Queen palm in Wilmington, NC...

[The Fronz]

This is the 5th winter in the ground.  The " Love Palm" (there's a story there) was purchased as a juvenile at a Home Depot in 2012. It has lived in two apartments, a town house, an office, briefly in a storage unit and in a garage before putting down roots five years ago. On nights below 29 or so it gets the Christmas lights and blankets treatment. Last winter we had snow on the ground for about three days and since the fronds are now way up there and too high for my ladder,  I was unable to protect them. It experienced about 80% defoliation. But here we are in November and looking pretty good. The Washingtonia next to it was two feet tall five years ago. I can't protect it because it's so covered with thorns that any fabric would come off in shreds but it's been fine against that south facing wall.

[palmofmyhand]

Beautiful palms, I hope my Washingtonias in Augusta, GA turn out to be as great as the one you’ve got. Wishing you well for this cold season. Glad to see your queen is doing well also, I considered a mule palm for here but they are hard to find and expensive but also cold hardier than pure queens.

[Fusca]

@The Fronz, your queen palm has been through a lot!  Since it's well established it should be fine unprotected down to the low 20's without much if any damage.  How cold did it get for 80% damage and did you still wrap the trunk?  It's looking pretty good!  😊 

[The Fronz]

Last Jan it went down to 18 degrees with several more nights if 21-23 degrees, hence the burning. I always had the trunk wrapped with canvas painters tarps over Christmas lights when that kind of cold was in the forcast. We're only 3 miles from the ocean but when the weather is coming out of the northwest we may as well be 100 miles from its thermal mass.

[ChrisA]

Very impressive! I’ve struggled with Queen palms here in San Antonio and have given up on them.  We keep getting too cold so the palms die before they get enough size on them to survive.  21F was enough to kill my 5 gallon size Queen last winter. No damage on the fronds but the bud killed outright. A neighbor up the street has just planted 4 Queens about a month ago. We’ll see how they do.

Your Washingtonia looks very robusta-leaning! What a fast grower to reach that height in 5 years!

Hoping for a gentle winter for all of us in the south. 

[Zone7Bpalmguy]

On 11/18/2025 at 2:30 PM, The Fronz said:

This is the 5th winter in the ground.  The " Love Palm" (there's a story there) was purchased as a juvenile at a Home Depot in 2012. It has lived in two apartments, a town house, an office, briefly in a storage unit and in a garage before putting down roots five years ago. On nights below 29 or so it gets the Christmas lights and blankets treatment. Last winter we had snow on the ground for about three days and since the fronds are now way up there and too high for my ladder,  I was unable to protect them. It experienced about 80% defoliation. But here we are in November and looking pretty good. The Washingtonia next to it was two feet tall five years ago. I can't protect it because it's so covered with thorns that any fabric would come off in shreds but it's been fine against that south facing wall.

Looks great! I would love to visit the Wilmington area one day. Have you ever done a thread (or plan to do one) on some great palms/live oaks of that area? 

[MrTropical]

19 minutes ago, Zone7Bpalmguy said:

Looks great! I would love to visit the Wilmington area one day. Have you ever done a thread (or plan to do one) on some great palms/live oaks of that area? 

There's a thread on palms across NC & SC. Many of the palms posted are 1-2 hours from Wilmington.