Here's a little yuzu plant (citrus) in the snow

The chinese name for it (xiang feng) translates as 'fragrant orange'. The fruits are good for putting in bathtubs, and I've even seen a recipe for blueberry-yuzu muffins.

LOL!! I live less than a bock away from the Sound and there was plenty of snow here! Came down for about 6 hours. But it didn't stick in my area so there is some substance to the moderating effect of the water - doesn't keep it from falling but may keep it from sticking :-)

I had a little snow come down but nothing like this - it didn't even stick.

I still have snow on the ground at 750 ft. on a bluff near Maple Valley.

Have to ask, why would you want to put a fruit in the bathtub? lol

The snow season is November-February in our area, Arctic fronts can occur anytime during these months. Salt water absorbs heat during the day and releases it at night. This can result in a tendency for days to be cooler and nights warmer than in areas farther inland.

Sunset Climate Zones - Western Washington

http://sunsetwesterngardencollection.com/climate-zones/zone/western-washington

The cool moist air blowing in from the ocean also has the same effect.

In Winter, even though this air is cold, it's still warmer relative to the surrounding area, and as the moist air moves into the colder area the water vapor condenses into rain, releasing heat, which helps the temperature from getting too low.

And all that moisture during the Winter helps keep the temperature difference between day and night more stable (which is not the case during the Summer). The constantly overcast skies also help reflect back infrared heat keeping the ground warmer at night.

Additionally, on top of all of this, it's very hard for the temperature to go down much below freezing, since all the liquid water releases heat as it freezes, and during the Winter the ground is completely soaked with water. (very few parts of the world get as much rain during the Winter as the PNW )

Mexican Fan palm in someone's front yard, over 20 feet tall:

Does this also explain why we get so much rain at night?

I'm not sure, but one would think that (on the West Coast) the colder it is the more rain there would be.

Palm shown above is a windmill palm (Trachycarpus) and not a Washingtonia.

" (very few parts of the world get as much rain during the Winter as the PNW )"

I'd have to question the veracity of that statement :-) While we do get the bulk of our rainfall during winter (70%), there are many other places that receive a whole lot more than we do!! The Puget Sound area on average receives 40" per year....some areas less; some a bit more. 70% of that is 28", which is not all that much.

btw, it is not uncommon to find windmill palms of that height around here. Trachycarpus are very cold tolerant and they quite like our climate. I have one in my garden that is about the same size as the one in the photo and there is a planting of multiples of them in a Capitol Hill garden that are at least 16-18' tall. I also have a couple of cordylines that are getting close to that height........trunks about 6-8" in diameter.

There is about 15 Windmill Palms in front of the Richmond Beach Coffee Co. on Richmond Beach Rd and 15th Ave NW.

https://www.google.com/maps/@47.7700152,-122.3768422,3a,75y,44.51h,86.05t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s64uDm2XDfUqEQh5cTIRMag!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

Tree fern on an island on the West Coast of Canada

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lp544kLrk4Q

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5_h5Kciea8

The main cold protection simply involves throwing a piece of burlap cloth over the crown of the tree fern.

I spotted another banana plant in someone's yard.

I assume most (or all) of these are Musa basjoo.

I'd be curious whether there are other banana varieties which could grow here (maybe with protection). They might die down to the ground and come back up again the next year at the start of Summer.

But as far as the bananas I'm seeing here (presumably M. basjoo) I haven't seen them die back to the ground, they keep their trunk (actually called a pseudostem). In fact this last Winter most of the fronds looked like they survived, although they looked pretty trashed and droopy.

There is at least one other species that handles the PNW weather on the west side. That is Musa sikkimensis. You need to grow it in full sun and in a raised bed so the winter rains don't rot the roots. That species comes in several forms and hybrids. The forms Bengal Tiger and Red Tiger have red color in the leaves. Bengal is suppose to have more red, but I have both and my Red Tiger seems to have more red. There are two hybrids. One being Helen's hybrid which was breed with a cold tolerant eatable banana, but in the PNW I haven't gotten it to the level where it produces flowers and fruit. Winters kill it to the ground. The other is Dargeeling Giant which has similar breeding as Helen's Hybrid, so doesn't produce fruit outdoors either. The two hybrids aren't as hardy as the species and its forms. Another species, Musa xishuanghannaensis - Mekong Giant was suppose to be hardy. Nurseries and big stores like Home Depot and Lowes was selling it as a hardy banana a few years ago. I couldn't get it to survival winters outside. I probably don't know the trick to do so. My last one I potted up and still have it in the pot. Musa basjoo, the one in your picture, and Musa sikkimensis are the hardest. I have had M. sikkimensis come up sooner than M basjoo after a hard winter, but usually M. basjoo starts growing in March, while M. sikkimensis starts in June. There is another banana with a yellow flower, which I forgot the name, but it doesn't do well here. It will come back the next year smaller and the third year even smaller. The forth year it doesn't come back.

I think that may be Musella lasiocarpa. I believe I read someone's blog sometime ago where it managed to survive outside for him in Kentucky, and he commented it's not supposed to do that.

Here's a picture of a banana in Point Defiance Park, Tacoma. It's pretty big (clump at least 14 feet tall) and I can even spot a banana flower in there (it was hard to take the picture through the fronds).

The fronds all look good and don't look like they've been damaged much by the cold yet (I mean the fronds don't look droopy).

The flower bulb doesn't look like it's liking the cold, like maybe its growth kind of stalled.

Picture taken just now, Dec 3

That banana tree in the above picture completely died to the ground. It was a colder Winter than usual and snow piled up, which is not usual here.

Here's another picture of palms up against the side of a building taken a few days ago:

(That's a large camellia bush in bloom in the picture also)

It's typical for Musa basjoo to lose all or part of the top, start over every year this far north.

The camellia is probably 'Cheerful' which is very common in this area, becomes lofty with age. For instance one in Seattle was 33 1/2 ft. tall by last year.