I just bought one off Ebay a few weeks ago. It's a parajubaea torallyi. It's in a pot right now and I'm planting it in the ground in a few weeks. I heard they do well with cooler weather and hate hot/humid weather. So they should grow well in our climate.

Thanks. That's sort of what I was hoping. Trachys do great for me here, even had a lot of luck overwintering them in the past, except for the da**ed voles. They grow vigorously even when its cold -- in fact, I've had trachy leaves go into the winter as spears and come out of the wrapping in the spring fully expanded.

I've been looking at the e-bay plants as well. I really shouldn't (they're pretty pricey), but I want one the worst kind of way.

Dennis
SE Michigan

Here in California they do best near the coast, where temperatures don't get to extreme highs. Inland, they go into a growth spurt in the wintertime like jubaea (lows in the mid-to-high 30s and highs in the mid 50s). They will, however, burn in heavy frost.

Bought one last year and put it in a 5 gallon pot, planing on planting it on the ground when it's 3 years old (spring 2012). It goes down in to the teens sometimes here in Central NM but the average temps in Dec-Jan are 24-30 during the night and 48-55 during the night. This palm in the wild can handle temps down to 20f at 11,00ft in elevation.

Which species are you referring to? They certainly don't seem to handle that degree of cold in California... 25F and they get pretty fried, and 22F does major damage to cocoides and torralyi (most young ones die)... not sure what sunkha is going to tolerate yet... and frankly I hope I never find out. Mature plants are more hardy than young ones and possibly might tolerate a brief freeze in low 20s with only severe leaf damage... some palms here in California have succumbed following severe frosts, and rarely does it ever get down to 20f here.