PlantFiles: Needle Palm
Rhapidophyllum hystrix

We have a seaonal home 7 miles SE of Dover, DE(7b.) We planted two needle palms, and they are doing fantastic. They have survived mild flooding, periods without any watering, and teperatures down to about 0 (ordinarily this area has yearly lows just below 10.) We did try this plant in SE PA ( 15 mi. nw of Lancaster, about 75 miles WNW of Philadelphia, and 75 miles NNE of Baltimore) but it froze and was replaced by a wax myrtle, which is doing well in the same site. I personally would not recommend it above Baltimore or Wilmington unless you are an expert or have a lot of money to spend on replacements.

If there ever was a carefree palm, this is it. Has been growing in my garden in Krapets for three years now and has transformed itself from just a cotyledon and a tiny rootlet, still attached to the seed, to a 20 cm tall plant with at least 6 leaves. It is really slow growing tough. It has not been bothered by cold at all.
My specimen grew in the shade right at the drip line because I knew that just the regular amount of rain we receive would not suffice. It has not rotted, despite growing in soil that was virtually permanently moist, and it has loved our alkaline loam very much. It seems that these conditions have mimicked precisely its native environment.
I relocated my Needle Palm just recently to a much safer spot at the extreme fringe of my garden. We now have three small children in our extended family, with other babies coming, and I don't want a palm with such vicious spines right next to my patio. The plant's armament is its only drawback.

This is a great palm for adventurous gardeners as far north as greater New York! My Needle Palm has NEVER burned in zone 7a here in southern Connecticut and is starting to get some size. This is one subtropical plant you can really count on here in the upper Mid-Atlantic... If only they were more readily available!

Our most cold hardy palm; we have planted several over the years and have not lost any. We had lows of -14 in 2005,-1 in 2006, 0 in 2007 and -6 in 2008. In addition, we sometimes have several days in a row of single digit lows and highs in the teens. This palm needs protection for the first year or two. Then mulch each year as you would any other planting bed. This plant is adapted to a wide range of conditions. It tolerates heat, moderate dryness, wet areas, shade and has no insect or disease problems here. It likes a south exposure against a house or building. What is most interesting is the lack of winter kill. In the middle of January after winter damage has occured on other hardy palms, the exposed needle palm leaves remain bright green. What a wonderful sight in the winter! I hope to see this plant more in zones 5-6-7.

This little palm is a trooper! Other than a light covering of leaves in the fall it was given no special siting (high acid location under white pine trees, low moisture, low sunlight.) The leaves that peeked out from under the leaves are as healthy as the leaves that were buried. Hardy? This one survived a very snowy north central Ohio winter with flying colors. Our temps were around normal, although we had nights colder than 0 Fahrenheit here in town.

I will be planting more with the hopes of establishing a blooming / seeding population. This is a lovely little plant that seems to *like* conditions that other plants find challenging. Temperature does not seem to be a limiting factor.

Another good hardy palm for the NE... I have 4, and all survived this past winter (with lows down to around zero on two nights, with two weeks of freezing weather accompanying them) with little or no damage.... Even my 2 year old seedlings that I got from Tony Avent are undamaged... the only damage any sustained is that one of my larger plants had a half-opened leaf that got burned, otherwise they are all fine. I even have heavy clay soil, and planted these plants in the woods, with no other protection than som leaf and shredded hardwood mulch.

Just one word to the wise: If you get any small plants (seedlings or less than 1 gallon size), protect them from rabbits, as rabbits WILL eat the tender strap leaves of young plants.... Once the leaves have reached maturity, the rabbits will leave them alone (both my seedlings lost about 50-75% of their leaves to hungry rabbits).

I am going into the third New Hampshire winter with my needle palm and I just put it to bed until next spring. This palm really is special for its ability to handle cold temperatures, although there are some absolutely necessary steps if you want to grow one well outside of its range - as I do.

1. Location: My palm is planted in an extremely protected spot on the south side of my house that is cornered between a deck and foundation. It's a good spot to keep it warmer in the winter and also make sure that it gets the very hot temperatures that it needs to put on new growth in the summer.

2. Soil: In this spot the soil is naturally loose and sandy, but it's important to make sure that the soil is extremely well-drained during the winter so that the crown and roots do not rot.

3. Winter Protection: I am certain to keep my palm well-watered into November and then around Thanksgiving treat it with Wilt-Pruf to protect the leaves from desiccation during the winter. Shortly after treating with Wilt-Pruf, I surround the plant with a pile of leaves and then cover the pile with some poultry netting (staked into the ground) to keep everything in place.

Around late March I remove the netting and leaves.

So far this has worked very well for two winters, with only minor leaf burn during the one winter that the temperature dipped to -10F for two nights. The only problem that I forsee is that since there is basically no annual dieback, and the palm keeps growing larger, protecting it in this fashion will become more difficult. The upside to that situation, however, could be that palms are supposed to become far more cold hardy with age and size.

If you're wishing for a palm in a cold climate, I'd say give it a shot. It works for me in Northern New England!

Probably the toughest palm out there. It is not common in the PNW but it is hardy. The most northerly specimens (North America) that do well are in British Columbia. Rare find but some are sold in Vancouver from US sources. Slow compared to Trachys. I assume that they are slower here than the US southeast. I'm under the impression that Sabal minor is faster than the Needle palm. BTW, I like Bob's palm pics.

