The Chinese fan is not one of the real cold hardies you realize. Same here, they never used to carry those blue potted palms. Now, each season you see Needles, Sabal minor,Trachycarpus, Chamaerops, and maybe Phoenix. I am in NJ and we were just told that we had our warmest 12 months EVER recorded. So, maybe they see this as a future trend that had a market. :)

P.S., H.D. Is selling'em too.

yeah, the Chinese Fan Palm goes inside... but im sure it could stay in the ground here in pittsburgh with a little protection! They use to have Pygyms, but i havent seen them in a couple of years. HD here has ALOT less! Lowes by me is almost like a private nursery, its HUGE!

Lowes has sold cold hardy palms for years here. But for some reason this year they didn't carry half the variety they usually do. No silver euros, no sylvester palms or sabals.

I picked up a coco at Lowes the other week. They didn't seem to have as many hardies this year as last. Home Depot had a lot more, but the shipment seemed to be less than suitable to our area. While there were quite a few windmills and needles, (which do great here without any protection), they didn't have any sabal minors this year (probably the best performer). Oddly there were many more pindos and Mediterranean fan palms, two varieties that aren't as reliable here. The verdict is still out on Med Fans. I've had good luck with them but placed them in a very nice microclimate protected from winter winds and received frost cloths on the coldest nights. They did great this winter. Pindos are more troublesome and need winter wrapping every year. I'm just afraid some poor garden novices ate going to plant them with only the "cold hardy" label and not do what is needed for those types of palms. They'll end up with dead palms and be put off.

Richard, I'd guess you don't see that many of the hardy palms is be cause shipments are sent mostly by zone.

My livistona will be going through it's 3rd winter this year (I cant believe Im talking about winter already!) so they can definitely be grown outdoors with the right protection. Mine gets some damage, but it actually grows better and looks nicer than my potted livistonas!
I've never seen coconut palms for sale at the local home depots here (one nursury carried 15 foot coconut palms for only 190 dollars though, no way I could bring that home though!). Nice to see some cold hardy palms for sale, would be nicer if they were available at a taller size though!
Thanks for sharing!
-Alex

I'm here in NJ too. I noticed the same 4 cold hardies at Lowes/Home Depot. Havent come across a 6 ft chinese fan though, just 4 ft'ers. I did see a huge euro fan 3 weeks ago on clearance.

I'll have to check the Lowes near me. Sometimes you never know. A few Octobers ago they had coconuts at the Hme Depot near my house.

like i said, Home Depot has WAY less by me in PA than Lowes for some very odd reason. Odd but true :-(

I generally like L's better. My big box stores used to sell coconuts, now it's the blue pot, cold hardies. But this time of year, both stores seem to let the stock dry out to the point of no return because apparently they can't find people to water their trees and shrubs. Depressing to visit their garden centers in August or September at either chain!

It seems like all the Home Depots here are anti-palm, I see every succulent under the sun but never any palms (besides for Sago Palms). I haven't made it to a Lowes recently but I hope they have palms.

More like anti-plant here haha HD has absolutely nothing near me!

I have to say though, Home Depot has a GREAT fertilizer selection!

Hi. I bought a Queen palm for my yard today at Lowe's.
$15 for a 3-1\2 gallon. The palm is about 7' overall with
2' of trunk. They had 2 nice fortunei for $40 with 8" of trunk. Lots of small Pindos. 2 larger 3 footers for $40. A month ago they had a Pindo for $100 that had fruit on it and looked like a Mule palm. Droopy leaves like a Kentia. Lowe's also had some Canary I.dates and some Cham. humilis.
$40 robustas looking very nice with a foot of trunk. Large leaves. The fortunei had large leaves as well. I think they must have sold out on the roebellini, as I have seen them in the past along with standard Date palms. Of course I am in South Central Arizona in the Sonoran desert so palms for planting outdoors here is not unusual. It does blow my mind though as I moved here from Massachusetts this past Spring and there is a huge amount of palms outdoors where I live now.

this year lowes seemed to focus on hibiscus this year. No palms or citrus like years past. They did get a few cavendish bananas. Id love for ours to get some coco's. Home depot pretty much had the same only they did get a few blue pot palms. last year lowes had the blue pot palms. I got a few pindo and needles pretty cheap after they marked them down.

mike

Yes... there Very strange. Sometimes helpful, but most of the time Complulely Useless. So, I was at lowes Looking for a Windmill Palm or Needle Palm there no luck. I talked to one of the Manngers about this matter they gave me the normal BullS*ht lie even when I tested it myself. They they said this from another mannger something on the line of this. we can only get Pinate Palms... but my Thoughts is one again Bulls*ht. I also said you guys should sale the cold hardler Palms inselde they gave me a Look like I was crazy.

Update: Someone nabbed the needle! Only 1 windmill left, and ALL the cocos.... Imagine that!!! "taken with my phone, while walking, so its blurry kinda>

Here in Tampa, HD is always predictable, same old same old. At lowes you never know what you might find out of the blue one day, only to never see it again. Scored two big clumping bamboos and a couple of neglected washies that way. The washies looked terrible and dried out and I offered them five bucks for both. But only a Few months later they've each put out six new fronds. Here when you go to lowes, it's a given that you know more than the staff. So if you have questions, bring your smart phone and do some research. Let the guys stock in peace. At least that's the garden department. At least they have variety even if it is random and chaotic and stuff is even mis marked occasionally.

Aloyzius- I know exactly what you mean! I NEVER ask for a staff members help! i find it so much easier to just whip out my super handy Iphone and google it!

I'm actually kinda happy after some thought that the big box stores don't regularly carry cold hardy palms. Every time I find them, I see the need to buy several. Almost like stocking up because I might lose a couple palms. I think I might be a hoarder LOL. Kmart had the blue pots this year, and I ended up buying 6.