Palm trees for Tallassee, Alabama 36078

[Jack Jackson]

Landscaping my pool area and looking for two palm trees about 6' tall to plant. I like the type with a smooth trunk. I am not very familiar with palm trees. I just planted two Pinda Palms and want something taller behind them. Any suggestions? Also advice on soil amendments would be helpful. I live in Section 8A.

Thank you in advance and may God bless us all...

Edited May 24, 2021 by Jack Jackson
Additional information

[SeanK]

Hi Jack,

If Tallahassee is near Montgomery, your options for trunking palms are Butia, Sabal, Trachycarpus, and Chamaerops. You could take a chance on Washingtonia, but you'll likely see defoliation most winters.

[Sabal_Louisiana]

For something different, you may also be able to grow a Brahea (such as a blue hesper). Maybe even a Mule if you have the money and are willing to protect it and take some risk in the long run.

[Jtee]

Large Sabal palms are available in southern AL area. I’d go with two large ones if I had the money. 

[Allen]

Stick with a sabal palmetto where you live.  Try to get regenerated sabals if you can find them.  

[Steve the palmreader]

Look around town to see what is growing

[kinzyjr]

4 hours ago, Jack Jackson said:

Landscaping my pool area and looking for two palm trees about 6' tall to plant. I like the type with a smooth trunk. I am not very familiar with palm trees. I just planted two Pinda Palms and want something taller behind them. Any suggestions? Also advice on soil amendments would be helpful. I live in Section 8A.

Thank you in advance and may God bless us all...

Welcome to the forums!  The others above suggested some good options for zone 8a.  One you get north of zone 8b, the options for trunking palms start dropping off pretty fast.  I've attached a list that also includes some "8b" palms.  I highlighted a few to draw your attention to them. 

If you managed to pull off a Jubaea, it would definitely be taller than the Pindo palms... when your great grand kids are taking care of it   They've proven to be a tough or impossible grow down here, but you get a longer cool season and different soil up that way that might help out.

If you're near the Dothan area, Sabal palmetto grows VERY well there.  If I were living in that neck of the woods, I'd probably use those.  If you want a more robust Sabal, some of the folks here might be able steer you to someone that can sell you a Sabal mexicana.

As far as soil amendments, Sabal palmetto won't require any.  Some of the exotic species like a dose of fertilizer.  Down here, Florikan is a great general use controlled-release fertilizer for palms, buy your soil type may dictate that a different product will work better.

Since you are landscaping a pool, just something to keep in mind: Most of the palms being suggested produce copious amounts of fruit.  If these palms are planted too close to the pool (or it is really windy), you're going to end up with a lot of fruit/seeds in your pool and the maintenance will drive you crazy.  If you can share a photo of the area showing the distance from the pool to the planting area, we'll be able to tell you how bad the issue is likely to be.

8ab_palms.xlsx

[Collectorpalms]

Not sure what you mean by a smooth trunk. But your only real options ( I would spend money on for long term palm) for INTERIOR Alabama zone 8a are Sabal Palmetto and Trachycapus Fortunei. A pure Washingtonia Filifera would possibly work if it can handle the humidity. But you are not going to find one 6ft tall in the southeast. The other two you can find. 
 

Your waisting time and money on anything else, unless your starting with 1 or 5 gallon plants and have decades to watch them to grow.

Edited May 24, 2021 by Collectorpalms

[amh]

40 minutes ago, kinzyjr said:

Welcome to the forums!  The others above suggested some good options for zone 8a.  One you get north of zone 8b, the options for trunking palms start dropping off pretty fast.  I've attached a list that also includes some "8b" palms.  I highlighted a few to draw your attention to them. 

If you managed to pull off a Jubaea, it would definitely be taller than the Pindo palms... when your great grand kids are taking care of it   They've proven to be a tough or impossible grow down here, but you get a longer cool season and different soil up that way that might help out.

If you're near the Dothan area, Sabal palmetto grows VERY well there.  If I were living in that neck of the woods, I'd probably use those.  If you want a more robust Sabal, some of the folks here might be able steer you to someone that can sell you a Sabal mexicana.

As far as soil amendments, Sabal palmetto won't require any.  Some of the exotic species like a dose of fertilizer.  Down here, Florikan is a great general use controlled-release fertilizer for palms, buy your soil type may dictate that a different product will work better.

Since you are landscaping a pool, just something to keep in mind: Most of the palms being suggested produce copious amounts of fruit.  If these palms are planted too close to the pool (or it is really windy), you're going to end up with a lot of fruit/seeds in your pool and the maintenance will drive you crazy.  If you can share a photo of the area showing the distance from the pool to the planting area, we'll be able to tell you how bad the issue is likely to be.

8ab_palms.xlsx 13.63 kB · 1 download

Great list, but are Chamaedorea rojasiana and Chamaedorea linearis truly 8A palms, If so, what are the absolute lows for which they are hardy?

Edited May 24, 2021 by amh

[kinzyjr]

1 minute ago, amh said:

Great list, but are Chamaedorea rojasiana and Chamaedorea linearis truly 8A palms, If so, what are the absolute lows for which they are hardy?

I checked the Cold Hardiness Observations sheet, but don't have any observations listed for these two. 

Unfortunately, the list I gave isn't one I created.  It comes from the Trebrown list here: http://www.trebrown.com/palms_arecaceae.php

If anyone else has experience with the two species amh mentioned, could you please chime in with any input you can provide?