The state tree of Florida is a palm tree, the Cabbage Palm or Sabal palmetto. Many Palm trees can grow very well here. Although not native, the Sylvester, Pindo, and European palms are examples of Palm trees that grow well here in central Florida. Palm trees add a wonderful exotic feel to our Villages' lots. I originally had planned to plant some oak trees on my corner lot but I loved the sunsets out of my windows so I didn't want to cover the sky so I planted Sylvester palms. I kept my crapemyrtle trees and my holly trees to add some variety in the landscape. Interesting to me, when I was doing some research on live oaks, is that the trees planted on Village lots may not be the standard live oak trees you see on the golf courses. if you look around at the shopping plazas you will see smaller oak trees that I believe may be clone cultivars of oaks that either have a smaller globe growth or a narrow upright growth. Two cultivars I have read about are the "Cathedral" and "High Rise" oak trees. I would imagine that most of the trees planted by The Villages landscapers planted around new homes are these two cultivars. They will never get as big as the standard live oaks. No one has ever educated new homeowners on this, so that is why they rip them out as they don't want a monster in their yard. Today I just saw a nice group of maples with red fall color up at Laurel Manor. We probably should diversify our tree planting more, but with small lots it is understandable that people gravitate to planting palm trees.
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