what kind of protection does it get in the winter..it looks untouched.

Photo 2

Built a frame with plastic sheeting and wrapped it with stretch wrap, put a little brooder heater inside that kicks on if it drops below 32, and lots of rocks so when the inside heats up during the day it continues to warm it at night.

I'm impressed, that is exactly the way to do it. I have been using a regular ole space heater in my small greenhouse for years and it works great.

Nice! Here is a pic of mine. This will be its 7th summer in the ground. Where do u live at in Illinois?

Nice! Here is a pic of mine. This will be its 7th summer in the ground. Where do u live at in Illinois?

{{!gwi}}

Nice Trachys!

Thanks Jim. I also got a butia that has been in the ground going on its 6th summer. And of course my Washingtonia (if it recovers lol)

Looks beautiful! Glad to see palms thriving in that part of the country, they look really happy and they must be if they are blooming!
Thanks for sharing!
-Alex

Spataro51,

Wow that palm looks really happy! I am in New Lenox it's about 45 south of Chicago, last spring I went on Amazon.com and bought a bunch of different food spikes that palms love and put about 12 in the ground about a foot out from the trunk and then dumped a 50 lb bag of mushroom compost around the base and then topped that with mulch. Last year we unwrapped it to late and I missed the bloom there was only 1, but this year it just exploded!

I also have Basjoo bananas in the ground, they have been in the ground for about 10 years now, we just slice them even with the ground in early Oct. layer leaves on top and throw a bag of mulch on top of that, rack it off at the end of April and by Sept they are huge, attached is a pick of last Sept. grove.

For the bananas I do the same thing, after I rake off the mound I sprinkle miracle grow pellets on top, throw a bag of mushroom compost on top of that and they just explode! The grove gets bigger every year.

I lost 2 Trachys before I found the secret to keep them in Illinois, as long as you keep them dry and give them room to breath they are fine with the cold, I tried the wrapping thing but it failed because the moisture got into the wrapping and then froze. Sometimes the house would drop down to the 20s and the tree was fine because it was dry.

Beautiful basjoos! Mine come back up every year without any extra care but get crowded by my other tropicals and never amount to much.
-Alex

Congrats on the bloom! You've taken really good care of your Windmill.