Before purchasing one of those lovely palm trees....
 

Check out the Villages grounds after a storm, palm trash everywhere, Think twice, fyi.

I have had homes in Florida going back to early 90’S even when I didn’t live here much. I wouldn’t live in a home that didn’t have a couple of palm trees , there easy to care for and just here in the villages all the homes I I’ve had here since 2000 the palms still look nice , that stuff on ground is the equivalent of leaves off trees. When the tornado came through here years ago it knocked down the new palms I had just put in a few months before , a couple of guys just pushed them up and they were fit as a fiddle, it wouldn’t be Florida for me without palms

:agree:

To each their own, I dislike them - no shade, blossoms, or air cleaning purpose.

Trimmed vs. not.

We trimmed our palms 4 inches below ground, ahhh, no bugs, no trash!

Queen Palms look nice, but require regular trimming, every 6-8 weeks. They are native to frost-free areas south of here. They eventually get so tall that tree trimmers can't safely work with them. Plus if planted near paved areas the roots will cause heaving. I once had 10, but many were killed by frost.

If you must plant palm trees, consider the sable which is native to this area and requires minimal trimming. It is the only one planted by The Villages.

Most mature neighborhoods learned their lesson and had cut them down long ago.

Keeps the palm rats away. :coolsmiley:

Queen palms are a problem in smaller yards. The roots started growing in my backyard's drainpipes, Rats climbed to the roof on them and the fronds shed often. I love palms but after having to cut down 3 queen palms myself I hesitate to grow palms anymore. But I love them at the same time. Maybe not in my yard though.

never had a problem, if you use TV grounds then there is - it doesn't look like they ever cut them - pretty ugly and lazy

God was wonderful and decided to have palm trees. There are a lot of squirrels and small animals that live in and around the palm trees

Palm trees harbor Palmetto bugs and rats. Live and learn. We had 5 of them and little by little have none!

Palm trees
 

Palm trees harbor Palmetto bugs and rats. We used to have 5 that we had planted when house was built and little by little we had them all removed with no more problems!

And deciduous trees and conifers put nothing on the ground after a storm...right?

That's the beauty of being here in Florida: one has the option to have palms, or not. At our previous home, we had four acres, and hundreds of hardwood trees. Oaks, walnuts, hickory, maple, birch, etc. You want to talk about a mess following storms? A typical Midwestern thunderstorm would generally equate to me spending DAYS cleaning up the tree trash. I'll take picking up a few palm fronds any day!

Ohiobuckeye
 

You’re right! They require maintenance that most can’t do. Just don’t get turned on by palm trees just because they’re native to Florida. jbartle1, you told them right!

We all have off days!

[QUOTE=OhioBuckeye;2023367]You’re right! They require maintenance that most can’t do. Just don’t get turned on by palm trees just because they’re native to Florida. jbartle1, you told them right![/

Not to mention a safe haven for rodents and palmetto bugs...and the cost of upkeep. People from florida staw away from palms

The “palm trash” is a result of natural pruning. The Villages does not trim their palms, so as the branches brown and dry out a good wind will bring them down. The Queen palms have very heavy mature branches. I spent the day weeding and cutting back the older fronds from my palms. I never lose branches to the wind or storms and I have no regrets in deciding to have palm trees. They make much less of a mess than the lovely hibiscus flowers that fall and get slimy. Just my opinion with a bit of fact.

Just a word to the wise with a lot of caution thrown in. IF YOU HAVE A DOG OR CAT DO NOT PLANT SAGO PALMS! They are highly toxic to dogs, cats and even people…every part of them. Talk to your vet and they will tell you that they lose dogs to poisoning from Sago palms every year. It’s an avoidable tragedy. Every part of them is poisonous and it causes vomiting, seizures, diahrrea, bloody stools, jaundice, liver damage and death. Take notice if you take your pet to someone else’s home. They are everywhere.

Second house in The Villages, opted not to plant palm trees, found them hard to control growth and also expensive to have trimmed several times per year

Palms aren't natural to Florida. Bottlebrush trees are a good choice.

Ohiobuckeye
 

Again, good advice or just find out yourself!

