Are they NUTZ!!!!!

Hi from Iowa, you know that state up north that gets -20F temps in winter and frozen ground.Well Holiday Inn decided for their newest hotel here, they needed some kind of ANGLE to draw customers. They ordered 40 Windmill palms (Trachy.) about 12' - 15 ' tall and planted them IN the ground OUTDOORS for a year round display. The grower in Ga. told him they would live overwinter in Iowa. LOL what a bunch of dummies. $35,000.00 worth of palms to just let them die this winter.They say they will wrap clear plastic with the little Xmas lites under neath to keep the trunks warm. LOL Trachy. windmill palms can take down to 5F for a VERY short period of time.Not a months worth.Ohhhh and get this, they build the hotel in an open expanse of country side where the wind blows most of the time.

What a waste of material and resources. They should have called someone from here that knows palms and tropicals first.Tsk Tsk Tsk.

:-)

I often think there ought to be an ASPCP.

lol well keep us posted as the winter approaches so we can see how long they last!

are you sure they aren't Washingtonias? Those can endure cold winters, at least I've heard they can.
Post up a pic if you can...

This message was edited Aug 20, 2008 11:26 AM

I think if there Windmill palms they should be able to survive.

I have washingtonias planted all over downtown, but they are in pots.Brought into the greenhouses for winter in late oct. They can only take down to about 18F for a very short time then the crown dies. Our winters range from heavy snow all winter(last year) and temps below zero to 30'sF daytime to teens at night.But NO palm will live in our frigid winters.Windchills of -25F can occur and the drying winds kill anything that won't take those conditions. We should start a pool !! when do you think they will die??? LOL I just wish they would give me about 10 of em to keep over to use downtown next year. **SIGH** I hate to see plants die unnecessarily.

Kyle :-)

Yes, your probally right now that I like at there cold hardiness. It ranges from zone 7 to 9. I just because I saw pics of it in the snow that it would survive. Post a photo if you can. I would like to see the before and after.

heres a pic from the article.In the Des Moines Register.

Nice size palms.

Too bad they will all die this winter.All 42 of em.

I think these are the palms http://members3.boardhost.com/HardyPalm/msg/1219105680.html

If you haven't already, you should write a letter to the Register and point out the error of Holiday Inn's ways. Tell 'em it won't matter if they wrap them in plastic and try to warm them with Xmas lites. Ask readers to write in with their guesses on when the trees will die. What a joke.

CEO's Too much money,...not enough brains!!

Kyle :-)

ha ha! LOL
http://www.voidspace.org.uk/gallery/dilbert/dilbert_ceo.gif

Bumping this up to see the results.
so how long did they actually last?

I wanna know, too!

Of course they were toast by spring, they were dead...DAID...dayed. Will post a pic later on. we had our coldest snowiest winter in 25 years last winter.

LOL

Kyle :-)

Were you able to tell the powers that be "I told ya so"? LOL!

Have they replaced them with anything?

Nan, Nope...no more palms for them.That was $35,000 bucks down the drain.This pic was from April.

Years back I was travelling in northern Germany in winter (although no snow at that time). At one of the seaside places they had palm trees in big pots near the beach. I thought it was a great idea. They were all plastic, so no fallen fronds to clean up, no watering needed, no chance they'd get oversized and need repotting, and no problem if they got a sudden cold snap and someone forget to get them into shelter. Now that's logical thinking you can't fault.

Well dumb is as dumb does... they replaced these trees again lately.About 10 of them on the east side of the building.I don't know if the grower replaced them under a quarantee or what.Just seems sooo stoopid to me!LOL LOL

Kyle :-)

Those palms are a very expensive seasonal display.

Wish I had those retards for clients.

I wish I had the money they wasted...I could fix my entire back yard all at once and still have plenty of money leftover!

They should be in large pots and taken inside somewhere for the winter then set back out in the spring.The area the hotel is in was just a few years ago a huge endless farm field. Now the wind whips thru there each winter till the new trees(other types) get established. DUMB DUMB DUMB DUMB..............
Kyle