I’m looking for a statement tree or palm to go where the rock is circled I’m in Phoenix so kind of limits my choices! I used to have a large ficus there but it put its roots in a nearby pond so it got edited! This is on the side of the yard that I haven’t spent as much time on but am starting to work on it any suggestions would be appreciated!!!

If you're in Phoenix use heat loving sun tank palms to your advantage !

Copernicia (patience required, slow growers, worth the wait)

Bismarckia

Royal Palms

Brahea Armata 

I second a Copernicia! Unfortunately, they are hard to come by with any size to them on the west coast.

I used to have Baileys and Gigas  available in 15 gallon size. People even drove over from California to buy them. Only have a few seedlings now...🤷‍♂️

 

aztropic 

Mesa, Arizona 

Copernicia - Baileyana, Gigas, or Fallaensis would be a big fan statement.  

Attalea Speciosa, Brejinhoensis, Butyracea are fairly tough but slow.  Arenga Pinnata is similar.  I am not sure if they'll handle your dry heat or not.  All are bud-hardy to 22.5F at my place, but leaf burn badly below about 27 with frost.

Borassus - also big fans and similar in hardiness to the above Copernicia.  Maybe not different enough from a Bismarckia?

Corypha - monsters that seem bud hardy to 22.5F but likewise not leaf hardy below around 27 with frost.  I have Umbraculifera and Lecomtei planted.

Butia x Jubaea or pure Jubaea - tough and big, but very slow.

Sabal Lisa - very unique for sure, and medium diameter if you don't want a giant.

Sabal Causiarum or SabalKingofTexas' "Caribbean Mystery" if you want a big one

I'm not sure about your highs and lows there, so some (or all) might not work there.  I'm growing all of the above except the Caribbean Mystery, but plan on getting one of his seedlings soon.  

@Merlyn all those palms are slow! I’m not too worried about cold we haven’t had cold for quite some time the heat and low humidity is what I worry about! Copernicia grow here but like you said sloooow! I have Attalea cohune but it makes copernicia look like rockets! I would love a corypha but hard to find let alone one with size, I have all the sabals except the Sabalkingoftexas never heard of that one if it’s a monster might be interesting!!

@96720 yeah most of the "monster" palms also seem to be pretty slow, especially the fan palms.  Big ones like Causiarum are slow too, at least to get started on the bigger fans.  I actually don't know of any monster sized and quick palms.  Arenga Pinnata is reasonably fast, but in my climate it just gets torched and defoliated every other year.  In a >30F environment it might be much faster, but I don't know about dry desert heat.

@Sabal King any comments on the relative speed of the "Caribbean Mystery" palm?  I'm trying to figure out a good spot for one, but I already have 4 slowish Causiarum and a moderately quick Lisa.  

If your not worried about cold, what about a nice beccariophoenix, should grow moderately and makes quite the statement.

Dypsis decipens, dypsis Titan, beccariophoenix alfredii! 

@alzo @happypalms beccariophoenix are great palms I have 3 but they will not take our heat and sun definitely a semi shade tree in Phoenix!! I would love a Dypsis decipens unfortunately they also don’t like our weather!! I will have to look at the titan I haven’t heard of that one!!

44 minutes ago, 96720 said:

@alzo @happypalms beccariophoenix are great palms I have 3 but they will not take our heat and sun definitely a semi shade tree in Phoenix!! I would love a Dypsis decipens unfortunately they also don’t like our weather!! I will have to look at the titan I haven’t heard of that one!!

I wondered about Alfredii in the heat. They do great in full sun here, but I live in a swamp. 😁

On 5/20/2026 at 9:55 PM, Merlyn said:

@96720 yeah most of the "monster" palms also seem to be pretty slow, especially the fan palms.  Big ones like Causiarum are slow too, at least to get started on the bigger fans.  I actually don't know of any monster sized and quick palms.  Arenga Pinnata is reasonably fast, but in my climate it just gets torched and defoliated every other year.  In a >30F environment it might be much faster, but I don't know about dry desert heat.

@Sabal King any comments on the relative speed of the "Caribbean Mystery" palm?  I'm trying to figure out a good spot for one, but I already have 4 slowish Causiarum and a moderately quick Lisa.  

Apologies as I don't get notifications for messages here, for whatever reason.

They do seem to grow well and I am on year two for all of these, but they seem quite large for a 1.5-2yr old palm. Can't comment on "long-term" but for me, they seem to be a robust grower. I will be saving a few for myself and need to be careful not to sell them all. Seeds of this one are not easy to come by, and don't come yearly.

On 5/20/2026 at 10:55 PM, Merlyn said:

@96720 yeah most of the "monster" palms also seem to be pretty slow, especially the fan palms.  Big ones like Causiarum are slow too, at least to get started on the bigger fans.  I actually don't know of any monster sized and quick palms.  Arenga Pinnata is reasonably fast, but in my climate it just gets torched and defoliated every other year.  In a >30F environment it might be much faster, but I don't know about dry desert heat.

