James, I hate to be a messenger of bad news, but Cocos need warmer highs than your climate can provide, even in the summer! I am an hour south of Ruskin and our summer highs are about 31C and our lows about 25-27C. We have coconuts here but bad cold snaps can take some out from time to time. -3.8C will kill a coconut outright, especially if the high never gets above 15c the next day. You are more than welcome to try of course!

I'm afrait I have to concur. It just doesn't get warm enough for long enough there. I've grown them in pots and moved them inside each winter. Even doing that it is the most challenging palm I've grown.

As indicated above, not hot enough in summer; soil temps too low. Try these guys,

http://www.hardypalms.co.uk/

Maybe they can hook you up with a "mule" palm that would be similar looking.

Hi James

I am afraid everyone here is correct. Even if you were completely frost free, Cocos nucifera would die fairly quickly. Take Los Angeles, California for instance. It is next to impossible to grow Cocos nucifera for more than a short time even at that latitude. Winters are just too cool.

It would be fantastic if someone was able to get a Cocos nucifera x Butia or Jubaea! I know that's a pipe dream, but they are in the same subtribe, Butiinae.

How about cocos nucifera x trachycarpus fortuni LOL?

Nucci-
That is a zone denial persons dream CococX S. Minor

Sorry James, but everyone else is correct, there is no way you can grow one outside anywhere in England. I doubt that you could grow a Canary Island Date Palm there, it is just too cool year round for all but the hardiest of palms, and coconuts are one of the more tropical palms. Even here at the southernmost tip of Texas, we can just barely grow them to any extent here. They can get to be a bout 20-30ft. tall here and do better closer to the shoreline than in inland areas, because inland areas have a little bit more chance of frost or freezes in the winter than do the areas closer to the Gulf. They don't even fruit here every year, only after a mild winter on an older well established palm will you see flower stalks and eventually coconuts. It is just barely mild enough here in the winter to grow them. I think what makes them possible here is our very warm and tropical springs, summers, and falls here. This allows them to grow well and get large enough to make it through the winters here (as long as our winters are normal). A mid 20's Farenheit freeze will outright kill them though. Your best bet if you want to try to grow coconut palms in Europe, would be to move to the southernmost tip of Portugal, Spain, Sicily or Greece, and even there the winters may be just a little bit too cool for them. They do grow well in the western part of the Canary Islands though, off the coast of Morocco. The western Canaries get enough rain to sustain them, whereas the eastern Canaries closer to the Moroccan coastline are way to dry for them.
Sorry for the bad news, they are by far my favorite palm too, and now I am very thankful that I live where I can grow them outside, even if it is just barely within range of where they can grow outside!

John

I'm in 8a and every time i bring one home it stops growing.
This is the most tempermental palm i have ever dealt with.
In england outside ? no way possible i don't think.

Impossible. I live in San Francisco and I have a hard time, although it is growing and looking good. But England is at a much higher latitude than SF and the summers there don't get as hot. We do get our hot summer temps here during Aug, Sept and Oct and part of November. Winters here are not cold, but cool, and when it rains it's usually sunny the next day. I keep mine indoors and have had it for about 1 year and 6 months, and it really looks beautiful. Good luck in England thou!

I live in southern cali, about 35-45 min. away from newport beach. I have been growing a few coconuts for about 7 months here, but it is starting to get a little cool now, and I am very concerned. I dont think you'll be able to grow one for very long in england. If you want to give it a try i would suggest a few things:

Portable greenhouse
soil warming cables
greenhouse heater
grow lights

It probably wouldnt work for long, but you might be able to get a few extra months out of it. I never let mine see outside temps lower than 75f and the same for the soil temp. At night when the temp is lower than about 72f I bring them inside were i get the soil temps up to about 80f. Also, I have mine planted in a sand and soil mix. I think that might make a difference. I only water it with warm water, I dont' know if that helps, but I'm sure it cant hurt. And there is a hormone that i give to one of them, and that seems to be the one that grows the best. Its called superthrive, and you can order it onlie. as a matter of fact, the one that i give the superthrive to is starting to get the pinnate leafs and the fronds are bigger on that one also. When winter actually gets here, i will put mine in a portable greenhouse with a heater just to be on the safe side. Oh yeah, I only water it when its very warm, and usually no more than once a week.

Palmguy-
I very much respect the attention you are paying your coconut palms but you don't really need to move then in when it falls below 72. There are a number of days in Miami for example where it falls into the 40s at night and may struggle to hit 60 during the day. If you have days where the highs are in the 70s and lows in the 50s that will not harm them.

Well thats very good to know!! I just really try to take every precaution. In winter, we will see some days that get into the low 30s. Im hoping my little greenhouse trick will keep them alive for those really cold days.

Good luck with the coconut palm! I would like to try it too!

You can have luck with a heated conservatory until it outgrows it :D

Palmguy-
If you can keep that little greenhouse no lwer than 70. if you can give it sun and 70 it should be fine. Just don't water it a whole lot.

As it stands now, I only water them about once a week. I have been getting 2 shoots a month out of them over the last 5 months or so. Its gonna be interesting to see how rapid they will be growing once it gets cold.

I would try growing the Chilean Wine palm as it has nice feathery fronds, produces small fruit that taste like Coconut and is cold hardy in your zone. It actually doesn't like high heat and humidity so the cooler climate of Britain should be perfect.

I have Phoenix Canariensis, Trachycarpus Fortunei, Washingtonia Robusta and Draceana Draco along with some citrus trees in my south facing garden in Istanbul.
I would have loved to plant a Cocos Nucifera there as well but I planted that in Bodrum, SW of Turkey.
I have planted it right next to a SW facing wall there. I got courageous when I saw my neighbor growing a couple of Papaya trees in his garden.
Wondering whether it will survive there since from time to time it apparently does drop just below freezing during winter.