Ive heard of Hayes Stiff, I think its a mix between a waggie and fortunei. Not sure if its a good price though. it is suppose to have good cold tolerance (I doubt it is more cold tolerant than a regular windmill palm, but it is probably more tolerant of wind).

Good luck!

I just found another site that sells 1 gallos for 25 dollars.They say its more cold hardy than a regular windmill.It might work good for me because my whole yard is in full sun,and no protection from wind.I just dont like the droopy look of the fronds on the Trachycarpus Fortunei(I have two).A lady down the street from me has two thats about 20ft tall and they dont look so good.Mabey its because of our summer heat?I was looking for a Trachycarpus that takes our winters and our hot and humid summer better,any sugestions?

You can get a regular windmill palm and keep it in shade. They look great in shade and handle heat really well too. I saw some windmill palms in central florida in the shade and it had no heat burn and looked really nice. The only downside is the leaves are longer and therefore cant handle wind and snow load as well, but the cold tolerance shouldnt be any different between a windmill palm in the shade vs. one in the sun, but shaded areas are colder.

Good luck!

Thanks,but I have no shade in my yard.There are no oaks are pines are any kind of shade trees.I have one little spot behind my carport,but its barley big enough for a 3ft wide by 8ft long bed of ferns.I looked into a sabal Louisiana.Some web sites say they form a 6ft trunk but others say in 10 to 15ysr they form a 1 to 2 ft pineapple looking trunk.I wish I knew someone going to Garys Nursery in NC.I would pay them extra for his 3 gallon sabal birmingham,he sells them for 30 dollar and there big 3 gallon plants .Im looking for a cold hardy trunking palm that I wont have to do alot to it but mulch in our wet winters,and It can handle our hot humid summers too,and look good,any sugestions?

Since you already have Trachycarpus and are not crazy about them, I would try something else entirely. Sabal louisiana and texana both grow relatively quickly for Sabals. If you improve drainage (especially in a raised area) you could try Chamaerops humilis (Mediterranean fans)--which have good sun and drought tolerance but are less liking of high summer humidity. Also, will Butias survive in your area?? PS. I have some my Windmills in full summer sun, some in the partial sun and I don't notice much difference--maybe somewhat greener on the one in part sun (but these all get wind protection by the nearby house).

Maybe you should look into a musa basjoo banana. They are tropical looking, grow up to 14 feet tall within about 5 years and only need mulch in a zone 7 (or wrapping the stalks so it doesnt die back as much. One frost will brown the leaves, and then you just cut the stalks back to about 3 or 4 feet and protect it. When it becomes a large clump (in about 5 years) you can just let it die, and a the dead leaves will act to keep the plant protected. They are very tropical looking, and although they arent palms they do fit your needs perfectly.

Medditeranean fan palms are a great option, but dont like any winter moisture in cold climates. It can probably handle the heat and humidity well because they grow all over the gulf coast (way down into florida) which is more humid and hotter than you. Sabals are good, and washingtonias are too, but washingtonias will need more protection, and smaller trunking sabals can take a lifetime to get to a good height. There are plenty of marginally hardy palms that may survive with protection, but they will need alot more than mulch.

Good luck!

I think it is way over priced for a 24 oz or even a one gallon. Have you tried any hardy cactus or yuccas?
I think you should experiment with some mexican fan palm and for a regular windmill palm I found this website that sells any 3 gallon for 29.99 and any 7 gallon for 39.99. There price for a big mexican fan palm for 75 dollars 15 gallons.

The website is
http://buyplants.webs.com/
(I never bought from them though)

I attached it in the link

Here is a link that might be useful: http://buyplants.webs.com/

Hey Douglas neighbor, I have about 10 windmills all over my lawn in direct sun and they always look great, I bought a musa
basjoo banana at pikes last month.
I'm in Marietta.

{{gwi:1115292}}

oops, needle

will plant this in spring:

Here are pics of a couple of trachys I grew from seed from a stiff trachy in Durham, N.C. The first one is shaded in summer by a sweetgum. The second is in sun. Both are stiff and tolerate snow and ice well.

