Hard Freeze: Queen Palm, Syagrus romanzoffiana

Have to love these graphics from the National Weather Service. The royal blue indicates a hard freeze. Our current forecast is for 23 F. tonight.

There is not much strategy for saving most vegetation at 23 degrees. I'm flooding the gardens and later will cover what I can. Most important to me are the 3-year-old queen palms which are still delicate. . . but should be hardy to 20 degrees F.

In theory wet ground is warmer. . .and cloth covers offer some protection if they stay on. Clothespins help to pin blankets to plants.

As we are now experiencing our 20th day of cold since Halloween, more and more plants are succumbing to the cold and I'm covering less. We will start anew when temperatures are warmer. Climatologically speaking, we have only about 3 more weeks of winter at this latitude. Some information about cold hardy palm species below.

Cold Hardy Palm Trees species and cold tolerance threshold:

True Date Palm Trees (Phoenix dactylifera) - (Date Palms are cold hardy to 18 degrees)
Canary Island Date Palm Trees (Phoenix canariensis) - (Canary Island Palms are cold hardy to 15 - 18 degrees)
Texas Sabal Palm Trees (Sabal mexicana) - (Texas Sabal Palms are cold hardy to 16 - 18 degrees)
Mediterranean Fan Palms (Chamaerops humilis) - (Mediterranean Fan Palms are cold hardy to 5 - 15 degrees)
California Fan Palm Trees (Washingtonia filifera) - (California Fan Palms are cold hardy to 15 degrees)
Windmill Palm Trees (Trachycarpus fortunei)- (Windmill Palms are cold hardy to 5 degrees)
Pindo Palm Trees (Butia capitata) - (Pindo Palms are cold hardy to 12 - 15 degrees)
Sago Palms (Cycas revoluta) - (Sago Palms are cold hardy to 20 degrees)
Mexican Fan Palm Trees (Washingtonia robusta) - (Mexican Fan Palms are cold hardy to 18 degrees)
Queen Palm Trees (Syagrus romanzoffiana) - (Queen Palms are cold hardy to 20 degrees)

Sun Palm Trees offers a great portal for much information on the tolerance of palms to periodic cold: http://www.sunpalmtrees.com