Way to go islb very cool!!!now wait a second here cuz it looks to me like you,ve also got...lets see an agave? a yucca, possibly aloifolia and maybe some other little palm guys there! how about some (closeup) mugshots of all your little critters too.

I actually think the hay bales are very attractive compared to many of the protection methods I've seen.

For a more "tropical" effect, try planting some Mimosa trees or Magnolia grandiflora. Spruces and other evergreens are beautiful but something just ain't right with the stark contrast against tropical foliage.

I also think that if you placed a few pumpkins on the hay, nobody would think anything of it. It would just be the fall/ winter decor.

Looks quite practical, I've though about hay before but not bails and making walls out of them.

Thanks Jimhardy- Good guess, and yes, it is a yucca aloifolia. I have a feeling it will need to be cut down to the ground this spring and be left to resprout from the roots. The snow crushed all of the leaves, and it got bud rot, so the spear pulled. Its in bad shape, but I'm sure it will come back from the roots. I think we've just had way too much snow for it this winter. It is still green though. I also have 2 sabal minors planted on either side of the photos, a small needle palm in the middle, a 3 1/2 foot trachy, and the hay bales are protecting a 6 foot sabal minor (middle) and on either side are large needle palms, one about 3 feet, and the other about 5 feet.

Bradleyo- Thank you for your encouragement. I actually don't think they're that unattractive either, but my family has told me that they're eyesores. I guess palm growers have a different perspective on things.

Xerophyte- I do actually have a Magnolia Grandiflora planted further back in the yard. It's small, but i'm hoping it gets large enough to block out the neighbors you can see in the pic! LOL, But yes, i agree with you. We planted those when we first moved in 8 years ago, and I just started planting the hardy tropicals in my yard 2 years ago. I have several bamboo and a lot of grasses and yuccas to try to blend the look. It does look much more natural and full in the summer when everything's in bloom. I also thought of the pumpkins, but we have such a terrible deer and squirrel problem here, that I really don't think they'd last very long out there. Squirrels love pumpkins. I'm not sure how they get their little mouths around them, but they do manage to ruin ours right before Halloween.

Andy- It actually is very practical. My needles looked the same a few weeks ago as they did before winter. They appeared to be untouched. I guess I'll see for sure in a couple more weeks. I hoped to have them uncovered by now, but with this crappy weather, it doesn't look like its going to happen just yet. I had to use the bales to make walls because my palms are too big to do the leaf cage thing. The structure in the middle stands about 7 feet high. That would be an enormous leaf cage LOL. And I figure clean-up is quicker this way too. Now I just have to figure out what to do with 30 bales of straw...

Here are a few close ups of the smaller stuff I have planted, including sabal minors, needle palm, yucca aloifolia, yucca gloriosa, and magnolia grandiflora.

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Simply amazing! You have a very nice yard and garden. I don't know how you guys get these tropical plants to survive where they shouldn't. I like the trail. That is what I want to do in my yard. I would love to see what it looks like in summer. Do you have any pics?

Great looking plants

Great pictures and ideas. I wish that I had zone 6 winters! My have no choice but to cover my palms with styrofoam boxes and use a couple of flourescent light bulbs for heat, but it has worked for 11 years and I have an eight foot Windmill palm, two 4-6 ft. Mediterranean Fan palms that bloom every year, and a younger 3 foot Pindo palm, as well as bananas. They still have 1-2 feet of snow around the boxes, so have not taken them off yet this Spring. I've included pictures in the past at his forum, but if you wish to see them, just let me now and I'll submit them again.

Are those windows on top of the bales to let the light in Island..Nice Pics of the Garden...

Jeff

Islb thanks for the baby photos! I got my fix! that sucks about your yucca I really hope it makes it!!!!Did you try covering it to keep out snow,rain etc?Every thing I've read about succulents always says dry,dry,dry like shut them down after first frost,can be tough though esp if first winter as far as knowing how much water to give- any way your plants all look awesome!very inspiring!!I tried growing an aloifolia when I was a kid that I brought back from Alabama (little smaller then yours -no roots out of an area with some 8-10 footers and planted in St.Louis I'd seen them as far north as Memphis and maybe at a gas station in stl)anyway the spear rotted pretty depressing,yours looks really healthy though I guess your seeing something we cant in that pic maybe an old pic,hope it makes it best of luck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you guys(and girls)!

