Why not have grown in it a pot for 1 or two winters. A larger plant would have a better chance of making it through the winter.

Yeah your right,but I bought from a guy whose folks live in Albuquerque New Mexico,as a seedling,and he said as a seedling it withstood -4f.so I thought if it could do that without protection,lets see what it will do with some protection,now I know!!!LOL
Live and lean,but if it makes a comeback it will be a good hardy one!

Looks like you still have lots of green. Just keep it covered i think it will suprise you.

Tophers got the right idea. I'm experimenting with a cheap little livistona chinensis in the ground. I left it exposed until it looked pretty bad cut the fronds covered it with mulch and covered the whole thing with a white translucent plastic container. I was just going to throw it away so I thought why not have a little fun. I don't have the book but Palms Won't Grow Here and Other Myths online says it can be used as a die back perennial as low as zone 5. So mulch like there's no tomorrow and keep it covered and dry dry dry. Good luck.

Green fronds don't mean live fronds. We had a freeze last january with temps in the low 20s for about a week. two six foot robustas i had stayed green during the whole week, but it was obvious they were dead. The color was preserved kind of like the color is preserved in the dry leaf and twig arrangement for indoor decorations.

the guy who sold it to you lied if he said -4f. even the hardiest trachycarpus fortunei can only withstand to 5 degrees farenheit. -4 celcius (25 f) sounds more reasonable, but not farenheit. Apperantly, w. filferia can withstand 10 degrees F, but as an adult, not a seedling.

I'm afraid Central Cali's right. Those fronds look fried to me. there's a difference in the shade of green between fried and alive. I have a Chinesis in my garage in a pot that's the same way, almost like it was put in a dehydrator. Fronds are still green, but leaves are dead and crispy.

I wouldn't give up hope though. It might come back. i think your best chances are getting some dry mulch and covering the whole thing, especially the trunk, and then covering the whole thing with a tarp to keep it dry. It might surprise you. It'll take a while for the fronds to brown, but they will.

A parent plant may be able to survive -4 and make a recovery if in a really dry region, but would struggle to come back from a low like that, with total defoliation right down to the trunk of course. Trachys would reliably come back from -4, but unless you had some really hardy cultivar like a wagnerianus or takil, they'd probably fry too, at least a large percentage of leaf burn.

Maybe there was snow covering the seedlings when those low temps hit. Supposedly under a layer of snow, the temp can be something like 20 degrees warmer because of the insulation provided. Besides, unless you're into protecting palms, most people would not consider snow as a form of protection.

Good luck though, hopefully it will pull through. If it does, you can dig it up in the spring, pot it, and that could help it grow faster and help it to recover, because being potted would raise the soil temp. Just make sure not to overwater.

I'm using on this palm and a few washy robustas,those thick plastic 5 gallon jugs that drinking water comes in,I cut the bottoms off,and just slip it over the palm,then run a bamboo stick down thru the opening into the ground,so as to keep it from blowing away.
Then I cover it with a old trow rug or blanket,when days are warm I just slip it off,real easy to keep on and off when the temps are nice,if still cool but sunny,I can lift it up a few inches,for nice air flow,but the lid is always off hot air to escape.