Looks great nice to see what you have been doing,just wondering,what are your avg temps Dec,Jan,Feb.It looks like you could lean something down from the wall(clear plastic etc)at an angle, to keep some of the heat off the house,also what do you have planted?

Hi Jim,
you really read in my soul.
I plan to use mulching + polycarbonate shields + styrol (and snow!) and maybe heat cable in frosts.
Last winter we had 3 days 0 F (-18 C) in November, and then till February above 32 F (0 C). Then were few small frosts shortly.
When I compared average temps in Southern Sweden where palms grow good with mine temps I decided that it should be not very difficult to help palms overwinter here in Southern Finland. Thanks God the microclimate is VERY convenient!
With best wishes Antti

Thats great sounds like palms should do fine,nice to have a back wall to build out from,I would invest in a remote thermometer you can keep an I on from inside,you should be fine on the cold side but it can really heat up on a sunny day.My little umbrella green house I used last year would heat up 40f on a sunny day,and when I wrapped plastic around it in -0 weather it could be 70f warmer than outside temps,luckily it had two large zippered air flaps on each side.Howabout a list of what you have planted there .

Of cause I'll use distance thermometer and will protect plants from overheating which is also dangerous. I've planted diff. spec. & cv. of Trachy (fort., wagn., takil, tacag., darj.; also Chamaerops, Sabal minor, Raphidophyllum, Nannorhops, Washy fil. + filibust., Jubaea, Butia erythr. and some exotic plants ( 2 sp. of Banana (basj. "Sakh." + yunnan.), Cordyline, Araucaria, Phormium, Dicksonia, Passiflora, Cycas panzh., Yucca, Bamboo, Ficus carica).
Antti

Nice choices all,by darj do you mean T.latisectus? not sure of what tacag is either.I thought I saw a nannorrhops in there,that was actually what made me ask,is that the one about 1m back that is kind of whiteish silver?Let me know how that does for you as I lost 2 very small ones this winter,and the one outside now looks to be well on its way too joining the other two!hopefully in hell because I don't think it is warm enough here LOL

Hi Jim,
I've ordered theese palms
"Trachycarpus fortunei "Darjeeling" 1 year, 1-2 leaves S 10/20 cm 1.5
Trachycarpus hybrid: wagnerianus X fortunei ( takagii ) 1-2 leaves S 10/15 cm 3.5"
from "europalms":
http://www.europalms.be/plants_palms.htm

As you say (I wonder - you're the only who guessed!) there's also silver (is bigger) and green Nannorhops, at the hottest and sunniest position. Let's see how it grows.
Antti

Good luck with your Mazari palms(and all your palms)I ordered a new Mazari as I don't think the one I have now is going to make it.The palm you call darj is called latisectus its actually not a fortunei according to Gibbons and Spanner,you probably know this,I also have 3 wagxfort they should be great little palms as the fortunei get a little beat up by wind here and these should be a good combination,how about some close up pics of some of your (bigger) or favorite palms-Here is a picture of one of the wagxfort palms

Here is a link that might be useful:

Anttisepp,did'nt hear back from you,anyway this is a follow up to my previous post.I ordered a new Mazari palm in the hopes that it will get a better start in this warm weather lows 65-70F, and highs 85-90F,so here is a picture, my other mazari is the little bluish green stick upper right of the big one-

Here is a link that might be useful:

Hi, Jim, your palms and overwintering methods are fine!
My palms all are still very small but I hope that it will help them in acclimatisation. Next spring if there will be something to show I'll do it :). Now I also prepare protection, but after short small frosts warm weather has come and no need to hide plants under screens and coverings.
Antti

I hear ya on the "no need hide"I won't cover my palms until the end of Nov,unless I need to,although I will cover the end of my "hoophouse"to keep my succulents dry.I am curious if you have taken temp readings to see how your micro-climate compares to the temp say on the north side of your house?Your brick wall must provide a nice bump in temps on a sunny day.

Oh yea!I just noticed the lower part of your wall is black,that will help keep things toasty

I panted it in black just for my plants.
The picture was like in "Tom Soyer" as my children prayed to help! :)
Really, it gives many grads more in sunny day.

On a sunny day that will give you a nice bump in temp for sure!Good thinking!

P.S.you have an excellent micro-climate there!