I am attempting "round two" of my needle palm experiment. I live in SE Wisconsin, (5b). In 2002, I casually planted a small needle palm on the east side of my house, with NO protection. Well, it didn't make it. One reason is that I didn't get it into the ground until July, and we didn't have much snow cover that year.

This year I planted two needles on the SOUTH side of my house in late April (next to my musa basjoos), and had decent growth all summer.

They still look very good (November 20th, I know it's early-down to only 28F so far), and I plan to mulch and cover with opaque ventilated plant covers over the next 2-3 winters until established.

I've also got a small, heavily protected Trachycarpus Fortunei in the same location.

I'll follow-up in Spring '05: both dead.

Update March 2006:

I decided togo heavy-duty. Planted 1 Needle Palm in a wooded area, using a semi-transparent bucket with dead grass as insulation, as well as snowfall.

This one has survived our minimum low this winter of -14F(that's minus 14F) with about 40% leave burn. However the spear is very much alive and looks great. I think that is impressive, especially considering the size of the plant and this being its first year in-ground.

Lesson learned: heavily protect from winter sun and wind, and mulch, especially first year.

More updates to follow......

Yes, we really do grow these things in zone 6b. I tried a very small sapling-size palm with only 6 leaves going into winter, and less than a foot high. Given its lack of establishment, some slight protection was in order. I used oak leaves to insulate the soil all winter and when the cold spells hit, I threw some oak leaves on top of the whole thing and put a flower pot on top of it. I had about 70% leaf burn and lost the spear but it is coming back and has grown 2 new leaves as of August. These new leaves are much thicker and stiffer than the old ones and the palm is becoming better established and should be able to survive with much less damage this winter. By the way, my minimum temp was -1 fahrenheit.

The Needle Palm is the most impressing of any plant in my opinion. Not only is it the hardiest palm tree in the world, it is attractive with a unique appearence. I currently have three needle palms growing in my garden in southern Illinois(USDA zone 7a). Planted on the south side of my house, it is extremely cold hardy showing little damage through an entire winter. If mulched heavily in zone 7, very little if any leaf burn occurs. Although it is a slow grower, the Needle Palm is well worth the wait. Native populations of Needle Palm's can be seen off the road underneath Live Oaks and Spanish Moss in southern Georgia, and off interstate 10 in northern Florida! I enjoy the clumping form of the Needle Palm. I believe it adds a "deep south" look to your northern garden. The Needle would grow well in zone 6 and excellent in zones 7-10!

The Florida Nurserymen and Growers Association has just chosen this plant to be one of it's "Plant of the Year" This program was established in 1998 by the FNGA to promote underused but proven plant material. For a plant to be considered a Florida Plant of the Year, it must have good pest resistance, require reasonable care and be fairly easy to grow.

There is an established needle palm that is growing on the campus of the College of Mt. St Joseph in Delhi Township, Ohio (a southwestern suburb of Cincinnati). It has proved to be bone hardy as it has gone through at least 3 winters with minimal leaf burn and no other observable damage; in fact, it bloomed in the Spring of 2003.

Needle palms can be seen occasionally around the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky area but aren't common. Several other "warm climate" plants grow very well in this area (Southern Magnolia, mimmosa, crape myrtle, aucuba, hardy orange, cannas, etc) even though many people think that they can not survive; I personally think the Cincinnati area has a warm climate anomaly as there are many "subtropical"-ish plants that are very hardy in this area but don't seem to be quite as hardy further north or south of this area; actually, plant success seems to be relative to proximity to the Ohio River and to Cincinnati proper, the closer a plant is to both the better it does. There are probably several variables involved- himidity, elevation difference, protection provided by the hills which seem to be North to South oriented thus broviding a bit of a wind baffle from Artic blasts, humidity, urban heat island, etc. Needle palms are wonderful plants and are a touch of the tropics for those of us living nearer to the North pole than the equator. It is too bad that more people (and nurseries) aren't aware of the great hardiness of this palm.

I have experimented with several "hardy" palms, and this is the only one I've kept that seems worth growing this far north. I've managed to keep several small scrub palmettos alive for several years with mulching, but they never developed into attractive specimens, and were lost the first year I didn't make an effort to mulch and protect. Not so with the needle palm. I've mulched and protected it the first year, but it's survived the last few years with minimal protection, very little damage, and has become fuller and more atractive each year. I'm also aware of several other specimens in Cincinnati that have been established for several years. Definitely the best "hardy" palm to try for experimenters in the north part of the range.

The 'TRUE' Needle Palm (only one called Needle Palm that's actually a palm) is the most cold hardy of all the palms in the world. It grows even in Washington DC. It's not a majestic palm or anything, but if groomed well can make a very attractive addition to most gardens. At first it grows quite symmetrically, from a single stem and looks a lot like a small Chinese Windmill Palm (Trachycarpus). But as it ages, suckers start to appear around it's edges, and, with time, it can form a formidable thicket. And the name Needle Palm is apt as it has many very long (up to 8") needle like projections arising around its base in a whorl pointing up. Though the 'needles' aren't as vicious as in many other palms, they are nonetheless spiny and can make removing seed or pruning a tricky procedure. Seeds are produced yearly in the spring, but are usually only fertile if fertilized by another Needle palm (dioecious)... occasionally ripe seed seems to form on a lone plant.