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What are some surprisingly cold winter cities that has palm trees that you have seen or know of? I was shocked seeing palm trees despite cold and some snowy days in Istanbul, Turkey. I don't know how those could survive in that type of winter climate. Las Vegas has milder and sunnier climate that also comes to mind. London had some tropical looking plants as well. I guess palm trees could be planted in more and more cities then...
It depends on the species. Some palms come from climates where snow is a feature of the climate.
I don't think there would be any cities that can grow palm species, which don't have any. They will always be of interest to the botanically minded, so if a city can support them, then there will be some there.
Why is Istanbul better to grow than most NW European cities? Its winter are chilly and mainly cloudy, and better chance of snow than cities like London and Paris.
Snow doesn't necessarily mean "cold" and in general isn't a problem for palm trees.
Locarno, in the southern part of Switzerland, south of the Alps, has an average of 3°C in January and get on average 47 cm of snow per year, yet it's rich of exotic plants, including many palm trees, such as Canary Island date palms, Chusan palms, mediterranean fan palms, washingtonias, butias. Similar average temperatures and snowfall occurr in Virginia, but there most of these palms can't grow because of periodical, crazy cold temperatures.
Locarno's hardiness zone is 9a, the same of northern Florida, and that means extremely low temperatures aren't common.
However, most of northwestern Europe cities (Paris, Amsterdam, Bruxelles etc) are cooler and cloudier than Istanbul in winter, and much cooler and gloomier through the year so palm trees grow better in Istanbul.
Palm trees can grow in most parts of the UK, (the hardier species), with the exception of the coldest parts/highest ground...
In the milder parts of the UK, (coastal southern England, central London), there are many palms which can be grown, including Phoenix canariensis & Washingtonia robusta
Atlanta should be OK for palm trees. Its winter lows are above freezing on average. Though I wouldn't risk it because on occasional days it can get very cold. But 1 very cold day won't kill an entire tree, I'm sure.
They grow good in Austin until we have a real hard freeze or string of 3 or 4 days of below freezing temperatures. You can tell if we've had a cold winter, as many of the palm trees in Austin are either dead or they look dead. I don't believe palm trees grow wild in Austin. I think most are planted. I do see alot more palm trees in San Antonio than in Austin, though. San Antonio might be far enough South that palm trees grow wild there.
I think hardier palms can be cultivated in parts of the cape and islands (7a/b hardiness zone).
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