@Sabal King any comments on the relative speed of the "Caribbean Mystery" palm?  I'm trying to figure out a good spot for one, but I already have 4 slowish Causiarum and a moderately quick Lisa.  

sabal causiarum is the fastest palm in my yard. Water plus heat= over 35' in 15 years. All sabals are a little slow before trunking but in my experience causiarum is faster than any other sabal pre and post trunking.

july 2011 it goes into the ground as sabal domingensis(later confirmed causiarum from inflorescences, fruits)

then in early summer 2013

then in mid summer 2015, 4 years after going into the ground the leaves lengthened quite a bit. overall height 10' or so

In summer 2020 it was well into trunking

Today after I removed 15+ hurricane damaged leaves it stands tall, over 35' less than 40'

All things considered, it put height on as fast as my fastest of two royals in that time. Bismarckia is also very fast for me. If sabal causiarum is growing slow it probably needs more water and less sun in Arizona. Bismarckia were slower in AZ for me, might be the dry heat slows them a bit. They didnt burn from heat but didnt seem to go vertical as they do here in FL. Bismarckia will be more sun tolerant of arizonas dry heat than any sabal except possibly uresana.

@sonoranfans great timeline documentation, thanks! I planted a big strap leaf Causiarum in December 2019 and three more similar ones in October 2021. Two are now about the size of your 2015 photo, 6.5 years and 4.5 years after planting. The other two are a bit smaller than your 2015 photo, but getting close.

To me, 6.5 years and not trunking is somewhat slow to get started. But that's compared to stuff like Queens, Foxtails, Mitis, Lutescens, etc...which can go from strap leaf to 10 feet of trunk in the same time. Of course that's also why I cut down all 9 Queens 2 years ago, and am about to chop down the last 4 Foxtails in a couple of weeks...too tall too fast! About 3-4 feet of trunk per year is pretty fast, once established and trunking.

Your Sabals look good mine are pretty lackluster!! Maybe I’m not watering them enough or they don’t like our heat!! But my water bills are already crazy so I’m not looking for more water!!

On 5/22/2026 at 12:04 PM, Merlyn said:

I wondered about Alfredii in the heat. They do great in full sun here, but I live in a swamp. 😁

Alfredii take, in my garden up to 40 degrees Celsius and we just had a long hot dry summer.

On 5/22/2026 at 11:14 AM, 96720 said:

@alzo @happypalms beccariophoenix are great palms I have 3 but they will not take our heat and sun definitely a semi shade tree in Phoenix!! I would love a Dypsis decipens unfortunately they also don’t like our weather!! I will have to look at the titan I haven’t heard of that one!!

Livistona Australis if heat and sun are a problem.

15 hours ago, Merlyn said:

@sonoranfans great timeline documentation, thanks! I planted a big strap leaf Causiarum in December 2019 and three more similar ones in October 2021. Two are now about the size of your 2015 photo, 6.5 years and 4.5 years after planting. The other two are a bit smaller than your 2015 photo, but getting close.

To me, 6.5 years and not trunking is somewhat slow to get started. But that's compared to stuff like Queens, Foxtails, Mitis, Lutescens, etc...which can go from strap leaf to 10 feet of trunk in the same time. Of course that's also why I cut down all 9 Queens 2 years ago, and am about to chop down the last 4 Foxtails in a couple of weeks...too tall too fast! About 3-4 feet of trunk per year is pretty fast, once established and trunking.

A carpentaris grows faster than any palm mentioned but it is a skinny tree with little biomass. To some degree many fast growers in ehight are not so fast in biomass. So from 2020 to 2026 my causiarum grew 20' of trunk to 23' feet trunk at this time. The initial growth 18" to 10' overall in 4 years involves lots of subterranean growth that enables growth of about 3' of thick trunk a year. Its a trunk that likely weighs more than 4 queens of similar height. The soil under mine is about half clay for 2', the rest is more sandy at depth. It gets plenty of broadcast sprinkler water 2-3 times a week( but now the water restrictions mean 1x a week) plus rain when that happens. This palm would be slower in sandy soil or with irrigation drippers in high drainage soil as the roots wont spread wide into dry soil. I think you need 3 queens to match the causiarum crown in size, then you have those non shedding queen trunks to trim. I had 9 queens in arizona, watering them is an uphill battle, no thanks. As they grow tall it becomes tougher to keep them happy there. Causiarum normally sheds it own leaves.

If I was in arizona and the ground wasn't clay based and I couldn't afford to liberally water the palm in high drainage soil, I would go more for the waxy desert adapted palms. Hyphaene etc. If drainage is too fast and I wanted to expand possibilities, I'd bring in a few cubic yards of clayish soil (to that spot) to provide better water retention and a soil better matched to a drip irrigation application.

What about Brahea Clara? Mine has grown at a decent clip in hot Woodland Hills

@Happypalm the problem with so many palms is they are not available! I have kind of a botanical garden mixed in my jungle ! I have Sabal row per @PalmatierMeg it is pretty much complete one of the easier palms to find my Livistona row has chinensis and maria that I grew from seed I also have a nitida in a different part of the jungle before I started the row and my Brahea row I have armada, elegans, nitida and super silver which I don’t know how it got that name! Brahea and Livistonia are hard to come by here!!

Royal palm, I visited Palm Plantation two weeks ago and they told me a lot of people from Vegas and Phoenix buy the Royals cause they love heat.

@SCVpalmenthusiast very true I have probably 15 of them but they aren’t long lasting as a solitary palm as our sun bakes the exposed trunk!! Here is a picture of royals!!

Just now, 96720 said:

@SCVpalmenthusiast very true I have probably 15 of them but they aren’t long lasting as a solitary palm as our sun bakes the exposed trunk!! Here is a picture of royals!!