It might work, but why would you want to grow a palm in the ground if it has to be completely wrapped/covered/mummified? Might as well containerize it. If you want a palm in the ground in zone 7 Ma., try Trachycarpus fortunei or wagnerianus and you can leave mummification to the Egyptologists.

The reason why is to be the only person in your neighborhood,town or state?with a awesome and massive palm tree in your yard,why not!seriously people act like its such a big deal to wrap up your palm for winter but I would rather unwrap a palm in spring than presents in Dec anytime!I think its cool and don't see it as work at all,in 25 years when people understand that its o.k. to want or even have a palm tree in there front yard everyone will do it and I will allready be way ahead of them building my spaceship!LOL

I think you're missing my point here. Never said that it was too much work to protect. (Lugging containerized specimens in and out is a lot of work!) I do wonder what the point is, of putting a palm into the ground only if it needs to be "completely trimmed" (meaning cutting all of its leaves off)and then wrapping the whole thing, when alternatives are available (hardier species, containers). It seems that in the Spring, the poor plant is always recovering from the margin of death. Part of the beauty of growing a truly cold hardy palm (Sabals, Trachicarpus, Rhapidophyllum, etc) is seeing those beautiful fronds in the winter--especially after a snow! And the poster should be able to successfully overwinter Trachycarpus (for example) in zone 7 Ma. and be able to see those palm fronds in the snow. I guess I just can't wait till Spring to unwrap those presents! PS. If you are successful with your spaceship, who will be around to tend to those palms??:)

I will take the palms with me,and start a whole new thread "space hardy palms"LOL.I agree 1000% about Trachycarpus,I love seeing pictures of them in snow and will expose 1 or more of mine to as much winter weather(within reason)as possible!Foretunei,wagneranus and takil are some of my favorites!I also have some fortxwag that look to be very sturdy as well.I also have some sabals and a needle palm and some others I am trying.The reason(I think)that the washys are such a interesting palm to try is their growth rate!no other palm that can be tried successfully(that I know of)grows as fast and is as cold hardy as W.robusta-filifera they can make a bold statement in a yard,and within a few years be taller than me,it would take trachycarpus a while to reach such heights,why not enjoy them(washys) too?

palmlover, where are you in Ma. that is zone 7? Jimhardy and njoasis, you both make good points. This whole zone pishing is a crazy hobby with some disapointments and many rewards.Anything is possible as we see the lady growing Butia in zone 4.

Does anybody think I would have better luck with the Washingtonia Filifera. Floridata.com says that it survives down to 15 degrees and establish/mature specimens have survived -11 Degrees. I think the W. Filifera is more cold hardy than the Robusta.

-Palmlover1

Palmlover
I can tell you from experience that Washingtonia Robusta
hates the cold We get down to about 10 degrees at the lowest . I had a 7 gallon with beautiful fronds that almost died . In fact it is just now recovering but with stunted growth. My point is i live in zone 8 a and in your zone you get a whole lot colder than mine. The only way i know to do it is to get something to keep it warm at all times and i don't think wrapping it up is enough.
California fan palm would probaly be better but your still gonna have to realy protect it. Just my 2 cents :)

Wrapping it up is the only answer this far out of there zones unless you want to build a greenhouse around it,(and I don't)half the fun for me is the challenge,and wrapping it with x-mas lights is a great way to heat only the area around the palm,CHEAP!Iowa palms was successfull with this method 200 miles north of me where it is much colder,he has 2 10+footers in the ground,the only drawback from my point of view is I will need to wait so long to find out if my efforts have payed off!I also have many other palms to keep me company through the winter,and I have backups for my more questionable or higher risk stuff,besides this gives me something to look forward to all winter and like I said,I like the challenge!

Anywhere on Earth except Sahara and Antarctica you can grow Fan Palms this way. Plant in the ground and then build a greenhouse around it on rails that gets heated during winter (winter that lasts between 3 and 9 months). In winter you just pull the greenhouse over the tree and heat it for the entire winter, just don't forget to build your greenhouse at least 80 ft. tall, just in case). Once the temps become above +10C (50F) or so you can push the railway greenhouse away from your tree and let everyone enjoy it.

Thats pretty much the right idea. Of course areas that have cold summers cant grow these very well (since they usually end up having to recover a little after being protected). I think wasingtonias probably need temperatures to at least get in the 60s to put out growth and probably the 70s to start getting good growth. These are desert palms (well maybe more like semi-desert) and they love the heat and can handle drought (although they handle summer moisture very well). I think anyone that has good summers and is in a zone 4 (with serious protection) or higher can protect this palm and get it to survive the winter (at least until it gets way too big). Anything less than a zone 4 has way too severe winters and too short of a growing season to get these to survive. Without protection these palms can only survive a 8b and they can get leaf burn in the 20sF. I think they would make a pretty good palm in a warm zone 8 too, but any thing less and protection is nessesary.
Good luck!
-Alex