months.

http://palmsnorth.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4477&highlight=

The same spot two years previous, for the same reasons I am sure, we lost a 3 gallon Trachy. Which died after a winter fully exposed.
Cause: A 3 gallon Trachycarpus fortunei should have been protected the first couple of years in zone 7a. It spear pulled then spring rotted.
If I had allowed it to gain some trunk growth and to get its roots established, it may have had a chance. I know as stated above though, that the soil was not amended correctly. It likely would have died anyways due to how I planted it in our bowl-like hole in our clay. $25 plant. Lesson learned.

This year's trachy is larger, was planted first thing in the spring and has a built up bed of fully draining soil. The clay to ten inches below has been removed and replaced with a good organic soil mix. It has a insulated, but unheated box over it until the first week of March this year at least. Oh and sited in a much more wind-sheltered spot.

<a href=" http://www.flickr.com/photos/seedscanada/8173590524/" title="Insulated glass box by seedscanada, on Flickr"><img src=" " width="478" height="640" alt="Insulated glass box"></a>

Mike that WASa nice BOP. It's sad to see them go.

Yes, Adam. It was really a bummer...It got so huge and so healthy! Then poof, gone.

Yucca rigida. Rated for zone 8. Looks good here after being planted here in its new bed back in summer 2010. Died.
Cause: Separated an offset before planting stressed the plant. Sited on south wall with too much clay in a brand new bed.
Nail in the coffin: did not protect it in the winter, at all. We went down to -20c/-4f one morning that winter. D'oh!
But I have the offset planted out there now. Alive. Better soil. Protected under glass with thermocubed heat. Still not happy.

<a href=" http://www.flickr.com/photos/seedscanada/8488046106/" title="Yucca rigida by seedscanada, on Flickr"><img src=" " width="640" height="480" alt="Yucca rigida"></a>

Oh and the most expensive Yucca I ever bought to date... it was I think 69 dollars. grr..

I want to make a t-shirt that says "Clay Kills" we'd make millions in the gardening community

I guess I killed a lot of plants in 2010.
Evergreen oak, Quercus chrysolepis hardy to 6a?? Grew from seed bought online at Sheffields seeds (five acorns, $22 including postage!), 3 of five grew. Killed one first winter ground planted. Killed the other two in their pots in the second winter. I had them sheltered in the hoop house. Defoliated. Never came back.
Cause: soil too loosely packed in their pots, roots got some cold air. Probably not hardy to 6a until more mature. Never got to see 2011.
<a href=" http://www.flickr.com/photos/seedscanada/8488245824/" title="Quercus chrysolepis by seedscanada, on Flickr"><img src=" " width="640" height="480" alt="Quercus chrysolepis"></a>

Needle palm. Was quite a nice specimen. Survived the first winter unprotected. Although lost 90% of its leaves in the winter. Dead by summer.
Cause: Wind/sun burn? First year should have been protected from the wind at least. Finally, rabbits ate the remaining leaves and ALL its new spring growth!
<a href=" http://www.flickr.com/photos/seedscanada/8488244164/" title="Rhapidophyllum hystrix by seedscanada, on Flickr"><img src=" " width="640" height="480" alt="Rhapidophyllum hystrix"></a>

Good topic, Adam.
So sad, guys...I've got a few to add myself.

Licuala grandis.
This VERY valuable little baby was doing OK for a year with my EXTREME (and I mean EXTREME) efforts to keep it in high humidity, including a "widened tent" of a dry cleaning bag, lots of very bright light, water at a certain temperature, twice daily misting...just couldn't keep it warm enough, I suppose.

