palm tree on pool deck

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Well this year I am gonna get a White/Orange Bird of Paradise in a pot. Sink it in the ground and bring it in for winter. I am tired of all my decorative plants getting frozen and dying back to the ground.

Banana plants are awesome. If it freezes, don't let the dead parts above ground stay. You need to hack it off at ground level, and mulch, as others have said. Otherwise, the rot may damage the roots. Good luck!
 
I have four varieties of palms growing in my back yard. After 10 years here is their sizes, and my observations.

Sago, very slow growing, attractive dark green but more wide than high (3' high X 4' wide).

Mediterranean Fan, a bit faster growing, a lot of sucker growth is common at the base, but it can be kept trimmed. (5' high X 3' wide)

Phoenix roebelenii (AKA pigmy date palm) grows upright, very attractive miniature palm tree. (7' tall X 3' wide)

Queen Palm, nice medium size palm tree current size about 18 to 20 feet.

I would also recommend against a Mexican Fan Palm. They grow too fast, produce a lot of debris. Even if kept cleaned up, after a few years what you have is a telephone pole with a shaggy clump of green at the top. Windmill palm might be a choice, much cleaner than Mexican and slow growers, they are also fairly cold tolerant.
 
Hi, I love palms and have quite a few in my backyard. Since you are north I will recommend to get some that are cold hardy or enter the pot in the winter :)
- Pygmy Date Palm
- Sago
- Phoenix Reclinata
- Medjool Date Palm
- Windmill Palms

Non-Palm Tropicals
- Bannana Plants and Bird of Paradise

After the freeze this year the ones that survived with no scratch where the Windmill palms (3 to 5 ft total) and the Medjool Date (12 ft trunk).

I only have one Sago and one Pygmy Date on pots and both do very good, try to make it a rather large and well drained pot, they will need a lot of water. The Sago grows too big in diameter and stays short, while Pygmy or Windmill (windmills are great looking palms) are more tree like so you will get a trunk with a nice canopy.
Banana trees are as easy as they get and they grow FAST!!!! And they do give you that tropical look

I agree with @JoyfulNoise buy it form a local nursery that know about palms in your area

Good Luck!
 
Though I love the look of Sago palms, you will need to avoid them if you have pets. They are lethal if ingested by dogs.

I have banana trees all around my Jacuzzi for privacy. Also they produce nice bananas to eat. /smile
 
I think the concern is wildly overstated. There are many, many, many plants that are toxic to animals (and humans) and used heavily in landscape layouts. Yes sago palms are poisonous but so are lots of other plants (poinsettias for example). I don't think there's an epidemic of animal poisoning any greater than what is normally seen. If you have a pet that chews up the yard, then the first priority is training the animal not to do that, not creating a "safe space" for them to continue to be destructive in.

Just my two cents on animal keeping...


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Rottweilers are heavy, beautiful, and powerful. As a young lad, I was run down by my aunt's Saint Bernard in her backyard. Scary. I would say training these big dogs properly is a responsibility often overlooked.
 
Oleander is much more toxic and common, but neither kills many animals. The only animal death I heard of was at the local zoo when someone tossed oleander clippings into a giraffe pen. If you intentionally feed a poisonous plant to an animal, well yes, that's a problem but otherwise... I have both in my yard, dog hasn't died yet, and the grandkids are still alive. Of course, that my be because I don't feed them the clippings.
 

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I bought 2 dwarf lady finger banana plants last yr. Left them in the pots. They are one of the only banana plants that can b grown in a pot and bare fruit. Easy to care for. Must bring them in when winter comes. Not a big deal.

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I planted this banana plant today in our big pot that sits on the patio because of this thread. I previously had a bottle palm but the two days of winter (21 and 24 degrees) we had this year killed it. I moved the bottle palm under the patio cover and covered it up but it was still too much. Hope this grows good.

QBU9mDS.jpg
 
chiefwej said:
That queen Palm behind it has a lot of brown on it.
Click to expand...

Yeah that is the left over damage from the 21 degrees we had in early Jan. There is still green in the middle and it appears to be growing so I think it will be fine. I left the fronds on that had any sort of green hoping to help keep it alive. In 2011 we went down to 18 degrees and all of the queens burned like this and they all came back. It took nearly a year though.
 
I have Queens too and they got hit two years back with a week of freezing temps. They are only now looking better. Give them a good dose of Palm food fertilizer and use some Jobes Palm fertilizer spikes. That will help them. Give the soil a good soak every couple of days but only if the drainage is good. Soggy soil all the time is bad for their roots.


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