Great picture; Any protection coming up for this severe cold on hand at the moment?

Wow that's a nice size needle palm for a northern state, you should be proud.

How old is your needle palm?

I cover my needle palm with a plastic garbage can.

Very nice, is it fruiting yet ? In Oklahoma, it took me about ten years to get one that size...what with winter foliar burn some years, etc.

It's doing well.

This mature Palm does not get any protection at all. It survived 5 degrees last winter, and 12 degrees twice thus far in 2015. It was planted about 8 years ago. It blooms but has not fruited. A large Sabal minor on the southwest side of the house blooms every year with eight foot tall spikes! I have palm "weeds" sprouting in scattered places in the yard. I love to see it reproducing here in New Jersey.

Without any protection, the best bets in NJ ARE definitely Sabal minor or 'Louisiana' and Needles (Raphidophyllum). Both could probably benefit from some degree of summer shading, in my opinion. Trachycarpus has its good years and bad years and last year was a BAD year for them.

I had a large Trachycarpus wagnerianus which perished in last year's cold winter. It had about six feet of trunk. I also had a lovely Chamaerops humilis 'Cerifera' which was maturing into a real beauty. I also lost that Palm. My sabals and my large Rhapidophyllum hystrix were just fine. The sabals bloomed and fruited happily. The needle Palm bloomed, but didn't fruit. Last winter I recorded 5 degrees Fahrenheit, 12 degrees twice this winter. My half dozen gardenia varieties all survived, but with slight to moderate damage. Klehm's Hardy outperformed the others, including Gardenia 'Frostproof'.

5 degrees was better than my 1 degree! It was 9 a couple of weeks ago.

Do you guys in zone 7 protect your needle palms at all or let them fend for themselves? My success with needles in zone 6b is hit or miss, usually miss. I'm wondering if maybe they'd do better without protection...

Needles and Sabal minors do not need protection in Zone 7...especially given our recent snow covers!