Great thread, I love out-of-zone plantings! Can a windmill palm really be grown in zone 3 or 4, even with generous winter protection? That would be great, but is seems way out of zone here in the Cdn prairies. I checked out the website, and I've seen them growing on the west coast of Canada (pic included below), but that's a very mild climate, like zone 8 or thereabouts. Catalpa seem reasonably hardy for prairie gardeners looking to test the limits. I've got a small one (two feet high and several years old) growing in my increasingly shady back garden here in Edmonton. It's still very small and is sheltered from winter winds by a nearby fence, but it doesn't seem to have suffered much winterkill during the past couple of winters (but they weren't harsh winters). Ginkos are great... I had a small one but it didn't make it past it's first year in Edmonton's suburbs, yet I know of one on the University grounds downtown that has survived at least 10 years. Actually, I haven't seen that tree in about 10 years, so I really need to locate it again and see if it is still doing okay. I used to also watch a ginko growing in Drumheller, Alberta, near the Red Deer River (pic included below) -- last I saw it was small but healthy, but I haven't checked it out for the past decade so I really need to take another look. My sugar maple is about 12 feet high, growing more as a bush than a tree. It is maybe 10-12 years old, and has a fairly thick trunk. It can winterkill quite severely, but has been doing pretty well the past 5 years or more. I have a butternut tree roughly 12-15 feet tall, at least 10 years old, and it has produced nuts for the past several years. My grapes (Valiant) produced heavily this fall, and the wine from them is now bottled. Pears (Ure) are usually ignored when they ripen, but they are tasty and the tree has been growing vigorously for 15 years. Magnolia and Northern lights azalea survived several winters but seemed to get increasingly smaller each year, eventually discarded. Forsythia did great in a mild winter, but crappy otherwise, and were a pain to chop out, including all the sucker-plants. Well, that's all my info on out-of-zone plants. If I can actually grow palms here in zone 3, please let me know! Ginko growing in Drumeller, Alberta - 5 to 6 feet tall, healthy but with some winterkill of top branches Windmill palm growing in a garden on the Sunshine Coast, north of Vancouver, British Columbia.

I have a coconut palm in a pot that I've had for about 3 years now. It stays in my bedroom during the winter next to a south facing window so it gets plenty of sun. I had 2 before that. The first died after I tried to winter it in my garage. Too cold and dark. The second one died the next winter in my greenhouse. Plenty of sun but still too cold. The heater doesn't come on until it dips to 40. Humidity has never been an issue with them. It's always been temperature. They do NOT like prolonged cold. Mine stays on my deck in partial shade all summer long here in North Central TX. Even after this last record dry, hot one. It's looking great and is about 7ft tall including the pot. -Stacy

Looks like a Marah.

I have a grafted Fukushu a few months now, and it seems a moderate but steady grower. I like its form and appears easy to care for. The fruit, never had one but I have a few coming so we'll see. But from a container perspective, it looks like a winner since they don't take up much room and are "pretty". I too have had grafting issues, gotta try again, I'm a rooter....I shove crap in the ground and pots and most times they take....grafting - I go pear to pear and apple to apple and they don't take