Livistona Chinensis die back attempt

[newtopalmsMD]

Last winter I left several Chinese Fan Palms in the ground over winter to see if they would return in the spring.   For the small plants I used a 1 gallon big box store Chinese fan palms with five plants.   I split them three and two.  I put a small pile of oak leaves over the center of the palms but left the leaves exposed to be killed by the cold.  Here in zone 7a Derwood MD the second frost pretty much killed all of the exposed foliage (as expected).  Today I removed the oak leaves from one of the two small group of plants and found what's in the first picture below.  First I was surprised to see the frond petioles that were covered by leaves were still green.  Each of three plants produced a spear.  The one at the very top of the picture appears dead but does not pull out.  The other two (one directly below the dead one and the other, reverse L shaped, to the right) are both green.  So I am quite encouraged by this result.  I have not checked the other plants yet, as we have one more below freezing night predicted this week.

I also planted a couple of much larger plants using the same idea.  The second picture shows, just to the left of the blue dune grass, a potion of a leaf that was covered by a few leaves and remained green all winter.  This gives me the idea of burying the entire plant in a large pile of leaves next year to see if some of the plant will survive.  (BTW, I highly recommend the blue dune grass as a companion plant to palm trees, bought a t eh orange big box store)   

[mdsonofthesouth]

I did this for a few years, but sadly by the time they grew a decent crown it was September or nearly September. So really only got 3 or 4 months of it looking good per year.

Here is late March:

Here is late April early May:

Here is late July early August. At this point it takes off pretty well but just in time to be fried. They turned out to be trunk hardy to about 6 to 10 inches and I'm in Mount Airy. They are gone now (Removed not dead) as I wanted something that would keep its crown year round. Really beautiful palm but not a fan of the perennial aspect.

[newtopalmsMD]

Thanks,

I was hoping for a little more growth earlier on.  I was thinking of these essentially as hastas.  just a little ground level foliage.  This is a bit disappointing.  Also, I looked at the large plants that I planted and one of the two developed spear pull.  I had not thought about this since I was thinking of this as a die back.  I applied some copper fungicide and we will see if the plant survives. 

[mdsonofthesouth]

Yeah it is definitely doable here, but it's a later perennial for sure. Mine may have done better in a different place, but I'll never know as I probably won't try it again. Maybe when I have everything else I want planted I'll try one and see. But for now I'm only working on sabal minor, rhapidophyllum and trachycarpus...as well as trunking yucca. Things I know with little to no help will survive year round.

 

But I'd say give it a shot! Mine looked good well into December if not slightly January depending on the weather. Teens are what start to kill the fronds for me and that's a January temp for sure!

Edited April 15, 2020 by mdsonofthesouth