PlantFiles: Dwarf Palmetto, Bluestem Palmetto, Blue Palm
Sabal minor 'McCurtain'

This palm has to be slowest than rest of my sabal minor palms. It will be a good house palm until it its full adult leaves.

Planted one of these at my mother's house in NW OK (zone 6). it has done great without any protection & minimal mulching. Have not lost a single leaf to cold.

Sabal minor "McCurtain" appears to be hardier than the typical Sabal minor, in my Wilmington, Delaware garden. I have several "McCurtains" and have yet to see any winter damage on the leaves, whereas regular Sabal minors have gotten their leaves scorched if planted with no winter cover.

I bought 2 one gallon sized specimens from Gerry's Jungle and planted them in my yard this past spring.

This winter, we've had three nights where the low got below 10 degrees Fahrenheit, two of which it got down to near 0, yet these palms (which both still have the juvennile strap leaves) suffered NO damage, despite the low temps occurring during two weeks of sub-freezing temperatures (it finally got above freezing today). I think that this palm could easily become naturalized in Zone 6, and I'd reccomend it to anybody.

As an additional plus, rabbits, deer and other animals WON'T eat it, unlike many of my other evergreen plants.

The only drawback is that it grows rather slow, so I'd reccomend getting at least a 3 gallon plant (about the size that its growth speed increases) unless you're the patient type.

Update: I've now had these plants in the ground for 5 years, and they've hung in there, despite getting entirely too much shade and absolutely zero protection during the winter. I'll definitely reccomend them for hardy palm growers.

A native palm from McCurtain County of Oklahoma, 50 miles away of northern Texas. Cold hardy record is -24 F in Wichita Kansas. It never grow a trunk but stays green in extreme freeze a perfect edge plant or shrub plant. Slow grow.