It is the palm tree which gives the tropical landscape its distinctive look and along with beautiful sea and sand beaches features in the brochures enticing people to holiday in the West Indies. The trees you see in the literature are nearly all coconut palms, but there are dozens of other palm varieties gracing the parks, streets, golf courses and hotel grounds that are being built all over the place.
Palms can be conveniently divided into two groups. The ones with feathery (pinnate) leaves like the coconut, and the ones with palmate leaves known as fan palms. Palm with pinnate leaves are amongst the most graceful plants in the tropical landscape (and the most useful to the landscape gardener), and it is the arching character of the leaves which make them so.
Aside from the coconut, amongst the most popular of the pinnate-leaved varieties is the golden palm, Chrysalidocarpus lutescens. It is grown widely throughout the West Indies and will attain a height of about 12 feet. It produces many stems to form a large and very handsome clump, and its leaves are extremely graceful and take on a golden yellow colour when mature. Another slightly taller palm (15ft) also used widely in landscaping work is the Macarthur palm, Ptychosperma macarthuri from New Guinea. Pronounced ‘Tycosperma’ the Macarthur palm also produces many stems, though the clumps eventually formed are not so massive or spreading as the golden palms.
The golden palm, the Macarthur palm, the fish-tail palm and the coconut palm (tall and dwarf forms) are probably the four main pinnate palms of choice for small to medium landscape work, and the reason is simple. They will transplant as fully grown specimens with the help of a machine like the bobcat. Their survival rate is high provided they are not allowed to dry out, for even when planted on the beach the coconut palm often needs water for some time until it is established in its new home.
The pinnates can give an instant maturity to a landscape that would take years to achieve by planting small plants. If you have a large property then plant groups of these palms – three, five or seven in the group – to make an impact and form a highly effective background for other plantings.
Very large pinnates like the royal and cabbage palms which can eventually reach 100ft, can be moved when they are up to twenty-five feet high if the right machinery is used and the right planning and preparation is done beforehand.
The fan palms are not so easy, although there is no denying their attractiveness. The main problem for landscaping work is that they do not transplant easily, and their leaves will probably be damaged if they are planted in an exposed and windy position. It is important to remember that fan palms need to be grown in pots until they are quite large and then planted out. Once they’re established in a permanent position they cannot normally be moved successfully. Amongst the best of the fan palms are the Pritchardia, Licualas, Thrinax, Coccothrinax, Latania, Sabal and Borassus palms.
Until next week, may your God go with you wherever you may be.
