I am in Fresno, in central, inland Cal. My yard and everything in it is fairly new (I started from scratch four years ago. There was literally NOTHING growing in it, not even weeds. It was just a bare lot). So i have slowly been planting and transforming it into a livable yard. This year is when i am putting in a lot of the foundational/focal-point palms. So far this year i've already planted these:

3 Archontophoenix cunninghamia (King Palms)
3 Phoenix Roebelinii (Pygmy Date Palm)
2 more Syagrus Romazoffiana, Queen palm (for a total of 6)
1 Phoenix Canariensis (Canary Island Date Palm)
1 Jubaea Chilensis (Chilean Wine Palm)
1 Washingtonia Robusta- Mexican Fan Palm(i didnt really plant it, i just didnt pull the volunteer seedling out because i like the spot where it grew)
1 Dypsis Decipiens (manambe palm)
1 Rhopalostylis Sapida (Shaving brush palm)

And Other palm-like plants:
1 Aloe Ferox (A trunking aloe from South Africa)
2 more Strelitzia Nicolai (White Bird of Paradise) for a total of 5
1 Agave Attenuata (fotail agave)
2 Beaucarnea Recurvata (Ponytail "palm")
1 Pachypodium Lamerei (Madagascar "palm")
3 Zamia Furfuracea (Cardboard cycad)
1 Agave Paryii
2 Agave Victoria-Reginae

What is waiting to go into the ground are:

Bismarckia Nobilis (waiting for the nurseries to bring them in)
Caryota Urens - waiting on seedlings
Dypsis Decaryi (triangle palm)- waiting on seedlings
Butia Capitata (Jelly Palm)- waiting on seedlings

I didnt cover up any of my palms, but the more tender ones got frost damage, like the ravenea rivularis (Majesty palm). I have a picture of the damage on the post titled "How much cold can a majesty take?"

The Kentia Seedling also got the slightest frost damage. The good thing is that i have a queen planted right next to it, and when the queen forms a canopy, the kentia will be an understory palm and will be protected from frost by the queen palm. I am using the same technique for the future protection of the Majesty palm i mentioned above. Here is a picture of my kentia palm showing a bit of damage on the frond on the right, but opening up another frond.
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won't the Agave attenuata fry during a frost? And the Pachy will definitely suffer damagage to the growth points at temps close to freezing. Other than that, your choices seem OK. You'll be busy!

I'm in Lindon, Utah; about 30 miles south of SLC.

I've already planted a T. fortunei and S. minor 'McCurtain' on the east wall of the house, and will add a Needle palm to the east wall and a Brazoria to the south wall in a few weeks(thank you, Jay!!).

My two fortunei and needle on the south wall are doing ok. During a cold snap I put frost clothes on the trachys and I think they did more damage than the cold would have; all the tips that were in contact with the cloth are burned. All things considered though, they came out fine. The needle is rather small, 1 gallon, and did have spear pull(I hear this is common the first few years). My fortunei out in the front yard had a small chincy greenhouse over it and c-9 lights to keep the ground from freezing and came out pretty good as well. Again, anything that came in contact with the plastic is burned - next year I'll go bigger and better.

Alan

xerphyte, The agave attuenuata will go in a protected spot in the yard against a south facing wall. I have Cannas there blooming all year long, while cannas out in the open get frosted down in January. I also have other tender tropicals there that don't get any damage, like Draceana Fragans, Monstera Delisciosa, Wodyetia bifuricata, stephanotis floribunda and a mangifera indica seedling.

The pachipodium lamerei can tolerate down to 20F. they go decidious in the wintertime, and refoliate in the spring. Although that one can take frost without a problem, it will also go into that protected location.

1 Coconut palm (Walmart special)
2 Date palms (less than one year old, from seed)
1 Pachypodium lamerei (Madagascar palm)
5 Euphorbia tirucalli (Pencil Cactus)
1 Opuntia (Prickly pear from the desert, 5 years old)
1 Cycas Revoluta (about 10 years old)
2 Bonsai Red Oaks (from seed, now 4 years old)

all indoors with lots of CFL lights and plenty of sunshine.

Palms:

T.fortunei 2 - 1 gal/1 - 15 gal
sabal palmetto 2 gal
sabal brazoria (Chilly Palm) 15 gal
sabal birmingham (Chilly Palm) 3 gal
many W.robusta seedlings (potted)
Spindle Palm (potted sunk in ground)
Coconut Palm (potted sunk in ground)
Chinese Fan Palm (potted sunk in ground)
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tropicals:

croton
Tradescantia spathacea (moses in a basket)
EEs
cannas
pineapple (potted)
2 shell ginger
ficus elastica (variegated and burgundy)
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Citrus:

Lemon tree seedlings
Poncirus trifoliata
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Yucca:

filamentosa
elephantipes
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Various:

Cantaloupe
Sunflowers
whatever else I get my hands on
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My Windmill has been uncovered most of this mild and snowless Winter, so it's fine and growing. As are the basjoos I released from their prison earlier in the week. Have 3 large pups inside for transplanting in a week or two as well. Will also plant my plumeria and calamondin orange. They are pulled out in Nov. Am going to try a Pindo this year for overwintering in the ground with protection. We'll see. Tiki bar uncovered and in need of new thatch. Koi pond needs its waterfall overhauled as well. Here is my son 2 years ago getting his first lesson in pina colada preperation.
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Cool! There are some nice looking list here and it looks like folks are ready to get dirty! I love putting the ipod on reggae shuffle (got some Buffet mixed in too) and getting in the yard. Once every things planted, mix a nice margarita or rum coke and sit back and enjoy.

