Water, Water, Water - The lakes moderate temperature, detroit is actually half a zone warmer than the surrounding area . Don't know about Atlanta

Some years the leaves on my giant maple have fallen of for the most part by Halloween but the last couple of years they have not started falling until November. They are in free fall now though. I'm hoping for some wind to blow the last ones off. I live in Livonia and the city here pickes the leaves up. I just have to blow/rake them into the street.

Atlanta is in a very very very severe drought condition to the point where their drinking water resources are running out sometime in the next two months. Such conditions can cause trees to defoliate. It was like in Vero Beach, Fl when we had Hurricanes Charlie, Frances and Jeanne in one month. All of the trees were so wind-whipped that their leaves were gone. We ended up having a "2nd spring" a month or two later.

Andyandy,

I live in Troy. Do you have any palms that you outdoor? Just curious, I'm sort of new to this whole concept of pushing the zonal limits, and it's all based on me remembering my grandfather growing palms, figs, and monkey puzzle trees (all very large) at his home in St. Clair Shores when I was a kid. He brought most of them over from Italy.

Just thought that is he could do it, I could too! I'd love to see any others that grow palms outdoors in SE MI, do you know of any other areas where they can be viewed?

Please advise. I am wintering a banana, 2 monkey puzzle, and 2 palms.

YardMan-
The only palms I have in the ground are four Sabal Minors. I tried a Trachy but it died. The Minors have been in the ground since last summer (summer 06). I neglected to cover them in an ice storm last January. Big mistake, it almost defoliated them. I kept them covered in maple leaves and snow during the coldet part of winter. They made a nice comeback this summer. I WILL cover them if there is a threat of freezing rain this year. All my other palms (20-25) I keep in pots and move in for the winter.

We are in a serious deficit of rain here in SE Michigan as well and all of the meteorologists said our fall would not be as brilliant as most. However, we still are outpacing almost everywhere in the Midwest.

My theory is that each year our Urban Island effect is getting more pronounced, and that we do actually live in a relatively temperate climate compared to most of the Midwest. Michigan has more hardwood tree species than any other state and of all of Europe. Many of these trees are special hybrids and such and seem to be very hardy with our exact climate.

Who knows if global warming is adding to our late falls and retarded winters here in SE Michigan, but some literature states that we are in an area that has seen some of the greatest shifts in average overall temps in North America.

That makes all of us in the Great Lake State shout for joy and would like to see aerosal can brought back (just kidding). But, our 3,200 miles of coastline has never looked better!

yardman thats funny aerosal cans..lol.

Andy, do you just grow straight sabals or are they a special strain

Yardman, in Shelby twp. I have a 15 gallon trachycarpus fortunei and a musa basjoo in the ground. In 3 weeks I will take out the basjoo and put it in my garage and I built a wood structure for the palm. I had a 5 gallon fortunei outside til early dec. with no problem but it got some damage from low teens at night. These palms will always need protection. Don't try to push the envelope with the palm this year. Id cover it when its below 18 outside at night. What is your plan for keeping them alive?

i anticipate my palm will be covered for 5-8 weeks each winter. That is how to allow a chance for survival of the palms in michigan. I dont think there will ever be a winter moderate enough for these palms. It was warm in december but january and february were terrible.

FRMMI,

Both the trachy's and the bananas are already covered. I put the largest foam (rose bush) winter covers filled with oak leaves and staked down over the small trachy, bananas, and monkey puzzle trees. This allows air to move, but they are moderately insulated. I won't know if this works until spring.

However, the larger windmill fan palm is wrapped in an old blanket, then encased in chicken wire with leaves and then I put an AC cover over the whole thing.

I'm hoping allwill work.

Many people keep these out all winter with some coverage. Why not you?

I don't have anything protected now. Im in Argentina but it looks pretty warm. I don't have anything protected right now.

The question was why not cover them all winter? My box is big and looks strange in my backyard. Palms covered in snow look better when weather allows for it. I also want to keep them in winter mode, I don't want it to be 70 degrees in the box. I'll dig up the banana because it's portable.

awesome i repeated myself

The leaves here in Connecticut have been strange as well this autumn. There is still lots of maples near peak color-We are where we used to be around Halloween in the past.

From what I have read- the increasing Co2 in the atmosphere is causing this. If it is caused by climate change thus far is open to interpretation.