There are thousands of species of palm trees. They are considered to be tropical in nature, but most people don’t know that cold hardy palms can be planted outside without any visible damage from temperatures as low as -20 ° F. You can see this as far north as Canada and Switzerland. .

Palm trees, like bananas, give your home and garden that tropical look, usually found around swimming pools and family recreational areas. Once established, palm trees are relatively maintenance-free and are not significantly disturbed by insects and disease.

There are two basic types of palm trees and we will tell you about the northern and southern palm trees.

Cold palms (northern palms)

Afghanistan Palm Tree – Pakistan Palm Tree and Mazari Palm Tree – This palm may be the world’s most cold-resistant, according to licensed practitioners on the subject of Palms. Its fruit is also edible and very popular to eat in that impoverished nation. The tree grows very slowly and thrives in desert conditions.

Dwarf Palmetto or Sabal minor: Blue Palmetto is widely distributed throughout the southeastern United States and grows to about 6 feet. high in shady places. This palm tree is very difficult to transplant from nature.

Needle Palm: Rhapidophyllum hystrix is ​​a needle palm, which are the most frost-resistant palms on earth that survive a -20 ° F climate with little damage.

Saw Palmetto or Serenoa Repens – The Sassafras palm tree has been found to grow wild as far north as Virginia, Washington DC, and New Jersey, and is cold hardy down to -10 ° F.

Windmill Palm or Trachycarpus fortunel is known to be cold hardy for many years and has been growing in Switzerland for 100 years along Lake Lucerne.

Adapted palms (southern palms)

Cabbage Palm or Sabal Palmetto – Sabal Palm and Palmetto Palm is the state tree of South Carolina and Florida. It is popular as a landscaping tree in the southern states with excellent cold hardiness and transplant success. Sabal palms are tolerant to salt water.

Canary Island Date Palm – Phoenix canariensis or Majestic Palm. It is the most desirable palm tree to give a tropical air to the landscape. The trees grow to around 50 feet tall with leaves up to 20 feet long.

The Chinese fan palm is a slow-growing palm; forms very large leaves, which will give an adult tree a weeping appearance. This palm can withstand freezing temperatures and can grow inside patios. You can find this palm tree along the roads. This type of palm tree can grow up to 25 feet tall.

The date palm is the true date palm of North Africa. It has been widely planted in Arizona and California for the production of dates. Date palms work well in shopping mall landscaping.

Gum Palm is cold hardy to light frosts, but will freeze in climates below 20 ° F. The long leaves look like fern leaves, but the leaflets are bright green and stiff with sharp teeth.

European fan palm or European palm tree. It has a large crown of greenish-blue fan-shaped leaves. This palm is considered one of the most resistant to cold and grows outdoors. The plant can be relocated and will easily survive with a small transplant shock when moved, even during the summer months.

The pygmy date palm is a good potted plant for indoor pots. Small-scale, fine-leaved palm with a single trunk; grows slowly to about 5 feet.

The Washington Palm or Mexican Fan Palm has a tall, thin trunk, has a crown of large fan-shaped evergreen leaves, and can provide a very tropical appearance to the landscape.

The sago palm is a feather leaf palm found along the Atlantic coast beach and is 300 years old and 12 feet tall with worthy umbrella canopies.

Phoenix Sylvester Palm or Toddy Palm is very similar to the Canarian palm and the edible date palm.

Zamia pumila or Coontie Palm is known as the prehistoric plant, which dominated the earth 200 million years ago and grows 3 feet tall on separate male and female plants.

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