Sounds like you've got the general idea,1.petticoat could'nt hurt but may make your task as far as winter protection more difficult-2.coil method will work but should also include burlap rap,house insulation and semi-permenant plastic winter rap-3. wrapped up with coils,burlap,insulation and plastic wrap,also leave one leaf (cut back if to big)and the spear wrapped pointing up wrap at least one layer of burlap around leaves to keep them from baking in sun,also a 30F on thermostat 40F off heavy mulch and leaves on mulch at least a foot high and half the hgt wide-4.They will get a little more cold tolerant after afew yrs(the ones you plant)I would not bother with the ones you don't plant,you risk freezing the roots and stunting them before you bring them in,just go all in with a couple (2-3) of your biggest and healthest the first year and learn what you can rather then risk them all,use your others for backup in case of probs-5.Coarse sand compost and your soil should work fine (eqaul parts) just make sure the soils a little loose so the roots can spread out easy and give them (the roots) plenty of room maybe a hole 3 times size of root ball at least-6. Plant up your first couple end of april,one thing thats critical is a hardening off period after first frost (in fall) which means witholding water so new growth toughens up for winter which means covering soil with a tarp etc,generally temps below 20F damage is possible and I would not subject plants coming inside anyway to that cold of temps cuz it just shuts them down and they need to readjust anyway.-7.spray spear and trunk with fungicide before wrapping up use a remote sensor thermo to monitor your lowest and highest temps within insulation I wonder what long term survival of W.filifera is with this method? it needs 5600 gdd during growing season so I wonder if a decline mode is in its future with it needing to grow a new crown every year,but thats what us zone pushers are here to find out!The main thing is to have fun and learn,good luck and let us all know how you make out!

One or two other points; hardening off period may not be as critical with this method but keeping dry should be the plan as weather cools in fall,filifera is pretty wind tolerant once established and temps of 90 to well in the 100s right up filiferas alley,they grow all over the desert its amazing what W.filifera and other desert palms can tolerate wind, dry air,heat,cold and lack of rainfall the question is can they take being scalped every year and growing back?One person who could answer this is iowapalms he's had a couple for 3? or 4? years now I have not seen any recent pics from him and the last pics I saw his palms looked like they may have been in decline(I hope this is not the case)his washys always looked healthy by june or earlier but his last pics that I saw in august did'nt look as good I hope I'm wrong about this but he started with some 10 footers and they may have taken a few years to ware down I wonder if smaller ones would have a better chance anyone have a few years experience with this method?

Sampson101 look up iowapalms in the search box,still a couple of old pics from 2006 I think,try e-mailing him maybe we can get him to post more pics of all his palms etc last I heard he had sabals needles and basjoo bananas worth a try!

Sampson,
If you ever make it to Wichita,let me know your coming,I have several palms in the ground,with some type of protection,actually 4 different kinds,experimenting to find which is the best.
They were all looking pretty good until this last freeze and snow storm,we went down to zero and it burnt all the leaves on most of my palms,the ones that didn't get burnt were the pindo,Trachy fort,sabal minor.
The ones that really got burnt bad,was the sago,Trachy waggies,Washy Filf, and the washy robustas.
At this point in time not even sure which ones will even make a come back this spring,it seems though the older plants were better at staying healthy than the seedlings a year or so old.
Don

Sampson,
First, I have been by Don's, and he does a GREAT job of growing palms in Kansas. It is amazing.
Second, I tried to grow a Robusta last Winter and had average luck. I protected, and I think if I had used a fungaside (sp?), it would have worked.
I am in Topeka btw.

Awesome Don, I'll have to stop by and see your specimens soon!