Hello Carol,
My wife has two small palm plants in her garden. They are about six feet tall, the trunks are about four inches in diameter. Over the winter the leaf area has turned brown. The stems are all very green.

Do I cut off the leaf areas? Let them be? Or cut everything back to the stumps?

Thank you for your advice.

Jim Hovanec
Texas

Also from Arran in Manchester, UK
QUESTION: I bought a Phoenix roebelenii two years ago, but was unfortunately caught out by an early frost last year. The majority of its palms have suffered damage and turned woody and brittle. There is green on the spines of some of the palms, but the leaves are all dead.

I really want to try and bring it back to health if I can, but I'm unsure what is best to do. I read other articles on here regarding the removal of any green damaging the plant, but mine has no fully green palms, only some of the spines. Should I prune it all back and hope for the best or not.
Hope you can help,
Arran.

Hello Jim,
Oh My, Texas you say, but what you do not say is where in Texas and what kind of palm. As Texans are fond of bragging, Texas is a big state with big "weather," the USDA Zones in Texas range from 6 where the minimum temperatures range will below freezing, to 9, a nearly frost-free zone. There are also palms that are very cold hardy and those that shiver at temperatures below 40 degrees F. So without a little more information it will be difficult to recommend any action.

However, there is a general rule of thumb for dealing with cold damaged plants - Do not prune or remove any damaged or undamaged plant tissue, leaves, stems, boots, or roots, until the danger of cold has past. Once the weather has warmed up, then prune off any damaged tissue until you find green/living parts. Specifically for palms, if the leaf bases (boots) are still green, leave them on, they carry out photosynthesis and can help in the plants recovery.

The best information I have found on palms comes from the University of Florida, the information menu for palms can be found at http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/TOPIC_Palms

Good Luck and Happy Gardening,
Carol