My first ever palm given to my wife and me as a wedding gift in April 2004. This palm sat almost neglected on a kitchen window cill for just under a year without growing. When I finally decided to take interest, I thought I would re-pot it, find out what species it was and find out it's cultural requirements. From there the obsession with palms and other tropical plants grew. This plant was moved outside in March 2004 immediately after re-potting, a sign of my inexperience. Within a week, it had to cope with a night time temperature of -6°C/19°F and thankfully it came through totally unscathed. I bought my polytunnel in May or June of 2005 and in August, it was moved in there to try to promote some healthy growth, before eventually moving it back outside at the beginning of August 2006. In the year in the polytunnel, it went from being a small plant that fit on my kitchen window cill to a 1.2m/4' tall reasonably sized plant. Obviously growth has slowed somewhat outside, but it has coped admirably with it's first full winter ouside, with no signs of cold or frost damage, although there is a little wind damage to some of the leaves. Having had a mild winter and a warmer than average summer predicted, it will be interesting to see how it progresses this year.