Northernmost palms—Williamsburg, VA?

[SP the Don]

Found these first ones growing at William and Mary while exploring with my nephew. The other, I discovered behind the office of a landscaping company. Both appear to have survived a few winters!

[SeanK]

Nice find. Looks like someone got tired after skinning the first Trachy.

[Alex Zone 5]

The second picture...just wow🌴🌴

It's definitely enjoying it's spot.

[Drew N Carolina]

Nice find! Beautiful palms. I believe Rehoboth Beach Delaware has trachycarpus fortunei growing which have been there for sometime.

[Peakster]

There is also a huge tall Windmill Palm on the back side of the Griffin Hotel in Colonial Williamsburg -- it must be 30 feet tall. 

[pillred]

On 9/2/2024 at 7:14 PM, SP the Don said:

Found these first ones growing at William and Mary while exploring with my nephew. The other, I discovered behind the office of a landscaping company. Both appear to have survived a few winters!

Northernmost? Not even close, I live in Somerset in the Southwest of England at latitude 51.28 North and I have a 20-foot specimen in my front garden that is thriving. these palms are incredibly hardy, not that I live in a cold area I think we only had maybe half a dozen frosts last winter, quite a lot of plants and trees grow in SW England that would never survive in other countries at this latitude.

[NC_Palms]

There’s a good amount palms surprisingly in Williamsburg. I haven’t explored too much of the area, but I saw a few really healthy S. minor and windmills. Busch Gardens does a good job with planting palms. 

 

I wouldn’t consider these to be the northernmost windmills on the east coast by far, as there’s many in NoVa and into Maryland as well. 

[VA Jeff]

Merrill Wilcox donated a trachy to some institute on the Western Chesapeake in Maryland.  I saw it maybe 20 years ago.  It was good sized then, even after worse winters than anything recent.  I think it may have been in Solomons, MD.  

 

Trachies are hardier than you realize.  Especially near brick walls or water.

[WSimpson]

Great looking palms . What variety of Sabal is that in the second picture ? I'm  positive  it isn't  a Birmy , or Palmetto ,  and I think it is growing  too fast to be   a Minor or  Louisiana ( unless it's been there a long time )  . There are a lot of other varieties of Sabals  so hopefully someone will have a better feel as to what Sabal it is . 

Will

[Alex High]

20 hours ago, VA Jeff said:

Merrill Wilcox donated a trachy to some institute on the Western Chesapeake in Maryland.  I saw it maybe 20 years ago.  It was good sized then, even after worse winters than anything recent.  I think it may have been in Solomons, MD.  

 

Trachies are hardier than you realize.  Especially near brick walls or water.

That palm got massive but sadly died, I think in the 2014 polar vortex. I am from Maryland just north of Washington D.C. and there are quite a few Trachys around the metro area, despite them being marginal here, and a number of Sabal minor and needles too. Here's the biggest one I know of, this one is a beast, there are a few like this one that are decades old and have survived the polar vortexes over the years with no protection. There are a couple smaller Trachys in the Philly area that are unprotected and a few in the NYC area, that's really the northernmost limit on the East Coast for them. I have tons of other videos of D.C. area Trachys and other hardy palms on my YouTube channel, Palm Planet. IMO the northernmost place palms are really "common" on the East Coast as in planted on many streets is the Virginia Beach area and they're actually quite common in Cape Charles, Virginia on the Eastern Shore, and they become less common in each of the metro areas north of there, but there are still people growing palms unprotected in places like D.C., Philly, NYC, Pittsburgh, and Cincinnati, myself included (in Maryland). Williamsburg or somewhere on the Eastern Shore is, I believe, the northernmost place that windmill palms are bulletproof as there are many mature specimens (maybe Richmond too).