The record low in Albuquerque is -17F. That could be a toughie for even the very hardy palms you mentioned. If you want people in your area to consider planting them, my suggestion is to be a trailblazer. Use some of them in your landscape and get your neighbors curious about them. Grow extras and give a few away even. If nothing else, make some good friends in Las Cruces, Deming, Sunland Park, and/or Anthony ;) (All places in New Mexico with a record low of -10F or higher).

You're welcome!

By the way, for a dry climate with hot summers like yours, I might suggest another palm that could make things interesting. Sabal Minor 'McCurtain' would almost certainly respond favorably if protected for the first few years to get established. This ecotype grows in southeast Oklahoma, and would be the most adept sabal species to your overall climate. Once established, they also typically survive temperatures below 0, similar to a needle palm.

They also grow well as understory palms if you have any decent sized trees to plant them under. If you have trees that don't shed their foliage in the winter, the overhead canopy does wonders as far as mitigating freeze damage, especially if the canopy is trimmed to let the sun warm the soil during the day, but act as a decent 'umbrella' at night.

A quick search on your favorite internet search engine should yield a number of places to buy this palm or its seeds, and they are relatively easy to sprout.

Some interesting reading:

http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/2077498/sabal-minor-mccurtain-growth

http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/133718/

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