Just found this site. I am on the Eastern Shore of MD. I have had many palms and bananas over the past 10 years or so but typically have not kept them over the winter. Last summer I purchased a Phoenix Robellini and managed to bring it inside over the winter. It got pretty dry because I could only water it so much because the saucer underneath would only hold so much water before spilling onto the floor. There were a few warm days when it hit the 50's when I took it outside and gave it a good watering and misting. It seemed to liven up after that. Even though I took it out a few times I never changed to a bigger saucer, go figure. Including the pot its about 5' tall so it's not a huge pain to move but the pot does make it pretty heavy.
Last year I also bought 2 windmills which I put into some pots and they stayed outside all winter. I know they should be in the ground but I don't exactly know where to put them where they would look good and survive. They are in clay pots and are sort of protected from rain/snow and wind. And I could have always moved them to the garage if it got too cold. That said we had a fairly mild winter, not too much snow and I think it only dipped into the teens a few times. I have not done a thing to them and they look pretty good. I bought them at Home Depot (I think) they were the ones in the blue pots that everyone is probably familiar with. I think they were the 2 gallon, the ones that are around $20. Now they look like the larger $40+ size.
This year I got a couple Musa Basjoo Banana plants which I have put in a pot. I also got a dwarf cavendish which had a pup that was over a foot so I removed it and put them both in the ground. I might move the basjoo to the gound too. Not sure yet.
In addition on my way home one day a small place that sells bananas had a pineapple with a 5" pineapple growing. So I had to stop and get it. And earlier this week I got what I really wanted, a 10'+ Christmas Palm. It's got 4 trunks and was $150 which seemed like a deal after I saw that the same thing was selling at Home Depot for $300. Then yesterday I saw that Home Depot had all the blue pots back so I got a medium sized Pindo and a small Canery Island Date.
This weekend is going to be re-potting weekend. I still have no idea what to do with some of these over the winter. I would like to build a greenhouse but am afraid of how much it would cost to heat it. I was also thinking of moving them to the garage and using grow lights but again that would probably be an expensive electric bill. I do know someone with commercial greenhouses and perhaps I will see if he would let me rent a few square feet over the winter but I would have to find out if he keeps them heated all winter.
So again, HI.
