Palms for Denver area... (Niwot)

[Sabal Steve]

This Christmas, I gave the gift of palms to my step father in the Denver area. He got the cold hardy palms starter kit, composed of a needle palm and sabal minor. contrary to popular belief, Denver has a fairly temperate climate, but is prone to occasional freak cold winter days. I don't expect him to spend a lot of time monitoring the palms, so I am looking for species that are fairly low maintenance. Trachy? Other thoughts?

Edited December 28, 2013 by Sabal Steve

[Mauna Kea Cloudforest]

  On 12/28/2013 at 5:47 AM, Sabal Steve said:

This Christmas, I gave the gift of palms to my step father in the Denver area. He got the cold hardy palms starter kit, composed of a needle palm and sabal minor. contrary to popular belief, Denver has a fairly temperate climate, but is prone to occasional freak cold winter days. I don't expect him to spend a lot of time monitoring the palms, so I am looking for species that are fairly low maintenance. Trachy? Other thoughts?

Steve, that's a noble but futile effort. Denver? Temperate climate ? Ha ha, now that's a funny one. Not even a needle palm stands a chance, just before xmas they had a high of 5F. You can't even start planting veggies until after June 20th to avoid frost.

Definitely a noble but futile effort.

Edit: December average low is 18F, extreme low is somewhere around -10F or worse. Denver is USDA zone 4b to 5a, probably as likely to get a palm to survive in Minnesota as well as Denver.

[_Keith]

Yeah, I got to agree with Axel. Denver is a fine place to get into conifers. And there is not a darned thing wrong with that either. As for palms, get a grow light, and a nice indoor palm. Put a mural on the wall if needed. Suggest you save money spent trying to protect palms and spend it on plane tickets to Cancun.

[Sabal Steve]

I suspect that you're both right, but, before i concede, this is what I found regarding temps -

http://www.weather.com/weather/wxclimatology/monthly/graph/80544

In retrospect, I used "temperate" in a relative sense - I'm from Chicago, which, believe it or not, is much more hostile of a climate... I see average lows around 11F with very little rain in the winter months in Denver (Niwot).

[Sabal Steve]

One thing that I don't totally understand, is how long palms like these can take sustained cold? I've heard reports of both of these taking sub-zero temps without damage, although I'm not sure how long they were exposed to those temps. Also, I believe denver has lots of sunny days, at around 300 annually.

I figure, worst case scenario, they can bring them in during the harsher winter months as they grow slowly.

[monkeyranch]

Being originally from Michigan I get what your saying about Colorado having "relatively" milder winters than the Great Lakes area. Denver has more sun in winter with more up and down temperature patterns with a much greater chance of having a 50-60ºf warm-up from S.W. or Gulf in mid-winter but it's still 5a to 6a on the front range with extended days below freezing. I'd second the recommendations for some Chamaedoreas, Rhapis, and Howeas for inside the house combined with airline tickets. Better to use taller yuccas as good "faux-palms" outside.

If the plan is already in motion then here is an earlier topic on growing palms near Colorado Springs. A Needle Palm growing outside at Denver Botanical was mentioned.

Here's a recent topic on outdoor palms with protection in zone 5 Iowa.

[Sabal Steve]

I've always thought that sabal minors and needle palms had a chance, and the articles that you listed just bolster my opinions. I think that the trachy is especially marginal still, but quite possible with protection. The climate in Iowa may be in the same zone, but is far more informidable in the winter months, although the palms get protection in that specific case. An amazing post by the way.

Edited December 29, 2013 by Sabal Steve

[_Keith]

  On 12/28/2013 at 7:36 AM, Sabal Steve said:

I suspect that you're both right, but, before i concede, this is what I found regarding temps -

http://www.weather.com/weather/wxclimatology/monthly/graph/80544

In retrospect, I used "temperate" in a relative sense - I'm from Chicago, which, believe it or not, is much more hostile of a climate... I see average lows around 11F with very little rain in the winter months in Denver (Niwot).

I completely retract what I said. Go for it and have fun. I was just being a fud.

[Richard Booth]

I think it is definitely worth a go because their winters are so dry. 5F and soggy ground would be a totally different proposition..

[Xerarch]

I've seen Trachy's in Salt lake with 10 feet of trunk, unprotected in winters, so you never know, I say try it out. I think SLC doesn't average quite as cold in winter as Denver though, there is some moderation from the Great Salt Lake plus more protection from mountains, Denver is pretty much built on the Great Plains and is wide open in all direction but west.

[displaced_floridian]

This December Denver had 6 nights in a row with subzero

Temps, with the lowest being -15. There are usually several

nights each winter with lows in the minus 10 to 20 range. I don't

know of any palm that can take this w/o protection.