Queen Palms -- would you plant these??
 

If you are looking for a tropical look...would you plant Queen palms. Alot of these palms got hit pretty hard with last winters cold winds and frost. Most are surviving and will recover but some are nothing but tooth picks with no green at all.

So if you had to do it all over again would you plant Queens.....if not what options would you consider that give you the same tall swaying tropical look.

I purchased my pre-owned home and it had two queen palms on it. I am digging both of them up. Tried to give them away, but if the person who might want them doesn't dig them up himself, it is cheaper to go to a nursery and purchase them there.

Based on last winter's weather, I'd definitely plant something more frost resistant. We're looking at Silvester Palms.

I have 7 queen palms, and yes I would plant them again. Yes, they did get hit, some areas of TV more then others. All mine made it with min damage. If you check the data on Queens, you will see they are cold hardy down to 20 degrees. To me the odds are very much in your favor they will typically survive.

Army Guy

Queen Palms
 

I have 4 Queen palms and I love them, they took a little hit this past winter but now they are coming back. I have lived in the Villages for 14 years and never have a problem with them except this past winter and I think they weren't the only trees that had problems. The Silvester palm is a beautiful palm but they are very expensive and they do get very large on the width so be careful where you plant them on your property. Good luck on your planting.

Look on the golf courses and the rec centers, all TV plants is Sabals. That has to tell you something. They actually grow in the wild in FL. Nurseries clear them from land and sell them. When they transport them they cut the tops back to nothing. We had 2 put in, one 10 ft and one 12ft. We wanted the tropical look as well but our street has 30-40 Queen Palms. We wanted to be a little different. They are very hearty. One downside is they are delivered without much if any foliage. It takes about 6 to 8 months to see any. Check out
http://www.floridata.com/lists/palms.cfm The palms good for this area are: Cabbage palm (Sabal), Washington palm, Queen palm, Jelly palm (Pindo), European Fan Palm, Chinese Fan and Ribbon Fan Palm.

if i had it to do again i would plant washingtonia or sabal instead of queen for the tall ones, my european and canary palms are doing fine...gn

On my street the best looking palm to survive the winter was a Pindo. It was not affected by the cold weather at all. The reason, the Pindo is a desert palm, not a tropical palm. I think it looks better than a Sylvester. If I ever have to replant my palms, it will be with Pindos.

Queens?
 

I always borrow all my planting ideas from TV (These guys are good), including annuals....

I did a lot of research and Queen Palms were one of the hardy palms for this area so we planted one 2 years ago. Sadly, it didn't survive this past winter.

Now I have a newly planted Pindo. It's also recommended as a hardy palm for this area. I hope we have better luck with this one.

However, of all the palms, the Sabal is taunted as the most resistant and the heartiest. Since I don't like the looks of the Sabal I ignored the recommendation and chose the Pindo.

Tamma 49,

I too had a Pindo planted recently. I researched it also and found out that it is very winter hardy and the Landscaper hightly recommended it.

The proof is in the pudding tho, because my daughter has a large pindo and it wasant the slightest bit affected by this past winters many freezing nights.

The only thing I don't like about the Sabal is the messy fruit!

Army Guy

Pindo Palms are very good, but they do take up a lot of width(space).
Windmills are very pretty and quite cold tolerant.

Go to Floridata, or anywhere.. Queen Palms are not rated for this hardiness zone. I know a lot of people have 'em, and love 'em, but they end up looking bad half the time (just my opinion). We seem to get a "100 year winter" every winter now.

I have three Washingtonians in my front yard. They were planted 15 years ago when the house was built. They are now getting almost too tall for me to trim.

I am a do it yourselfer, and do not want to pay someone $150 a year to trim these.

Queens grow fast and are messy.....I'd hate to have a seed pod fall on someone or a car, etc.

I believe when deciding on palms, you also want to think about how fast they grow, and how big they get........they can be a maintenance headache before too long. I actually had a friend of mine transport my 32' extension ladder from my NY home to my Florida home, just so I can still trim those palms....

Frank

faithful, queens are not messy, the sabals are. Just watch around LSL!

Army Guy

army, i don't think the palms around the outside of LSL are sabals, i think they are canary's....gn

golfnut, really? I was told they were sabel. The I stand corrected! But I do know, that Queens don't drop anything, cause if they do, guess the ones we have are special and don't! LOL!
Could also be the location of where you are. As I said all our queens look great, had very few dead/frost burned and I cut those off. But we sit on the highest point in Bonita, so the cold doesn't settle like in the low areas. Guess those few degrees difference caused by elevation saved them.

Army Guy