Palm Comparisons

[Vic&Judy]

We're in the planning stages for the landscaping of our new Gardenia.

There seems to be a significant price difference between Sylvester palms and Queen palms. I prefer the appearance of the Sylvesters.

Are there other considerations here, including maintenance, longevity etc???

[Colts Fan]

I claim no expertise. A good web site is shown below. A lot of what I've seen written discourages the use of the Queen Palm in our area. Others disagree. The Mule Palm is a cross between a Queen and a Pindo that might be a better choice for our area.

ENH-60/EP020: Ornamental Palms for Central Florida (http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ep020)

[NYGUY]

I have also heard that Queen Palms are not suitable this far north in Florida. Probably best to check that out.

[Barefoot]

We're in the planning stages for the landscaping of our new Gardenia.

There seems to be a significant price difference between Sylvester palms and Queen palms. I prefer the appearance of the Sylvesters.

Are there other considerations here, including maintenance, longevity etc???

We have a Queen palm and a double Sylvester. Our palms do well and are healthy.
We had the trunks of our double Sylvester diamond cut by Terrascape when they planted it.
After planting, we were told to water our palms every day for a month, until the trees got established.
The Queen grows fast, the Sylvesters grow slowly. That's all I know.

[TomSpasm]

Queens are more susceptible to damage from cold, and will grow taller faster. My unprofessional opinion is that Sylvesters are more likely to attract and house rodents and/or snakes, but are far more appealing, and yes, far more expensive.

There are enough very old Queen Palms around to know that cold doesn't kill every Queen, but the more out in the open, away from houses and other trees, the more likely they will be damaged by cold. I've noticed here that especially the villa neighborhoods, because the houses are all crammed together and there's so much concrete, that a micro-climate seems to be created. We've had numerous nights in the last 3 years where the area temperature was 28 or less and all of the tropical stuff in our neighborhood (Haciendas of Mission Hills) survived just fine.

Other decorative cold hardy palms to consider are Ribbon Palms, European Fan Palms (not as tall, more of an accent piece), Pindo Palms, and Mule Palms. Mexican Fan palms are cold-hardy, but grow 4 ft./yr and get too tall fast. The State Tree, the Sabal Palm, is also cold-hardy and relatively cheap.

Good luck!

[jimbo2012]

call the UF on rt 466, they will tell you NOT to plant queens, in a cold snap the water freezes in the truck.

It will look ok that it survived only to rot and fall in 18-24 months.

A far better palm is the Mule.

The Sylvester are great also

[leftyf]

I just removed 3 Queen Palms from my yard because of the mess and they were planted too close to the house. Mine were planted about 6 feet from the house and always dropping junk on the roof and into the gutters. Mine were over 30 ft high to to make matters worse. They are a constant mess with the large seed pods (or whatever you call them) that weigh about 40-50 pounds each. I made my own saw from a limb saw and 2 pieces of conduit. I could cut the seed puds, but when they came down they broke anything in their path. The dead leaves aren't quite as bad because they only weigh about 20 pounds each. I put the Queen Palm in the same category as toe Magnolia tree, both are beautiful in somebody elses yard.

[Cedwards38]

Early in my time here in The Villages I attended a seminar on palms given by the Extension Service from the University of Florida. Their advice is that Queen palms will not survive in this location. Some live longer than others, but some last a very short time. Sylvesters however, they advise, do pretty well here. You should call them and they will give you free advice.

[ukbill70]

Queen palms need a lot of maintenance as the HEAVY pods leave a big mess if not cut out and allowed to open spreading seeds everywhere. As mentioned in other posts they also rot from the inside. I hope to replace our queens with Mule palms this fall. Yes, Queens are a lot less expensive and for a few years you will be very happy with them but sooner or later you'll be paying someone $400 to cut them down. Just my humble ( based on experience) opinion.