Palm trees in OKC

[Garin]

I seen a truck full of palm trees going down the highway on Friday and didn't think anything of it. Well yesterday I was at Marcums nursery and they had about fifty of them for sale. I didn't think a palm would survive in Oklahoma. Anyone have any better insight on this?

[Pete]

There are some palm trees that can tolerate freeze, called "hardy palms".

Oklahoma is primarily in climate zone 7 which is is about as far north as even the hardy varieties can be grown.

I'm sure if you get a particularly harsh winter that even hardy palms will parish.

[Urbanized]

If I recall, there used to be live palms at White Water Bay. But like Pete says, they will have a short life if here. Maybe a few years (assuming mild winters), but eventually a bad one will get them.

[BlackmoreRulz]

Cold Hardy Palm Trees Species For Colder Climates

[Jeepnokc]

I just did a bunch of research on this. Basically, one of the hardiest of the traditional palm tree (vs... palm shrub) is the windmill palm which is hardy to about 10 degrees. I had one that made it through winter before last but didn't make it this winter even though it was wrapped with heat tape. My yuccas are looking great though.

[bchris02]

Palmettos similar to what you see in inland South Carolina could probably make it in OKC if it wasn't for the occasional winter like 2013-14 where we get subzero temperatures. If every winter was fairly close to the climactic averages, I wouldn't see a problem. Charlotte has some palmettos and they seem to get by just fine, though you can tell they are stressed compared to the ones in Columbia a little farther south.

[Garin]

I would think ice would rip every leaf or branch off the dang thing

[Bunty]

Palmettos similar to what you see in inland South Carolina could probably make it in OKC if it wasn't for the occasional winter like 2013-14 where we get subzero temperatures. If every winter was fairly close to the climactic averages, I wouldn't see a problem. Charlotte has some palmettos and they seem to get by just fine, though you can tell they are stressed compared to the ones in Columbia a little farther south.

While it was an unusually cold winter, I don't recall that it got below zero in Oklahoma City last winter.

[Mel]

The aluminum ones work best in this climate.

[Wishbone]

I was in Dallas a few weeks ago and the in and burger has palm trees all over their lot. They didn't look real good, lots of brown.

[OKCisOK4me]

I lived in Missouri for three years and survived just fine there. Probably the hardiest of my branch...

[Urbanized]

While it was an unusually cold winter, I don't recall that it got below zero in Oklahoma City last winter.

No but we had several days between December 1 and March 1 when the overnight low was less than ten degrees, and a couple of days where the HIGH temperature was in that range. According to the info jeepnokc posted, that would be likely to kill even the hardiest variety of palm. Again, if someone plants a palm tree in OKC they might be able to enjoy it for a year or two or three, but they shouldn't get too attached to it.

If you want to enjoy palm trees in OKC, I'd recommend visiting the Crystal Bridge at MBG.

[Mississippi Blues]

A family that lives down the street from me had a palm "tree" of the chamaerops humilis variety and they completely disposed of it in the middle of this past winter.

[Just the facts]

Maybe someone is doing this with them.

[BG918]

I was in Dallas a few weeks ago and the in and burger has palm trees all over their lot. They didn't look real good, lots of brown.

There are quite a few palms in the Dallas area, all planted and non-native of course. It gets cold enough there to stress and kill some varieties in Zone 8 but not usually the same as we get a couple hundred miles to the north in Zone 7 (most of Oklahoma). They do even better in Houston, Austin and San Antonio which are all in the sub-tropical Zone 9.

[Tavia]

Marcums has planted a few in the front of their SW OKC location

[ultimatesooner]

I just did a bunch of research on this. Basically, one of the hardiest of the traditional palm tree (vs... palm shrub) is the windmill palm which is hardy to about 10 degrees. I had one that made it through winter before last but didn't make it this winter even though it was wrapped with heat tape. My yuccas are looking great though.

we had one of those for the past 4 years or so, in the winter we would wrap it in an old comforter and then put a trash bag over that to insulate it, it made it through the 3 prior winters but not this past one