Yes that's right, You probably think I'm crazy! But it's actually true.
Pretty much the only place you will find palm tree's growing in Canada is on the west coast. The west coast has very mild winters allowing a few different types of cold hardy palms tree's to survive.
One of the popular species is the Trachycarpus fortunei. the Chinese windmill palm. Native to parts of China, Japan, Myanmar and India.
USDA Plant Hardiness Zone for T.fortunei:
7a, 7b, 8b, 8a, 9a, 9b, 10a, 10b, 11b, 11a
The lower mainland (Vancouver BC) area is a hardiness zone 8 making it an ideal place to grow the windmill palm with no winter protection.
It is possible to grow some other palm species with little winter protection.
30-year temperature averages for Vancouver BC Canada, 1981 to 2010.
High °F Low °F High °C Low °C
44- 34 January 7- 1
47- 35 February 8- 2
51- 38 March 10 - 3
56- 42 April 13- 6
62- 48 May 17- 9
67- 53 June 20- 12
72- 57 July 22- 14
72- 57 August 22- 14
66- 51 September 19- 11
56- 45 October 14- 7
48- 38 November 9- 3
43- 33 December 6 - 1
There are some smaller islands of the west coast that are zone 9 so it's very possible to grow the more less cold hardy palms and other exotic plants as seen in the picture below in Salt Spring Island, BC.
If you would like to learn more about growing cold hardy palms and exotics then check out PalmsNorth.com
