Palms, Arecaceae: “Palm Family”
The palm tree: With its tall, slightly curving trunk festooned with a topknot of bright green fronds, it is a ubiquitous and iconic image that calls to mind associations both frivolous (tropical vacations, cartoons of desert islands) and sacred (Palm Sunday, 30 mentions in the Bible, 22 mentions in the Koran).
See more of this palm tree and the Los Angeles garden it graces in our book, Gardenista: The Definitive Guide to Stylish Outdoor Spaces. Surprisingly, palms are genetically closer to grasses.
Photograph by Matthew Williams.
A dry garden in California’s Coachella Valley, designed by Marcello Villano, pairs fan palm and golden barrel cactus with varieties of yucca and aloe.
Photograph courtesy of Succulents.
Photograph by Caitlin Atkinson.
At her home in Berkeley, California, landscape designer Flora Grubb relies on a bulky palm to create a layer of privacy in the garden. True trees grow upward as the branches and twigs in the crown of the tree elongate.
Palm trees have a long history of providing us with useful products, including food items such as palm oil, coconuts, betel nuts, açaí fruit, and dates.
Photograph by Erin Boyle.
And while they are most commonly associated with tropical and subtropical climates, there are more than 2,500 species in the Arecaceae family and some varieties can be successfully grown in more moderate conditions.
Photograph courtesy of the University of South Carolina Press.
Johannesteijsmannia altifrons is a fan palm, native to tropical rain forests, and grows without a central trunk.
Photograph by Bethany Nauert.
Wandering in the hotel garden at the Palihouse Santa Monica, the first thing Meredith noticed was an unusual mix of plants: tropical palms, cypress trees, and prehistoric-looking ferns.
Cheat Sheet
Sabal palm (Sabal palmetto) at Hoomaluhia Botanical Garden on Oahu. Finding the perfect palm to grow can be a daunting project.
Photograph by Forest and Kim Starr via Flickr.
Keep It Alive
Photograph by Sandy Poore via Flickr.
A pygmy date palm. This palm is elegant and slender and can be purchased with either multiple trunks or a single one.
Photograph by Lukestehr via Flickr.
A potted parlor palm. It prefers shade, can tolerate drought (although it likes humidity), and grows slowly to a height of four to six feet.