Do palm trees have a limit to their useful life in our landscapes?

[Pip]

Yesterday I found myself in an unusual position of being able to visit the Adelaide Botanic Garden on my own. I had to make the most as I only had an hour. I wanted to have a look at the Pritchardia beccariana as I had always admired them even as small specimens. It has been a while snice the last time I had a good look. They have now grown a bit of a trunk and you have to look up to admire the leaves.

As this palm grows taller it is becoming more susceptible to wind dadamage. It also makes me question if some palms actually have a limited useful life in our landscapes?

What do you others think?

Is it a goal to grow palm as tall as possible? Do you buy the neighbors property to continue planting or just move house to begin again? When is it time to chop a much admired palm down?

Does anyone plan for when the palms canopy is up out of the way?

[DoomsDave]

Phillip:

You ask a very profound question.

Seriously.

Some palms are pretty when small, ugly or at least a lot less pretty as they age. And, as you point out, once they get really tall, they can give you a crick in the neck.

The answer will depend on the palm and the person.

I have a P. beccariana, and it's getting large, and setting seed. It's also getting kind of ugly -- its leaves droop too soon, and it always looks ragged compared to the other Pritchies right nearby. Time for a chain saw? Don't know, yet.

It also provides canopy.

Some people do, in fact, cut down palms when they get too big for their taste.

Here's the garden of the host of the September 2014 PSSC meeting in Huntington Beach, CA for example:

[Kostas]

For me, the taller the palm, the better....even though i have to apply nematode-chitosan solution at their growing point monthly which obviously gets progressively more difficult with height!

Its all about tastes but palms are made to be tall in general. When they are down low, they take up space other beauties could use like cycads, ferns, bromeliads, aroids, etc. And of course there are always understory palm species which stay pretty short their whole lives(or relatively short, after all there are 30m of space below a rainforest canopy.... )

[Really full garden]

Its true that some palms outgrow their planting spots and compete with neighbors too much.I think a garden is an ever evolving thing.

[Sabal Steve]

I think that they're perfect when they are tall enough to walk under.

[Patrick]

I agree the garden changes as the years go by. What was once in sun might be shaded in a few years. Sometimes poor planning is a factor to the "useful life span". If a palm creates an undesirable condition or finds itself in an undesirable condition it's useful life becomes much shorter than anticipated.

I have a cold hardy Bangalore- one of Inge Hoffman's offspring which is growing slowly but steadily close to my hose. I almost anticipate that once it gets above the roof of the house and nearby protective canopy it's days will be numbered as we can't normally grow cunninghamias out here due to cold. Same with palms that can take the cold but not wind (well, my wind in Oakley- hot, dry): Kentias, Caryotas, Rhopies... So I guess what I'm getting at is that a palm's useful lifespan, to me, is really determined by how it reacts to it's specific climate. It may survive, but a decision will soon need to be made whether it stays or goes once it is clearly struggling. Then there's the whole cosmetic factor. If you don't want a telephone pole, why keep it? So there's 2 factors, really, then...

Personally, I try to keep every plant alive as long as I have it planted. How shall we say, for better or worse, through richer and poorer...

Some of the saltier guys will probably say, "Cut the damn thing down already!"

Just MHO...

[DoomsDave]

Personally, I love the high canopy, like a cathedral, a great place to worship, or . . . .

[Kim]

People with successfully grown, mature palm gardens will have a mixture -- most will enjoy the tall, cathedral-like canopy that Dave describes above, but there will always be some palms that reach the end of life stage by disease or by flowering, or become too troublesome for continued maintenance.

The mature palm garden provides opportunities for planting more delicate understory palms, to keep the palm thrill going at eye level or lower, but that means having left enough space for them in the earlier planting stages, or making space for them later. My observation is most people plant densely in the early stages, and end up thinning the crowd in the later years. There is no right or wrong to that --- each stage of the garden has its excitement.

[DoomsDave]

Palms also hit the end of their lifespans eventually. They get old and can't pump the fluid like they need to. A lot like people, only slower.

Sometimes they get struck by lightning.

And, try to imagine a dead leaf falling from a 120-foot (44 m?) tall Roystonea onto: (a) you; ( your car; © ?? (Ouch.) Those leaves can weigh 50-60 pounds (22 - 27 kg) and they're hard like stone when they dry out. Time to decide: skull fracture or beautiful canopy? (Have to think about that one! )

[Pip]

Thanks for your replies. I've enjoyed all your ideas about the factors contributing to a palm tree's useful landscape value.

Here are a few pics I took of Jubaea chilensis a plam that I love at all its life stages

[Pip]

And a view of one of the older plantings

[cagary]

Some might say that the incredibly tall Royal Palms at Foster's Garden in Honolulu have outlived their usefulness as a landscape plant. They are so tall that its very easy to miss them as one walks in the garden Anyone know how tall they are?

[Tyrone]

On 23 November 2014 12:23:49 PM, cagary said:

Some might say that the incredibly tall Royal Palms at Foster's Garden in Honolulu have outlived their usefulness as a landscape plant. They are so tall that its very easy to miss them as one walks in the garden Anyone know how tall they are?

 

But what if you go to a botanical garden just to see an incredibly tall palm. Here it is in all it's tallness. :)

[DoomsDave]

On 11/20/2014, 2:49:21, Pip said:

Thanks for your replies. I've enjoyed all your ideas about the factors contributing to a palm tree's useful landscape value.

 

Here are a few pics I took of Jubaea chilensis a plam that I love at all its life stages

 

 

Your plant will take the lifetime of your great-grandkids to the reach the size of the one in the second picture.

[DoomsDave]

On 11/22/2014, 8:23:49, cagary said:

Some might say that the incredibly tall Royal Palms at Foster's Garden in Honolulu have outlived their usefulness as a landscape plant. They are so tall that its very easy to miss them as one walks in the garden Anyone know how tall they are?

 

They're impossible to miss from a distance, though, if you're on the lookout.

Ma!

Yeah, Pa.

That looks like a very very tall Roystonea!

Sure does, Pa.

Ma, and Pa, when are we going to get there?

 

[aztropic]

This is what happens when my palm trees get to tall for me to trim... fortunately,the few royals,foxtails,carpentaria species that have gotten too tall for me to deal with are self cleaning so they get a pass.

 

aztropic

Mesa,Arizona 

[Palm Tree Jim]

4 hours ago, aztropic said:

This is what happens when my palm trees get to tall for me to trim... fortunately,the few royals,foxtails,carpentaria species that have gotten too tall for me to deal with are self cleaning so they get a pass.

 

aztropic

Mesa,Arizona 

Very creative.

Did you do this yourself?

[Alicehunter2000]

My wife was just saying yesterday....it would be nice if that Bismarkia would stay the size it is now. 

To create garden "rooms" you need a ceiling.....I like em tall, I like em small, I like em all!

[akamu]

Nice carving Scott kind of a patriotic alien tiki

[aztropic]

4 hours ago, Palm Tree Jim said:

Very creative.

Did you do this yourself?

Absolutely! Just a quick rough cut with the chainsaw after I cut the top half off.

 

aztropic

Mesa, Arizona