Sabal Species, Blue Palm, Bluestem Palmetto, Dwarf Palmetto, Louisiana Palmetto

Sabal minor survived underneath 1-2 feet of snow for over a month here in zone 6b Detroit, Michigan.

Two of them, in fact....Read More One that was a bit more exposed (some fronds peeked out from underneath the drifts) has some cold damage (-9F was our lowest low, with about 6 nights below zero) compared to the one that was completely buried in the snow until I partially dug it out this morning (3/10/15), which looks almost flawless.

Aside from snow, both got a healthy 6-8" blanket of black mulch (wood chips) in November and a covering of dry(ish) maple leaves, 6" for the semi-exposed Sabal and 12" for the completely covered one.

Sabal minor is doing very well in my zone 7a coastal Connecticut garden.

Planted 4 years ago, and while some fronds burn ...Read Morein winter, it always grows 3 or so new fronds each growing season. My sabal took the severe winter of 2013/2014 (worst in at least 15 years) with a low of 3 F with about 40% of fronds burned, but still put up 3 new fronds this past summer. From observations in nearby Long Island and coastal New Jersey, Sabal minor seems to be the best bet for a palm in the Tri-State (NY/NJ/CT) area.

Should be planted on a SHELTERED south side location out of cold northwest winds, and given fertilizer during the growing season. Water well first growing season to encourage deep roots below the frost line.

I live in North Georgia in the Appalachian mountains, these things grow great here. I started with a 5 gallon about 5 years ago. It has ...Read Morenever been damaged by the Winter cold, snow, ice, temps down to 10F.

Actually this largest one has been going to seed for the last few years, and I've been randomly poking the seeds into the ground around my property, where they tend to come up the next year- even the tiny one,two leaf seedlings are undamaged by the cold.

I have one other sabal minor that is in a very exposed place and it has gotten some damage- burnt leaves- but every year it replaces anything burnt the winter before.

The Sabal Minor or Dwarf Palmetto is an extremely tough palm that can be planted in zone 6b with some natural protection and will eventua...Read Morel winterize.

I bought two Sabal Minors in May and June of 2013. A medium size one and a very small one. Here in Northern Maryland, we have hot humid summers so growth isn't a problem. However, this winter was the worst in about 20 years. There were about three dips to 0 degrees F, another dip to about 3 degrees F, and there were many days where the daytime high temperature never got above freezing. (This is what causes the most damage to palms.) The cold also continued well into March which is rather unusual.

Despite the winter from hell, both of the sabal minors, even the small one, survived the winter. Both of the palms totally defoliated due to the cold but had mostly recovered by the end of the summer. They were the only type of palms that survived that I own. My windmill palm and even my needle palm did not make it.

The palms were going to need some sort of protection for the winter so I created a fence made of chicken wire around them and filled the area with leaves and straw. The palms spent most of the winter covered (Occasionally I would uncover them if the weather was decent so they could get sun) It is my belief that palms should be protected with natural products and not some type of material. It seems to have worked well even with the winter being as terrible as it was. I plan on putting less protection on them this winter because they should be more hardy. Eventually they should be able to survive without winter protection.

I planted a Sabal Minor "Louisiana" in my Zone 7A garden three years ago in Central Oklahoma. I bought the palm at a local nursery in a f...Read Moreive-gallon container. I planted it along a south-facing fence in full sun. It's put on a frond or two each year and is approaching four-feet tall. I left it unprotected during a rare cold snap that got down to three degrees this past winter and suffered some leaf tip damage, but the spear and base of the plant remained green and healthy. I threw a blanket over it any other night that got into the mid-teens (which isn't really necessary, but I babied it a little bit after the initial damage).

Overall for the Minor "Louisiana", I've had no problem over-wintering it here and it's shooting up it's first seed stalk this spring.

I also added a small McCurtain about a year ago and covered it with leaves and mulch through the unusually cold 2013-14 winter, and it made it through fine.

