Help me choose palm trees for my yard

17 years ago

We just lost two very large (120+ foot) pine trees behind our swimming pool. We'd like to replace them with some sort of fast growing palm tree.

The soil is heavy clay but can be amended. Obviously it's going to be acidic, because the pine trees have lived there for 30+ years.

The picture gives you the idea of the area the palms would inhabit. (Ironically, it's a palm tree holding up the downed pine tree.)

Any suggestions?

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:1152239}}

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Comments (7)

palmshaun
17 years ago
Where do you live? I see you're in zone 10 but CA or FL?
miller5717
Original Author
17 years ago
California, East Bay of San Francisco. We occasionally get a light freeze here.
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catkim
17 years ago
This looks like a great setting for a couple of Bismarckia nobilis. These are medium-speed blue-grey fan palms of noble proportions, as the name would suggest. They will easily tolerate your brief freezes.

Here's a link to an image:

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:1152241}}
miller5717
Original Author
17 years ago
Wow those are beautiful trees. I'll put them on my list of palms to keep an eye out for. Any other suggestions?
catkim
17 years ago
Do you get summer heat? If you prefer a green pinnate (feather) palm, look for Wodyetica bifurcata, or foxtail palm. They get to about 25 ft. and take temps down to about 26F, and are more refined looking than queen palms; nice green crownshaft, more slender trunk, nice fluffy fronds. Both the foxtail and the bismarckia will need some summer heat. I've seen both of these at the big orange box store.

If you go with the bismarckias (I hope you do), be very careful not to break roots when planting. They can be very touchy about that.
miller5717
Original Author
17 years ago
Any suggestions on when to plant? (We do get summer heat, by the way.)I'm a little concerned about your statement that the bismarckia's are touchy about their roots in transplanting. The area that they'll be going into is a little tight, with a concrete pad on one side. It's about 8 feet wide. Do you think it'll be a problem?
catkim
17 years ago
Ideal planting time is spring when temperatures have warmed up a bit. That gives the palms a long period of warmth for roots to grow. This is true for all tropicals/subtropicals.

8 feet sounds like plenty of room, just don't buy giant-size palms to begin with. The bigger they are, the touchier they are. 15-gal. would be a good size. If you are planting more than one, be sure to leave room for mature size, which will be substantial. The book "Palms for Southern California" lists mature height at 30 ft. and spread at 14-16 ft., I'm guessing slightly smaller at your latitude.

Some of the bismarckias are more blue, some more green. The silvery blue seems to be the coveted color, and the blue can tolerate colder temperatures than the green (21 vs. 28). Some will look reddish if grown in full sun when young.

Here is a link that might be useful: More info.

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Help me choose palm trees for my yard

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palmshaun

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Help me choose palm trees for my yard

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