PlantFiles: Chusan Palm, Windmill Palm
Trachycarpus fortunei

I must say this is probably my least favorite palm, they always look a little rough in hotter climates unless given shade. The trunks look a little odd, usually being more slender at the bottom than the top, it looks upside down. Old specimens look like an old weathered telephone pole with a few fronds at the top. If you're in a warm enough climate, Sabal palmetto or Washingtonia filifera looks much better in my opinion.

I have two palms, three years old, in large planter boxes on my back patio. We had our harshest winter in years and both of them were pretty trashed. One of them has come back beautifully with many new branches. The other started to put up two new branches but they stopped growing and nothing has grown for almost two months. I wondered if it got enough water so I started watering it more. No difference. Is it getting too much water? They both get sun from about 9 am to 6 pm. We've had a hotter than normal July for SW Washington state.

A good palm for containers in Chicago. Can overwinter in a passively heated spare room in the attic (temps in low 40's/high 30's F, but always above freezing) with absolutely no damage. Can be placed outside earlier in the spring, and brought inside later in the autumn.

i use too live in zone 6 and they allways rotted:( i tried it many many times but if you want it too survive you shood buy a large mature 1 so its less likely too die:) but in zone 8b looks best in shade

A few suggestions for better results in colder areas. Location of planting is extremely important, you want to keep these out of the wind, particularly the wind from the north. You want these in the sunniest location possible, it would be even better to have strong morning sun as the plant will warm up quicker after a cold night, reducing the duration of exposure to cold. It is important to check the center frond / fronds after extreme cold, pull on them if they pull out easily those fronds are dead, if you do not remove them, this will effect the rest of the plant, possibly kill it. I keep mine well watered in the summer, and they put out plenty of new growth.

I love this plant! I have been growing Windmill Palm now here on the Eastern Shore of Maryland for almost 5 years now and each year it is getting bigger and grows moderate speed. Each winter the fronds freezes and die back but in spring it shoot up new fresh fronds for the year. All I do is water water water and they love it! Best palm for colder climates!

I absolutely love this palm. I had nothing, but success with it. Knowone grows this plant outside in Varna, Bulgaria, so I decided to try and all my Chusan palms are thriving. All the seeds I planted in the ground have germinated and are growing well.

My little Windmill Palm survived the coldest night of the last winter (Brooklyn, NY) without protection (my umbrella greenhouse had blown away). After a night of 12 degree F temps and high winds, it looked pretty much dead, but then recently started sending up new leaves.

Addendum:
It made it through its second Brooklyn winter (T min around 13 degrees) with less damage. I protected it with a few inches of mulch and a burlap wrap, adding an umbrella greenhouse and a couple of handwarmers on the four or five coldest nights of the year. As of mid March, it's had no leaf damage, and has some new fronds coming up. Not much of a trunk yet, but I'm hoping for some good growth this summer.

I live in the City of Chicago and I have many palms in the ground. These guys grow fast at night and stall on hot days. This year was my first time having flowers from both my largest Trachys about 9 ft tall.

this palm is super hardy. my young trachy survived -3F un-established(but protected) in hilliard ohio(zone 6b). it defoliated but bud did not pull out.I used a tomato cage and grasses to keep it warm.On the realy cold nights, i put it in a thin blanket . Care free. THIS PLANT IS ONE TO BE TRIED!
update...

i am comming to terms with the loss of my palm. i guss i spoke to soon, next year, i will try this palm again, but as an older tree, and i will use christmas lights and a cover(on the really cold nights)( below 7 F)
this is not the end. anyone got any other suggestions for winter protection?

Although known for its cold hardiness, Chusan Palms also perform well in Florida. Looks best in shade here, as sepcimens grown in full sun look somewhat emaciated. The inflorescences, yellow on male palms and white on female ones, appear in April in North Florida. Grows fast and tolerates some drought when established. Very popular as both a street tree and a specimen. Personally, I think it has a more "oriental" rather than tropical look to it.

4/22/7 Update:

The mulch around this palm froze into a solid block. Poor thing never stood a chance. I have heard straw mulch is OK for these, but not from my own experience. If it redevelops a spear it will get moved into a pot and brought in the house for the winter. If it doesn't, a t. takil is my next victim.

