O, Christmas palm
Who says the holiday tree must be a conifer? Florida produces various palms that exemplify the essentials of Christmas.
By YVONNE SWANSON
Published December 17, 2005
Most people think of a fragrant pine or fir when it comes to Christmas, but there are several tropical palms that can easily conjure holiday thoughts. Add lights to one of these aptly named palms and your landscape will be in the spirit of the season.
The most popular palm with a festive twist is the Christmas or adonidia palm (Veitchia merrillii), which earns its common name from the clusters of bright red fruits it produces each year around the holiday. Growing 25 feet at most, it can be planted in a small landscape, courtyard or a container on the patio. With its bright green fronds and smooth green trunk, the Christmas palm has become a popular choice in local landscapes. But it does have some serious drawbacks.
Technically the Tampa Bay area (growing zones 9a and 9b) is too far north for the adonidia, which thrives in warmer zones 10 and 11. However, because of the bay area's record of mild winters, we have had good success with many cold-sensitive tropicals.
Single-trunk and multiple-trunk Christmas palms are sensitive to cold and won't tolerate frost. Container-grown plants can be sheltered from freezing temperatures somewhat by moving them next to the house or away from cold winds, then carefully draping them with a sheet if size permits. If you're adding a Christmas palm to the landscape, choose a protected location in partial sun.
The biggest drawback to the Christmas palm is its susceptibility to lethal yellowing disease, which wiped out almost all the coconut trees in the Florida Keys and the Miami area by the 1980s and has killed thousands of Canary date palms in Texas. Christmas palms with the disease will develop grayish-brown fronds that eventually drop and leave a bare trunk. No successful treatment for the disease has been discovered.
Horticulture experts at the University of Florida in Gainesville recommend using only the larger varieties of Christmas palm, which are resistant to the disease, including Veitchia macdanialsii (40 to 50 feet tall at maturity) and Veitchia montgomeryana (25 to 35 feet tall).
Perhaps your Christmas list includes a teddy bear - palm, that is. This beautiful feathery palm, which originated on the African island of Madagascar, has a reddish-brown fuzzy crown, which earns the tree its nickname. Rated for zones 10 and 11, teddy bear palm (Dypsis lastelliana) can withstand temperatures in the low 30s. It grows moderately to about 30 feet and prefers a sheltered, partly shady location. It has a distinctive silvery green trunk with white rings.
The old man palm (Coccothrinax crinita) brings Santa to mind, says Steve Stern of Exotic Palm Nursery in Miami. Its long fibers hang down along the trunk like a beard. There are several varieties, ranging in height from six to 20 feet. A cold-hardy palm, it can withstand temperatures in the mid 20s and prefers a sunny spot in the garden.
The unusual gingerbread palm (Hyphaene thebaica), or African doum palm, earns its name from its oval-size fruit, which tastes like gingerbread. Rated for zones 10 and 11, it is considered an extremely hardy palm: It tolerates drought and salt, isn't particular about its soil and can withstand cold temperatures. It's a very slow grower, reaching 30 feet at maturity. Its trunk often branches, which is rare for a palm, and its fronds are fan-shaped. Its biggest drawback is its treacherous thorns, Stern says.
The thin trunk of the pretty candy cane palm (Dypsis florencei) is white-cream and red. It's a very small palm, slowly reaching only five to 10 feet at maturity. It's cold-hardy to about 32 degrees, so it might require some TLC on chilly nights.
Christmas palms are readily available at retail nurseries and garden centers, but finding the old man, teddy bear, gingerbread and candy cane palms may be a challenge.
Exotic Palm Nursery in Miami stocks a large selection of rare and exotic palms (www.rarepalm.com or (305 246-3125). Or contact the Central Florida Palm and Cycad Society (www.plantapalm.com/centralfl or (813) 996-7148) for more information.
- Yvonne Swanson is a freelance writer in St. Petersburg and a master gardener for Pinellas County.