Doing on line research both Brazorias and Louisiana are listed as hardy to 7b. Same with Birmingham. When I visited Gary's Nursery in NC, he said that nothing beat Birmingham from his experience with growing all three varieties. The other two were more subject to damage and burn with high winds and cold (and that is in his 8a climate). Also all sabals should be wrapped in their first few winters in marginal areas. I'm thinking you'll probably need to wrap pretty much every year.

They are both good ones Ryan....

I have 2 S.McCurtain,5 Brazoria and 5 S.Louisiana-
5 S.Lou's and one Brazoria are in the ground-not fair to compare
the Brazoria and S.Lou but I think they both grow pretty fast!

My Lou's have grown 4-5 new leaves every year,even after defoliating.

They are getting bigger and are much more cold hardy now that
they have some divided leaves,Brazoria has been tough to
even from an early age and never defoliated come to think of it-so,there you go(-:

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Wetsuiter- I want a faster growing sabal to test if it can be grown as a perennial at worst without going into decline after a few winters of defoliation, although I think it may only start to burn maybe half of all winters. The most protection I would be willing to offer is a burlap wrapping, since I already have 3 needles, 4 windmills, a Dracaena, and my bananas that I protect. It's just experimental, but I want to know which would stand the best chance.

Jim- How is the growth on your McCurtains? And why do you say it wouldn't be fair to compare Brazoria and Louisiana?

All I have is a Sabal Minor from Lowes and its not very cold tolerant. Even with protection it always gets some tip burn (Whereas my Butias get the same protection and no damage). But Sabals bought from a more northern nursery where they are exposed to cold will undoubtedly be much more cold tolerant! Ive head great things about Brazoria and Lousiana and Birmingham seems to be a nice one too!
Good luck!
-Alex

Ryan

The Brazoria and McCurtain are much,much smaller than the Sabal Lou's...they all grow fairly slow when sporting strap leaves..

Birminghams are definitely the best. My largest one one has been unprotected all year. I protected my seedlings last year and this year no damage. My brazoira has tip burn more so than my sabal palmetto. My Louisiana and Savannah ga are looking great.

islandbreeze,
I have all four of the palms mentioned planted in the ground here in zone 8a.As far as a S.Birmingham being the best one,it's surely not for the speed they grow.I have a 7gal.Birmingham given to me by a mutual friend of Gary.S.Birmingham might be rated as the cold hardiest Sabal palm,but I have seen many pics.on here with them looking just bad.There was a thread on here just sometime back where a guy in Tennessee asked does this palm grow at all.If I remember correctly he posted pics.of his and it was burnt badly all the way to the ground.My Birmingham grows slower than any other palm I have,3 fronds is all it put out all last summer.Gary's Nursery specializes in S.Birmingham,he has the biggest one on the east coast that I know of.About 80% of seeds and seedling in the U.S. come from his nursery.There are other nurserys,I wont mention there names,that get there plants from him,and then turn around and sell them for twice or three times what he charges for them.I got that from the horses mouth.So if you get one buy it from Gary.

Back to the palms.I would say S.Louisiana or S.brazoria would be best for you.If they do get damaged by the cold they would make a much faster recovery than a S.birmingham.

Carl(dixieboy)would be the best person to show you the difference in growth rates between the 3 palms.He has big specimens of each.He told me that it was his slowest growing palm also.Unless your in your early 20's you will never live long enough to see a S.birmingham get to a large size.Of Course if your like me you have to have a S.birmingham just because of its rarity and the story that goes with it.Gary does sell other palms,but he is the biggest seller of S.Birmingham palms that I know of.He is a member of the Southeastern Palm Society,im also a member.I'm going there this spring to pick up some more Sabal palms.Gary is a great guy,I just wished he took mail orders.
Randy

I know what your saying Randy

I had a couple Sabal B's and thought they were great palms
but never could get either to grow,it may just be that with
these getting a good one is more important..could just be
my guys were really to small.

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Sometimes in northern climates you might have problems with sabals in general. Due to there need for a long growing season with lots of heat. Without the heat sabals will not be very winter hardy.

We should have no problem with summer heat here. Summers have been hotter than average, in addition to milder winters. Last summer was our hottest summer on record, and the last several summers have had plenty of 90+ degree days. The midwest gets very hot in the summer. Our "palm growing" months, would be May through September, so 5 months of temps warm enough for sabals to grow. They may still grow in April and October, depending on the year, but growth will be slower. So I figure we have probably about 2 months less growing time compared to places like Arkansas and North Carolina, where sabals grow naturally.

That sounds pretty good to me. I also have several minors I got from lowes which have never been protected. You may have seen the photos I posted of them covered in snow. But Alex has the same minor and his doesn't do as well. So it can be a variant in location or the plant. If I recall Dixieboy told me that brazoria was his favorite minor when I asked him!

I love Sabals! The only one I have in the ground is a Sabal Louisiana. It went though the snow and cold of last Winter just fine--unprotected, even in its first year. Containerized, I am growing the following Sabals:

S. minor (new acquisition & more robust than any previous minor I've had)
S.causarium
S. mexicana
S. palmeto
S. mauritiiformis
S. bermudana
S. tamaulipas

My recommendation is to go with a large sabal minor if you're going to try it. I just haven't had luck with minors and agree with the comments that recommend wrapping. My experience has been that sabals are very picky and can be irritated by cold, wet (any sort of melting snow) and especially wind. Minors grow slow enough that any frond damage can be very troublesome for ensuring long term success. People often claim needles and minors as comparable. To me, they're not even close at a young age.

I had a McCurtain for 5 years in the ground. Very painful if you're looking for even SLOW growth. Not one ounce of damage for 4 winters and then rot.

I had a regular minor in a pot for several years and put it in the ground. Although it is in it's 3rd year, I'll likely pull it if it doesn't put out decent growth this year. Once it lost it's fronds (wind burn), the growth rate plummeted.

I tried 2 different Birmingham's. These are definitely 7b palms cause they seem very sensitive to temps below 10F. I lost both.

I planted a minor 'Cape Hatteras' two years ago. It is now going through it's 2nd winter in the ground. So far, so good. Appears more blue in color than green. Slow growth like the others at a young age, but minimal damage even with last year's cold winter.

The other problem with sabals is they love high heat and humidity. They will grow outside their native range but struggle when the cold damage isn't offset by the optimal conditions needed for recovery. Below is a link to a list of cities and their average number of 90+ degree days. Although we've had a few recent summers of fifty 90+ degree days in D.C., the average is about 32. Places in the South where minors flourish are almost double that. Areas of Michigan average about 10-15 days a summer over 90.

Average 90+ degree days by location:
http://lwf.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/online/ccd/max90temp.html

I'm not trying to discourage you. Just sharing my experience so you don't make the same mistakes I did. Having said that, there are some very successful and large minors growing in D.C. (about 45 miles from my house). So young versus mature could make a big difference. My recommendation: buy large rather than seedling and give it a few years of protection until it gets settled. That is my plan this year...buy some 10 or 15 gallon size minors and try again! :)

Good luck!