European Fan Palm
Max ht. 15 ft., easy to trim yourself
No bugs or rats
Good down to 20 deg.

No palms are native to this area. The traditional cutoff lies on a line that stretches from Tampa to Melbourne in Southern Florida and then south only.

So none are native to TV.. For the entire State, only 12 palm species are native at all, and among those are quite a few you don't see in landscaping. Queen Palms -- so many in Florida -- are actually from South America, originally. Sylvester palms are native to Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Nepal, etc. Robellini palms are native to China, Viet Nam. Areca palms originated in the Phillipines, Malaysia and India. Royal palms originated in Mexico and other parts of Central America.

and so on.

so much for native palms in TV!

The palm trees were here way before you.

Not anymore in this yard

Wow some misinformation here! According to the University of Florida “Nothing says Florida like a palm tree, so it’s fitting that the state tree is Sabal Palm.“ UF/IFAS goes on to say this native palm grows throughout the state. Just take a hike around central Florida or take a kayak trip down a local river and you will see thousands of these trees growing among pines, magnolia, oak, maple, and cypress trees. Two smaller palms found in central Florida are sabal etonia, (the scrub palmetto) and sabal minor, (swamp palmetto) Both of these palms are lower growing palms that can be seen around our area. So much for “No native palms in TV!”

Had sago palms ( yes. large females with seeds ) and lots of dogs, for decades here. Never have I seen or heard a factual account of a dog eating a sago seed.

Almost everything growing in your landscape is poisonous one way or another. Dogs have noses, and we have brains that tell us not to eat things we shouldn't. Leave my sagos alone, they have been on this earth longer than pretty much everything.

Wrong.

There are several palms and a couple cycads native to this area. (And Bottlebrush trees are NOT native and are of no natural benefit to our natural habitat.) At least most of the non native palms (many of these have naturally arrived on our shores for thousands of years and actually growing on our coastlines) produce food for our birds and other wildlife. They also feed bees that are in a lot of trouble right now because of all the pesticides being sprayed on the plants we have in our yards. These palms you are saying I shouldn't plant , are for the most part, not being sprayed with pesticides, because the pest companies pedaling poisons have already found out what they use will damage palms, and make us palm lovers mad.

Palms ARE native to this area, most of us and the loropetalums, ligustrums, indian hawthorns, bottlebrush, and crepe myrtles.. are not.

The only action I'm getting is Palm... I best lower my standards

Love my palms.
 

I love my palms. To me it seems no more work or expense than the rest of what is in the yard. And, as you said, they provide food and protection for birds and other wildlife, which includes rodents and insects along with other creatures.

Anybody that prune their own queen palms watch out for the widow maker’s. 30 pound palm seed pods! When they hit ground big thud. Not to mention skewer potential from the pointed end.

If you are pruning seed pods out of your queen palm before they open, you are killing your tree.

In a few years, the seed pods will be emerging from too close to the 'heart' of the tree, and as it dies, some 'expert' will tell you it was cold, or bugs or root rot or whatever makes them sound smart.

Allow your 3 ish bloom pods to flower and be beautiful, ( yes, clean up some flowers after that, like ALL blooming plants) then allow the seeds to ripen to where a couple fall of. THEN trim the pod off. You will stop getting 6-8 blooms a year. Honey Bees will have something in your yard for a bit with no poison. The seeds will actually weigh LESS than that pod, and you won't kill your tree.

Unfortunate we have so many 'experts' with chainsaws and widespread false information about these queens. REMEMBER, .. the further you get from how NATURE cares for your plants and trees, the closer you come to not having a green thumb.

I like palm trees, I like them even more when they are on somebody else's lawn....

Wow you beat me to it, was going to say the same, too much expensive maintenance to keep them looking nice.

As compared to the grass you maintain for.. how much a year?

MUST be trimmed, imo, for that neat & clean look. add some ground lighting for dramatic effect :coolsmiley:

I have had palm trees in all the homes I’ve lived in here in Florida ,including the 6 I’ve owned here in villages . I still ride by those homes sometimes and the palms are still doing well, it wouldn’t be Florida for me without palms .

God Could Have Made a Better Choice!