Cold hardiness & minimum temperature

Is Red Latan Palm (Latania lontaroides)cold hardy? Hardiness zone & min temp

Also called Red Latan Palm, Red Latan, Latan Palm.

More about red latan palm

About Red Latan Palm

Latania lontaroides · also called Red Latan Palm, Red Latan · tropical

A rare, endangered fan palm endemic to Réunion Island in the Indian Ocean, spectacular for its juvenile red-washed leaves, petioles, and veins — a colour that gradually matures to silver-green in adults while the red leaf margins persist. Drought-tolerant and salt-hardy, it makes a bold statement as a landscape or container specimen in warm climates.

Cold limit: USDA 10a–11 · RHS H1b (-2 to 38°C)

What red latan palm's hardiness rating actually means

Red Latan 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 10a–11 — 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). Red Latan Palm has no frost tolerance at all — it is an indoor plant in any climate with a real winter.

Concretely, for red latan 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 red latan 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 red latan palm can be outside. US growers can check USDA zones; UK growers should use the RHS hardiness ratings, which match the H1b figure above.

Red Latan Palm hardiness — frequently asked questions

Is red latan palm cold hardy?

Red Latan 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. Red Latan Palm can only live outside year-round in genuinely frost-free climates (roughly USDA 10a–11); everywhere else it is a houseplant that summers out at most.

What is the minimum temperature red latan palm can survive?

What hardiness zone is red latan palm?

Red Latan Palm is rated USDA 10a–11 and RHS H1b — Sub-tropical — a normal warm home is fine, but it cannot go outside in a cool season.

Can red latan 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 red latan 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.