How much space between palms?

[newtopalmsMD]

I have 2 questions about spacing between palms.

1. I have a 2 gallon sabal minor Cape Hatteras that I am thinking of planting 3 feet from a trachy that has begun to trunk.  See picture below, with the sabal still in the pot.  Is this far enough apart?  My thinking is that by the time the sabal grows wide enough to impinge on the trachy, the trachy should have 5 or 6 feet of trunk and so the frond of the two plants would never touch.  Reasonable?  (BTW I highly recommend the blue dune grass in the background as a companion plant to palms. )

2. I have a second trachy slightly bigger  than the one on the right hand side of the picture.  I have a 2 gallon sabal Birmingham. How far should that be away from the trachy?

Thanks

 

Thanks

[Allen]

1 - fine

2- if you think it will live long term the Birmingham can get big.  Best to go ahead and allow for that by putting it 6+ feet away.  But for the next 5-10 years it would be fine close.  If you think something might die or you want a jungle like me and don't mind sacrificing something in 10 years,  plant closer.  I sometimes plant some things close for survival of the fittest as in 10 years I don't know what might be alive?  If you had room I'd Put (Trachy - Minor between 3 feet from each - then Birmingham).  I realize this is a different spot so I don't know what room you have there.

For long term it's best to put your 'prize' palms in the perfect spots with plenty of room and put 'sacrifice' palms/plants around them while they grow.  Your Birmingham and Trachy are your 'prize' palms and your Sabal Minor and Blue grass is the sacrifice down the road.  

 

Edited April 26, 2020 by Allen

[newtopalmsMD]

Thanks Allen,

Here is the rest of my planting issues.  In the first picture the sabal Birmingham is in the pot on the handle end of the yellow shovel and sabal Louisiana  is on the shovel end.  The shovel is about 4.5 feet long.  So these plants will probably impinge on each other after 4 or 5 years? The plant behind the Birmingham is a pretty large needle, 15 gallons when I bought it, 3 years in the ground.  Don't want to move it.   This configuration assumes that in 10 years or so the Birmingham won't yet be trunking while the Louisiana will get pretty nice (with a trunk?), given that the Louisiana is farther along and grows much faster.  The grass to the right of the Louisiana is zebra grass and marks where a gate begins.

The second picture shows the full length of the pool.  The Trachy is still in the pot.  I could move it to where one of the potted sabals currently are.  My thinking though is that the Trachy and the Birmingham will both grow to about the same size, 40 feet...but not in my lifetime).  The Louisiana will only grow to 10 feet or so.  I'm thinking I'd rather have a 40 footer and a 10 footer near each other rather than have the two 40 footers.  

Also I figure I have about 15 years in this house before I move to a retirement community. 

So how large across will the sabals get?

Any thoughts would be helpful

Thanks

Pat

[OC2Texaspalmlvr]

By the time any of your Sabals get some size, your Trachys will have more height and will fill in well. I have read the Birmingham is the slowest trunking sabal. Also the most cold hardy trunking Sabal =) 

[Allen]

A picture is worth a 1000 words. Here is one of my 3 that I planted close to a Trachy (The other 2 I did better).  I wish I had put it further away but I assume I might sacrifice one or one might die.  It is planted 3 feet from the Trachy and was planted very small (1 gallon just out of strap leaf) 3 years ago.  The Birmingham in the pic I just measured just for you and it is roughly 5.5' diameter and one frond already basically touches the trachy trunk.  So anyway 4.5 feet is much better than I did on this one, it's a hard call.

 

Look at this link to show size progression

http://www.garysnursery.com/SabalBirmingham.html

Edited May 2, 2020 by Allen

[newtopalmsMD]

Thanks Allen,   This is really helpful information.  I am rethinking a bit and considering moving things a bit farther apart.  It is May so I should decide soon!

[Allen]

Good luck palms grow slow so we always want to plant them a distance where they look good 'now' .  The above planting is one of my mistakes from years ago as that Birmngham will quickly get too big there.  I have made the decision to just leave it till it gets too big as you never know the Trachy could die (instead of trying to move and distress it)

[newtopalmsMD]

Thanks again, Allen.  I have reconfigured a bit and now have 6 feet between stems of the Birmingham and the Louisiana.  I will also add a small (2 gallon) needle a few feet behind the new space created.  When I get the plantings finished I will post a pic.   BTW, I do like the the look of the Birmingham next to the trunk of the Trachy.  From what I have read about the slowness of Birmingham growth,  you could have many years yet in which the fronds don't intermingle.

[Allen]

25 minutes ago, newtopalmsMD said:

Thanks again, Allen.  I have reconfigured a bit and now have 6 feet between stems of the Birmingham and the Louisiana.  I will also add a small (2 gallon) needle a few feet behind the new space created.  When I get the plantings finished I will post a pic.   BTW, I do like the the look of the Birmingham next to the trunk of the Trachy.  From what I have read about the slowness of Birmingham growth,  you could have many years yet in which the fronds don't intermingle.

A sabal minor would have been a much better choice for me.   Needles are super huge as well, LOL