<a href=" http://www.flickr.com/photos/southslope/2040021467/" title="DSC00698 by edible_plum, on Flickr"><img src=" " width="500" height="375" alt="DSC00698"></a>

7-foot tall Hyophorbe lagenicaulis (bottle palm).
After 4 years it succumbed to rot. I kicked myself for having transplanted it into a sketchy FIBERGLASS pot but it was a tall pot so I thought it'd work.
Probably the fiberglass was a mistake because it had done so well until then. Maybe a chemical reaction? Here it is at left:

<a href=" http://www.flickr.com/photos/southslope/4765314917/" title="DSC03785 by edible_plum, on Flickr"><img src=" " width="375" height="500" alt="DSC03785"></a>

It had gotten such a beautiful distinctive bottle shape:

<a href=" http://www.flickr.com/photos/southslope/6489828911/" title="DSC05179 by edible_plum, on Flickr"><img src=" " width="375" height="500" alt="DSC05179"></a>

And a Butia capitata:
To this day, I still don't know what killed it. Maybe some kind of fungus, because the bottom fronds simply collapsed.

<a href=" http://www.flickr.com/photos/southslope/4325193173/" title="DSC03352 by edible_plum, on Flickr"><img src=" " width="500" height="375" alt="DSC03352"></a>

And this $200+ y.rostrata:
Planted in ground, protected with a cover and C-9 lights, and then chickened out and dug it up again in November 😆

<a href=" http://www.flickr.com/photos/southslope/2960410020/" title="DSC01705 by edible_plum, on Flickr"><img src=" " width="500" height="375" alt="DSC01705"></a>

Barb

Oh the humanity!!!!! 😥

I really dropped the ball last fall and wiped out 20 - 40 plants....

Including this seed grows CIDP

ALso died - D Tricolour, still waiting on my Pygmy date palm, Baucarnea stricta, Areca palm, money tree, 2 Ficus elastica, triangle palm...

All of them were left out too long, or lost in the mini jungle out back......

Now this is a topic I can get behind. These pics are from way back in 2005 or earlier!

Yucca thompsoniana, crapped out first winter despite being protected. Man it was nice:

My original needle palm after its third? Second? winter. It dies the following year:

Needle is in the middle, on the left is a T. fortunei annual, the basjoo on the left is still there:

Magnolia virginiana 'Henry Hicks' lasted 3 years:

Dead, dead, dead T. fortunei (this one recovered from 2003, then gave up in 2005. My longest lived outdoor fortunei):

Agave lopantha. Dead despite moisture protection:

Opuntia macrocentra dead despite overhead protection. I have one form now that is half-hardy:

Agave montana:

Poncirus looks ok. Was brown ~2 weeks later:

Cylindorpuntia kleinae. I have a half-hardy form of this now too:

My old cactus bed. The Agave you see here are either still in pots or dead. The Joshua tree in the center survived ~5 winters (including one with a low to -32C) before its death after I transplanted it:

A better pic of the J-tree:

This was a big screw up, Phy. aurea cultivar. It never had a chance:

The original needle again:

The first T. fortunei I ever planted out, it survived this winter (maybe 2003?) with complete defoliation and spear pull:

These are from ~2006 or 2007.
Yucca gloriosa variegata. Came back from the roots once then was never seen again:

The last efforts of my original needle palm:

Dasiliron texanum, directly in front of it is a Yucca kanabensis, which is the best blue Yucca that I've tried. Both lasted one season!

A recovering T. fortunei, I think that this guy died during the summer anyway...

A complete list of all the plants that have failed the zone 4/5 test would be much more extensive! Most of the things above have been killed in duplicate, often triplicate, to confirm their inability to cope with the climate.

Thanks for looking!

Eh-eh, Paul... You have been trying at least. Million of people - never!

great reports............keep um coming! 8)

Losing a seed grown palm is particularly gut-wrenching.

Paul, I am not the only one here to have only temporary success with needle palms. Or trachies. Loved that Dasylirion!

I think I am done with oaks, Barb. I liked the evergreen ones. But now I have loquat... Nicer. I just last week, accidentally left out my evergreen Quercus fusiformis in its giant pot. Let's see if it was alright with that -13c we just had.
P. S. This is a current pic of my Yucca rostrata. Tips turn white every year. Have a pane of glass horizontal across the top of it this year to prevent snow load. Any suggestions of what is going wrong here?
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