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Palm trees are an important part of Florida’s tropical appearance. Favorable climatic conditions allow for the successful culture of many different species. They come in many sizes and shapes, varying from large majestic trees to small shrubs. Some have tall, single trunks while others have multiple-trunk forms.

Palms are used in the landscape as specimens, border plants, hedges, patio trees and street plants. Specimen plants used individually have a distinctive quality that adds immediate interest to the landscape. For border or hedge plants, palms with dense foliage help screen or fill in an area. Smaller species with little or no shedding problems are excellent for patios. Be sure you choose the right palm for the right place.

Two very large and stately specimen palms are the paurotis, which is multi-stemmed up to 50 feet, and the reclinata date palm, also multi-stemmed to 35 feet. Both can be a grand focal point in your landscape. For a smaller statement the pigmy date, with multi-stems to 15 feet, is a favorite with local landscapers. Another is the ponytail palm.

For borders or privacy hedges the areca, multi-stemmed to 30 feet, or the Macarthur palm, to 25 feet, or lady palm, to 15 feet, all give a dense line of foliage for privacy.

Two good palms for pots are the areca or lady palms. The pigmy date palm never does well in pots so avoid this one for the patio.

The kentia palm is a single-trunk palm which prefers partial shade. This is a good under-story palm for a jungle like grouping. Another good under-story palm is the native palmetto.

If you are looking for the tall, stately, single trunk palms there are many to choose from. The tallest of these can be our native sable palm (80 feet), followed by the royal (75 feet), Washintonian (70 feet), coconut and canary island date (60 feet) and finally the queen and foxtail (40 feet).

If you love to start your own plants, seed is the propagation method for the majority of palms. Some, like the pigmy date, put out new shoots near the base which can be removed and transplanted when young. Cluster palms like the areca can be divided when the plant is young.

Plant palm seeds soon after they are mature or ripe. Cover with about an inch of soil and keep moist but not wet. Use a container with drainage to prevent wet soil. To germinate coconuts, plant the nut on its side halfway into the soil. Once again keep moist when germinating. Germination can take from one to five months. Some palm seeds can take three to four weeks to germinate while others take two to four months.

Seedlings may be transplanted when an inch or so tall. Coconuts should have a one-foot leaf before transplanting. It is best to transplant before too many roots have formed.

Palms can be messy. Some are self-cleaning, meaning they shed their fronds, while others will need to be cleaned occasionally to rid them of brown fronds and falling fruit.

Some of the more popular self-cleaning palms are the areca palm, Christmas palm, royal palm and carpentaria palm. These palms will save you in maintenance costs, but you need to be prepared to pick up and dispose of the debris from them on a regular basis. The royal palm fronds can be very heavy, so this tree should be placed in the landscape very carefully. I have customers who can’t park in areas of their driveway for fear a frond, which can weigh up to 60 pounds when mature, will fall from 75 feet onto their car. Not a pretty thought!

Royal palms should not be planted where they may be dangerous to pedestrians and automobiles beneath them. A stand of arecas, while providing a wonderful tropical screen for privacy, will produce a truckload of fronds for disposal each week.

Some of the more popular palms that will need cleaning occasionally are the queen palm, Washintonia palm or coconut palm. When cleaning palms that don’t readily shed their fronds, you should do so very carefully. Pruning can remove food reserves by reducing leaf surface area which decreases the palm’s ability to harvest sunlight for more food. Palms also take in moisture from the air through their fronds. If the frond is green leave it on the tree.

A practice called “hurricane cutting” is not a good idea. This practice involves removing not only the dead, brown fronds but also beneficial green fronds, leaving only a few fronds sticking straight into the air like a telephone pole.

This is also bad for the health of the tree for all the reasons listed above. Severe cutting of the fronds stunts root growth which in turn will stunt the tree’s growth and leave it susceptible to other diseases.

I once read an article suggesting you should never prune a palm tree, period. While this is a good idea in theory, dirty palms are not aesthetically pleasing in the landscape. Old fronds that stay on these palms attract nesting insects and rodents. Mature coconuts can be dangerous much the way a royal palm can be. A mature coconut falling from 60 feet onto your head would really hurt. You can prevent the formation of palm fruits by removing the flower stalks as they emerge.

When pruning palms, be careful not to cut or injure the terminal bud or the whole tree could die. Cut the fronds from the underside to avoid tearing the fibers of the palm’s trunk. The most important thing to remember is if the frond is green, the tree is still using it so leave it.

An exception to this rule is the transplanted sable palm. The survival rate for these palms transplanted without fronds is 95 percent compared to 65 percent of those transplanted with one third of their fronds remaining. In addition to lower survival rates for palms transplanted with fronds, the fact that all original fronds will die and need to be removed later makes this practice costly in terms of labor. Complete frond removal appears to be the best method for transplanting sable palms which lose almost all of their roots in the transplant operation.

Trimming palm trees is a dangerous and precise procedure that should be left to professional tree trimming companies with an understanding of proper pruning practices.

If you decide to make your landscape a bit more tropical by adding some palm trees, determine their mature size and plant the right tree in the right place. Also, keep them well-fertilized to avoid health problems. Palms like to be fertilized four times a year in early and late spring and early and late fall using a good quality palm fertilizer.

Plant a palm tree to help Marco Island look like the tropical paradise it is.

•••

PLANT OF WEEK

Shaving Brush Tree

Native to Mexico

Small tree to 30 feet. Suitable for bonsai.

Interesting bark with stripes of green, yellow, brown and while.

More interesting are the pink, brush-like flowers. You can sit in the evening and watch them pop open. The honey bees love them so much, the tree buzzes with their activity. We have entertained many guests with our neighbor’s tree.

Deciduous in early spring, followed by the wonderful flowers. The new leaves are bright red turning green as they mature.

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Eileen Ward and her husband, Peter, own and operate Greensward of Marco Inc., a lawn maintenance and landscaping company. Besides completing horticultural courses from the University of Florida, she has a commercial maintenance spray license and is a registered dealer in agricultural products in Florida. To reach Ward, call 394-1413.