Why do you like palm trees?

[Ivanos1982]

I'm curious to know the reason(s). I read a post stating when people first started liking palms but I wanna know, what attracts you to them?

For me, palms represent evolutionary success. A palm is basically a monocot plant that was able to evolve developing a trunk and able to reach impressive heights above other plants/trees. My grandma used to say "las palmeras están borrachas del sol" (palm trees are drunk with the sun) and it makes sense. They went way up there and are able to reach that light more than others. Now not all palms do this but the ones that do really blow my mind. They are also a staple of the tropics to me. Showing how impressive yet fragile they are to cold weather meaning any environment they are in is survivable to someone like me who hates cold weather with passion lol it's also kind of funny to see that after hurricanes, everything is destroyed except the palm trees, most of them stay up there. If that's not evolutionary success, than I don't know what is.

[Brandon39.5]

I think that the post you are talking about is the one I made about which palm introduced you into the hobby.  But well, the reason that I've got into palms is because my dad likes tropical fish and I used to go on holidays quite a lot to south florida and the royal palms and coconuts caught my eye but that wasn't really what got me into it, one day I was with my dad going to a garden center and I saw a couple queen palms that I thought that were the ones that I used to see in florida but no😂 so I asked my dad if that were the tropical palms from florida but he said that they are not and that those South florida palms would never survive in mallorca. I started researching about palms and showing different species of palms that can grow here to my dad, I stumbled on the phoenix roebelinii and the queen palm, my dad said that the roebelinii looked more hardy so he bought a couple for the garden, that were the first palms I planted (dead now) and now I'm just planting a bunch of beautiful palms and germinating them from seed. Palms are great and I want to dedicate a big part of my life to them. 

[flplantguy]

I love the ones that look impossible or prehistoric, much like I love tree ferns and anything with monster sized leaves.  Gardens in Hawaii that look like Jurassic Park is my style and palms are part of the backbone for it.

[Gottagrowemall]

To keep it simple, I was born in Flagler Beach Florida and my family came from Illinois. They never lost their amazement or desire for the beach and tropical living. When I bought my first house the landscaping was a huge mess, overgrown and needed a lot of work. Tropical plants and palm trees make a landscape feel like it fits in here in Florida so I wanted to add that to my house. We did not have much budget at all for palms so I needed to research to get the best deals, most bang for my buck (starting palms smaller) and that just continued to grow and grow and grow.

[Kenc]

I love palm trees for their iconic and picturesque appearance, especially against a backdrop of clear skies and sandy beaches. I was born in a tropical place, palm trees seemed ordinary since they were everywhere – nothing special. However, once I left that environment, I started missing them like crazy.

[John2468]

I like palm trees because of the way they are so different from the normal trees I see when I was in Illinois.

[swolf]

Absolute beauty for one, two, and three! 😎  

In addition, since everything I have studied about nature and our Solar System scientifically points to ‘irreducible complexity’ and thus Intelligent Design, inspired Bible passages like Isaiah 65:22 (below, per NETS LXX) come to focus:  Were we meant to live much more than the 700+ years Jubaea Chilensis are reported to live in native Chile?  “The Tree of Life” mentions occur at least periodically from Genesis through the Christian (prophetic) book of Revelation.

“and they shall not build, and others inhabit, they shall not plant, and others eat, for according to the days of the tree of life shall the days of my people; they shall make old the works of their labors.”

[Little Tex]

1 hour ago, swolf said:

Absolute beauty for one, two, and three! 😎  

In addition, since everything I have studied about nature and our Solar System scientifically points to ‘irreducible complexity’ and thus Intelligent Design, inspired Bible passages like Isaiah 65:22 (below, per NETS LXX) come to focus:  Were we meant to live much more than the 700+ years Jubaea Chilensis are reported to live in native Chile?  “The Tree of Life” mentions occur at least periodically from Genesis through the Christian (prophetic) book of Revelation.

“and they shall not build, and others inhabit, they shall not plant, and others eat, for according to the days of the tree of life shall the days of my people; they shall make old the works of their labors.”

I also got into gardening and astronomy for religious reasons, like It's just so much more exciting to me personally to look at these plants and see the variety and beauty that they are created in, but also being in the RGV so much influenced me

[rizla023]

I love palm trees because they such a diverse group of species that have evolved to extraordinary beauty and size. Like you said, they are basically gigantic grass. I love the diversity of shapes, colors, textures and adaptability. I am lucky enough to grow in a prime zone for U.S. palms and the fact I can bring distant countries native flora into my yard is incredible and so rewarding. For me, they offer escapism from the mundane of life to tropical and lush dreams, right in my back yard. 