This is the trachy from which I collected seed.

For contrast, here's a trachy grown from commercial seed.
{{gwi:1058917}}

Thanks for the advise everyone.I love the look of bananas. I have 5 big clumps of musa basjoos in my front yard in a bed by the road.I probley had 20 people stop here last summer and ask me are those banana trees?They will be 3yrs old this summer.I have 7 pindo palms,1 Ive had for 10yrs,3 I planted last year,I bought them as 3 gallons,3 I plan on planting this spring there also 3 gallon size.I have 3 medditeranean fan palms,2 blue's and 1 green version.I only planted 1 blue version,because there suppost to be more cold hardy.I am testing the blue version to see If it survives its also a 3 gallon size.I wanted to test it before I plant the two 15 gallon size I have,one blue and one green.It's doing better than I exspected,but very slow growing,the green seems to be growing faster.I looked into sabal louisiana's,but they dont form a real trunk,from what I found.Its funny I was just looking up sabal texana not 15 minutes ago.Nearly Native Nursery says its a good palm for here but Dave's Garden says its only rated to zone 8b.Which is true?The problem with alot of these nurserys are they say a palm can take it to say 5*,but what they dont say is they can only take that kind of temp.for a very short time and in a dry cold.Dont take me the wrong way but if you do alot of research(like me) you can get all kind of diffrent info. from just a few nursery's.Location plays alot in if a palm will not only survive but thrive.Zone 7b in a dry climate like north Texas is alot diffrent than zone 7b in north Georgia.I'm sorry for ranting,but it can give a person a headache trying to find out good info.You cant tell If these nursery's are telling the truth or do they just wont to sell more plants.I was just trying to find another trunking palm that will live here without having to go to great exspence to give it extra protection in winter.That's why I was looking into diffrent kinds of Trachycarpus palms,alot of people here grow Trachycarpus Fortunei without no more protection than just mulch.I just wanted to find more kinds of palms I could grow.Thanks everyone for your info.

Butiaman,

The best Trachies I've seen are from the Anderson, SC area.
We have a bunch in our neighborhood in Larwenceville.

Are you going to Charlotte next month?

I forgot about the 4 mule palms I have,during my ranting.I checked out the link you posted Statenislandpalm.They have good prices on some of there palms.I can buy all the 3 gallon pindos I wont from a guy I know for $12 dollars each.He sells the Trachycarpus Fortunei 3 gallon for the same price.He's a friend of mine.He goes down to florida every week and brings back a box trailer and truck bed full of palms.He has tried to find diffrent kinds of palms for me like(Trachycarpus Stiffie)with no luck.Iv'e got 25 sabal palmetto seeds Im germinating now,but It will be several years before I can plant them out in the yard.My friend can get pindo palms and Trachycarpus Fortunei easy,and cheap.He tried at 10 nurserys to find me a sabal birmingham,in florida with no luck.You would think that I could find a sabal birmingham easy,since Its not that far from me to Birmingham Alabama.Well I found someone that sells them in south Alabama,but he wants $33 dollars for a small 2 gallon plant.You would think that they would be cheaper here than in NC.If you have read the story on this palm,the frist plant was grown by a woman in birmingham,Ala.It dont make any since to me.

Do you know a nursery that sells diffrent kinds of Trachycarpus palms?Mabey even sabal palmetto or sabal birminghams.

Hello gatraffic,Those are some nice looking palms.How do they look since this past hard cold,and now wet cold.I'll be honest,mine dont look that good.Mine have a light green color and are more droopy looking.I gave them epsom salt,the new growth looks a little greener but not much.What size was those when you bought them?I dident know how many locals were on here,its nice to know that I'm not the only one from metro Atlanta :)

I have a couple of small Hayes (stiffies)are they hardier than Fortunei?
Doubtful.
Wag x fortunei-
Probably a matter of taste.
I like them for the slightly more compact form than Fortunei and possibly better wind tolerance.
Any Trachys crossed with a Waggie is a winner in my book-(-:

Here's a pic of one of my small H.stiffies-they took a major hit this winter.

