If you are 6b, it should not be that difficult with a microclimate. Have a relatively protected site by the house? I have minors and minors 'Louisiana' but got careless about labeling so don't know which is which. I would not recommend any palm as a die back perennial though. You can always protect. There are people here that are growing Sabals and more tender Washintonia in MONTREAL!

Birmingham is also supposed to be quite hardy.

I have the west side of my house open, so that I could plant along the foundation. Not sure if that would be more beneficial than planting on the east side of my garage that wouldn't have a basement-foundation warming effect.

Another thing to consider is on the west side, there would be some shade. I've read mixed opinions of whether sabals like shade. The east side of my garage is much sunnier, but again, no foundation to warm the roots.

The ground here does freeze. Can a 7-15 gallon size handle the ground freezing?

My seedlings seen 1.6F this yr with no damage and no mulch. So I would say that they can handle the ground freezing and they can handle some shade given enough summer heat ( they are sabal somethings ).

I would suggest the east side of your garage is probably a better choice because it will be sheltered from howling northwest winds during cold outbreaks. These winds can wreak havoc on frozen palm fronds( I have personally seen this problem with a large Sabal minor 'McCurtain' that takes significant frond damage on the southwest side of my house due to wind damage at my home in southern Cape May County, NJ Zone 7b) The 'McCurtain' Sabal minor has eight foot spikes each summer! Another Sabal of unnamed provenance from Monrovia is growing away from the house, suffers much less frond damage from winter winds.

Im no expert, so please forgive me if i say anything that sounds dumb or just plane doesnt sound rightat all.

But... from the research ive done on sabal minors, i have noticed that a lot of people just go with protecting them for the first few winters that they are in the ground, then they are good to go.

In my opinion, if you wanna keep your palms alive then i would recommend protecting them every winter, because you just never quite know with our zones. For example, two days ago where i live our high was 40f, today we reached a record high of 66f. So you just never know, but it would defiantly suck losing a palm that youve taken care of for years.

On the other hand, its always fun to experiment with new things!

Good Luck my friend!

Its not dumb at all, they are some kind of sabal hybrid. And if you receive your plant bare root you do want protect it until its a mature plant. Give the roots time to grow. But after that it will be hardy to 0F and tolerant to many conditions.

I have 2 with strap fronds that are suffering terribly this winter. 3 others with mature fronds are holding their own. Not as hardy as normal minors yet. But not as large either ( at least not yet ).