Way too cold for palm trees in Knoxville? I think not. I have had a Windmill Palm in my yard for the past 3 1/2 years. It is planted in the ground and has never been brought indoors.
My palm is now around 3 feet tall and doing well. It does get a blanket during the coldest weather and during long bouts of cold weather. It suffered more during the winter of 2005/2006 than this past year. They get tougher as they get older.

I ordered my Windmill palm from The Nursery at Ty Ty, GA. In 2005 at one of the UT Gardens plant sales, a local gentleman offered palm trees for sale. I purchase two (Windmill and Pindo (Jelly). The Pindo did not survive, primarily due to my lack of attention. There is a Southeastern Palm Society with a local contact in Chattanooga, TN.
We who love the tropics need not be penalized. Rumor is there are palm trees growing in Rhode Island!
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| Windmill_palm_web.jpg | 62.07 KB |
|
Topics:
|
|
Discussing:
- Alcoa Hwy construction to extend to 2030 (2 replies)
- Smith & Wesson noise problem (3 replies)
- Are Chat bots a waste of time? (1 reply)
- Musicians dropping out of President's Freedom Concert Series (1 reply)
- It's time for new blood in Congress, Barnett in - Burchett out (1 reply)
- Burning Down The House... (2 replies)
- Behind Lege Lies (1 reply)
- Peace (1 reply)
- Speak your truth, fight and believe. (1 reply)
- Large banks have too much AI data center debt? (1 reply)
- GOP misleading on federal health care funding (1 reply)
- Feds indict civil rights group (3 replies)
TN Progressive
- Alcoa property taxes will probably not go up (BlountViews)
- Smith & Wesson not a good fit for Blount County (BlountViews)
- Pellissippi Parkway extension delayed again (BlountViews)
- Blount County early voting record turnout (BlountViews)
- WATCH THIS SPACE. (Left Wing Cracker)
- America As It Is Right Now (RoaneViews)
- A friend sent this: From Captain McElwee's Tall Tales of Roane County (RoaneViews)
- The Meidas Touch (RoaneViews)
- Massive Security Breach Analysis (RoaneViews)
- (Whitescreek Journal)
- My choices in the August election (Left Wing Cracker)
- July 4, 2024 - aka The Twilight Zone (Joe Powell)
TN Politics
- 60-day clock starts for negotiations with Iran over strait, nuclear future (TN Lookout)
- Feds seek dismissal of xAI lawsuit in Memphis and Mississippi (TN Lookout)
- FEMA nominee pressed on whether Trump favors disaster funding requests from GOP states (TN Lookout)
- Report: Tennessee sees decline in most measures of child well-being (TN Lookout)
- Congressman urges Gov. Bill Lee to revoke directive to report immigration status of sick kids (TN Lookout)
- Lawmakers demand info on Trump use of national park fees to pay for D.C. repairs (TN Lookout)
Knox TN Today
- Play catch with Lady Vols softball players (Knox TN Today)
- Norris Lake at Oak Grove + Beaver Creek + West Hills picnic (Knox TN Today)
- Dishing It Out: Million Dollar Spaghetti (Knox TN Today)
- Close to Home, Far from Ordinary: East Tennessee ghost stories and local legends (Knox TN Today)
- William Carder, Powell, crowned Tennessee’s Best Bagger (Knox TN Today)
- Dining Duo gives statistics plus two favorite pizza eats (Knox TN Today)
- Hiking with Harrington: Rich Mt. Road (Knox TN Today)
- Plant flowers like wildlife depends on it. They do! (Knox TN Today)
- Unmasking bright futures for pets at Mask-Fur-Ade 2026 (Knox TN Today)
- Belmont Blooms (Knox TN Today)
- A Special Place and ‘A Hawksbill Dream’ (Knox TN Today)
- Boyds at Ascot + Jeff Knight retires + Alcoa grows + Juneteenth events (Knox TN Today)
Local TV News
- United Way of Greater Knoxville annual report highlighes $8.3 million rasied, challenges in 2025 (WATE)
- 'Peaceful but with a pulse' Why campers and glampers are choosing Townsend (WATE)
- Family seeks to limit medical examiner's testimony in Lisa Edwards' wrongful death lawsuit (WATE)
- 'Celebrate her' Knoxville mother dedicates restaurant to daughter lost in crash (WATE)
- Cocke County firefighter allegedly attacked during flooding in Parrottsville (WATE)
- Two Maryville restaurants fail initial health inspections (WATE)
News Sentinel
State News
- Isaiah Rashad’s ‘awful’ press tour to make a stop in his hometown of Chattanooga - Chattanooga Times Free Press (Times Free Press)
- What’s going there? Developer still deciding what to place at old church site - Chattanooga Times Free Press (Times Free Press)
- Pilgrim’s to close part of Chattanooga poultry operations amid shift to Georgia - Chattanooga Times Free Press (Times Free Press)
- Immigrant org, La Paz Chattanooga, tries to bridge immigration perspective at local club - Chattanooga Times Free Press (Times Free Press)
Wire Reports
- Stock markets mixed as investors assess durability of U.S.-Iran peace deal - CNBC (Business)
- Firm Tied to Trump Donor Got No-Bid Contract to Clean Reflecting Pool - The New York Times (US News)
- Matt Dunlap beats DCCC-backed candidate in primary for top Maine battleground - Politico (US News)
- Proposed immigrant detention center site in Salt Lake City to be offloaded, newspaper reports - KSL News (US News)
- At center opening, Obama denounces those who use power ‘to divvy up the spoils’ - The Washington Post (US News)
- Early Users of Anthropic Mythos Still Have Access After US Order - Bloomberg (Business)
