Cold hardiness & minimum temperature

Is Footstool Palm (Saribus rotundifolius)cold hardy? Hardiness zone & min temp

Also called Round-Leaf Fan Palm, Anahaw Palm.

More about footstool palm

About Footstool Palm

Saribus rotundifolius · also called Round-Leaf Fan Palm, Anahaw Palm · tropical

Footstool palm is a tall, single-trunked fan palm of Southeast Asia and the Philippines, where as the anahaw it is a national symbol. Young plants carry near-circular, glossy, pleated fan leaves; with age the trunk soars and the crown rounds out. Fast-growing for a palm and tolerant of sun once established, it is a handsome tropical landscape and large-container specimen.

Cold limit: USDA 10b-11 (frost-tender; injured below about 5-7°C) · RHS H1b (15 to 35°C)

Watch for — Cold damage: Chilling injury and frond burn occur below about 5-7°C; keep it warm and protect from frost entirely.

What footstool palm's hardiness rating actually means

Footstool Palm is not cold hardy. It is a tropical houseplant that dies if it is left out through frost — there is no zone where it overwinters outdoors in a UK or cold-US climate. Its RHS rating of H1b means: Sub-tropical — a normal warm home is fine, but it cannot go outside in a cool season. On the US scale that maps to USDA 10b-11 (frost-tender; injured below about 5-7°C) — the zones where it can be left outdoors year-round.

New to these scales? The USDA hardiness zone map explained covers how the zone numbers work, and you can find your own zone with the zone finder.

Minimum temperature — and what happens below it

Minimum survivable temperature is roughly about 10 °C (sustained cold below this is damaging). Footstool Palm has no frost tolerance at all — it is an indoor plant in any climate with a real winter.

Concretely, for footstool palm as it gets too cold:

Below about about 10 °C, growth stalls and the leaves start to show cold stress — dark, water-soaked, or yellowing patches.
A single light frost blackens the foliage; a hard freeze kills the whole plant, roots included, and it does not recover.
Even a cold, draughty windowsill or an unheated porch in winter can be enough to damage it permanently.

Can footstool palm go outside or overwinter — and where?

It can holiday outdoors in summer once nights are reliably above 10 °C, in shade or dappled light, hardened off gradually.
Bring it back indoors well before the first autumn frost — do not wait for a frost warning, move it when nights drop toward 10-12 °C.
It will never overwinter outside in a temperate climate; the indoors is its winter home, full stop.

Work back from your local frost dates with the frost-date calculator: the last spring frost and first autumn frost are what really decide when footstool palm can be outside. US growers can check USDA zones; UK growers should use the RHS hardiness ratings, which match the H1b figure above.

Footstool Palm hardiness — frequently asked questions

Is footstool palm cold hardy?

Footstool Palm is not cold hardy. It is a tropical houseplant that dies if it is left out through frost — there is no zone where it overwinters outdoors in a UK or cold-US climate. Indoor-only in almost every home. Footstool Palm can only live outside year-round in genuinely frost-free climates (roughly USDA 10b-11 (frost-tender; injured below about 5-7°C)); everywhere else it is a houseplant that summers out at most.

What is the minimum temperature footstool palm can survive?

What hardiness zone is footstool palm?

Footstool Palm is rated USDA 10b-11 (frost-tender; injured below about 5-7°C) and RHS H1b — Sub-tropical — a normal warm home is fine, but it cannot go outside in a cool season.

Can footstool palm survive winter outside?

It can holiday outdoors in summer once nights are reliably above 10 °C, in shade or dappled light, hardened off gradually. Bring it back indoors well before the first autumn frost — do not wait for a frost warning, move it when nights drop toward 10-12 °C. It will never overwinter outside in a temperate climate; the indoors is its winter home, full stop.

What happens to footstool palm below its minimum temperature?

Below about about 10 °C, growth stalls and the leaves start to show cold stress — dark, water-soaked, or yellowing patches. A single light frost blackens the foliage; a hard freeze kills the whole plant, roots included, and it does not recover. Even a cold, draughty windowsill or an unheated porch in winter can be enough to damage it permanently.