While jogging around Portage Park this afternoon, I encountered something truly bizarre: palm trees. At the northwest and southwest entrances to the park there are giant planters with huge tropical palms.

I'm a big fan of palm trees. These plants are beautiful, graceful and elegant. Palms define California and the tropical and semitropical parts of the United States, and are a wonderful relief from winter when kept inside.

The skyscraping Mexican fan palms at Los Angeles Union Station really helped make my recent vacation special. Nothing tells you you're in California like a block of gently swaying palms.

But outside in Illinois?

Turns out that tropical plants make seasonal appearances all over Chicago. Down along North Michigan Avenue, the city plants palms, bird of paradise and lord knows what else. The effect is nice, but it's not Chicago and it's not the Midwest.

So why can't Chicago embrace native plants instead? In the fall, the Boul Mich planters are turned over to ornamental cabbage and kale -- which look really, really nice, a gentle reminder that cool weather is on its way.

But palms outside? On my jog back from Portage Park, I even saw a small Washingtonia filifera planted next to a bungalow. This palm, also known as the California fan palm, is among the few palms native to the United States. It still grows wild in parts of California and the Desert Southwest.

But unless this one's taken inside come winter, it'll die.

After doing a little research online, however, I'm amazed at just how hardy some palms are. Sabal minor palms can actually survive winters and snows as far north as Oklahoma City and Tulsa. Check out the info from Alligator Alley, which declares, "Our most recent endeavor is to bring the tropics to Oklahoma."

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