Thanks for the advice, I'm definitely going to pot them for the transport. I'll go buy containers if necessary. I've found those plastic storage bins you can get at the dollar store works real well for large planters. I do have a couple that are going to be tough. One Magnolia I put out last year is now over 8 ft tall. It's skinny but has really grown like crazy and one of my Bananas is as tall as the gutters on the house. Butterfly4u, thanks for the offer but I'm over in Lancaster county and going to Sumter county. I've also got a great guy who helps with the tilling and maintains my lawn for me. I've already told him to plan on spending a few days with me. Should I wait until things go more dormant in the fall? I'm thinking if the weather is cooler, that may be easier on the plants. And they are all going. The property is being sold for a commercial interest and after we have moved out, the house will be sold and moved off the property and it will be incorporated into their commercial plans.

Two things: I'm not an expert but based on your description: the opening that you left at the top (with some of the fronds sticking out) served as a catch for any water from rain. Gravity sent the water down the frond to the crown where it collected and with no air to keep it dry-fungus and bacteria formed to eat away at the crown and then downward. Ironically, given the size and your Trachy coupled with your mild winter, you probably would have not had any problems had you left it unprotected with only sprays and mulch. Two: when you bought the palm, was the connecting trunk exposed(above the dirt line)? I ask this because it is bad to raise the dirt line on any tree and I noticed that you can't see it in the pictures. As far as a remedy, Jim gave you the best advice to save the taller trunk. The only other thing I would do is spray the top of the new trunk with copper fungicide to make sure it is all killed. You can use my Beet/Banana formula to give it a nutrient rich boost which couldn't hurt. Hopefully the whole specimen can come back. Good question about cutting away the damaged trunk-I honestly have no idea. Logically speaking, it's not like they share a heart or any other vital organs so I don't why it can't be done. But again, that is an opinion and not based on expertise. Either way, I would hold off and see if you can save it as a whole first. Good Luck and I wish you Guys the best. This post was edited by Kokomo-JB on Mon, Apr 8, 13 at 10:42

Hi Wxman: Your Orinocco bananas look like they are slowly starting to sprout out. You might help them by temporarily pulling back that lighter-colored mulch and letting sunshine warm the dirt right around them. If you're Really Devoted, put the mulch back around them at night to help hold that warmth in! As for your palms, even the little guy that's so fried looks like he's got a good spear point starting out from the center. As with the bananas, I'd pull that mulch away in the day. And if those older leaf stems are dead, I'd cut them away and consider putting a little tomato cage or something around the plant itself. After all, you don't want someone to walk into it because they can't see the little bit that's left. But if you leave all those branches to just wrack in the wind, that can be hard on a little palm trying to get itself rooted into its new world. Best of luck; you are a devoted soul after my own heart, and I know only too well what it's like to struggle to grow plants from other zones! ~J.

I would not put them in the ground over the winter  bring them in & put them in a pot. The Washingtonia palm is easy to grow & can be kept in a pot a long time. Build or get a nice stand with rollers on it & place the potted plant on top of it so you can roll it around. Bananas do seem to do better in the ground. I know you are talking about cold hardy varieties, but maybe you could keep them in the ground over the summer & dig them up during the winter. You never know what the weather will be in your area because you are in the center of all those fronts. It can be very warm one day, freezing the next. I would be more concerned more about the wind chill factor rather than temperatures. That can be hard on tropicals. There are posts in which growers built a temporary outdoor greenhouse over their tropical & then heated it. That might work. If you have a massive snow with drifts, it needs to be sturdy enough to handle the drifts. Heating the soil with some form of heat tape might also help. If I were growing bananas in your area, I would put them in the ground over the spring/summer & bring them in the winter. You can not dig them up when the ground is frozen, & you never know what kind of winter you are going to have. The weather is too unpredictable. The palms I would keep in a pot. Most of the palms I have dug up - unless they are seedlings just do not take.