Winter’s Here

[GregVirginia7]

After a December with lots of nights in the 20’s F and days above freezing, the palms have been able to acclimate to what we are having now…nights in the mid to low 20’s…some days right at freezing and some days nearer to 40 F but definitely a week plus of some real challenging freezing temps. Of course, damage is not necessarily noticeable right away so we’ll see but no obvious damage yet like I had in that ‘22/23 winter that had the moderate temps drop to single digits overnight. The tried and true winter troopers look good and get to thaw out a bit today and tomorrow. The older Trachy and the Brazoria (behind the older Trachy) are too big to protect but the smaller Trachy has lights around the trunk and layers of black landscaping cloth to hold in heat around the trunk. I checked its leaf segments a few days ago and they looked great. The Needle and Sable minors at the base of the large Trachy have always been on their own and done great:

The Medi is shrouded with black landscaping cloth that draws in the sun’s heat and it’s lit as well with incandescent lights. I lay them out like a carpet at the base and wrap the trunk. So far, it looks really good. If it’s not doing good it will show the damage right away. The McCurtain is never of any concern.

I think our sunny days, even though in the 30’s, it seems to be giving them the recovery time they need to fight the low to mid 20’s at night. Hopefully we can avoid teens and single digits this winter!

One last look at the Needle…a cold hardy palm grower’s true friend…

[Zone7Bpalmguy]

38 minutes ago, GregVirginia7 said:

After a December with lots of nights in the 20’s F and days above freezing, the palms have been able to acclimate to what we are having now…nights in the mid to low 20’s…some days right at freezing and some days nearer to 40 F but definitely a week plus of some real challenging freezing temps. Of course, damage is not necessarily noticeable right away so we’ll see but no obvious damage yet like I had in that ‘22/23 winter that had the moderate temps drop to single digits overnight. The tried and true winter troopers look good and get to thaw out a bit today and tomorrow. The older Trachy and the Brazoria (behind the older Trachy) are too big to protect but the smaller Trachy has lights around the trunk and layers of black landscaping cloth to hold in heat around the trunk. I checked its leaf segments a few days ago and they looked great. The Needle and Sable minors at the base of the large Trachy have always been on their own and done great:

The Medi is shrouded with black landscaping cloth that draws in the sun’s heat and it’s lit as well with incandescent lights. I lay them out like a carpet at the base and wrap the trunk. So far, it looks really good. If it’s not doing good it will show the damage right away. The McCurtain is never of any concern.

I think our sunny days, even though in the 30’s, it seems to be giving them the recovery time they need to fight the low to mid 20’s at night. Hopefully we can avoid teens and single digits this winter!

One last look at the Needle…a cold hardy palm grower’s true friend…

They all look great. You said it about the previous two winters. I went from pure mildness to low zone 7A temps in 2022-23 and similar mildness to extreme drops to zone 7B temps in 23-24. In fact, I had sheltered vincas still blooming before the extreme cold hit last year. It helps for the palms to acclimate to the cold not straight mildness to straight Arctic temps. 

You and a few others have convinced me to try a med fan palm.  My only problem is, I hardly have any good real estate left in my garden. 

[GregVirginia7]

12 minutes ago, Zone7Bpalmguy said:

They all look great. You said it about the previous two winters. I went from pure mildness to low zone 7A temps in 2022-23 and similar mildness to extreme drops to zone 7B temps in 23-24. In fact, I had sheltered vincas still blooming before the extreme cold hit last year. It helps for the palms to acclimate to the cold not straight mildness to straight Arctic temps. 

You and a few others have convinced me to try a med fan palm.  My only problem is, I hardly have any good real estate left in my garden. 

Yes, I’m out of microclimate room in my backyard but my south facing brick rambler front face is like an oven…so there is territory there but my wife has control of the front yard and she’s not a real cold hardy palm fan…but there’s always hope.

[Allen]

Looks great I don't think you'll have any damage from that.