Inland Georgia Palm near pool

[Futuresvt]

Hello everyone! I am looking for a few palms to plant near my pool. I plan to add a raised mulch bed and plant the palm about 3-4 feet from the edge of the patio pavers. My concerns is long term damage or lifting from the root system. Also my local plant nursery only provides windmill palms. Stating they really my only choice. thoughts? This area is full sun and clay soil. 
 

also how messy would a windmill be during the flowering season?

I have found a few growers on Facebook market place with decent pricing. What should I look for in purchasing a 4-6ft palm?

[EastCanadaTropicals]

You might also wanna try sabal palmetto in an east or south eastern facing area.

[Palmfarmer]

2 hours ago, Futuresvt said:

Hello everyone! I am looking for a few palms to plant near my pool. I plan to add a raised mulch bed and plant the palm about 3-4 feet from the edge of the patio pavers. My concerns is long term damage or lifting from the root system. Also my local plant nursery only provides windmill palms. Stating they really my only choice. thoughts? This area is full sun and clay soil. 
 

also how messy would a windmill be during the flowering season?

I have found a few growers on Facebook market place with decent pricing. What should I look for in purchasing a 4-6ft palm?

I second trying Palmettos and Butia as well, but also go with some windmills so you are covered just in case the others die. You can just cut of the seedpod early and  the seedproblem is solved for the windmills. 

[Allen]

Windmills roots won't damage the pavers and you can plant them as close as 12-18" of the pavers if you want to.  When mature they will produce flowers and eventually seeds but they can be cut off easy if you don't want that.   Palms in general are the cleanest plant you can have around a pool.  Since you are 7b I'd stick to Windmill palms (Trachycarpus).  Sabal minor are a great companion plant as well for your area.  Your 3 goto palms are Windmills, Sabal minor and needle palms.  That is your base then experiment with others if you want.  With your photo I see in my mind a lush tropical planting area.  A palmetto would be pushing it and you may have to protect the windmill in super cold events.  You have many other tropical plant choices that will work in your pool area as well.  Here is a pic of my even colder zone 7a pool. 

 

 

Edited February 26, 2021 by Allen

[RyManUtah]

I think Trachycarpus fortunei would make a great poolside palm. They’re quite likely not going to damage anything with their very noninvasive, shallow roots. They’re also dioecious, so if you’re buying 6’ specimens, you may be able to select all male plants and never have seeds to shed into your pool. 

 

Edited February 26, 2021 by RyManUtah
Autocorrect grammar

[Futuresvt]

Thank you all for your help and suggestions. I really am looking forward to completing my backyard. We just moved in about a year ago and had the pool built sooner after. It’s been project after project but looking forward to planting some fun plants. 

[Teegurr]

15 hours ago, Allen said:

Windmills roots won't damage the pavers and you can plant them as close as 12-18" of the pavers if you want to.  When mature they will produce flowers and eventually seeds but they can be cut off easy if you don't want that.   Palms in general are the cleanest plant you can have around a pool.  Since you are 7b I'd stick to Windmill palms (Trachycarpus).  Sabal minor are a great companion plant as well for your area.  Your 3 goto palms are Windmills, Sabal minor and needle palms.  That is your base then experiment with others if you want.  With your photo I see in my mind a lush tropical planting area.  A palmetto would be pushing it and you may have to protect the windmill in super cold events.  You have many other tropical plant choices that will work in your pool area as well.  Here is a pic of my even colder zone 7a pool. 

 

 

Allen, what is that red plant in the foreground? It looks amazing, everything here is perfectly done.

[Fusca]

21 minutes ago, Teegurr said:

Allen, what is that red plant in the foreground? It looks amazing, everything here is perfectly done.

It does look awesome, doesn't it?  That plant is Tropicanna™ 

[Fusca]

19 hours ago, Futuresvt said:

I am looking for a few palms to plant near my pool. I plan to add a raised mulch bed and plant the palm about 3-4 feet from the edge of the patio pavers. My concerns is long term damage or lifting from the root system. Also my local plant nursery only provides windmill palms. Stating they really my only choice. thoughts? This area is full sun and clay soil. 

Others have made good suggestions for in-ground palms, but you could also do like @Allen has nicely done and use large containers that you could move around to protect on frigid nights.  Many palms (even Butia) can be grown to large size and be happy with their roots in a relatively small container.   Many palms don't do that well in heavy red clay that doesn't drain well.  If you're willing to do a lot of moving around you would have more options.  You could even get a tall bottle palm (Hyophorbe lagenicaulis) that gets damaged below freezing but do well in a container that you could still move around.

[Futuresvt]

I do like the container idea but I want to make care somewhat easy and self contained. I travel a lot for work and I know my wife will not be up for plant duty. 
 

few more pictures of the entire backyard. 

Edited February 27, 2021 by Futuresvt

[Fusca]

43 minutes ago, Futuresvt said:

I do like the container idea but I want to make care somewhat easy and self contained. I travel a lot for work and I know my wife will not be up for plant duty. 

Understandable.  If you're located really near Lake Lanier you might gain some winter help from the water.  My aunt lives in Lavonia right on Lake Hartwell and some of her neighbors have windmill palms (Trachycarpus fortunei).

[Futuresvt]

35 minutes ago, Fusca said:

Understandable.  If you're located really near Lake Lanier you might gain some winter help from the water.  My aunt lives in Lavonia right on Lake Hartwell and some of her neighbors have windmill palms (Trachycarpus fortunei).

I am close about 2-2.5 miles from the lake. That and the location being in full sun. I hope will help keep them alive. 

[Allen]

2 hours ago, Futuresvt said:

I do like the container idea but I want to make care somewhat easy and self contained. I travel a lot for work and I know my wife will not be up for plant duty. 
 

few more pictures of the entire backyard. 

 

I see room for about 200 tropical plants give or take!  For a tropical bed get a tiller and till in Lowe's Soil conditioner and Black Cow into the top 6" - 1' of soil then plant away.  

Edited February 27, 2021 by Allen

[Jcalvin]

IMO, windmills don’t do well in Georgia full sun. They look better if they have some shade. Unless you’re in the northern most part of the state, I’d just go with sabal. 

[climate change virginia]

try a butia with protection