Hello all! I live in Cincinnati area and I have a great interest in hardy palms! I myself have planted needle palms and some sabal minor " McCurtain" in my own yard. I also have found some established needle palms planted in a restaurant parking lot. I spoke to the owner of the place and he said that they were planted in about 2009  and never receive winter protection. I am also aware that there is a needle palm that is growing back from the roots at Mt St Joseph University after being cut down by mistake last spring. It apparently was planted in the year 2000 and does not and has never received any special protective measures. I am also aware of some needle palms across the river in Boone county, Kentucky. I know that they are buried in leaves every year and they still appear to struggle much more than the unprotected specimens on the Ohio side of the river. It is probably a colder local microclimate. Attached are the sabal minor mc curtains, and needle palms in my yard, a sabal minor mc curtain seedling in my side yard exposed to all elements as of last December, and the established needle palms at a Cincinnati restaurant as of  late February of this year. Im curious, are there any other Cincinnati/ Northern Kentucky palm growers here?

Best of luck to you in Cincinnati! My Dad’s family is from there so I visit sometimes. Always thought it had to have a better chance with palms than where I lived in SE Wisconsin!

Thanks! There are some palms and other exotics "hidden" in plain slight here in Cincinnati, Louisville, and in the Ohio river valley. I hope to bring attention to them and encourage people wherever they are to try really test out the "conventional" gardening knowledge of their areas.

20 minutes ago, donofriojim1 said:

Thanks! There are some palms and other exotics "hidden" in plain slight here in Cincinnati, Louisville, and in the Ohio river valley. I hope to bring attention to them and encourage people wherever they are to try really test out the "conventional" gardening knowledge of their areas.

Funny you mention this.. and quite ironic actually, lol. 

Wasn't until i'd lived there that i really dove head first into tropicals, Plumeria especially.  First more " exotic " palm, ( outside of whats common back where i grew up in CA ), i came across was a large Bismarckia Burger Farm/ Gardens had on display/ for sale at their nursery.. I'd make a week long trip to Florida that next summer, and overwinter Plumeria i brought back in the apartment i was in that next winter..  Still have one remaining seedling i'd raised from one of those plants ( Had a developing pod attached when i bought it in FL. ).

At the same time, the daughter of someone i'd worked for was getting interested in tropicals that might be hardy enough to grow there. He'd always ask me about various things she was looking up, when not in one of his moods, lol..  ...so yes, don't doubt there's interest in "pushing the envelope" Even in southern Ohio/ Kentucky.. Good luck, and look forward to seeing what you find..

On 4/20/2020 at 9:24 PM, donofriojim1 said:

Hello all! I live in Cincinnati area and I have a great interest in hardy palms! I myself have planted needle palms and some sabal minor " McCurtain" in my own yard. I also have found some established needle palms planted in a restaurant parking lot. I spoke to the owner of the place and he said that they were planted in about 2009  and never receive winter protection. I am also aware that there is a needle palm that is growing back from the roots at Mt St Joseph University after being cut down by mistake last spring. It apparently was planted in the year 2000 and does not and has never received any special protective measures. I am also aware of some needle palms across the river in Boone county, Kentucky. I know that they are buried in leaves every year and they still appear to struggle much more than the unprotected specimens on the Ohio side of the river. It is probably a colder local microclimate. Attached are the sabal minor mc curtains, and needle palms in my yard, a sabal minor mc curtain seedling in my side yard exposed to all elements as of last December, and the established needle palms at a Cincinnati restaurant as of  late February of this year. Im curious, are there any other Cincinnati/ Northern Kentucky palm growers here?

Awesome, my Dad is from Cincinnati so I visit frequently, awesome city! Love seeing cold-hardy palms being tried there. I live in the D.C. area and more people are planting cold-hardy palms here as well. I was wondering which restaurant those needle palms are located at that you mentioned. Since I visit Cincy frequently I would love to stop and see them next time I am there.

I also saw this Wikipedia article on Fort Thomas, Kentucky, in the Cincinnati area. It mentions that there are needle palms as well as other subtropical plants growing in Fort Thomas due to the micro-climates found there. Do you know of any needle palms in Fort Thomas? Thanks and take care!

11 hours ago, PalmsUSA said:

Awesome, my Dad is from Cincinnati so I visit frequently, awesome city! Love seeing cold-hardy palms being tried there. I live in the D.C. area and more people are planting cold-hardy palms here as well. I was wondering which restaurant those needle palms are located at that you mentioned. Since I visit Cincy frequently I would love to stop and see them next time I am there.

I also saw this Wikipedia article on Fort Thomas, Kentucky, in the Cincinnati area. It mentions that there are needle palms as well as other subtropical plants growing in Fort Thomas due to the micro-climates found there. Do you know of any needle palms in Fort Thomas? Thanks and take care!

I do know of others! The restaurant was called cabanas on the river. They actually dug up their needles but I managed to salvage one and its happily growing in my front yard. I know of one grower in Florence that has needle palms in his yard.  There are also some at the Boone County arboretum.  There is another at the University of Mount Saint Joseph just outside of Cincinnati that has been outside of the library for 20 years. It was accidentally cut down last year but its growing back with a vengeance. Check out my other Cincinnati palms entries for more pics of palms in this area.

Somerset, a new-ish bar in Cincinnati in the OTR district has a large open walled outdoor area with all sorts of very large needle palm plants. There are some other types of palms growing there that I do not know the names of.  https://photos.app.goo.gl/yHps84ovtk78TSa49

2 hours ago, Christopher Shepard said:

Somerset, a new-ish bar in Cincinnati in the OTR district has a large open walled outdoor area with all sorts of very large needle palm plants. There are some other types of palms growing there that I do not know the names of.  https://photos.app.goo.gl/yHps84ovtk78TSa49

It is a somewhat protected courtyard with Trachycarpus, Needle palms and Sabal minor.  All unprotected it hit 4F or lower and the minor and needles did well and the Trachycarpus took varying degrees of death/damage to a few alive.    They were all planted in recent years/last year?   There is a youtube video of them

As of this spring the Needle Palm at the library is still alive and for it being cut down a few years back it grew fast!