Chinese Windmill Palm - unprotected yet unscathed

I purchased a 5 gallon Windmill Palm (Trachycarpus Fortunei) three years ago and planted it in a prominent area of my South-facing front yard. These palms the most cold hardy of the arboreal palms, but need to be well acclimated and stable before their legendary cold hardiness can be tested. These palms are from the foothills of the Himalayas, are in the fan palm family, and have been grown for decades in parts of the world not known as palm-friendly. One example I've seen with my own eyes are several impressive specimens growing in Edinburgh Scotland and near Isle of Skye, Scotland. They have also been seen in the Crimean peninsula of southern Russia, along the shores of Lake Geneva in Switzerland, and in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

But I stray. After building an extravangant winter protection system for the palm for the last three years, I declared that this winter, it was officially established and would go the test of Old Man Winter alone. Except for some mulching, the Palm fared beautifully, not showing any cold damage despite the lows in Northwest DC ranging on several nights from 7-9 degrees Fahrenheit. It's in the process right now of putting up three new fronds, and almost seems to be doing better than the winters when I protected it (I have a theory about that -- I think the combination of south facing location, heating cables and a plastic shelter sent some of the temperatures inside the palm hut to dangerously high levels on the first couple of warm spring days.)

It has a smaller counterpart in very close proximity, and the jury is still out on how well that one did. There's some obvious leaf damage in the emerging frond, but it's firmly attached and doesn't pull out (a clear sign that the Palm has perished)

The larger specimen, featured here, shows its beautiful characteristic furry trunk, and it light green fronds.