Mr. Butiaman:

I've purchased these over the last 4 years at Pikes, Home Depot and Lowes from 3 to 7 gallons. They look OK for the winter and I don't not do anything in terms of protection at all. My 2 smaller needles look a little tattered but I'm sure they'll be OK. I used to get spear pull on all of them every year and just pulled out the spear and doused with 50-50 solution of you know what in the brown plastic bottle.

I usually wait till end of season give-away sales at Home Depot or Lowes to purchase. Most of regular GA vegetation is gone now, less maintenance with the tropical look.

I also planted 2 pampas grass in the front of my house and have a couple adams needle yucas around the mailbox.

I did the same thing with my two 15 gallon Medditeranean fan palms,I got them for $8 dollars each from Lowes.gatraffic what kind of fertilizer do you use on your palms?I allways wanted to know what mixture rate you give peroxide to a palm with spear pull,so its 50/50?Peroxide is what you were trying to think of.Do you give your palms epson salt?Why I was wandering about what type of fertilizer you use is because nobody in Douglas County sells palm fertilizer.I had to order palm spikes from New York,at tree help.com,you would think all these places here that sell cold hardy palms would sell a palm fertilizer.I'm going to see if I can special order some Trachycarpus(stiffie) and couple of sabal birminghams,from lowes or home depot.

The thing I dislike about trachys is when they get older the trunk is bigger at the top than at the bottom, kinda upside down looking. And down here full sun tends to make them look scorched with thin crowns. They look okay when they are younger, but when they get up to about 20ft they start looking awful.

Thats the same thing I was trying to say,from what I've seen around here.They look good as small plants,even up to 10ft.All the one's around thats full grown look rough looking.I think its from the summer heat.I allways wondered why the trunk gets bigger at the top too.It's hard to find a palm that will take our wet,cold winters and be able to take our hot humid summers,and still look good.The sabal palmetto's look the same way,they look good up untill they get 20ft or so.

Has anyone found a nursery around here that sells Trachycarpus(hayes stiffie)palms.I would like to find a nursery that has more deversity on the Trachycarpus palms.I still am looking for a Sabal Birmingham or diffrent kinds of Sabal palms for sale at reasonable prices.So far Iv'e had no luck.Is there anybody going to NC.next month?I would pay for half the gas,if someone is going,that lives close to me or going through atlanta on the way,please let me know.jimhardy,where did you say you got your plants from?

The windmills I see do fine in the sun all the way from NC to NY. They probably can survive shade well I guess, however the ones I see do not burn in the sun?

They might look fine in NC.I dont know how hot it gets there,Im sure it gets hot,cause some of NC.is a zone warmer than here.The problem with our summers(use to be) is it gets so hot and humid,you can walk outside and just stand in the shade for 30 minutes and you will be soaking wet.You would look like you jumped in a swimming pool with all your cloths on.Iv'e noticed the last few years it hasent been like that,we have had cooler summers.I remember 10yrs ago when I framed houses for a living,the summer temps.was *95 every day from june through early to mid sept.Night time lows would be *80 to *85.I could walk out on my pourch at 10:00pm and it was so hot and humid, it was nasty.I dont know if its because were in a laninya wheather pattern or what.Now in mid summer we might hit *90 a couple times,but at night it will get down to *65 to *70.People I work with that moved here from up north in the last few years all say I thought this is suppost to be hot Atlanta.I tell them about how summers use to be,and they dont act like they believe me.There use to be lighting bugs everywhere at night,now you only see a few here and there.I tell them I know those hot humid days and nights will come back,just wait.We use to go to Daytonna Beach on vacation on the 4 of july,we would stay for a week or so.One year when we got back,this is no lie,all the tall candels in the house were bent over.That's how hot it got inside the house.It had been hotter here than in Daytonna Beach.No lie!!!