[BayAndroid]

I love palm trees for the filtered light they produce. Heavy shade isn't my thing, I like the light dancing on the ground. The way they move in the wind, the sounds coming from their leaflets / fans. I love them because they are almost uncharted territory where I live. You just don't see many interesting palm trees where I live; just the common ones and even then, in my opinion, there aren't enough!

[meridannight]

I've always loved palms. Ever since I was a little kid, and couldn't tell a difference between a Chamaerops humilis and a Phoenix canariensis (!) I loved them. It doesn't have a start date or a reason, no more than I can explain away why I prefer one musician to another. It's just something that is, and I guess it's more than just a fling, because I didn't just settle for admiring these plants on the side, I started growing them from seed and expanding my acquaintance with as many species and I can.

To me, palms are symbols of eternal summer. 

[Patrick]

I wanted my yard to be like a vacation every day; and nothing says tropical vacation like palms and other exotics; so, I learned what was possible and all of the species that could grow around my locale and I planned my yard (slowly, but) accordingly. Its still a work in progress. I'm working in lower and mid tier stuff as things finally grow up. These days, my yard may look like a tropical vacation spot, but it is NO vacation. I really made a lot of work for myself with all the mantenance!  But, it keeps me busy and out of trouble (mostly) so thats a good thing.

[Patrick]

5 hours ago, BayAndroid said:

I love palm trees for the filtered light they produce. Heavy shade isn't my thing, I like the light dancing on the ground. The way they move in the wind, the sounds coming from their leaflets / fans. I love them because they are almost uncharted territory where I live. You just don't see many interesting palm trees where I live; just the common ones and even then, in my opinion, there aren't enough!

I was going to agree with you in that my region is similar with regards to not seeing many interesting palms; but then I realized you ARE in my region . To see a mature guadalupe is "special" out here. 

[sonoranfans]

6 hours ago, BayAndroid said:

I love palm trees for the filtered light they produce. Heavy shade isn't my thing, I like the light dancing on the ground. The way they move in the wind, the sounds coming from their leaflets / fans. I love them because they are almost uncharted territory where I live. You just don't see many interesting palm trees where I live; just the common ones and even then, in my opinion, there aren't enough!

Yep filtered light, and that includes moonlight!  A full moon projects all these moving leaf shape shadows all over the yard.  I dont want deep shade in my yard, more limited choices in what can be grown underneath..   I also agree that palms motion in the wind makes them look more alive.  I appreciate the way the silver colored ones reflect light at the edges of the day or under lighting at night.   Palm trees are easier to plant in groups for more complex landscape designs as they tend not to grow increasingly wider crowns after a few years.  Some dicots grow so wide they are a trimming nightmare .  With palms, no leaves to rake, just pick up a fallen leaf and drag it to the curb, a much easier cleanup with crown shafted palms than dicots.  Green, grey or blue all year, even the live oaks here lose leaves in winter and look sparse.   Last noninvasive roots dont uplift hardscape or concrete like a dicot.  I have grown gardens in zone 7, 9, 10.  You grow what you can grow, some of those zone 7 flowering trees I cant grow here, but what I can is plenty beautiful.  Yeah and my palms have survived (2) cat 1 hurricanes in the last 5 years while dicots were knocked down all around.  Fortunately, nobody had a dicot tree fall on their house in my neighborhood, but that is an outcome of hurricane winds.

[ZPalms]

I've talked about what made me start growing palms in the other thread, but the reason I like them is because of how they sway in the wind. I love when it storms and all the fronds can blow to one side and bounce back like nothing happened, and the sound they make. Also, since I live somewhere where palm trees aren't the majority, it's special to see them, and they always catch your eyes. I'm very happy I live in an climate where I have a good handful of palms I can grow without issues while still being able to experiment with some borderline types of palms, and it's very fun to see what I can get away with!

[Ivanos1982]

On 2/13/2024 at 1:12 PM, BayAndroid said:

I love palm trees for the filtered light they produce. Heavy shade isn't my thing, I like the light dancing on the ground. The way they move in the wind, the sounds coming from their leaflets / fans. I love them because they are almost uncharted territory where I live. You just don't see many interesting palm trees where I live; just the common ones and even then, in my opinion, there aren't enough!

THIS!

[Ivanos1982]

Very interesting responses. Thanks everyone. I don't feel strange anymore haha many people just don't understand our passion.