Kitchenshock- I do what I can with what I have, if that makes sense LOL. I've seen pics of your yard, and that's like my dream yard(when I move to Florida or California of course). You can grow nearly any palm you want in ground. I hope to be able to do that some day. The trail is nice in the summer with all of the leaves on the trees and everything in full bloom. I think the previous owners had it tiled, but since we're on an island with a high water table, I think it cracked pretty easily due to the ground shifting, so they removed it and layed the pea gravel down instead. The key to getting these tropicals to survive here, for me anyway, is to pick the right plants. I don't have anything in the ground that is above zone 7, and I'm in a 6b, so its not a far stretch. They just need a little TLC and protection, and they recover pretty nicely.

Topher- Thank you for the kind words.

Arctictropical- Thank you. I wish I had zone 8 winters LOL! Then I could grow several species of palms unprotected. Yes, I did see your posting with those pics, and what you have going really is very impressive! I'd love to have your palms. I haven't removed any of my protection yet either. It has been too cold and wet here to do so. We've been running at least 8-10 degrees below normal here for quite some time, and just the other day, we got 10 inches of snow. 2 years ago, I was planting by March first, but this year, on March 6th, we're having January weather that doesn't seem to want to let up. Luckily next week, we're supposed to get up into the mid 40s for at least 3 consecutive days, so I'll probably uncover my palms then and see what I'm working with as far as winter damage goes, if any at all.

Jeff- Thanks, and yes, those are windows. I wanted to make sure the palms got light, but were kept dry. I was also hoping for a greenhouse effect to warm them during the day, but we've had so much snow this winter, I'm not sure how much of a greenhouse effect was produced, but I'd guess not much at all.

Jimhardy- I didn't cover the yuccas at all, because I figured I had enough to cover with my larger palms, and that's why I didn't even protect my smaller palms. I planned on the sabal minors and yuccas to be experimental anyway, just to see if they'd survive unprotected, and what kind of damage they'd endure if any. I only paid $10 for the Aloifolia anyway, and its not like I lost it, I'm sure it'll come back from the roots.
Yes, I just wanted to clarify, these are old pics taken on December 26th. Once I uncover everything, I'll take new pictures to assess the damage. I already know all of the foliage on my Trachy was completely fried from 0 degrees F one night, but has some green further down into the crown cavity I can see on the spear. However, no spear pull yet.

Cool! where did you get a (aloifolia) yucca that size for ten bucks? Thats a pretty smokin deal!It will be stronger from the roots I'm sure and I know they handle a lot of water in the winter in the southast but I think with the cold we get up north keeping them dry is maybe the only chance I will be trying one your size this year though not quite as pretty as yours in the pic hope the rest faired better did you heat any of yours

Jimhardy- I actually got 2 Aloifolias for $10 each from another member on this board. Yes, if I would've covered them, I'm sure they would've turned out much better, but they were too big to cover with trash cans, so I figured I'd take my chances. I did put a 60 watt bulb in each structure, but I doubt it created any heat, if any at all. The structures are so big, that I don't think they made any difference.

Kitchenshock- I don't have any pics of that portion of the garden, but here are some summer pictures of a different part of the garden. It's getting a little crowded as you can see, since everything's filling in, so I'll have to thin it out a little this summer. The pics are of Dwarf Cavendish Banana with Yucca Aloifolia and Pampas grass, Trachycarpus Fortunei, and Musa Basjoo with sago palm and Yucca gloriosa.

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arctictropical......................I would love to see them pics! Where do you live at? A zone 4 winter that is bad! Any pics of your protection?

(ISLB)Beautiful pics really enjoyed the nanars I hope to have pics like that in a "few"months I have some basjoo,yunnan,red rowe,and a dwarf of some type (bananas)I tried a 60wt bulb in my 44x49 g/h but it only added 3-5 degrees so I bumped up to a 125wt added anywhere from 10-25degrees depending on # of extra layers I added,thanks for the pics!