For people just starting out on their palm journey, buying a hardy to your area palm from the local big box will probably get you the most for the least. Prices they can offer due to their volume purchasing just can't be beat.

 

aztropic 

Mesa, Arizona 

That's a bargain. 

That's true.  20 years ago Kmart had a roebelenii on sale for $5.00.  It looked half dead in the Florida heat.  Took it home. Still alive today.  One of my first palms.  

Yep, good start to a great hobby. I would buy clearance palms . Most of my common palms are from this approach. Harry

8 minutes ago, Harry’s Palms said:

Yep, good start to a great hobby. I would buy clearance palms . Most of my common palms are from this approach. Harry

My first palm was a $12 Majesty from the orange store that I bought to add some life and color to my apartment. It didn't live very long but it led me to finding Palmtalk. It's also how I found out r/palmtrees on Reddit is actually a forum about weed. 

18 minutes ago, 3 Milesfrom Gulf of Mexico said:

That's true.  20 years ago Kmart had a roebelenii on sale for $5.00.  It looked half dead in the Florida heat.  Took it home. Still alive today.  One of my first palms.  

That's b/c none of the BB stores bother to water the plants. The grower is on the hook for anything that dies.

On 5/29/2025 at 5:50 PM, aztropic said:

For people just starting out on their palm journey, buying a hardy to your area palm from the local big box will probably get you the most for the least. Prices they can offer due to their volume purchasing just can't be beat.

 

aztropic 

Mesa, Arizona 

Looks similar to 2010 prices in FL to me. I could get a 3 gallon bucket full of dypsis lutecens seedlings for $10 or a 3 gallon livistona chinensis(5) multi for $10, and oversized 1 gallon Archontophoenix Alexandre 2' tall for $3. If you like pygmy dates that is a great price. A 4-5 years after 2010, the smaller nurseries where I purchased 90% of my palms kind of vanished as the post banking collapse economy left only big box stores. But I was lucky to have purchased several dozen palms before that happened. Worked out great for them, they raised prices in response to lack of competition and inflation.

Our selection here in big box stores is just common variety palms . That said , I watch the clearance rack for flowers , and occasionally , palms (not often). A short while back there were two 3 gallon Majesty multi on the rack with very minor leaf tip browning . The palms were in good shape so I put t]hem on my cart . The clearance rack is marked 50% off and the palms would be great in pots along my fence line , original price $20 and about 3-4’ tall. When I got to check out I reminded the clerk that they were “clearance” items. He replied “how does $3 sound?” I repotted them and they are doing precisely what I wanted them to do. If you need fill in palms to maintain a tropical look , they are perfect . I will , at some point need to keep repotting them as they grow pretty fast here , eventually rehome them as I already have a huge one in my yard and the trunks get rather large. Large , corporate places have little concern over pricing when they want to get rid of old stock. Unfortunately , in my area , they will not stock anything of interest to collectors . They used to have many varieties but now it’s just the generic stuff. Harry

Hi there,

When going to the local DIY home center I ALWAYS start my journey through the palm and other plants section.

I am usually doing it when in need to buy a tool or something else necessary for our house, so, I am not

a weekly regular but go there from time to time. But today - I am sorry, I didn't take a pic - I came across

some roughly two year old coconut palms sold for 9.800 Japanese Yen (60US$) , that is almost the double compared

to three, four years ago and completely ridiculous if you know the places were to look for washed ashore seeds...

Since my own company already throws germinated coconut seeds away due to lack of need - they have already asked

me because they are aware of my hobby - I might consider starting a business over here....😂

One more thing. A couple of months ago some imported C. lutescens (Golden Canes) - in the meaning of

shipped in from other parts of Okinawa - were sold for 8.000 Japanese Yen (50US$), a jaw dropping price if you

know better - just to be replaced weeks later by local grown ones...

...almost men-high for 2.000 Japanese Yen (12US$). (I couldn't resist despite its commonness... A beautiful palm is a beautiful

palm, period...)

So, to keep it short, the pattern is so obvious that you just stay patient and wait for the right time or mind your own -

alright, just my two cents -

Lars

Yes I agree value for money, but that’s where it ends in my book.

All they have is common palms, yes those common palms grow easily and they are palm so that’s not the palms fault, it’s a clever palm that has learnt to utilise humankind ensuring its survival on the planet.

