The life of my Phoenix Theophrasti

[Swolte]

We ended up hitting a low of 16F for several hours last week. Other days, Theo saw the low 20s. Protected only by a single frost cloth which is the lowest I ever used. I unpacked Theo today and it looked OK-ish. We'll really know in weeks/months to come.

Its hard to say from the pic but there's definitely some bronzing and other discoloring happening. Not a good winter! I sprayed some fungicide and will keep monitoring the spear. 

[Subtropical LIS]

On 1/25/2025 at 9:46 PM, Swolte said:

We ended up hitting a low of 16F for several hours last week. Other days, Theo saw the low 20s. Protected only by a single frost cloth which is the lowest I ever used. I unpacked Theo today and it looked OK-ish. We'll really know in weeks/months to come.

Its hard to say from the pic but there's definitely some bronzing and other discoloring happening. Not a good winter! I sprayed some fungicide and will keep monitoring the spear. 

I'm far and away no expert on Phoenix palms...but one of the things that I think is working for you now is time. It seems that the longer a plam is in the ground and growing, it handles cold snaps (esp the typical brief ones in the southern USA) better and better. 

The experts say that most palms get better and better at shrugging off cold the older and BIGGER they get. I don't know if that is true, but in my travels around far northern Florida, and coastal South Carolina (similar zone 8b/9a)...you see many huge Phoenix palms that most definitely have seen low 20's F in their life and they are fine: