I bought a majesty palm roughly 4 months ago that's roughly 5' tall. We planted it outside in the front of the house. Right now the leaves seem to be dying. They're turning brown towards the top of a few branches. Is it too cold for this plant or did we put it outside prematurely?
If your plant is truly Ravenea rivularis you may be on the border of the temperatures it will tolerate. According to the State of Florida, Ravenea rivularis will survive in zones 9 and 10. We used to grow these in Miami but learned they don't do great in direct sunlight unless they receive a great deal of water. Ravenea rivularis is native to Madagascar and as such prefers very warm temperatures. There are however several species commonly sold as the Majesty Palm. In Madagascar the species is found growing along the banks of rivers and streams where the roots capture a lot of water. Most information available says they will tolerate only a mild frost.
Does this mean that the hard freeze basically did my plant in? We had two nights of temps below 32 degrees.
Difficult to say but if it is possible to give the plant some serious protection from wind exposure and temp by covering it until winter is passed, I would certainly consider doing so. You might as well go ahead and remove any damaged plant parts.