The last summer was extremely cold, this winter too. Now it's -22C outdoors and +2.2 under the cover:

Have you had a chance to look under there and see how the palms look?my Mazari is pretty discolored from the cold but is still solid and looks to be in good shape.How much sun do you get there/is it cloudy all the time?Good to hear from you Anttisepp!

I sure hope things survive as I know you did many hours of work on planting and caring for those palms! I will keep my fingers crossed!
Cheers from Canada

Thanks, friends!
Here's result I've got at Palm Sunday:

Looking good Antti,apprears most of them pulled through for you.Good job!

Hi all!
A Happy Palm Sunday!
I opened my "exotarium" today and found most of my plants in a very good condition. Here's february picture (temps all time about -20C, 3 times -30C):

The next picture I took today before opening of palmbed:

And here's my biggest Trachy after it's second winter outdoors:

Young Dicksonia and Camellia Cornwall Duchess:

Wow, everything is looking great! nice pics. Im really impressed with your Dicksonia. For some reason, few people attempt to protect tree ferns in cold places. Some are pretty cold tolerant. Thanks for sharing your pics, I enjoyed seeing them make it through another winter.
Good luck!

wow you've had great success with all your palms

Hi tropicalzone7 and statenislandpalm7a, thank you! All the north hemisphere had one of the worst winters, so my hopes werren't big enough. I am itself really amazed how HARDY the palms are. ;)

Hi, Antti, greate pictures and very impressive experience.
Do I understand you correctly that you only use winter covering and no electro-heating at all for your palms in the palm-bed?
What were readings of the thermometer inside the palmbed during the coldest days of the 2009/2010 winter and this winter? ( you mentioned that the winter average T outside the palmbed, in the open air, was about -20C and there were a copuple of days of -30C)
The pland look greate!

Many thanks, Gottleib and welcome to forum! The temps under the cover was usually about +2/+4C, but in severe frost nights it dropped to -2C for a short time. I've took some photos before my plants went to winter sleep.
3 Trachycarpus fortunei and 1 Butia eriospatha + Dicksonia antarctica, all plants were outplanted in spring of 2008. Here's october 2010 pics:

Your plants are looking great! I cant wait until spring when everything is green again!!
Good luck!
-Alex

Wow!

If you live in Finland, then I can grow them here, too. Of course under the winter-protection. I live in Estonia.
Have you tried Rhapidophyllum hystrix? This is my dream and it can withstand -29 degrees. How did you buy and where such hardy palms?

Love your palms,
Nelumbo, from Estonia

Hi Alex, Nelumbo, thank you!
Nrlumbo, of cause you can grow palms outdoors, your climate is warmer than ours. But I don't recommend Raph. histrix (as Sabal) because it need much more heat in summer than we have. The best choice for European North is Trachycarpus spp. and Butia eriospatha, maybe Chamerops. And very good winter protection. I ordered my plants from Europalms (Belgium) and by EBaY from United Kingdom, because their summer isn't hot and plants from there are more adaptated for cool climate.
Good luck! Koike head!
Antti

Hi all! Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! I am still alive and my palms, too. It's beter to see the photos of the last year (summer and fall). My palms and other exots had 4-th summer outdoors. By the way we hadn't frosts yet and small snow completely disappeared.

"Big Trachy"

Dicksonia antarctica

"Brown Turkey" fig, the harvest was great

Bamboo - Phyllostachys aureosulcatus "spectabilis"

A "Fabel" wine

A "Summer Sweet" wine

Those live in "exotarium" beside the southern wall of the house:

Some exots like our finnish winter as own:

Laurocerassus "Otto Luyken"

Aucuba japonica "crotonifolia"

Araucaria araucana

Magnolia hybr.

Best regards,
Antti

Nice pics! Everything looks great. Those grapes and figs must have been delicious. My fig just got planted last spring so its crop was not too impressive. I think I got about 5 figs last summer and the tree is 7 feet tall.

The weather has been pretty good for everyone this winter unlike last year.
Last year the Arctic was above average and all of us were well below average, but so far this year it has been the opposite and I hope that it stays that way!

Thanks for sharing!
-Alex

WOw,WOw,WOw!

Your Trachy has really grown and your D.A. looks great!

Glad to see everything thriving!!!!

We are 1/3rd through the winter now (-;