Sabal Minor ? Other ground cover palms?

[Briank]

Hello. I am still relatively new to palms/cycads in general. Although I have learned a lot and researched a lot.

My question is this. I am looking for ground cover filler plants or palms. I am not that much into Cycads at the moment.

I have been planting Foxtails, Kings, and Royals in my front yard jungle. I even pulled a poorly placed Kentia with a Gigas as my center piece.

I am not really into Fan Palms, but been looking long and hard for a small bushy type plant or palm to accent my space between all my palms or along my walkways in front yard.

Seems like everything I am looking for to fill this space Screams Sabal Minor. Are their other options that I am not seeing or would I be correct in picking up like 4 of those and scattering them around ? Curious if anyone has experience with these or anything else. Thanks for the read. Best planting and growing everyone.

[Pal Meir]

Very cold hardy, but not a fan palm: Chamaedorea radicalis.

[Ben in Norcal]

You have tons of options if you are in SD. You might want to add a picture of your space, and add details about sun exposure, which will be important for species selection.

[redbeard917]

I like Sabal minor in some settings, but they can take up a bit of room. There are many different varieties based on how much space you have. This is probably the smallest. Then there are large varieties that may even begin to trunk someday, like 'Louisiana'.

http://www.plantdelights.com/Sabal-minor-Wakula-Co-FL-dwarf-form-for-sale/Buy-Wakula-Dwarf-Scrub-Palm/

There are other options, I love silver Serenoa repens, they can get large with time though. Chamaedorea cataractum are very attractive.

[Monòver]

Chamaedorea elegans, a common palmtree.

But a few Chamaedoreas are a nice option with a very good price.

[Sabal Steve]

Hey Brian,

There are a ton of things that you can plant. If you would like, I have some seedlings of S. minor and S. etonia. S. minor for example will need water to look good, opposed to many of the other Sabal species. There are lots of feather leaf palms that will grow here, albeit very slowly, and would take a really long time to outgrow your space. Chamaerops humilis (cerifera) is a nice open for a slow growing, bushy, silver palm. They are drought tolerant, and will not grow to the size of a traditional, green leafed Chamaerops humilis. I also have a large 5 gallon sized Serenoa repens that you're welcome to dig out if you wanted to give it a shot.

How much sun does the area get, and will irrigation be accessible?

Where exactly in San Diego are you?

[DoomsDave]

Briank:

Welcome aboard! Show us pictures of your garden. It will be easier to make recommendations.

There's also Chamadorea brachypoda and stolonifera, which both spread by underground rhizomes. They are best in shade and can get invasive, but a little digging and removing and potting (and bringing to a PSSC auction) will help a lot with that.

Chamadorea adscendens is a short, trunking single species, which takes considerable sun, especially near the beach.

AVOID "Boston ferns"; they are as invasive as unwanted relatives. Don't, for the love of all dieties, plant "horsetails" of any kind. Same reason. I know they're not palms, but it might get tempting.

[Briank]

I will definitely put up Pics if I knew how to one here. New to this Forum Thing.

I do not have any shade, until maybe some of these palms get bigger. It is pretty open spot. And my house faces North So it hits sun from Dust Till Dawn.

I live In Clairemont San Diego, its about 15 miles inland from Ocean. Even though I am not that far from Beach, its considered inland and the Sun takes its toll. As my Kentias are getting burned. Had I Known they would not do so well in the open, I would not have planted. At the time I did not know, I already dug one up and moved to back yard. Im gonna give them some time..

Ill post some pics if I someone tells me how.

Thanks for the help

Brian Kelley

[Briank]

Seems like I found out how to, but I guess the pics to big. Don't know how to make them smaller to upload.

[Dave-Vero]

Picture shrinking is fairly easy with Mac, not sure about Windows.

Sabal minor is a wetland plant, so perhaps not best for southern California. Also, it gets fairly tall. Mine have 6 foot leaves.

Sabal etonia lives on well-drained low-nutrient sand. Serenoa repens (saw palmetto) grows in sites from seasonally saturated to well drained. The silver (usually beach) plants are handsome but can become 10 foot masses. The yellow-leaved sorts can be kept down to 2 feet or less by annual burning, or cutting.

There's lots of small cycads. I don't know whether our coontie, Zamia floridana or Z. pumila or whatever, is grown much in California or likes it there. Zamia vazquezii seems to like shade and seems to have leaves that mimic ferns, much as some Panamanian palms have leaves that are pretty obviously mimicking Zamias.

[NorthFlpalmguy]

Picture shrinking is fairly easy with Mac, not sure about Windows.

Sabal minor is a wetland plant, so perhaps not best for southern California. Also, it gets fairly tall. Mine have 6 foot leaves.

Sabal etonia lives on well-drained low-nutrient sand. Serenoa repens (saw palmetto) grows in sites from seasonally saturated to well drained. The silver (usually beach) plants are handsome but can become 10 foot masses. The yellow-leaved sorts can be kept down to 2 feet or less by annual burning, or cutting.

There's lots of small cycads. I don't know whether our coontie, Zamia floridana or Z. pumila or whatever, is grown much in California or likes it there. Zamia vazquezii seems to like shade and seems to have leaves that mimic ferns, much as some Panamanian palms have leaves that are pretty obviously mimicking Zamias.

Good idea with the cycads!

[TexasColdHardyPalms]

Brahea decumbines & moorei or dwarf butia. There are a few macrozamia that would stay smallish for a lifetime.

[redbeard917]

Brahea moorei might be more suited to your climate, and is a very attractive palm, with glossy leaves on top and silver underneath. Sabal minor does indeed grow in wetlands in habitat, but they are commonly cultivated in normal garden settings.

[Briank]

I posted pics of my yard on another thread I created. It's tired from Nothing to Junge. Take a look

Thanks for the info everyone. I'm looking into all plants. I'm really want to get some of these Chambeyronia Mscrocsrpa put in but like I said, I have no shade or filtered light and afraid of losing them. There is 1 spot close to my courtyard were I'm gonna try maybe Kentia will block some of afternoon sun and help it. Gonna put in ground tomorrow

[DoomsDave]

Brian, saw your pics, your garden rocks already.

Welcome aboard!