Palms:
Archontophoenix Purpurea 2 ea.
Teddy Bear Palms from Lowes 2 ea. not sure if species or hybrid
Arenga engleri

Cycads:
Cycas thoursii
Cycas circinalis (BIG)
ceratozamia hildae
Dioon from Home depot, I think it's an edule
Zamia paucijuga

Misc:
Bromeliads (lots)
Hibiscus (probably "Tradewinds" series)
Hedychium coronarium
Hibbertia scandens
Heliconia rostrata
Kalanchoe (lots)
Michelia alba

Depending on the wife factor and $$, but I may get a dypsis baronii and Ravenea glauca also. Gotta love spring!

Hey cool bar Trishmick, make mine a double :)

I want the tiki and drink, forget about the palms...

going in

Parajubaea torallii macrocarpa, c.humilis var cerifiera, trachycarpus nova, Jubaea chilensis.

pulled/pulling out

phoenix reclinata, livistona nitida

We wanted a tropical look--so we had a few different varieties of Palms planted:

Coconut Palms
Fishtail Palms
Christmas Palm quads
Foxtail Palm double

Does anybody know which Coconut variety these are? They do have the swollen base.

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I guess that fence is necessary to keep kids etc out kinda looks like palm prison LOL pretty palms!!!!

Ever seen castor bean plants?The green form in a east are partial sun location grow massive tropical leaves also not great in wind would need somewhat sheltered area and keep the kids away poisonous seeds etc.google castor bean plant and chack out the ones with huge green leaves,they can grow 10'-12'in a year in the right soil I have some extra seeds if you want

Jim, i think ricin plants make great summer bedding, i grew this one sprouted in april and this picture was taken in october, i don't think we could get 10' in a season but i think it hit 6'. Unfortunately we had a poor summer last year and it did not produce seed, so this year i am growing a green variety from seeds collected in Africa.

Vic

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I have planted a Carpoxylon macrospermum and maybe will plant a few more, Clinostigma ponapense x harlandii, Dypsis mahajanga , Dypsis lanceolata so far but I plan on planting more coccothrinax a dypsis cabadae, Ptychosperma sp,Gaussia maya, Areca vestiaria and maybe more.

Trachyhead your palms are so healthy!!!BTW,I just finally found a latisectus!is latisectus the palm in the lower right corner of your picture?There was also a martianus but I don't think it would make it outside here,I read that latisectus is extremly cold hardy,also I generally am not a fan of the red form of castor,but yours is the nicest one I've seen my neighbor had one at least 8'tall but had much smaller leaves then yours,the green variety gets massive leaves 2-3' accross I have about twenty sprouting now and will include them in yard picks throughout the year I have seen them get to size stated earlier if you mix in composted manure should be almost as much fun as bananas to watch this year my bananas are 2'-3'now castors should give them a good race for max height this year.

Jim, yes your right, latisectus bottom right, came through unscathed winter this year with just a rain shelter as did the martianus. I definately think your right and latisectus is hardier than martianus, but not by much and certainly not as tough as fortunei for us.

My green ricin plants are about 3 weeks old and stand about 10'. I'll give you a UK vs US ricin race if your up for it?!

Trachyhead I was looking at some martianus pictures and I broke down and had to buy one they are such beautiful palms!It some times seems like you and I are the only ones who enjoy princeps,manipur,latisectus,martianus because in different threads it seems like we are the only ones talking about them maybe it starts with fortunei then waggies then takils and some people never look beyond these three are maybe they just have not got the word I think you have the largest princeps I,ve seen and latisectus and martianus are even more rare(it seems)then princeps in the states,anyway I think you will really enjoy the green form of castor(although the red ones you have are quite striking)post some pics of them throughout the summer I will do the same,it will be interesting to see how they grow in our different summer climates-what is the weather like there in summer temps(F)and precip Thanks

I just saw the end of your message if your castors are 10' in three weeks I think you won already LOL and the government will be paying you a visit shortly! Yea like I said post some progress pics of castors for sure! also howabout somemore pics of princeps,manipur,latisectus and martianus they are awesome!

sorry, 10" :-)

I'll take some pics soon, i have some new seedlings since last pic post, actually have the true princeps from the stonegate, they are not as blue as the golden lotus ones, but the ones Ruud is selling are not from the stonegate. All very confusing really.

I've checked on one 12 year old Mediterranean Palm and it came through without a problem. The amazing thing is I pulled the box off of the Butia and two of three flourescent light bulbs had burned out and the remaining one was so dim it was a pale pink color. Even with hardly any heat source, the Butia was green as could be. I have not checked the larger palms yet (6-8 feet). Still too cold here to take them off for good. Bananas also survived and have grown new leaves through the winter in the boxes.

Pretty cool arctictropical looking forward to this years pics! Trachyhead whats the weather like there in summer?

Hey trachyhead there is a great article about latisectus I think in the publication princeps98 I saw in the article that(2) latisectus palms were seen growing at the windamere hotel in darjeeling I looked up their weather a few times this winter(typed it in on weather underground)and it was as cold as it was here!now I,m not sure where the reporting station is with respect to the hotel but it would be pretty cool if temps were similar this would put latisectus at or near the top of cold hardiness as far as trachycarpus goes.Common sense tells me that wagnerianus has the leaf structure to be the most cold hardy as far as snow goes at least,anyway heres the picture I found (not very good qaulity but interesting anyway-----T.latisectus windamere hotel darjeeling india

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:1128333}}

Jim, The problem with the latisectus is that they are slow to establish and getting your hands on large specimens is not an option at the moment as seeds have only been readily available for 10 years or so. I believe their hardiness increases considerably after a few years in the ground with some overhead protection.

As far as our weather goes, we don't have the high temps you get but usually get low 20's Celsius with a max of around 30c (not very often).