UPDATE: Chinese Windmill Palm, Trachycarpus Fortunei

I took some photos of my Trachycarpus fortunei that I planted in the Spring of 2010. It's looking great and starting to get a nice trunk on it.

UPDATE: Trachycarpus fortunei, Chinese Windmill Palm

My Windmill palm is looking pretty good. I uncovered it a few weeks ago. It has very little leaf damage, I am just glad it kept it's leaves this year. Hopefully this year it will really take off.

UPDATE: Sabal minor Seedlings

I have noticed that my Sabal minor seedlings are starting to fan out and there are a total of 9 seedlings now. They are looking very nice and healthy.

UPDATE: Chinese Windmill Palm, Trachycarpus fortunei

So I uncovered my Trachy a few days ago and the winter this year was really mild, the coldest temp this winter was 14 F. My Trachy did very well this winter, it managed not to defoliate. I protected it again this year with a tomato cage wrapped in bubble wrap stuffed with straw, and a trash bag over the top of it to keep the moisture out. This method iv used for 2 years in a row. I am just so happy it didn't loose it's leaves. Hopefully this year it will really take off.

Sabal Minor Palm Seedlings

So the last few years I have been pretty obsessed with hardy palms. I bought some Sabal minor palm seeds from Gayland Penny at Penny's Palms http://www.pennyspalms.com/. He is a good supplier, the seeds took a while( about 3 months) but they germinated. I had to file them though with a nail file and soak them for about a week before I planted them. Sabal minors have a tough hard seed casing. Sabal minors are a cold hardy palm that can be grown in northern climates with protection, hardy to zone 7b without protection. They are native to the southeastern United States. I am kinda excited because iv never grown palms from seed before. I will update there progress, wish me luck.

It's ALIVE!!!! The Palm Tree Survived

The Chinese Fan Palm (Trachycarpus fortunei) I planted last spring has survived the winter. I wasn't sure it would survive here in USDA zone 6-7, but it did.

Palm Trees in Illinois?

Well I live in extreme Southern Illinois and I thought id try growing a Chinese Windmill palm outdoors so the year

before last I bought 2 of them on E-bay and they were shipped to me from N. Carolina. The first winter I kept them inside on an unheated covered porch. Sadly the next summer was really hot and dry and one of them died but the other one seemed to be doing well. So I left it outside put a tomato cage around it, stuffed it with leaves and straw, wrapped it in several layers of bubble wrap than covered the top with a trash bag to keep it try, because rotting I hear is a problem. When I checked it in January it still was green so hopefully it will pull through the winter. Here are some before pictures taken during the summer and pictures of it all protected outside in the snow.