I'm trying another "McCurtain" and a "Birmingham" on south-facing structures this year, and am also giving a Chinese Windmill Palm a shot.

These palms are all extremely hardy and will survive any winter Oklahoma can throw at them. Especially if you:
1. Plant on south-facing fence or structure
2. Mulch heavily in the winter
3. Provide plentiful water during drought (Minors are very drought tolerant, but in their native range they receive ample rainfall)
4. Cover with a light blanket if temps are expected to drop into the single digits for more than a few hours (very rare in Oklahoma).

I would highly recommend Sabal Minor up to Zone 7 and especially in Oklahoma where the palm thrives in our hot, long summers and relatively mild winters. I've seen these plants in their native habitat in extreme southern McCurtain County, Okla. and as a native Okie take great pride in knowing that this wonderful tropical extends its range all the way in to our state. Great, great plant!

Read more: http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/92706/#ixzz30ZHT3wQj

Grew 50 Louisiana's from seed about twelve years ago and planted in ground about 9 years ago once established. Some of the faster growi...Read Moreng plants had reached frond heights of 5 feet on my west facing wall. The winter of 2014 finally reminded me that I live in Canada. I lost 7 of 10 in one garden and the three remaining really took a beating. Very disappointing to see them go. I am certain that they were the only true sabal's growing in the area naturally (zone 6b niagara).

You can just about grow these anywhere. I havent done anything other than water/fertilize and just watch it slowly grow! *note its a rea...Read Morel sloooowww grower.

Dwarf palmetto is a very underrated landscape plant since it doesn't usually form a trunk above the ground, however they add a great trop...Read Moreical look when planted under larger trees. Sabal minor is one of a few palms hardy enough to survive here in Eastern Maryland (zone 7). In fact, they seem to thrive here without any damage in an average winter. All Sabals are very sensitive to transplanting, so be careful not to mess with any of the roots, especially when growing these in colder areas because a healthy root system will make a more cold hardy plant. They grow very slow, but faster with hot and humid summer conditions, since they are native to the Southeastern USA. If you are looking for a "trunking" version, try the Louisiana palmetto, which has appeared to be just as cold hardy as the standard dwarf palmetto in this area. It will take many years to form a sizable trunk so be patient.

UPDATE: 2014 was the coldest winter in decades for this area and temperatures were near 0F on about 5 nights and wind chill was as low as -30F. Some highs were as low as 12F and did not rise above freezing for weeks on a few occasions. All of my Sabal Minors were nearly flawless with only small browning of the tips of the leaves. I highly recommend these palms for the Delmarva area.

UPDATE:2015 was an even colder winter than 14', yet all sabal minors survived and although some had considerable browning of the leaves, a few were nearly flawless.

Other palms that have been reliably successful in this area: Needle palm (rhapidophyllum hystrix) and other variations of sabals including Sabal Louisiana, Sabal Brazoria, Sabal Birmingham and others.

I planted a 5 gallon plant about 3-4 years ago and had some slight damage the first winter here in the Appalachian mountains zone 7B/8A. ...Read More
Since then though, it has received no damage and even went to seed for the first time last year.

I took the seed and stuck them in the ground in various places around my property- woods, out in the open, near a pond,etc.
and just this week I noticed 2-3 inch tall babies in all of these places.
Some I planted in pots are just a bit larger.
(So, about a year to germinate if planted directly in the ground for me)

I also have a larger specimen planted in the open in full sun and it looks very healthy.

I don't see any reason that these couldn't naturalize in this area. Th coldest temperatures they've seen here is about 11F in the last few years.

The picture I just posted (1/23/13) pretty well illustrates that give appropriate care, this can be a beautiful plant.

This is an update to my previous post in 2011. So far this plant has been in the ground for 3 years in Martinsburg, West Virginia (6b) a...Read Morend has done better than even my Needle Palms. This plant has had, at most, only minor tip burn. While it is planted near the house it is not protected from the cold winter winds. This plant has set seed twice for me. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this plant if you are into trying out palms in marginal climates. It is tremendously slow growing but when people think you can't grow palms where you live it doesn't matter.

