Howea trunk.

Nice trunk on that Howea. You said it has 8' of trunk?

Yeah,I cut off a foot or two I see. The other pic I had showed more..but seemed kind of dark. I wanted the green trunk to show.

The trunk is nice, green and healthy. Has it ever been damaged by cold in the last 22 years? I know as they get larger they tolerate more cold. I know the Howeas in Ventura County endured 21ºF in the 1990 Freeze with minimal to no damage. (I'm hoping we'll never experience such a freeze in our life times here in California, again!). Although, unbelievable most of San Diego County was spared the cold weather in Dec. of 1990. I think only inland canyon areas got hit; however, it wasn't as bad as Jan. of 2007 (which was the coldest weather to hit San Diego County since 1948).

What I have noticed is..subtropical plants that grow leaves or fronds over a roof? Get much colder then those that are in the yard. An overhang of course is safe. So Andy,that big Howea never showed any damage at all in 2007,or any other year- look at the one in the front yard for proof- but 2012 and 2013 somehow zapped the big palms fronds. Mostly the ones over the roof. All the green fronds were facing the yard (although like the front yard old fronds got ratty)
Since the 1998 freeze I think we have stayed at 30f or above but one night. Officially
2007 was bad. It did do more damage even if the temperatures recorded were pretty much like 2013 later.
One ,ore thing about the big Howea. I was pruning very high branches on the Podocarpus tree...I thought,Andy,they would miss the palm. One landed on the Howea..too big and heavy for me at first-AND it wedged in the palms crown-lol I cut the thing into pieces,got it off the palm...but some petioles were stretched..and those fronds have a real bend. Healthy,but arching.

Howea can be pretty tough...it's too bad it's not planted more widely in protected spots in the Bay Area. San Francisco they should be planted as street trees as they tolerate lots of winds with not damage to the fronds and are somewhat drought-tolerant once established.

I've been so spoiled here with the very mild subtropical climate. Cold doesn't amount to much and no frost (where I live). January of 2013 was a pretty cool month, overall, though. Coolness never affects my plants, even the most tender plants thrive. I just have to be careful to water in winter because plants have died from being too dried out. We had a few sprinkles this morning...barely enough to wet the sidewalks. We need some real rains here in San Diego. We need to pray for a good "Pineapple Express". This would most likely break the drought.