Palms vs DC Blizzard

[Chris-]

I live in Northern Virginia and as anyone in the US who’s listened to a TV weather report in the past few days has heard (sorry!) we are having the worst snowfall in at least 30 if not 50 years. It began last night where I'm at and should continue through today. Already 8-10" are on the ground and it will likely at least double.

I have a 3-year old Sabal palmetto that I purchased from South Carolina and planted. It was in a rather small contained when I got it but it has done surprisingly well and is now about four feet tall (alas, no trunk yet. I was told later it will be years before it develops one). It has overwintered twice now and though it took significant damage it came through and flourished again by mid-Summer each time. Part of the problem is that I didn't do enough to protect it before as I was just learning. I covered it up as one would do a tomato for a night of frost - and on other occasions even used plastic not knowing any better. This year I determined to do a better job but I am off to a rather poor start.

We had an incredibly mild November here. We usually get the first freeze in late October. This year it didn't come until December 1st. Unfortunately since that time winter has arrived in force and it has been seasonably if not unseasonably cold ever since.

I have covered the palm each time temperatures were forecast to be below 25. Thus far we have only had a few really cold nights (the lowest being 20) and it has not shown any damage.
Unfortunately this snow storm caught me off guard. I covered it the best I could last evening as it was beginning (after first dusting off what had already accumulated on the poor fronds) with burlap but when I went out this morning there was already some snow on top (which I brushed off) and some that had blown under the burlap (which I removed). The temperature has been steady around 28-30 for the past 12 hours and should continue through the remainder of the storm.

I am curious if there is anything in particular I should/can do other than hope at this point. I have become increasingly knowledgeable with regards to what temperatures this type of palm can actually take covered/uncovered but I have little to know knowledge as to what snow will do to them and I of course fear the worst.

I also have two cycads (cycas revoluta). They are relatively tiny. One has made it through two winters, the other is new. The one that has made it through two winters loses all of its leaves around January – presumably because I was only covering it before when it got below 20 and cycads don’t like that. This year after losing all of its leaves in January it pushed out three sets of flushes, the last arriving in November (and still trying to unfurl at this time). I covered them both with a makeshift hut of 14” plastic stakes fashioned into a frame and covered with burlap. However, when I went to dust off the palmetto, I noticed they were both already buried over and around the “enclosure” with snow. As it wasn’t in the container I left it hoping it would provide some “insulation” for the time being. Am I at all right?

It is my understanding that these two species of plants are not the easiest to grow for someone in a marginal (at best) area. I live in USDA Zone 7A, just west of I-95 in NoVA. Our coldest “frequent” (recurring) winter temperature is typically around 12-17 (thus far as I noted we have only had 20). We also tend to without fail get at least one or two days, usually in the second week of January where it drops into the single digits at night. Fortunately only one or two days. Nevertheless I love these plants (I plan to import a larger palmetto w/ trunk so I can marvel at it…and my credit card bill...& a trachy in the spring. Unfortunately I somehow managed to kill a trachy I had since 2005 last winter, while the other palm/cycad survived. It lost all of its leaves, then appeared to begin to recover with new growth in the spring only to see that shrivel up and seemingly rot – which is what I believe I read you call ‘spear pull’. I didn’t know what to do and it as such it is no more.) I do not wish to lose them – especially so early in the season and optimally would like to get them through the winter with some of last year’s growth intact.

Thus any suggestions & tips are welcome. Thanks!

[turtile]

Sabal shouldn't have any problem with this storm. The only thing to be worried about is the radiational cooling that can occur when the storm passes over (into the single digits). If you keep them dry and protected from strong wind, you should be good. I haven't protected anything. The storm we had back in March did heavy damage here with lows down to 8F. The daytime highs below freezing, snow reflecting the sun at the leaves, and the fact that the ground was frozen were the real killer. We're lucky that the ground is still warm during this time of the year.

[Chris-]

Hello turtile,

You appear to have been correct. With the exception of one or two old fronds that were already declining (they seem to be declining faster now), there appears to have been no damage to my sabal. I did lose the "new" flush of leaves on one of my cycads but I suppose that was going to happen at some point this winter anyway (they came out in early November). The other leaves appear undamaged.

The tempearture bottomed out at 17 here when the storm passed. Lows since then have been around 20 although we did get some actual (heavy) liquid rain on Christmas Day which finished off the snow.

On to the next storm I suppose!