20 Cold Hardy Palm Trees for Freezing Weather

Lady Palm (Rhapis excelsa)

The lady palm, also known as the bamboo palm, is a smallish, shrubby evergreen palm with bamboo-like stems. This shade-loving species has dark-green, fan-shaped leaves and is very easy to grow. It can withstand temperatures down to 18 degrees Fahrenheit. It grows well as an indoor palm, a foundation plant, or in mixed shrub borders in shady locations.

• Native Area: Southern China, Taiwan
• USDA Growing Zones: 9a–11a
• Height: 6–15 feet
• Sun Exposure: Partial, full

Puerto Rican Thatch Palm (Coccothrinax alta)

The Puerto Rican thatch palm, sometimes called the Barbados silver palm, is a palmate-leaved tree that can tolerate temperatures of 28–30 degrees Fahrenheit. if the cold temperatures are limited in duration. It does well in salt-wind conditions, making it a good choice for beachside landscaping.

• Native Area: Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands
• USDA Growing Zones: 9–11
• Height: 12–25 feet
• Sun Exposure: Full

Date Palm (Phoenix dactylifera)

This pinnate-leaved species is a classic palm tree with a tall trunk and arching, feather-like fronds. Female trees produce creamy yellow flowers followed by edible fruits. It's hardy down to 15 degrees Fahrenheit. The date palm is one of the oldest—and most important—cultivated palm trees. It's a frequent sight in urban landscapes, and there are also cold hardy dwarf cultivars that make good indoor specimens.

• Native Area: Unknown (probably Fertile Crescent region of the Middle East)
• USDA Growing Zones: 8–11
• Height: 50–80 feet (dwarf cultivars also available)
• Sun Exposure: Full

Queen Palm (Syagrus romanzoffiana)

The queen palm is a pinnate-leaved tree that will tolerate temperatures down to 20 degrees Fahrenheit. It has a smooth gray trunk topped with feathery fronds of dark green leaves that droop into an attractive canopy. It's a common street-side tree as well as a yard tree, though it requires frequent removal of dead leaves and acidic soil to avoid stunted leaves.

• Native Area: South America
• USDA Growing Zones: 9b–11b
• Height: 25–50 feet
• Sun Exposure: Full

Everglades Palm (Acoelorrhaphe wrightii)

The Everglades palm is a medium-sized tree that can survive temperatures as low as 20 degrees Fahrenheit. This species forms a cluster of slender trunks topped with tufts of fan-shaped leaves. The Everglades palm, also known as the Paurotis palm, is a good option for beach areas, as this plant tolerates salty spray and sandy soil.

• Native Area: Central America, Mexico, Caribbean
• USDA Growing Zones: 9–11
• Height: 16–23 feet
• Sun Exposure: Full

California Fan Palm (Washingtonia filifera)

A popular landscape tree in the Southwest, the California fan palm has a moderate growth rate and survives temperatures as low as 15 to 20 degrees Fahrenheit, though young trees are more cold-sensitive. With regular trimming of old fronds, this species, also known as the desert fan palm, is among the most attractive of all palms.

• Native Area: Southwestern U.S., Baja California
• USDA Growing Zones: 9a–11
• Height: 50–65 feet
• Sun Exposure: Full

Cabbage Palm (Sabal palmetto)

Like all palms described as "palmettos," the cabbage palm is a great smaller tree, with a single trunk from which the large leaves emerge. It is hardy down to 10 to 15 degrees Fahrenheit. A costapalmate-leaved tree, with both palmate and pinnate leaves, this species is very strong and quite resistant to wind. It is the state tree of both South Carolina and Florida.

• Native Area: Southeastern U.S.
• USDA Growing Zones: 8b–11
• Height: 30–50 feet
• Sun Exposure: Full, partial

Chinese Fan Palm (Livistona chinensis)

The Chinese fan palm is one of the most cold hardy tropical plants. It has a single gray-brown trunk topped by a dense crown of fan-shaped leaves that droop downward in a fountain-like appearance, which is why it's also called the fountain palm. The leaves are very large, up to 5 feet across, ranging from bluish-green to olive green in color. This hardy palm tree, which will tolerate temperatures down to 20 degrees Fahrenheit, is very popular in the southern states and as far north as Oklahoma.

Because of its moderate size, it can also be grown as a potted specimen. The Chinese fan palm eventually becomes a fast-growing cold hardy palm tree; After its first decade as a slow grower, the palm grows quickly at half a foot a year.

• Native Area: China, southern Japan
• USDA Growing Zones: 9a–11
• Height: 20–30 feet
• Sun Exposure: Full, partial

European Fan Palm (Chamaerops humilis)

This bushy evergreen palm is a very tough plant that can survive temperatures as low as 5 degrees Fahrenheit. The European fan palm grows as a clump of trunks that lean out from the center, topped with clusters of fan-shaped leaves. This is a slow-growing tree (no more than 5 inches a year), making it an excellent potted plant or "shrub" palm.

• Native Area: Southern Europe, Mediterranean
• USDA Growing Zones: 8b–11
• Height: 10–15 feet
• Sun Exposure: Full, partial

Mexican Fan Palm (Washingtonia robusta)

Hardy down to 20 degrees Fahrenheit, the Mexican fan palm is a popular indoor and outdoor tree. It has a single trunk topped with arching, fan-shaped leaves that grow up to 5 feet long. Unless you trim this palm tree regularly, the dead leaves will form a characteristic "hula skirt" around the trunk. It has moderate drought tolerance but grows much faster when given adequate water.

