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Florida Gardening

Cabbage Palm / Sabal Palm Question - How far apart do I plant?

14 years ago

Hi all - I want to plant 2 cabbage/sabal native palms at the back of my yard. I am thinking of getting mature trees 12-18 feet tall. How far apart do they need to be planted?

Also, any recommendations where I can buy them in the Tampa Bay Area? I would need to have them delivered but I can plant them myself if need be to save $........

THANKS!

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Comments (6)

fawnridge (Ricky)
14 years ago
If it's just 2 of them, plant them as far apart as you can. If you had 3, I would say make a cluster - plant them at angles away from each other (you'll need to brace them in position for 6 months) and make them a focal point. But just two and you can put them anywhere.

Personally, I wouldn't put a Sabal Palm in my garden for any reason. They are very high maintenance and rarely look anything but shabby.
laura1
14 years ago
maybe the look better in zone 9. I like them...MO
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babalu_aye
14 years ago
I've seen them look really good in a small group of maybe 3 or 5 trees, almost like a little natural-looking grove. I'd put them close enough together to string a hammock from them.

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everythingirl1
Original Author
14 years ago
Thanks everybody for the info. I am planting 2 right now (12 foot clear trunk, 2X2 root ball). But I hope to have a small grove of 4-5 eventually. I am going for a native yard so I will be letting the sabals to "self prune" etc. I'm in southern Pasco county and around here they look beautiful in their natural setting.

But how far apart should I plant them? 2 feet, 3 feet, 4 feet? I am buying them from a distributor not a landscaper (bc it is so much cheaper) so I can't rely on them to give me the planning advice.

THANKS!
fawnridge (Ricky)
14 years ago
They will get mature heads of from 4' to 10'. Pick an average of around 8' in diameter. If you want them to touch, plant them 8' apart. Closer than that and you have fronds banging into each other. If you want them for shade value, then put them closer.

I would price out fully-booted ones just out of curiosity. They do look better than the clear trunks unless you plan on growing stuff on the trunks. I did a job in Ft. Lauderdale where we tied staghorn ferns all around the clear trunks of five existing Sabals on the property. That was 7 or 8 years ago. I would imagine by now they have fully wrapped themselves and expanded.
laura1
14 years ago
Everything-that is so cool doing all native! I did that about 7 years ago in my LOL (land o lakes) yard (I moved 3 years ago and won't go back to see that the new owners have no doubt put SOD back in ;-()
Anywho, it was so great to do all natives. I put in one sabel which was all I could afford. I got one with the boots still on. And like you I didn't do any kind of trimming maintenance.

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