- Luigi Mangione's lawyers withdraw plans for psychiatric defense - NPR (US News)
- Remnants from Tropical Storm Arthur drench Gulf states, flooding homes and forcing evacuations - CBS News (US News)
- US tells ASML it's concerned one of its chipmaking tools may be in China, Bloomberg News reports - Reuters (Business)
- Talarico goes all-in with attack on Paxton plea deal in child sex abuse case - The Texas Tribune (US News)
- Elon Musk’s SpaceX plots $20bn bond deal after record IPO - Financial Times (Business)
- Accenture CEO Julie Sweet says AI transformation will 'take some time' as stock price takes another hit - Business Insider (Business)
- SpaceX Stock Plunges Despite Getting 2 Big Price Targets - Barron's (Business)
- Warsh wants markets to guide the Fed, not the other way around - Yahoo Finance (Business)
- White House sends text of interim US-Iran agreement to US Congress - Reuters (US News)
Local Media
Lost Medicaid Funding
Search and Archives
TN Progressive
Nearby:
- Blount Dems
- Herston TN Family Law
- Inside of Knoxville
- Instapundit
- Jack Lail
- Jim Stovall
- Knox Dems
- MoxCarm Blue Streak
- Outdoor Knoxville
- Pittman Properties
- Reality Me
- Stop Alcoa Parkway
Beyond:
- Nashville Scene
- Nashville Post
- Smart City Memphis
- TN Dems
- TN Journal
- TN Lookout
- Bob Stepno
- Facing South

I'm experimenting with Lime
I'm experimenting with Lime and Lemon trees this year. I bought one of each, in December, while in St. Augustine. They both struggled with the transition mightily. I was convinced I would lose both of them. However, they both recovered amazingly well the past three weeks. I'm crossing my fingers that a strong showing this summer/fall that they will be stronger this winter.
Maybe I'll move to the palm trees after that. . .
Cool. We had a small key
Cool. We had a small key lime tree that we kept in a huge pot. I forget what variety it was exactly, but we got it at Pope's and they said it "might" survive the winters.
The first two years we moved it into the garage for the winter. This year, we decided to set it free and see if it would make it on its own. It didn't.
I think we only ever got about ten limes from it.
In FL, we planted one and in about the third or fourth year it was absolutely loaded with hundreds, maybe thousands of limes, and they were excellent but way more than any person could ever use. (Regular limes, not key limes). We gave lots of them away and still had too many.
So I'd like to know more about your lime tees and where you got them and how it works out...
Bananas, too
It's a little too shady in my yard now due to some trees I've planted, but in 2004 my banana tree actually produced fruit:
I see Ty Ty has a Meyer's
I see Ty Ty has a Meyer's lemon tree that can survive zone 7. I'll have to look into this.
NPR interviewed a man a few
NPR interviewed a man a few days ago who said he was taking advantage of global warming by establishing an olive grove in southern England. He also had persimmon trees. It took me a bit to recognize those as he accented the first syllable on them.
Come See Us at
The Hill Online
Lime trees
I bought the trees from a nursery on Anastasia Island in St. Augustine. I can't remember the name of the place. I was visiting family in FL who had two of these on her back deck. The idea of picking one off to add to my fish dishes or Tecate was too tempting to not give it a shot. I bought a "semi-dwarf" variety.
The following link is one I've been pondering using to order a Meyer's Lemon Tree.
Four Winds Growers
Palm trees are evil
Their primary purpose in life is to attract and harbor rats. You don't want them in your yard!
Too funny! Having a yard
Too funny! Having a yard with palm trees for over 17 years, the rat problem never came up. Lots of squirrels though!
Spanish swords
I don't know how to post a picture here, but my neighbor has several Spanish sword yucca plants. They look for all the world like palm trees.
I'll have to look up Spanish
I'll have to look up Spanish sword yucca. I have several yuccas and don't believe any will be the tall kind.
It looks a lot like the palm
It looks a lot like the palm in your first post, and it has many names apparently:
(link...)
Palms
I live in Houston and I have a sago palm and a windmill palm. They both need shelter from the direct midday sun in the summer. We are in a downstairs condo and the upstairs balcony protects them. I don't cover any of my plants when we go below freezing (not very often). When I was living in Knoxville my daddy told me that it's not the cold but the frost that damages plants so I never worried about things growing under the eaves or in protected areas.
Be the first one on your street to have palms in your yard.
TY-TY
I would not buy air in a jug from TY-TY. They don't what going on. About 1/2 of thier pictures on their web site are mislabeled and the zone info on the hardiness are not right either.
Here is a link to find good sources for palms:
(link...)
The Southeastern Palm
The Southeastern Palm Society is mentioned in the original post. My second palm was purchased from one of their members.
I don't know all the specifics regarding Ty-Ty. However, I purchased my first palm tree for Tennessee from them in 2004 and it is doing excellent and it was exactly as advertised.