palm hardiness

[redsquirrel]

I would rate these chamaerops humilis as hardy as Trachycarpus's, nothing at all seems to bother them - well none of mine anyway. No amount of rain, snow, weeks of minus temperatures, 70mph winds we had, nothing has effected them, not even as much as 1 brown leaf, infact new leaves have been opening up over winter. A real hardy in my opinion.

i think you have been lucky this year Ste,last year i lost a good number of decent sized chams, glad i didnt replace them too as the 2 remaining ones out front have both pulled and look decidedly cr@p now

[Rabbie]

This is a small chamaerops humilis I planted late last summer, in a north facing garden no real direct sun for a few weeks yet.

[Mr List]

I would rate these chamaerops humilis as hardy as Trachycarpus's, nothing at all seems to bother them - well none of mine anyway. No amount of rain, snow, weeks of minus temperatures, 70mph winds we had, nothing has effected them, not even as much as 1 brown leaf, infact new leaves have been opening up over winter. A real hardy in my opinion.

i think you have been lucky this year Ste,last year i lost a good number of decent sized chams, glad i didnt replace them too as the 2 remaining ones out front have both pulled and look decidedly cr@p now

how big are they?
one thing i am confused about with palm hardiness is this, how it gets better over time.

is it just how long you have had it in the ground or mainly how old the palm is that goes towards hardiness ratings?

ie
if i get two palms one a foot tall and one a metre tall and plant them - which is hardier that winter

if i have a 1ft palm grown up from 6 inches in the ground then plant a one meter palm - which is hardier that next winter?

[Yorkshire Kris]

Basically the bigger the root mass and trunk of a palm the better it's chances of winter survival. This is mainly because it takes a lot more cold to freeze something that is big. This go hand in hand with the fact that usually bigger palms are older palms.

This is very simplistic. Everything else needs to be taken into account such as palm species, micro-climate how healthy the palms are etc etc.

If a palm has been growing happily in the ground in one spot for a long time it it far more equipped to survive a colder winter compared to exactly the same type of palm of the same size that is planted shortly before a harsh winter.

I'm sure others can add more to this

[Conifers]

I'd guess palms are also going to be a bit hardier in dry soils than wet ones.

[The Codfather]

I hope so....my soil is more on the wet side than the dry.....

[redsquirrel]

@RedS
how about a picture?

here it is,again burned by frost but the spear is still firm,the 2 suckers look better than the main stem
also pictured is my radicalis,this got battered last year.

[Mr List]

did you give them any protection?

[redsquirrel]

only a roof overhead.no wrapping. the radicalis lost the main trunk and re-sprouted from the soil.the microspadix just dessicates looking like a bamboo cane afterwards.with a little more care i dare say i could do a lot better but i started late with the protection,(as usual) and it got too cold to bother with any thing else.
things like the jubutia and brahea armata etc got taken in and out of the garage. the new radicalis i have will get protected though,it was a gift from a good friend in devon and i cant let him down on it as it was grown from seed

[Mr List]

it's strange how some plants you'd do anything to save and others you can just leave be and not give another thought.

i find monetary value often has nothing to do with it either

[billdango]

move to southampton ????. all these palms are fully hardy here ,all trachycarpus species ,r hystrix, b capitata,j chilensis, c humilis all varieties, t campestris,and in city center,p canariensis. +most cordylines and agave americana. see you soon . rgds billdango.

[redsquirrel]

it's strange how some plants you'd do anything to save and others you can just leave be and not give another thought.

i find monetary value often has nothing to do with it either

so true . plants that i have bought usually come second best to gifts from people.

move to southampton ????. all these palms are fully hardy here ,all trachycarpus species ,r hystrix, b capitata,j chilensis, c humilis all varieties, t campestris,and in city center,p canariensis. +most cordylines and agave americana. see you soon . rgds billdango.

i best not do that Bill, me and Adrian would never get anything done,be out larking about somewhere all the time, half of it round yours

[fgtbell]

one thing i am confused about with palm hardiness is this, how it gets better over time.

Another thing to bear in mind is that the spears grow from deep down inside the trunk. For bigger palms, this means that the new spear is very well protected by layers of old wood until it grows quite big, big enough to peek out of the top. Small palms have little thickness of old wood - so no protection, and the new spears are exposed to frost almost as soon as they start, while they are quite soft.

I have a few Chamaeropses, the small ones have all spear pulled, but the ones with a bit of trunk are solid. On the bigger ones, the bit of new spear visible at the top of the trunk seems quite hardy.

[GoggleboxUK]

I've just been out to check my palms and the 3 Phoenix which I fleeced for the winter have all gone but the unprotected Taccys and the Chammy have both done very well with just a cm or so of trimming needed on a few leaves to tidy them up.

We had almost 3 months of subzero temps here, a month of snow on the ground and temps as lows as -16.

I'm disappointed about the Phoenix palms going, especially the 2 six footers but seeing as they were all in tubs I guess I mustn't grumble too loudly. It gives me an opportunity to try some new plants out I suppose.

[Ste]

I've just been out to check my palms and the 3 Phoenix which I fleeced for the winter have all gone but the unprotected Taccys and the Chammy have both done very well with just a cm or so of trimming needed on a few leaves to tidy them up.

We had almost 3 months of subzero temps here, a month of snow on the ground and temps as lows as -16.

I'm disappointed about the Phoenix palms going, especially the 2 six footers but seeing as they were all in tubs I guess I mustn't grumble too loudly. It gives me an opportunity to try some new plants out I suppose.

I know how u feel Rick, I bought 2 6ft Phoenix canariensis_CIDP's in November, got them for £60 each which was good at the time but about 2 weeks after I got them we got the snow then the frost. They are now pretty dead looking I think if I replace every palm which dies with a Trachycarpus then it wont be long until I never have to buy another palm again, but then where is the fun......