I always make sure that my palms and cacti are in a raised bed. Planting early in the season will allow time for the roots to establish before winter. In zone 7 its not usually the cold that gets the plants its the wet and cold. Which will always reduce a plants hardiness. So I would still keep any palm covered and dry for the first few years. Especially a smaller trachy. I have photos on my post of a trachy I didn't protect and this was the first year in the ground. Even though its against the house its not picture perfect. But I did come through fine. Mulch good and protect.

Good luck.

I think you are right, a raised bed = lower soil temps in the winter. Mulching and it planted on the southside should compensate it. So go plant it:)

I agree, raised beds are beneficial, but do need to be mulched to keep soil temps up in the winter. We get a ton of rain here in the spring, and while temps are still cool and a palm is dormant, the soggy ground can rot the roots. A couple weeks ago, I ripped out a dead shrub, and the hole almost immediately filled up with water. The water table was only 1 foot under the soil surface.

I have always wondered if a raised bed would get colder in winter.

On the flip side,it would warm up faster in spring....

Beneficial in a mild winter/maybe not in cold winters???

It is a very curious thing to me that NYC is considered z7
and N.Carolina is also????

I guess it's the best system we have(any other would probably get to complicated :)
but it is amazing,the difference between similarly rated zones!

Jim, as cold as you are you need to bury your palms. LMAO

Jim, the reason NYC immediate area and Long Island are zone 7 is related to several climate features; proximity to the Atlantic & Long Island Sound, the so-called Urban Heat Island effect (over 14 million in NYC Metro--means a lot of black top), we're also East of the Appalachians--at sea level on the coastal plain, and there is some effect of the off shore Gulf Steam--which could equate to either super high humidity or two foot snow storms (as they did this past Winter). Keep in mind though that the cold hardiness zone data only considers absolute minimums--not the duration of the Winter, nor the Summer. London, England is probably a zone 8 but their climate too is dramatically different from most of North America. For a more balanced perspective on climate, you might also zonal maps based on HEAT (where data is provided in terms of the number of days per year with temps at 86 F and over. (For some plants, this data is as important as winter cold!) Happy gardening!

Yea,based on lows...isn't that interesting as it does seem to be the thing that kills......the cold that is.

This is why in place like England Sabals and Needles don't do well.

In N.Carolina you could grow them because of the winter/summer warmth and sun.

Look at places like southern Missouri and northern Arkansas that have warmer winters/summers but may get colder
then NYC.

It is amazing how well some palms,etc do along the coast in the east but I just can't get my head around comparing (in anyway) NYC to N.Carolina.

Anyway not that important,although interesting we find ourselves comparing our micro-climates to warmer zones than the ones we live in and I think forget that it's even warmer in those zones.

My friend Bill in Mass(z6a)doesn't usually get as cold as we
do in Iowa (z5a according to the National Gardening Association) where I live but I am not sure I would trade
away our warmer summers/faster warm up in spring
(here or say,in a place like N.Carolina that has warm/hot summers) for his
milder low temps....it is no fun protecting plants through
negative temps to be sure but watching your small Sabals
put out 5-6 leaves in the summer heat somehow"seems" to makeup for this????

I think I will ask the question in another thread since this is
off topic here,sorry njoasis-

Anyway,easy to forget those winter lows this time of year
and especially when it's hot and humid.