In a lot off just off of Tennant Avenue in Morgan Hill, a
majestic date palm looms high over the artistic poms of a
multi-trunked Mediterranean palm while the fronds of the fuzzy
windmill palm spin lazily in the spring air.
These trees, resting on land owned by Red Roots Garden Company,
represent just a small fraction of the diversity available in
decorative palms, which can range from graceful giants to squatty
porch plants.
In a lot off just off of Tennant Avenue in Morgan Hill, a majestic date palm looms high over the artistic poms of a multi-trunked Mediterranean palm while the fronds of the fuzzy windmill palm spin lazily in the spring air.
These trees, resting on land owned by Red Roots Garden Company, represent just a small fraction of the diversity available in decorative palms, which can range from graceful giants to squatty porch plants.
Together, they form myriad style combinations with shapes and sizes to suit almost any yard. Plus, the slow-growing trees will flourish in nearly any conditions, according to Jonica Dow, a master gardener with the Santa Clara County Master Gardeners.
“If you go down the list (of available types), you can look at them, select the ones you like, and those are going to be the ones you can probably plant,” said Dow. “The only thing you really can’t do is take off the growing tip. The trees grow up on one column, and if you cut off the top, they’ll die.”
Despite heavy price tags – a 12-foot date palm in a four-by-four-foot crate will run buyers upwards of $2,500 – homeowners in the South Valley are crazy for these tropical-style accents.
The trees come with two types of leaf options: Fans and feathers. Fan-style leaves look like a hand, with its fingers fanned. All of the leaves emanate from a central point on the frond’s stalk, while feather-type fronds have stalks that sprout small, spear-like leaves along their entire length.
The other major point of difference among palms, aside from their eventual height, is their trunk style. A single-trunked palm has just one main trunk like a tree.
These palms are best suited for use as vertical accents, helping to balance the perspective of large buildings, grand entryways and tall homes, while multi-trunked trees tend to spread along the ground more like shrubs. These trees can be shaped to be used as artful horizontal elements by carefully pruning away extra limbs at the base and keeping only small tufts of fronds at the tip of each trunk, according to the University of California Cooperative Extension’s Environmental Horticulture Advisor Don Hodel.
Once planted, don’t expect much to happen quickly. Palms are slow growers because of the way they mature, according to Paul McCollum, a master gardener with the San Benito County Master Gardeners.
Rather than tapping into groundwater supplies in order to suck up nutrients, palms are surface feeders that rely on nutrient-rich soil and exceptional soil drainage.
Since the soil in the South Valley is dense and clay-heavy, Karen Aitken-Beronsky, a landscape architect and owner of Aitken Associates Landscape Architects, recommends giving the tree plenty of room to breathe by digging a plot hole twice the size of the palm’s base and backfilling it with a sand and soil mixture made up mostly of sand. If drainage is especially poor, a landscape architect may even recommend a specially constructed plant spot with a drain. Palm trees, after all, can drown, she said.
But before installing the tree, or any new plant for that matter, McCollum recommends getting your soil tested. Palm trees are especially vulnerable to poor soil quality and improper soil pH, which can affect their ability to extract nutrients from the soil.
“It does cost a little bit of money, but if you don’t do it, it could end up costing you a lot more,” said McCollum.
Homeowners can look for signs of soil deficiency by checking the leaves of their plant.
Yellowing of the leaves indicates a nitrogen deficiency, while a distinct orange-colored band around the edge of the leaf would spell a lack of magnesium.
A translucent orange flecking may appear if the plant is lacking in potassium and the new leaves will appear weak if the plant is having trouble accessing the soil’s micronutrients, said McCollum.
Prime planting soil should be of a neutral pH rating, and the trees will be happiest with a fertilizer that mixes nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium in ratios of 3:1:3 or 3:1:2. Additional micronutrient spreads can also be picked up in a local home and garden store, said McCollum.
Contractors frequently trim the leaves of a palm and tie them up when a tree is first installed, but there is no need to leave the tree in that state indefinitely.
The style is actually a preventative measure designed to keep the plants from going into transplant shock, said Aitken-Beronsky.
Palms lose water through their leaves, and when they are moved from a crate to the soil they may lose a significant portion of their water-collecting root ball.
Tying up the leaves helps as much water as possible to stay in the plant, but contractors will often come back to remove the ties after the plant has settled into the new surroundings in about six months, Aitken-Beronsky said.
