Don't forget you can also try the silver Med Palms to add exoticness and the warm tropics look.

I'm not sure if Wine palms can take that cold..but worth a try.

Chamaerops humilis is in our garden and passed through the winter of this and past

Very old, established Jubaea have survived rare freezes of roughly -15C in parts of Europe. Montpellier, FR, I think was one of those locations. But are definitely more of a zn 9 palm, or the very warmest zone 8 areas. Like El Paso and environs, though I don't know if there are any there. The incredible dryness and overall yearly warmth of places like that meant a sheltered date palm,for example, could come back from roughly 0F/-18C. They would never survive that in a place like Virginia Beach or Seattle, which is why they aren't seen there ;-) . So it's a zone 9 palm in terms of where they are actually seen on this Earth. My guess is they would be much harder for Igor to establish than Fan palm or Trachycarpus...if he really wanted one, being prepared to protect it for the first decade or two (!) might be a requirement. Meaning, cover it during severe freezes as people in the zone 8 of the SE US do.

It will be a great miracle if Washingtonia filifera begins to grow in Tuapse. And I hope so! But the Wine palm tree, I think, is from the country of fantasy.) Unfortunately.

Yeah I would agree that the true W. filifera are hardier than Wine Palm. But I wonder if some of the seed available throughout the world is 'contaminated' with W. robusta genes?

I hope that the seeds that I bought on ebay from a seller living in the town of Thermal in the Arizona desert will be pure and not containing Robusta genes. The second source of "pure" filifera genes, I hope, may be Sochi, where Robusta was first planted only in 2014 in one compact place. In September of this year, I bought the W.filifera seedlings in Sochi and planted them in Tuapse. Let's see what will come of this.) And at home in the pot I have four-month-old seedlings from the Thermal, which I raised from seeds.

This is photo of

Photo of the branches of W, filifera convinces me that in Lazaravskoe real filifera

Good job Igor. Looks like you planned ahead when you sourced your W. filifera. Good luck with them and keep us updated.

OK.

You might try some of the even hardier American Sabal palms. They take frigid in stride as they grow natively where continental Arctic fronts push through almost every year.

You have warm enough summers looks to me.

Thanks for the advice, stanofh! I was thinking about planting Sabal Palmetto or Birmingham in Tuapse, but these are rare palm trees for Europe, and for Russia - even more so. So while I'm looking for them.) I think today I made another mistake.) I bought two Washingtonia filibustas of about 10-12 years old each. I'm not sure that they are as hardy as "pure" Washingtonia filifera. But what's done is done.)

Try ebay or some palm club's seeds. There are VERY,VERY few Sabals in the San Francisco bay area..and they were seed grown. Even in moderate summer heat they seem to be doing fine.

Awhile back, due to a significantly larger parted, therefore tender looking clone or strain of Camellia sinensis offered as 'Sochi' being on the market here - with it being said that material under the name first came from the northernmost Russian location for tea plantations - I looked the town up on the web. And soon got photos of Sochi that included numbers of fully developed looking feather palms.

As in it being at least USDA 9 level mild there.

Meanwhile it is also being claimed by commercial sources that because this form of tea plant is being grown in Russia - which is always cold, right? - it is hardy to USDA 6. (And that results from plantings in the US are showing this to be the case also).

In Sochi, on the slopes of the mountains, the plantations of the world's most northerly tea grow. Even under Tuapse there are old, abandoned, small tea plantations. Some varieties of this tea are very tasty. Camellias in Sochi are grown in different varieties, in the arboretum there are even camellias in the form of trees.

Sochi is 9a-9b USDA zone.

Today, in Tuapse, we brought two Washingtonia Filibustas. I'm not sure, but it seems to me that they are ten years old or so. I think it's filibustas. Or are they robustas? I do not know. Confused.) I'm afraid they will die this winter. I will be very sorry ...

>Sochi is 9a-9b USDA zone<

Yes, it would seem that with feather palms a feature of the planted landscape there it would have to be. And probably anywhere tea plantations are a significant part of agricultural efforts this serves to indicate the presence of a mild climate also.

"And probably anywhere tea plantations are a significant part of
agricultural efforts this serves to indicate the presence of a mild
climate also."

Well, somewhat mild:

http://www.tching.com/2016/03/mission-impossible-reviewing-teas-from-north-korea/

Have seen a whole bunch of tea plants over the years at Cam Forest, what made the so-called Sochi teas moderately notable is that they had the bigger, bolder foliage of the more tender cultivars, but were said to be fully zone 7 hardy. Obviously that testing didn't occur within the immediately environs of Sochi itself, but somewhere else in the world that was colder.

Anyhow, I'm trying one of the Sochi and another from somewhere else in the Caucasus mountains. Cam Forest has offered all sorts of teas in recent years - probably a wise move for them, branching out so much into the 'edibles' category. I don't drink tea but just want them as further representatives of the Theaceae in my garden. Those were interesting to me because they are so far from the traditional tea growing areas.

Flavor is said to be affected by climate regime, with types grown in the mildest climates producing the mildest tea. And plantations have to of course be where the plants can be picked over and over, induced to make tender new growth for extended periods - without being adversely affected. So it would seem there's where you can get the plant to survive and then there's where you can sustain marketable production.

As can be seen at your above link Camellia Forest is claiming Zone 6 for 'Sochi' and hardiness (so far) in Virginia and Maryland. Although they don't specifically state that the locations in those states are USDA 6. Or that the plantings there have been completely without damage.

It's interesting that you don't have to go very far from Sochi to have a terribly cold climate: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krasnodar  As is the case with the "insubric" climate of the Italian lakes and the Alps, the Caucasus Mountains are perfectly situated to provide a lot of protection to Sochi. Along with the water of course.

Yes, agree CF's claim of zone 6b hardiness is probably somewhat dubious at this point. Still I took the reported resistance to cold in NoVA at face value and decided to try one. Also see your point about production vs. merely being able to grow them. I certainly won't be producing much tea with mine!

Tuapse is located between Krasnodar and Sochi. The distance from Tuapse to Krasnodar is 170 kilometers, and from Tuapse to Sochi, 120 along the mountain road and about 70 kilometers along a direct virtual line. But the Caucasus mountains also protect against the cold and Tuapse, although Sochi is much better protected.

Igor,

Interesting thread! Your pictures are gorgeous and your posts are enlightening.

Hello, kinzyjr! I'm also very interested in what will come of this venture.)

Today, on December 2, 2017, I went to Lazarevskoe (28 km from Tuapse) and collected from the ground the newly fallen seeds of the Washingtonia filifera. This is the northernmost in the world of Washingtonia filifera and this is the northernmost seed in the world.) I'll try to plant them in Tuapse in the spring. Maybe they can live with us. Also I found in Lazarevskoe several Mediterranean oaks, from which I collected ripe brown acorns. I'll try to put them in Tuapse as well.) Sometimes it seems to me that I'm a little crazy ...