I've been growing sables for about 5 years in mt Juliet tn, they have survived a week of temps where the low was 5deg and the high wa...Read Mores in the mid 20 (winter of 2010) this same winter I lost a Trap, and the spear pulled from a sable louisana which to my joy survived and now has a 8" trunk and stands 3 ft tall. Sable are slow to grow from seed so obtain the largest you can. My sable estonia has bloomed the last two years in a row I removed the flower stalk this year in hopes for the plants energy to be focused on growth. The seeds that were produced in 2011 I removed and tossed them into the woods behind my house, although I have found 3 seedlings at the base of the parent plant I have not looked in the woods to see if they have tried to naturalize. Currently I have a assortment of 15 sables in the ground ranging from 5 winter old to two. Growth is slow until the second full fan leaf is produced at which time they will speed up if it is warm and wet, I get between 2 and 7 leaves in most growing seasons but I do fertilize by weekly until mid aug at which point I let them harden for the cool moist fall.
I'll upload pictures later

I live in zone 7 Paducah ky. The dwarf palmetto has proven to be the hardiest of all my palms. I have 7 growing in my yard. I also have ...Read More4 windmill palms, 2 sago, 3 needle palms, 3 pindo palms, 1 sable birmingham and 4 yucca rostrata. I've lost a pindo palm and a few windmills over the last 6 years. I've not lost any dwarf palmettos. They look as good in February as they do in July. The Sabal Birmingham seems to be more hardy then my Windmills also. Based on my experience. I would rate the dwarf palmettos hardier than the needle palms. They tend to grow faster if u keep them moist and look better if they're not grown in full sun but still do well there.

I have to say in Indiana there not very many palm growers. sabal Minor is a Huge winner in my eyes. Low Growing Palms that's insanely Har...Read Moredy. It does the job in my Zone 6a. I have many most of them are small palms. Other than the Slow growth them its for the best they have that. I Seen one of the Underground Trunks.

I planted a large Louisiana Palmetto in my yard (zone 6b) near to the house but not smack dab against it. It pulled through the winter m...Read Morearvelously! There are a few leaf tips that have browned, but that's it! The spears are solid and the plant looks wonderful.

I must admit that I was surprised that it did so well. The only protection I gave it was some leaf litter. In the fall (late November) I piled some dried leaves from the yard over it...but it only covered the part of the plant closest to the ground. Most of the plant was exposed...increasingly so as the wind blew away many of the leaves over the winter.

I am highly impressed with the performance of this plant. I plan to try another specimen of this plant to see if it does as well as the one I have!

Native to the southeastern United States. It's slow growing but can become quite a pest when established. Much of the untamed, swampy l...Read Moreands of eastern Texas are filled with dwarf palmettos, sometimes farmers simply mow them with tractors or burn them to stunt their growth...but the palms grow back quickly. Tends to look like a short tangled mess when growing in the sun...when grown in shade it is much more attractive. Doesn't like to be disturbed after it has established itself, so digging them from the wild tends to be unsuccessful. It is extremely frost tolerate, every wild dwarf palmetto growing on my property survived the hard freeze of 1989 when the temperature dropped to 11 °F.

I have a sabal minor growing in Warfordsburg, PA (zone 6b) with no protection since 2006. Some winters the fronds die back to the ground ...Read Moreother winters some make it through but the palm comes back every spring.

This palm is a very common understory plant in the wet coastal regions of South Carolina, where it receives very little sunlight. My hus...Read Moreband found a small single fan in the back of our property years ago and moved it several times. It now resides near the base of an oak tree, where it quickly developed additional fans, then surprised us with a couple of seed stalks in late May 2009. We didn't know the name of this palm until today.

Near 0 deg. F. here in Roanke Va a couple of weeks ago, with no damage to the three of these I have, all unprotected and all in different...Read More areas on the property, with none near the house.