Palms are losing their habitat daily and are being over exploited to the point where they are being wiped out, and it’s even more critical that exotic rare palms get into cultivation and into gardens to ensure there survival, otherwise those common palms will win thay race and be the major dominant palms left on the planet!

Those big chain stores have driven just about every mom and pop nursery out of business, showing no mercy in doing so. As a grower who has a palm nursery it’s near impossible to complete with such prices. This is why I chose to grow rare and exotic palms.

And if i could get the prices they are getting for a golden cane or bismack palm. I would throw out my exotics and start growing bizzies and canes.

But this is where I have an advantage over the big chain stores. The exotic stock may not sell by the hundreds weekly but I certainly can supply the quality along with rare exotics. I don’t grow my palms to make a million dollars I grow them for the love of palms and for the next generations to look at in wonder and glee in such beautiful exotics.

So the next time you want a palm don’t over look a rare and exotic palm grower, you will have a very unique rare palm collection that will stand out leaving all those common palms way behind. And in 20 years time you look back and think iam glad I purchased those rare beautiful palms.

Well said , @happypalms . It is a completely different market and the average “house beautiful” gardener that wants a few flowers and a manicured lawn will probably go to big box nurseries for price and a place where they can buy house stuff all in one stop. Us “Tarzan , jungle “ types are looking for something different. Some of us will capture a good deal on the clearance rack or sale just because we need “filler” . The reason I will keep the Ravenea Rivularis in pots is in case I run into a more rare palm to permanently replace the potted ones.

I really do miss the mom and pop nurseries we had around here . The times I had visited , I always came home with a smile. The benefit was usually expertise in plant selection and knowledge . I learned so much from them and I always took my regional Sunset Garden Book with me to look up certain plants .

Since joining Palm Talk , I now know the secret underground places to find my unobtainable species! If you were here , you would not be rid of me very easily! In the early nineties there were collectors that would sell through a local nursery . I could get bands with rare seedlings and bump into other collectors in the area . It was so cool , like a network of special folks . Alas , the manager retired and the network moved on . The nursery is still there and you can get some cool palms and cycads there . I was able to replace my Syagrus Schizophylla there. Harry

Harry, the Green Thumb nursery on S. Victoria Avenue in Ventura often has small, rare palms. During my annual SoCal road trip I always stop there.

I have a nice white bismarckia 30-35 footer than I got from a big box store in 2010, one of the whitest I have seen. It was moldy with just a clean spear. I also have a livistona chinensis multi, dypsis lutecens, and a Livistona decora that are now mature that I purchased from big box stores. However, the selection is typically limited and sometimes not climate appropriate at these stores. I have about 60 palms purchased form palm specialty nurseries. Every other yard in my area looks like a big box store selection(s), terribly boring like the same selections yard after yard. They don't even carry silver saw palmettos, a native bluish silver palm. I have also received palms that obviously had better quality care from the palm specialty nurseries. Box stores let palms go into decline and if they don't sell fast enough they write them off. These days the smaller nurseries have been seriously thinned out unless I drive 3-4 hrs and the big box stores sell prices that make me very happy that I planted out when I did. These days palms are more in general but if I want anything outside the 7-8 palm species stocked at the big box, I order small palms from redlands nursery. https://www.redlandnursery.com/availability-list/

B. Alfredii 3 gallons are $25 today and look great, happy as potted palms, and copernicia baileyana one gallon tall pots are $25. I paid the same for the 3 gallon alfredii in 2011, $25, its now ~30'+ overall. A 25 gallon bailey is $600, it makes no sense to buy that size. I had a 3 gallon bailey grow to double the size of that 25 gallon bailey in 4 years. I had two bismarckias one a 15 gallon and the second that moldy 5 gallon. The 5 gallon blew by the 15 gallon one in height in 7 years. Planting a big palm is over rated by most people, and also more expensive. When I look at my growing(6' max height) copernicia hospita triple which cost $20 each (by mail) from redlands and consider the largest would sell for $800-$1000, or when I look at my 20' copernicia baileyana and consider I paid $40 for a 3 gallon in 2011 and it would cost 10k to replace it, I feel like I made some great decisions going small. I still don't see a reason to buy at the big box stores now, I guess I am lucky to be in Florida but also to be aware of what can be grown. The awareness comes from palmtalkers. I highly recommend anyone new to palms to lurk, read, and ask questions for a while before buying palms. My yard would be a boring garden without the knowledge I have gained from palmtalkers.