Cold Hardy Palm Trees For Landscape Design And
Planting In The United States
Pat Malcolm
Scattered reports of palm trees growing in Northern areas of
the United States and Canada have been known for many years.
Semi-truck loads of windmill palm trees have been unloaded and
successfully grown in Canada and the Northeast beginning in the
year 2000. These windmill palm trees, Trachycarpus fortunei,
provide many resorts and homeowners with a tropical look for
their pools or patios. Needle palms, although very rare and
available only in short supply, tolerate below zero
temperatures of the north. Dwarf palmetto palm trees, Sabal
minor, and Dwarf saw palmetto palm trees, Serenoa repens,
demonstrate cold hardy qualities and are especially desirable
as hedges, borders, and as a privacy block.
Windmill Palm Trees - Trachycarpus fortunei
The most cold hardy palm tree is the windmill palm tree,
Trachycarpus fortunei, a palm tree that is found growing as far
north as Canada. The cold hardy quality is especially
historically notable of the windmill palm trees, where the
trees are lined around Lake Lucerne, Switzerland leading up to
the city walls. Extensive plantings of windmill palm trees,
Trachycarpus fortunei have been known for years in southern
resort areas such as the Cloister at Sea Island, Georgia, where
the entrance to the hotel greets guests with thin, graceful
trunks of windmill palms. Tall windmill palm trees also can be
seen at the Retreat Plantation Golf Course on St. Simons
Island, Georgia at the club house entrance. TyTy Nursery began
selling windmill palm trees a decade ago as small trees and
recently have successfully transported large windmill palm
trees by semi-trucks for planting in such northern cold states
as Michigan, Illinois, Minnesota, New York, Pennsylvania, New
Jersey, and many others. These large windmill palm trees appear
to have survived temperatures of below zero and heavy snow and
ice storms. It is now possible for Northern states to plant
with a tropical garden look around their pool or patio.
Windmill palm trees have a great future in the United States as
an outstanding tree with a tropical exotic appearance, and a
palm tree that survives severe cold temperatures and snows of
the north.
Needle Palm Trees – Rhapidophyllum hystrix
Many palm trees have been tested for their quality of cold
hardy survival, and the needle palm, Rhapidophyllum histrix,
rates high on the list. The needle palm tree was tested years
ago at the Brooklyn, New York, Botanical Gardens, and the palm
was found to grow well and remain green after snow and ice
storms fell during the winter. One quality that the needle palm
tree features is slow growth that produces waxy leaf coverings
that protect the growing tissue from fast freezing
temperatures. The needle palm tree, Rhapidophyllum histrix,
produces long needle projections at the base of each palm leaf.
This needle is stiff and ominous to man and beast and is
responsible for the descriptive name: needle palm tree. The
needle palm tree tends to grow in clumps, producing small
offset needle palm trees at the base, however, seeds are
commonly produced which are scattered around the base of the
needle palm tree. The seed of the needle palm tree sprout
slowly to grow into small plants. Large needle palm trees can
grow for hundreds of years in age, but are rarely found as a
native palm tree in forests, because collectors have dug them
for landscapes. Even though some needle palm trees have been
documented to be 15 feet tall, the trees are rare and expensive
in large mature sizes.
Dwarf palmetto palm tree – Sabal minor
In the south, the dwarf palmetto palm tree is commonly found
growing as small shrubs and colonies along sandy coastal areas
and in poor swampy soils inland. The dwarf palmetto palm, Sabal
minor, competes aggressively with other shrubs and trees in
native American forests and is a valuable landscape shrub in
many exclusive resort areas, because once established, it is
evergreen and requires virtually no maintenance in landscapes.
Many gardeners have unfortunately tried to dig dwarf palmetto
palm trees to transplant and grow in their yards, but because
of the extensive root system that is removed, most transplanted
dwarf palmetto palm trees wither and die shortly after planting.
Good results of planting dwarf palmetto palm trees can be
experienced, if the gardener decides to buy nursery container
trees. Striking specimens of dwarf palmetto palm trees can be
seen when clumps of small trees are removed from the mother
plant, that often contains a curved shapely trunk of 4-5 feet
topped by beautiful green leaves.
Dwarf Saw Palmetto Palm Tree - Serenoa repens
High demand from the landscaping nursery industry has stressed
the supply and availability of the Saw Palmetto Palm tree,
“Serenoa repens”. This palm tree grows as a silver form and a
green form. It illuminates the dark backgrounds under dense
shade. This dwarf palm tree forms clumps and often is used as
border hedges and screens. Saw Palmetto palm trees are not fast
growing but are evergreen and cold hardy in many Northern areas
of the United States, where snow and ice damage most green
plants. Cold hardy palm trees are a valuable landscape tree in
cold areas where a tropical look, around pools and patios are
useful. Recent tree plantings of the Dwarf Saw Palmetto palm
trees at golf courses have stressed the supply of these plants.
As a native plant discovered by William and John Bartram in
1773, on St. Simon’s Island, GA near Fort Frederica, the Dwarf
Saw Palmetto palm tree was discovered growing and was
identified by Bartram as “spinosis “ (Dwarf Saw Palmetto). He
also found “Corpha palma”, or Great Cabbage Palm, “Corpha
pumila”, “Corpha repens” and “Corpha obliqua”.
About The Author: Visit TyTy Nursery to purchase the trees
mentioned in this article, or many others that you may be
looking for! http://www.tytyga.com
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