• Native Area: Desert regions of Mexico
• USDA Growing Zones: 9a–11
• Height: 40–60 feet
• Sun Exposure: Full

Saw Palmetto (Serenoa repens)

The saw palmetto is one of the most cold-hardy of all palms, known to survive temperatures dipping down to zero. This is a short, shrubby plant that grows in a ground cover fashion with stems that sprout from underground rhizomes. The large palm-shaped leaves have saw-like teeth along the edges, lending the plant its common name.

• Native Area: Florida
• USDA Growing Zones: 8–11
• Height: 3–6 feet
• Sun Exposure: Full, partial

Bismark Palm (Bismarckia nobilis)

The Bismarck palm is a festive evergreen tree with stiff, steely blue fronds and a trunk that has a crisscross design from splitting leaf bases. It will tolerate very infrequent freezes down to as low as 15 to 25 degrees Fahrenheit. Though it's a popular palm in Florida and south Texas, it's also found as far north in the west as Oregon (zone 8b) and east as Georgia (zone 8a).

• Native Area: Madagascar
• USDA Growing Zones: 10-11
• Height: 40-70 feet
• Sun Exposure: Full to partial

Mexican Blue Palm (Brahea armata)

Mexican blue palm has a lovely blue hue to its long, fan-shaped fronds. The palm can survive during short periods that go as low as 18 degrees Fahrenheit and as a plus, holds up to strong winds. The palm has more positive characteristics for cold weather regions: it does not survive in humid conditions and it does not attract pests or diseases.

• Native Area: Baja California/Mexico
• USDA Growing Zones: 9-11
• Height: 20-50 feet
• Sun Exposure: Full

Guadalupe Palm (Brahea edulis)

Guadalupe palm is a slow-growing, attractive tree with a thick trunk supporting shiny bluish-green fronds. This palm blooms with dangling fragrant white flowers which then produce small, edible fruits. It's a good palm for coastal and desert locations because it is wind, salt, and drought tolerant. The tree can grow in states with temperatures that infrequently go down to 20 degrees Fahrenheit.

• Native Area: Mexico
• USDA Growing Zones: 9-11
• Height: 20-50 feet
• Sun Exposure: Full

Jelly Palm (Butia capitata)

The jelly palm, also called the pindo palm, is a small tree and considered one of the hardiest of the cold hardy palms. It has blue-green to grayish palms that arch inward towards the trunk which results in a weeping appearance. This palm has showy orange-yellow flowers and edible fruits that taste like pineapple. This salt-tolerant and drought-resistant palm can survive sporadic bouts of temperatures down into the single digits and has been spotted growing as far north as the challenging coastal areas of New Jersey.

• Native Area: Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina
• USDA Growing Zones: 9-11
• Height: 10-20 feet
• Sun Exposure: Full, partial

Chestnut Dioon (Dioon edule)

The slow-growing chestnut dioon, also known as virgin palm, is an unusual palm with a short, thick trunk exhibiting a single rosette that opens to straight, stiff blue-green pinnate leaves that reach 6 feet long. It produces large seed cones that have edible seeds. The drought- and salt-tolerant palm survives rare occasions when temperatures tumble down to 22 degrees Fahrenheit.

• Native Area: Mexico
• USDA Growing Zones: 9-11
• Height: 6-8 feet
• Sun Exposure: Full, partial

Chilean Wine Palm (Jubaea chilensis)

Chilean wine palm is a huge and striking ornamental tree in the landscape. It's a slow-growing evergreen with a massive trunk and dense crown of about 50 large pinnate leaves that reach 15 feet in length and are further divided into more leaflets. Purple and yellow flowers in the summer give way to edible yellow fruits, but only on very mature trees that are 50 years old. Once established, this palm handles itself well in 7-degree Fahrenheit temperatures and it's tolerant of cold, moisture, frost, and drought. The Chilean wine palm has been known to grow as far north as Seattle and in southern regions of Canada.

• Native Area: Chile
• USDA Growing Zones: 8-11
• Height: 60-80 feet
• Sun Exposure: Full
  

Canary Island Date Palm (Phoenix canariensis)

The Canary Island date palm is massive, but it is one palm that can also grow in a pot to temper its size. Overwintering the potted tree is one way that it can be grown in USDA zone 8b, where temps dip to 15 to 20 degrees Fahrenheit. This majestic palm has long feather-like fronds, but the lower half of the stems are prickly with longish sharp spines that make it necessary to wear protective gear when handling.

• Native Area: Canary Islands
• USDA Growing Zones: 9-11
• Height: 40-60 feet
• Sun Exposure: Full

Needle Palm (Rhapidophyllum hystrix)

Needle palm is considered one of the most cold hardy palms because it can withstand temperatures that go as low as -5 to -15 degrees Fahrenheit. Though it's rated for USDA zones 6-11, it can grow in zone 5. It's found in Alaska, Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Tennessee, and other chilly states. You may not recognize the tree as a palm, though, because it is more shrubby and doesn't have a trunk, but rather grows slender stems out of a single base. Spines between leaves protect the plant from animals.

• Native Area: South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi
• USDA Growing Zones: 6-10
• Height: 3-6 feet
• Sun Exposure: Full, partial

Chinese Windmill Palm (Trachycarpus fortunei)

The Chinese windmill palm is one of the most cold hardy trees, able to survive freezing temperatures as low as 10 degrees Fahrenheit. It's grown successfully in the chilly Pacific Northwest as well as across in icy New York State in zones 5 to 7. This slow-to-moderate growing evergreen has fan-shaped leaves that are 3 feet in length.

• Native Area: Asia
• USDA Growing Zones: 8a-11 
• Height: 10-40 feet
• Sun Exposure: Partial shade