4/29/7 Update:

The spear pulled free today. RIP one t. fortunei. Great palm tree: poor choice of variety, poor location. I removed my zip code report. I did not purchase a specific variety of t. fortunei when I purchased mine three years ago, so I cannot say which one I killed off, but it came from north Texas.

5/29/7 Update:

The spear has regrown. Wow this is one tough, determined little palm. I am going to do it the favor of potting it and turning it into an indoor/outdoor palm. I don't have the heart to put this thing through another winter outside. :)

I'll replace it with a Sabal Minor "McCurtain."

Cool growing palm, looks best with ample water and organic loose soil. The best looking palms in town are actually facing north, west and east. It seems the lower light and being planted amongst other shrubs, the palm tends to grow larger and more luxuriant leaves. I harvest seed in March. Young palms should have growing spear protected. Xmas lights on trunk reduces frost damage and look nice.

The mistake with this palm, visually, is to plant just one. It is truly stunning in groups, or even groves. An Oakland garden has about a dozen with a path to walk through. What a difference from the one standing alone you usually see.

This palm reminds me of my home town, Canton in Southern China near Hong Kong. The whole park of Windmill Palm made Li-Wan Lake Park tropical. Probably, other palms grow in that town, as well. The town just keeps planting other less hardy palms. Local people there use its leaves to make fans before the AC became popular.

Now I moved to Oklahoma. It surprises me that this kind of Palm is so popular in both Europe and America, not its native land. Well, I bought one because I like its hairy single trunk. The strong wind of Oklahoma just tears the leaves to a fuzzy look. They grow so fast, it still looks decent, because the newer leaves keeps coming up. I switched to Wagner Palm for stiffer leaves. I still like Windmill Palm.

Success here in Wichita Kansas of all places. Planted two 15 gallon and two 1 gallon windmill palms last spring. Had several weeks of single digit nights and never above freezing during the day this winter. I had the two larger ones loosely wrapped in plastic, and the small ones left open to the elements.

Took the plastic off today, and the centers are still green and unharmed. The larger leafs are fairly "fried" though. Same with the small ones. But, they did make it which makes me happy! They will look great with the musa basjoos already established in the yard. Will try to get out a picture of the tree so all can see what the winter damage looked like.

DrZ Here...this palm has survived (with protection) in my garden Zone 6a southern exposure for several years. Imagine...a palm in Connecticut! My neighbors still gawk in awe when they see it!

It is grown a lot here in SW France
I'd describe its flowers as rich cream rather than bright yellow.
It looks fine here in street plantings, but I took them out of my garden as I found them rather incongruous against the other shrubs and trees. Just a personal thing - I like these trees in a sympathetic setting.

About the best arborescent (trunking) palm for the mid-South. It grows quickly, and looks best in light shade, esp. when young (sun causes the foliage to have a more yellow cast). It also does best with some wind protection to prevent damage to the foliage. In the SE, it does best in a heavier (though decently well-drained) soil.

Although they are not too attractive, if you want a tropical looking palm, this is it for cold climates. They grow all the way up in Gothenburg, Sweden, as well as Juneau, Alaska in very protected microclimates. It would be worth a try in Anchorage, but set your hopes on failure.

Have had success with cold hardy palms here in zone 6b/7a. I decided to try a Trachy this year, so I planted a 6 gallon sized one on April 16 of this year (2005). It has now been in the ground for 1-1/2 months and has added 2 new fronds w/ a third one on it's way! In my opinion, this palm is a relatively fast grower compared to other cold hardy palms such as Sabal minor and Rhapidophyllum hystrix. However, it grows faster in cooler temperatures (a la 50's, 60's, and 70's). It can take heat, but may not grow as quickly. Grow's fine in clay-like soils and prefers "wet feet." I've learned that it's best to plant in sheltered area's where it's not as vulnerable to windy conditions, as wind seems to damage the fronds. T. fortunei can also tolerate dry conditions as well--similiar to many palms. I would say T. fortunei is considerably hardy to 0F, so it's definitely worth try in zone 7a!

