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Written by Janina Birtolo for Home and Condo
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| Nothing quite says tropical paradise the way palm trees do. Just look at any advertisement designed to tempt frigid Northerners to our sunny clime – prominently displayed alongside the white beach and silhouetted against the sunset, you’re sure to find a swaying palm. “There’s nothing as graceful as a palm,” asserts Gary Patterson, owner of Namco Tree Service and stalwart of the Native Plant Society. And his enthusiasm is well justified. Palm fronds arching delicately, rustling and whispering in the wind, soothe eye, ear and spirit. The appreciation of the splendor of palms isn’t solely a human recognition. Wildlife, too, find a host of benefits among their branches and along their trunks. “Palms can’t be beat for attracting wildlife,” Patterson says. “There’s the thatch for nesting and berries for food.” But it is humans who have populated Southwest Florida with a proliferation of palms. Thanks to the passion of Mina Edison and the pocketbook of her husband, Thomas, in the early part of this century, stately royal palms were brought in to line McGregor Boulevard – giving rise to the Fort Myers’ nickname, “City of Palms.” Common history holds that Mina sent to Cuba for the royals, but Robert Read, a former botanist/curator for the Smithsonian Institution who now lives in Naples, recalls reading that a fellow named Reasoner transported the McGregor palms from what’s now Collier-Seminole State Park. “Reasoner ran the Royal Palm Nursery up in Bradenton,” Read reports. “He knew of a stand of royals in Collier-Seminole. He got a special boat and went around Marco to haul them back up to Fort Myers.” William Pulling and John Hackmeister worked a similar tropical wonder for Naples in 1912, when they gathered a team of men to travel to Cape Sable and dig up hundreds of coconut palms. Eventually, some 3,000 coconut palms made the journey from the Cape and surrounding islands to Naples. Given that legacy – and the near perfect match of palms and Southwest Florida climate – it’s hardly surprising that numerous newcomers and old timers consider a house not quite a home without one or more palm trees. What most people don’t realize, however, is that the term palm tree is something of a misnomer. Palms belong to the division of flowering plants known as monocots – a division that also includes lilies, grasses, irises, orchids and bromeliads. Most shade and flowering trees and shrubs, by contrast, are dicots. There are various horticultural differences between monocots and dicots. Perhaps one of the greatest differences of interest to the lay man is that, because of structural differences in the stem, monocots cannot be grafted onto one another (the way a rose variety can be grafted to the root stock of a different variety). Although palms can achieve the impressive height of a tree, they, like other monocots, do not produce annual growth rings. Palms have a maximum girth and will not grow wider no matter how old. The roots of a palm also differ markedly from the roots of most trees. Although palm roots can grow long, they don’t grow thick. Instead of thickness, the plants rely on numbers to anchor them. “Coconut palms have hundreds of thousands of roots,” explains Patterson. “That’s why coconuts can stand up to a hurricane even when they’re planted in just sand.” With some palms, especially the stilt-root palms of tropical rain forests, the roots will extend above ground level and as high as six to 10 feet above the trunk base. Palm leaves come in two distinct varieties: palmate and pinnate. Palmate leaves have fronds growing from a central point – like a fan or the way your hand looks if you spread your thumb and fingers. Pinnate leaves grow parallel along a central stalk – like a bird’s feather. The majority of palms have pinnate leaves. The structural differences of palms also dictate how the plants grow – from a single bud or “palm heart.” This palm heart was often harvested from cabbage palms and eaten, but, because it has only one stem, doing so kills the entire plant. Most hearts of palm in restaurants and stores today come from the euterpe palm or the peach palm, both of which are clustering varieties. Removing the heart from one stem kills that stem but doesn’t affect the rest of the plant. |
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| Palm Bounty The hearts aren’t the only edible or usable part of the palm – far from it. “It’s been said there’s not a single part of a palm that should got to waste,” explains Read. “The leaves are used for thatch on roofs. The trunks of royals have been used for floors and walls in houses and for scaffolding in South America. Coconut leaves have been used to weave into baskets. And the large thorns and needles of the needle palm are used by natives for arrows and sewing needles.” One of the most obvious of edible palm fruits is the coconut. Coconuts in Southwest Florida can be harvested when still green and cut open for their sweet-tasting water or the jelly-like material lining the walls. When the nut is left to dry and mature, the jelly becomes the more familiar sweet, white meat. Coconuts are only one palm taste treat, however. The jelly palm has fruit like miniature peaches. Eaten raw, the fruit has a rather crunchy texture, but it can be used to make a tasty jelly. The peach palm, native to Central and South America, has fruit that tastes like a sweet potato. The saw palmetto, native to our region, produces berries that, while