I have never lived anywhere warm enough that palms were a good idea. So for that exotic look I have always liked Palmettos. Slow growing ...Read Morebut very tough plants, cold hardy, and the same look as Spanish Bayonet without the danger. I planted several in Houston, they loved the wet, heavy clay soil, and mockingbirds loved the seeds. They were also occasionally to be seen wild in East Texas dry woods. Now I see densely packed trunkless Palmettos growing wild in low wet woodlands in Augusta, GA, and five foot trunks along the Atlantic coast. Of course it is the state tree of SC and appears on their flag, figuring in the patriot victory at Ft Moultrie.

I have a volunteer in my dry shady clay back yard, it is growing slowly - after 2-3 years just beginning to think about throwing up a five inch hand. A neighbor has some volunteers as well which seem to be pretty tough, she parks her trash can on top of one of them.

Working in front of some bulldozers, I dug up half a dozen from the wild and planted them deep in another back yard for a mysterious exotic look. Even on the youngest specemins the corms were a foot down in the muck. They are now in shallow craters that hopefully will accumulate water - the reverse of what would be recommended for any other plant in this clay soil. So far half are doing well. I suspect it will be many years - decades? if ever before they get trunks. I would have liked them in the front yard as well, but need something that will grow quicker.

If you can pick and choose it may not be your first choice, but if palms are a stretch in your area, give the palmetto a look.

I have had this growing on the south side of my house for 4 years now (Z7). I have never covered it with anything, just 6" of mulch arou...Read Morend the base. Have never lost a single leaf to the cold. Lovely bluish-green leaves.

According to Tony Avent of Plant Delights Nursery, The Mc Curtain county, OK form of this palm seems to be hardier than the Needle Palm, ...Read Moreand Logan Calhoun, whom he bought his first seeds from, reported that a number of seedlings planted in Wichita, KS survived winter temps of -24 deg F, and are producing seeds. Now if only these remarkable plants were more readily available (Plant Delights Nursery sells them as fast as they can grow them).

Update #1: I have managed to purchase two 1-gallon plants from Gerry's Jungle, and planted them in an area that is semi-shaded, near a natural seep that stays moist all year (even in our worst droughts). The palmettos are doing well thus far, but we'll see how they handle the winters around here. I'll be updating this comment next spring.

Update #2: Wow, I guess I've been slacking off, but as of June 2012, both plants I got from Gerry's Jungle are alive and kicking, but suffering due to currently being planted in too much shade. I'm currently purchasing my own place, and will attempt to move them. Definitely reccommend S. minor for colder climates!

I did not like this palm at the begining. I went to the Nursery several times but I did not even look at it. The reason was, it forms no ...Read Moretrunk forever! Until now, afterI got all the trunking Palms like Takils, Fortunei and Wagners all planted, I knew something was missing. I needed some bushy to be plant around the Trunked Palm. It could also use as a edge plant. It works perfect for the landscaping without spending a lot of time and money. A main theme of the tropical garden actually form like this.
It was very hard to make the decision to choose between Oklahoma Sabal Minor or T. Nannus (Yunnan Drawft Palm).
I finally got one T. Nannus for fun collection and majority of the bush, edges went by Oklahoma Sabal Minor. It's a native plant, unbelivable that you can find wild palm trees in such outbacked inland of America. There is only Mccurtain county has it, no where else. Many palm lovers try to go find it in that county but failed. The key is you need to go in either winter of fall when all the weeds are dead to make it uncovered to be seen.
I personally recommand not to get Sabal Louisiana, a variety of Sabal Minor which is much more easy to get than Oklahoma Sabal Minor. Sabal Louisiana grows tall, up to 10 feet. You will not able to see the trunk in 10 years. The trunk is ugly like an old spiky chimney.

The one that I like is Sabal Minor Mccurtain County Oklahoma form.