UPDATE:

Reporting today on July 10th, 2006. My Trachy survived it's first winter (unprotected), and yes, I live in Southern Illinois only 90 miles southeast of St. Louis! All of the outer fronds sustained 90% leaf burn with a low of 6F this winter (which is barely a zone 7b winter). However, the spear lived, and four brand new beautiful fronds have grown since it recovered during the spring!

Here into July, it's flourishing! The Trachy has lived up to it's reputation. It's hardy well into zone 7, even in its first winter! Granted, I planted it early in the year last spring to give it plenty of time in the ground, it still proved itself to be extremely cold hardy---especially for a palm as beautiful as the fortunei!

All of my Rhapidophyllum hystrix's and Sabal minor's are flourishing as well! They've all put on significant new growth! As a matter of fact, this is their 3rd summer in the ground unprotected!

Zach

Sir, as I live in the U.K., I thought it would be impossible to grow palms in my garden, but have bought a small chusan from the local garden centre. It was only 1ft. tall, but I put it in the ground anyway. The garden centre told me if it survives it's first winter, it should be ok. Here we are 5 years later, and it is now 9ft. tall with a spread of six ft. My tree is only fed in early spring with a common tree/bush feed.

I live in zone 6b; Murfreesboro, TN. I had one of these plants a few years ago and it lived four years until we had an unusually cold spell and killed the plant. I planted another last spring and so far its holding its own with onlyminor foilage burn this winter. Four more weeks until spring lets hope for warmer weather.

We were informed that the Trachycarpus Fortunei was grown outside in the botanical garden of Copenhagen, Denmark. The oldest palm grown outside in the garden (never to be taken inside the greenhouse in wintertime), is about 20 years old and has resisted temperatures as low as -20 deg. celcius and is now about 4 m tall. We bought a small one to grow in our garden and are looking forward to seeing if it'll survive its first cold and snowy danish winter outside.

This is a great palm for the Pacific NorthWest. We live in Zone 8 in Vancouver, BC and have 3 growing in our garden. They don't mind our winter rains and have survived several cold winters and some snowfalls. Our tallest is now about 12 feet high, starting from about 3 ft high six years ago. We do nothing to protect them in the winter, but water them regularly in our dry summer months. There are many planted along English Bay beach in downtown Vancouver and they flower and produce seed regularly.

Also commonly referred to as the Windmill Palm, since its stiff, perfectly symmetrical leaves often vibrate in the breeze, looking a bit like they're spinning. This is one of the most commonly planted palms in all over California, on up to Washington, and even some growing in Vancouver, Canada.

It forms a wonderfully 'hairy' fibrous trunk that is idea for planting bromeliads and tillandsias on (until the palms gets very tall). Once over about 20', the fibre starts to fall off exposing a trunk of only 4-6" in diameter. It is one of the faster growing palms in Southern California, though most would still consider it a slow growing plant.

As the name, Chinese Windmill Palm suggests, this is a native of China. It has been in cultivation as long if not longer than any other palm in the world. The more newly discovered palm, Trachycarpus takil, is a dead ringer for this one, only it is from India. There is a lot of debate about whether the two are really different species. T fortunei is a very variable tree from small and lithe, to monstrous.. and sometimes grows with a twisted hastula, the hallmark identifying morphological factor that sets T takil apart from this one... oops.. so far is appears most 'large' takils are really this species (or some hybrid thereof brought on by many generations of growing this palm throughout the world).

On the negative side, this palm is often planted along highway medians and malls and given little, if any, water. Without proper water and fertilization this palm can look horrible, and often does, giving it the common nickname amongst California palm growers: Trashycarpus.

Evergreen palm thought to originate from sub-tropical Asia. Potential height is 70+ft and a spread of 8ft.

Has large fans of dark green leaves separated into linear, pointed leaflets the whole fan can reach over 2.5ft long. When mature they may bear yellow flowers in pendant panicles upto 2ft or more.

Flowers June-August.

Likes a well drained, fertile soil in a sheltered position. Likes to be in full sun but will cope with partial shade too.

Surprisingly hardy to a minimum temperature of 23F and is often seen growing in Britain especially on the coastlines.