Quote:
Originally Posted by Bonanza
It's unfortunate that unknowing residents still request and demand queen palms and that landscapers recommend and plant them.
They are really borderline unsuitable for our climate zone, and are a constant maintenance headache between pests, rodents, fertilization and diseases.
Villagers need to learn that there are other good and better choices and landscapers need to just say no regarding supplying and planting them.
They truly win the prize for being the #1 Florida trash palm!
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Everyone is entitled to an opinion.
If you go by the facts:
Queen palms are hardy to sustained night temps of 22 F , TV avg lowest is 26F. (Hundreds of 10+ year old queens in Stonecrest, North of TV)
Most tall palms require more fronds to be pruned per year than the queen, and queens are in the middle as to size and quantity of bloom pods. They only produce 3-5 fronds per year, placing them low on the maintenance bar, if compared to other tall palms.
Queens have one of the largest canopies, have no thorns on the fronds, and are soft enough that if the last 4' or so of the frond is hitting a screen enclosure in a storm, it probably did no damage to the screen.
Queen palms get high marks in my book for a palm closer to the home. Every plant and tree has some sort of maintenance, pest and disease weaknesses... If you like the look of them, don't let the naysayers scare you away. Drive around TV homes North of 466 and areas even North of 42 and look at the thousands of stately beautiful queens.
The queen palms ability to handle the weather, pests and diseases in this area has made it a popular palm in this area for a century. I wouldn't make my decision to, or not to plant them on someone else's opinion, I would look at the facts.