I’ve seen palm trees as far north as Sacramento, California, and St. George, Utah, out west, and along all the southern perimeter states of the lower 48 on up to South Carolina.
On the news recently, they showed downtown Tulsa, and I swear they had some there, but I wonder if they were accidentally showing Dallas by mistake (it looked a lot like Dallas).
So I am wondering, do they grow in Oklahoma, Arkansas, North Carolina, Virginia, or anywhere else?
And what about the bushy variety of palms (I obviously don’t know the technical name, genus, or species) that are only a few feet high? I have actually seen them in Seattle in people’s yards, so I assume they can grow in a temperate, even cool climate. Does anyone know their habitat? I assume if they can grow in Seattle, they can grow in nearby Victoria or Vancouver, British Columbia.
Kind of a weird thread, I know, but if anyone has any incite, I thank you in advance.
Trachycarpus takil (Kumaon Fan Palm)6.6°F (-14.2°C) -7b
Note, i’ve only included palms that take temperatures below 10 degrees F. There are many more that can take tempuratures into the low 20’s and teens. Some, like Trachycarpus fortunei are frequently found covered in snow (in fact, there’s an image on the page for T. fortunei with the leaves blanketed in snow). There is actually a T. fortunei in Stanley park in Vancouver (and it’s on the same page as the snow covered one).
T. latisectus actually lives in the Sikkim Highlands and it is common for it to be covered in snow.
As to the Sabals and the Rhapidophyllum hystrix, these are american palms. R. hystrix is probably the hardiest of the North American palms. It’s a nice plant, but the crown has many sharp needles. Perhaps this is the low bushy type you’ve seen? But, if you want palms that become trees, the Trachycarpus are probably the hardiest of the tree palms.
I’ve not ssen palms growing in AR. The ice storm last year did awful things to pine trees. Is there anything besides temperature that palms can’t tolerate?
Actually, it was the Trachycarpus fortunei variety that I have seen here in the west. I’m in Northern Cal and we have a couple at my house.
We had a cold snap in 1990 where we experienced unprecedented temps in the teens. I remember a very large type of palm that is popular in the coastal areas of central and southern California, many of which died in our town due to exposure. Our rubber trees, incidentally, died as well.
Thanks to everyone for their info. It was truly interesting.
There are three palm trees growing in Nanaimo on Vancouver Island that I saw every day when I lived there. They are just north of the bridge going over the Millstone river, on the Island highway through town.
Well… mainly nutrient deficiencies. Manganese deficiency will actually kill palms (the trees look very horrible). This disease is called “Frizzle top” and results in stunted deformed leaves. Some have actual pests (there is a palm moth which targets Archontophoenix palms from Australia). There’s also a microbe called “Lethal Yellowing” which is a phytoplasm that targets certain types of coconut palms and will kill off other types as well (the crown eventually collapses and the tree dies). Interestingly, there’s an antibiotic treatment for this using actual hypodermic injections. Salt water will kill any palm. The Nipa palm (Nypa frutescens) is resistant to salt water, but cannot grow in pure salt water. It prefers briny water (meaning there’s a nearby source of freshwater mixing with salt water). Coconut palms are resistant to salt, but they cant live in salt water. They derive water from aquifers, or on atolls, freshwater lenses underground.
For the most part, at least in the US, palms tend to be pest free mainly.
Palms tend to hold up to wind quite well. Usually wind will tatter leaves, but the trunks tend to be solid (the hurricane palm is noted for being exceptionally resistant to wind). Where I live in California, i’ve never heard of any palms blowing over, only trees like pines, cypresses, and eucalypts.
So, it seems the main limiting factor is temperature for most palms (which is why i’m going to grow the Parajubaea cocoides palm when i can afford it…this palm prefers cool nights, which are what we generally have in Monterey. They hate tropical climates).
A friend’s family has a cottage on Savary Island, BC: between Powell River and Courtenay. There is a palm tree in front of the cottage… well north of Nanaimo, but in a favourable microclimate.
Again, favourable microlimate, I suppose–the southern Okanagan is in the northern tip of the Sonoran Desert biome… presumably there are palm trees of some sort there.
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Palms, like many tropical/subtropical plants are more tolerant of cold temperatures if they are dry at the roots; the combination of cold and (wet/waterlogged) that can occur in many temperate areas is bad news for them.
In the same region just north of Courtenay is an island called Middlenatch, a protected bird sanctuary. The microclimate here is very warm and dry favouring the growth of cacti, which as far as any one can tell are indigenous to the island . Courtenay, just 20 miles away has at least 3 times the rainfall.
Well, Cacti will do well in climates that get more rain than they get in their native ranges as long as the soil is very quick draining and dries out fast. You can see a lot of prickly pear cacti down the Salinas valley (Opuntia) that have become weedy after escaping from someone’s yard.
There are also a few tropical species of cacti that are epiphytic as well.