not edible, are used to make a medicine to control prostrate swelling. Some palms produce benefits only in their home climate. Date palms, for example, are native to the Middle East and area an important food source there. While the palms will grow in Southwest Florida, our humid climate prevents the plant from developing edible dates. Others bear fruit that is best avoided. The fish tail palm, highly prized in landscapes because of its uniquely shaped leaves, has a protein in its seeds that has characteristics similar to dieffenbachia and can cause a severe skin rash. Palms in the landscape Because there area approximately 3,000 varieties of palms, it’s possible to create nearly any look you might want in a home landscape. The four varieties that are native to this region – the royal palm, Everglades palm, cabbage (or sabal) palm and the saw palmetto – will adapt most readily and require the least soil preparation and fertilizer. A number of other non-native varieties will grow well here, however, if given proper care. The addition of some organic matter to the planting hole will help enrich our sandy soil, and the regular application (three to four times a year) of fertilizer rich in iron, magnesium and manganese will help prevent typical elemental problems. Although palms grow from seed, Read recommends homeowners buy established trees and transplant them. When transplanted, palms are often “cigared” by having their fronds and roots completely cut off. Research has shown plants grow back as well, if not better, when they are cigared than when their fronds are tied up. Palms should not, however, be pruned of their green fronds – even in preparation for a hurricane. “People trim coconuts severely,” says Read, “but it’s sort of absurd. Coconuts were designed for hurricanes. If you trim them, you’re opening the crown to wind damage. Trimming takes away the strength and essential beauty of the palm. The only reason for trimming is to get rid of old, dead leaves.” Varieties of palms Selecting the right palms for your home depends greatly on your individual needs and growing conditions. If you want to line a driveway or have another area where height is an advantage, royals, which typically grow to 50 to 70 feet, and queens, which grow to 40 feet, are good choices. “Queens are one of the most common palms,” says Patterson, “because they are so easy to grow, they’re fast growing, and they’re relatively cold hardy.” Washingtonia palms, which grow to about 100 feet, also work well where height is desirable. Nicknamed the “petticoat palm,” Washingtonias have the natural habit of retaining their old, brown fronds in a “skirt” around their trunks. The dead fronds can be trimmed off if a cleaner look is desired. The cabbage (or sabal) palm works well in numerous settings. Not only a native but also the state tree of Florida and South Carolina, it typically grows to about 40 feet and adapts well to a variety of growing conditions. It’s distinguished by its habit of retaining a cross-hatching of leaf bases (called “boots”), although some cabbage palms will shed their boots rapidly, leaving a smooth, gray trunk. The Everglades (or paurotis) palm is another natural choice. “In the corner of a yard or if your yard is big enough to screen, use the Everglades palm,” says Read. “It’s a clustering palm that grows to about 15 to 20 feet and produces new plants from the bottom. But, because it grows large, you don’t want to plant it next to the house or in front of a window.” A better choice for areas where you want a smaller palm are those in the chamaedorea family (which includes a number of bamboo palms, the miniature fish tail and the cat palm). Maximum height for these varieties is about 10 feet, and many grow to only about three or four feet. Chamaedorea, along with butterfly and lady palms, is also a good choice for condominium dwellers who want to grow potted palms. “You only need to re-pot them every other year,” Read says. “Palms can stand having their roots crowded quite a bit. But palms used as house plants do require a little more water, and, if the air conditioning dries them out, they become prone to insect infestation. When mine get mites or mealy bugs, I use a waxy furniture polish. It dissolves the (insects’) waxy coating and sort of glues the babies in place It doesn’t hurt the plant.” Various other palms are prized in landscapes because of their unique shapes or fruiting characteristics. The Christmas (or Manila) palm puts out bright red berries during the winter and small white flowers during spring and summer. It either fruits or flowers almost every month of the year. The bottle palm, as its name implies, has a bottle-shaped trunk with a spiral twist. Similarly, the Canary Island date palm resembles an over-sized pineapple when small. Ferns grow readily in the boots of its trunk. Finding out more Because palms are big business in Southwest Florida, finding expert advice is not difficult. Any reputable nursery should be able to answer specific questions about growing conditions and characteristics. If you want detailed information, contact the International Palm Society at P.O. Box 1897, Lawrence, KS 66044. The group maintains a local chapter in Miami, which holds an annual palm sale at Fairchild Gardens. You can also get information from your local county extension service. Detailed descriptions of 102 palms are available in Betrock’s Guide to Landscape Palms by Alan W. Meerow, published by Betrock Information Systems, Inc., Cooper City, Florida. © April 1995 |
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