Date Palm Freeze Damage . The pindo palm, or jelly palm, is a date palm that can withstand chilly temperatures. The pygmy date palm, or phoenix roebelenii, serves well as a houseplant or tropical specimen in warm outdoor. are my queen palms dead? FREEZE DAMAGE DATA PalmTalk from www.palmtalk.org Palms receive cold damage when temperatures drop below 30 degrees fahrenheit. The palm may recover but we may see no progress until late spring or summer. I wrapped the base of my large potted pygmy date palm the first night, and saw in the morning it had ice on the fronds.