I can tell you that the Sabal minor is much hardier than one may think. The S. minor is cold hardy to temperatures as low as -5deg.F suff...Read Moreering from little if any damage. This palm can be grown in zones 6b - 10. I live in extreme southern Illinois(USDA zone 7a as indicated by the map on this webpage). In my yard on the south wall, I have two S. minors successfully growing. My Sabal minors were purchased from a palm nursery in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The seeds of the two specimens were collected from a native cold hardy population growing in northeastern Texas. As far as appearence, I enjoy the clumping form of the palm, it adds a "deep south" look to a northern garden. In places like Miami, the S. minor may not look very attractive growing next to a Cocos nucifera, but it looks great here!

Personally, from a palm collector point of view, this is my least favorite of all palms. It rarely, if ever forms any trunk and tends to...Read More looks scrubby/messy all the time. Whenever we go to the palm auctions here in So Cal, and someone has a Sabal sp., it invariably ends up being one of these.

I love Sabals, but this is not my favorite. Even S etonia, another native of this area, has more interesting leaves, being more costapalmate and generaly more green (though S minor is a variable species that can be green as green can be in some individuals... yellow-green is not all the uncommon, either). It must be said this is an incredibly easy palm to germinate, though, and a prolific seed producer. Plants just 5-6 years old in the ground in Southern California (U.S.) are already making viable seed, remarkable for a Sabal (usually takes 15+ years for the other species to do that).

Another way to tell it from S etonia, the other trunkless Sabal, is this one has inflorescences that extend far beyond the leaves, while those of S etonia do not. THese also tend to shoot straight up in the air, while S etonias are more arching and bend towards the earth.

This interesting, small native palm grows in large patches under old live oak trees on my six acre property in Northcentral Florida, zone...Read More 8b. It grows near the road and driveways, where it can get some sun during the day. It is "a very fine dwarf palm with glaucous, silvery-green, fan-shaped leaves, almost circular in outline, and deeply and geometrically cut into 20 or 30 segments," which is a quote from an English seed catalog. The Europeans seem to value our American native plants as landscape specimens much more than we do--the grass is always greener?

This plant is highly variable, due to genetics. Its native range is the coastal plain of the Atlantic states and the states along the Gulf of Mexico, and the varieties grow larger from East to West, with some specimens in Texas found growing as tall as 18 feet--of course, they are in Texas. My plants seem to top out at about six feet. Sabal minor is touted in the plant trade as being the hardiest palm, and often pictured under snowfall. Coldhardiness is also genetically determined, with plants from its northernmost range being the most hardy, and it is grown as a landscape plant as far north as Rhode Island.

In the trade it has various named varieties: 'Louisiana' is often named as the smallest dwarf palmetto, but there is a variety that grows to only two feet or so from Southeastern Oklahoma. The LSU agricultural center has done extensive genetic research and found that Dwarf Palmetto can live to be over 400 years old! The plant was first described by LeClercq in an account of LaSalle's explorations of the Mississippi River valley. There is another small form at about three feet square called 'Hill Country Form' that is from "remnant populations existing along and near water growing in and out of limestone rock in the baking Texas sun."

In Florida the Dwarf Palmetto grows naturally in about half of the counties, mainly in the northern parts of the state, in the understory of deciduous woodland. In the trade it is often confused with Sabal etonia, the Scrub Palmetto, which is another dwarf fan palm that perfers the dry pineland and sand pine scrubs of Central Florida. You can easily tell the difference because Sabal minor does not have the stringlike filaments that develop along the edges of the leaves of Sabal etonia.

The native people found many uses for this plant, from roofing material to cooking to medicine. It has an interesting underground trunk, so appears trunkless until it reaches a certain size, genetically determined of course, and the white flower inflorescence is sweetly fragrant and bears small, shiny deep blue fruit after flowering.

It is readily propagated from seed, but seed should be sown as soon as possible, as dried seed is much more difficult to propagate. Seedlings should be grown out in a pot for a year or two as young plants have not developed their legendary coldhardiness. Siting can be problematic, as it likes it's head in the sun and it's feet near the water, or at least a wet site. It can be grown as an inpenetrable border, or as a tall ground cover under oaks. It is not known to be invasive and has no known serious pests.