Ladies and gentlemen, I stand here in front of this great audience with a question. "Trumpets please" My garden is located atop a sandy ridge in central FL. Winter typically brings a few subfreezing nights, with lows in the mid 20's (at least I hope thats as bad as it gets!). Yesterday we found two drop dead gorgeous Thrinax excelsa for a ridiculous $120 each. They have 8-12 inches of trunk and an overall height of 8'! Now we have to decide whether to buy them and take on the task of covering them during the cold nights. This disturbing quandary stimulated me to search the forums looking for cold tolerance info. It seems T radiata is more cold sensitive than T excelsa, so that favors the purchase. But, there is no natural frost protection here what so ever. So, I was wondering about people's experience with this beautiful species in marginal, sites without natural frost protection. Aside from those few cold nights, the species should be perfectly happy here. I'll hang up and listen to your answers now.

As you see in the pic the small plant to the left is a T. excelsa. It survived well all my winters, untill it succumbed to the exceptional cold spell of 2004 (-2 C) inside my cold frame. But of course it was only a small plant with roots exposed to atmosphere's temps.

Hmmm, maybe I was slightly wrong in my previous report. -2 C has been registered outdoors, in the cold frame, I have just remembered, the electronic thermometer has registered -3,5 C.

Thanks Phoenikakias, I expect those temperatures here every winter, unfortunately. If it was spring, I'd probably go for it. At the beginning of winter, hmm, I'm less inclined. But its small enough to drag it into the garage on those frosty nights (at least until its planted). After that, I'll have to be covered!

Wait....Keith ....not so hasty....while Phoenikakias said he experienced those temps in his coldframe, he also mentioned two very important factors. Number 1, it is a much smaller plant and Number 2....the roots are in a pot and not in the ground. While size matters....I think just as important is roots being exposed to possibly freezing conditions.

One of the best examples that I experienced with this factor was with Bizmarkia. Now everyone knows how tender Bizzy roots are and how they do not like disturbance. Well in the back to back cold winters of 09 and 10 I had purchased 5 Bizmarkia's 2 smaller and 3 larger. The two smaller and two of the larger were all put into the ground. I saved one of the big ones in the pot and placed it on the warmest part of the property. I also wrapped the potted palm with blankets on the coldest nights............you guessed it ..... It is the only one of the 5 Bizzy's that died from the cold.

I will never keep a large root tender palm in a pot again.....I will put it in the ground no matter the time of year. Our soil does not freeze in North Florida. Now the big question is..........is Thrinax excelsa one of those species that is root tender? Maybe you should be the one to try....I say go for it.

If you wait until Spring....make sure you bring it inside every freeze no matter how light.

Not a good idea. Dem suckers will melt.

We have 2 growing here. Ours have been hardier to cold than T. radiata. But they seem to be one of those palms like Archontophoenix that can handle some cold but not real frost tolerant. Ours are growing at the edge of high Camphor Tree canopy so get some sun/bright shade but enough canopy for frost protection.

Thanks folks, maybe I can plant one under a queen canopy and wrap with heat tape for the really cold nights. Now I need queens.... A GARDNERS work is never done.