Need suggestions for smallish tropical palms, zone 10b under canopy!

[stevethegator]

Hello all, I recently moved into a new place here in south Florida. The house is on a finger canal of the intracoastal waterway about 1 mile from the Atlantic Ocean in Pompano Beach (10b).

I am landscaping the front yard which has a HUGE "black olive" tree (bucida buceras). Underneath the tree is a circular planting bed with a radius of about 10' extending out from the the tree trunk (pics to follow). Currently the bed is overgrown with some type of fern which I am going to cut way back so I can plant underneath.

This is a great microclimate, it has shade, high canopy, plenty of moisture, and I'm in a frost-free zone already so I should be able to get away with anything under there!

However, there are two catches:

1. Any palms I plant have to stay 3-4' tall for the next few years or else they'll completely block the view of the front of the house and won't look good aesthetically (it's a small ranch style home and the huge tree is right out front dwarfing everything).

2. I'm renting the place from my cousin; she wants me to plant whatever I want but I'd like to be able to take the palms with me when I leave eventually (hopefully not for awhile!). I was thinking of placing the palms in pots and sinking the pots into the ground so I can lift them out someday if need be.

I want stuff that looks exotic, isn't super common but isn't something I'm going to have to scour the earth for either. I already have a large Howea and a small Areca vestiaria out there right now but the yard needs more palms!

Thanks in advance for any suggestions

[stevethegator]

Ok here are the pictures:

Planting bed:

Overall view of the front:

Close up of left side, the sanchezia hedge is only around 3' tall so you can see what I mean about not wanting to block the view of the front

[stevethegator]

Side view, my old jaolopy for scale:

View of the canopy I've got going on:

Palms: Howea around 8' tall and small Areca vestiaria

[stevethegator]

[stevethegator]

I was thinking of things like calyptrocalyx, geonoma, etc. Thoughts?

[redbeard917]

Sounds like a great idea. I can't help with species. Where is the canal? Is it behind the house? Looks like you have good soil and a nice yard already. I actually kinda like the ferns, not sure how invasive they are in your area though. Maybe just keep them away from the root zone of the palms you plant. There might be some tropical zamias that will stay small as well as the palm species you mentioned. You'll definitely need something low-growing to not have that spot look completely overgrown. Maybe Chamaedorea metallica.

[Small palm]

There are some Calyptrocalyx like you mentioned. Calyptrocalyx Micholitzii comes to mind. Some others I thought about are:

Chamaedorea Adscendens

Other Chamaedorea species

Rhapis Multifida

Dwarf Dypsis species

Dwarf Licuala species

I'm sure there are a lot more I don't even know about.

[Palmdude]

I was thinking chammys and calyptros as well as licualas. You could also have some small potted specimens than can be changed out when they start getting larger. Nice spot for growing seedlings as well

[stevethegator]

Thanks for the replies, and suggestions good to know I was on the right track!

I love licualas, which species stay fairly small? I'm planning on interspersing 5-7 small palms with some bromeliads and other small tropicals like stromanthe and calathea to have a good mix of textures/colors. I was thinking one pinnate type palm species like calytrocalyx and one fan shaped palm like licuala.

Maybe L. Orbicularis?

[Palmdude]

How about 1 or 3 Astrocaryum mexicanum? Those are small and really cool looking.

[Dave-Vero]

Chamaedoreas are mostly easy to grow and you can pick some of the smaller species. The tiniest Rhapis grow a bit too slowly. Saw palmetto, of all things, can make a low carpet in full sun with trimming (or burning) to the ground every couple of years. But that's an esoteric long-term project.

For just a few years, a number of fan palms will stay reasonably low, including root spine palms (Crysophila). And of course Lytocaryum weddellianum takes lots of time to grow a trunk.

[NApalm]

Pinanga disticha stays nice and small. Other smallish pinangas? Ptychospermas?

edit: dare I say it, there are some nice colourful small dypsis. D. baronii, psamophila etc. Also hydriastele like H. flabellata, pinangoides

Edited June 24, 2014 by NApalm

[Palmdude]

Steve, I love orbicularis! Also what's the name of the one they call the potato chip palm? Those are really cool too. Chammy Stolonifera could work as a Ground cover palm with some other species mixed in for contrasting leaf shapes and colors, maybe throw a couple of cool crotons and broms into the mix as well.

[stevethegator]

  On 6/23/2014 at 2:57 PM, redbeard917 said:

Sounds like a great idea. I can't help with species. Where is the canal? Is it behind the house? Looks like you have good soil and a nice yard already. I actually kinda like the ferns, not sure how invasive they are in your area though. Maybe just keep them away from the root zone of the palms you plant. There might be some tropical zamias that will stay small as well as the palm species you mentioned. You'll definitely need something low-growing to not have that spot look completely overgrown. Maybe Chamaedorea metallica.

Yes canal is behind the house, ocean access! (But no boat unfortunately). The soil here is decent, it's an old lot so it's had time to develop a nice topsoil layer: I like the ferns too but they keep spreading farther and farther from the tree

[stevethegator]

  On 6/24/2014 at 7:19 AM, Dave-Vero said:

Chamaedoreas are mostly easy to grow and you can pick some of the smaller species. The tiniest Rhapis grow a bit too slowly. Saw palmetto, of all things, can make a low carpet in full sun with trimming (or burning) to the ground every couple of years. But that's an esoteric long-term project.

For just a few years, a number of fan palms will stay reasonably low, including root spine palms (Crysophila). And of course Lytocaryum weddellianum takes lots of time to grow a trunk.

Thanks! I'd love to get a lytocaryum or two

[stevethegator]

  On 6/24/2014 at 2:31 PM, NApalm said:

Pinanga disticha stays nice and small. Other smallish pinangas? Ptychospermas?

edit: dare I say it, there are some nice colourful small dypsis. D. baronii, psamophila etc. Also hydriastele like H. flabellata, pinangoides

Wow pinanga disticha is beautiful! Is it particularly sensitive like so many of the understory palms or is it an easy grow?

[stevethegator]

  On 6/24/2014 at 3:21 PM, Palmdude said:

Steve, I love orbicularis! Also what's the name of the one they call the potato chip palm? Those are really cool too. Chammy Stolonifera could work as a Ground cover palm with some other species mixed in for contrasting leaf shapes and colors, maybe throw a couple of cool crotons and broms into the mix as well.

Definitely throwing in the broms I've got a small collection that needs a home! I also have some other colorful foliage plants like stomanthe "tricolor". Thanks for all the palm suggestions I need to start looking them all up!

[NApalm]

  On 6/25/2014 at 3:34 AM, stevethegator said:

  On 6/24/2014 at 2:31 PM, NApalm said:

Pinanga disticha stays nice and small. Other smallish pinangas? Ptychospermas?

edit: dare I say it, there are some nice colourful small dypsis. D. baronii, psamophila etc. Also hydriastele like H. flabellata, pinangoides

Wow pinanga disticha is beautiful! Is it particularly sensitive like so many of the understory palms or is it an easy grow?

I've only had one in-ground for about 1 month but it's taken 4c with no ill effects. So far. Pretty easy grow for me