Fall Photos of Caribbean Garden, Cape Coral, FL, November 2025

[PalmatierMeg]

I planted our Caribbean Garden in our north-facing front lot. The palm selection leans heavily on genus Coccothrinax, one of my favorites. It does include a few interlopers such as Phoenix roebelenii and Hyophorbe lagencaulis but is overall true to the Caribbean vibe. My world famous Sabal Row used to be on the east side of our property until the builders of the Early-21st-Century modern unsold monstrosity of a black/White House was built. Fortunately, @C Bigler rescued all the Sabals and took them back to his nursery. Anyway, I have some pretty cool palms in a small space, most, you will note, are palmate. These are tough palms worth growing if you aren't blinded by crown shafted tropical pinnate darlings. Coccothrinax leaves dance in the breeze on warm sunny days. I would not plant any tropical palms on the north side of my house - those W and NW winds howl across the Cape's flat landscape in winter.

Caribbean Garden canopy

Latania loddigesii

Latania lontaroides

Sabal miamiensis (R) from a Pine Island Pier and Sabal miamiensis x mexicqnq? from Leu Gardens: Study both palms carefully and you will see the miamiensis x Mexican hybrid has much thinner leaflets than the miamiensis. It also grows faster (germinated 2015 vs. approx. 2008/2009) and its huge seeds ripen late summer vs. fall.

Hyophorbe verschaffelrii

Native Florida Stopper (Simpson's? red? other?) (center), Silk Floss Tree/Ceibus speciiciosa (rear)

Hyophorbe lagencaulis (L), Phoenix roebelenii (C)

Hyophorbe lagencaulis

Ravenea rivularis

Kerriodoxa elegans

 

[Jdash]

stopper looks like red or redberry, does the color of the fruit turn black when mature or stay red? great looking stopper btw

[PalmatierMeg]

15 minutes ago, Jdash said:

stopper looks like red or redberry, does the color of the fruit turn black when mature or stay red? great looking stopper btw

I can't remember fruit color but I believe I have red and red berry stoppers. I had to cut one stopper down (Simpsons? Spanish?) after Ian blew it over next to one of my spindles. Chalk one up for the palm. For some reason I really love native stoppers - maybe because the are tall, straight and slim.

[PalmatierMeg]

More Caribbean Garden photos. I'm really pleased how well everything has grown in the past 25 years. I live on a busy street close to a major thoroughfare. I don't want walking or driving lookie loos, and prowling porch pirates to be able to see into my house or scope out the yard. So we live behind a curtain of green.

Ravenea xerophila - I've grown this odd but neat palm from a 1g I bought approx 2010. Not remotely trunking yet - SLOW. Raveneas are dioecious but I don't know what sex it is as it has yet to flower. No chance for seeds in my lifetime. They are now almost impossible to find now - one of the downsides of so many more people enthused over palms beyond the "usual suspects".

Archonotophoenix (for sure) cunninghamiana (not so sure) bonus points if you remind me what the zaftig palm next to it is (an Ian replacement palm). To the right of the Archo is a Chrysaladocarpus lutescens 'Fused Leaf'

Coccothrinax argentata - Florida native palm that is tough as nails. I found this one down toward Naples in 1993.  From my research I believe it originates in mainland Florida rather than the Keys. Mainland argentata are very slow growing and stay relatively short. This one blocks the view into our front alcove and the hall beyond the front door. This palm has taken down to 28.5F without a blemish.

Coccothrinax sp 01 - I used to have most of my Coccothrinax spp marked but time and attrition messed up my system. They are now part of my canopy

Acoelorrhaphe wrightii - It used to be a spiny clumper but frequent stem removals have reduced it to a solitary palm. It does produce orange fruit way up high. It sits in the center of the photo behind the large Coccothrinax trunk

Sabal minor 'Blountstown Dwarf' first photo - My original uber dwarf Sabal from PDN and parent to all my Blountstown F1 generation. It has been 12" high x 18" tall for the last dozen years. Comes true from seeds. If you like Sabals or live in an arctic climate, try one. I've read it has been grown in a pot indoors to flowering in a very cold winter 

 Sabal minor 'Blountstown Dwarf' second photo - F1 siblings from my mother palm in a planter box. They have flowered and seeded numerous times. 

Coccothrinax sp 02

Jatropha podagrica

Serenoa repens green form - much easier to grow than the much-vaunted silver form. I have one surviving silver - all the rest did not make it long term.

Serenoa repens green form; and above Coccothrinax sp

Hemithrinax ekmaniana x2 - I once had 4 but lost 2. I grew them from tiny grasslike seedlings I obtained circa 2009/10 at a Palm Beach plant sale. Neither has flowered nor set seeds. A bitty palm in its own orbit. I have several others planted in my Garden Lot that survived Irma and Ian (a couple met their demise by a Bizzie uprooted by Ian). Another palm that is less common than it once was.

Pritchardia thurstonii - Another interloper from the South Pacific but a winner. I almost lost it to mealy bugs a couple years ago but buckets of homemade insecticidal soap later it has bounced back big time. Skip P. Pacifica and try this one instead. To the left is the trunk of the Acoelarraphe

 

Sabal minor 'Wakulla Dwarf' - Native to coastal NW FL about 70 miles from Blountstown. They have similar descriptions but are not at all the same. Wakulla Dwarf is actually slightly bigger but even more: it is slower growing and far less robust than Blountstown. I got less than 50% survival for Wakulla seedlings vs. 90-100% for Blountstown. If you are new to Sabal minor uber dwarfs, get some experience and knowledge before you tackle this one.

Coccothrinax alta x2 - I received these palms already planted in an artificial cluster years back (I'm generally not a fan of solitary palms being forced compete in life or death growth match). Palm experts are sometimes divided into 2 categories: Lumpers and Splitters. Lumpers seek to group palm species in fewer and fewer categories and take every opportunity to move them around like checkers on a board. Their lot may be easier once DNA research puts the issue in focus. Splitters tend to stay with a status quo "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". DNA research may make many arguments between them moot. Trust real science not just the opinions of egos lugging around a truckload of degrees and awards looking for the next opportunity to "publish or perish" (academia is not a peaceful place).

My point? Coccothrinax alta existed as a separate species for decades and appeared in the first copy of my favorite book: Encylopedia of Cultured Palms by Riffle, Craft, et. al. Then a year or two after I joined PT, the Lumpers glommed onto C. alta and decided it must be subsumed into C. barbadensis, well, because they said so. And, presto!, in the next edition of my favorite palm book: Coccothrinax alta was gone. I don't necessarily agree. I've seen no scientific papers or DNA research that convince me C. alta and C. barbadensis are the - same - palm. So I'm sticking to my original ID until convinced otherwise.

Anyway, here is the late, lamented (by me only apparently) Coccothrinax alta