Florida Thatch Palm

These palms are common along coastal highways in the southernmost areas of South Florida, but they can also make great landscape or container specimens. Solitary by nature, this palm is also grown in multiple trunk forms. The Florida Thatch palm grows slowly and starts out life as more of a low to the ground, palmetto-type plant that is perfect for privacy screening.

These palms don't really require soil amendments, though the addition of top soil to the hole certainly won't hurt. Do not plant in wet areas or places where the soil is thick sandy soil is this palm's natural habitat. Fertilize 3 times a year once in spring, summer and autumn with a palm fertilizer containing micronutrients. Because it isn't self-cleaning, you'll have to prune off dead fronds yourself, but usually just a few times during the year. For cold protection for a young palm, especially in inland areas of Zone 10, you can tie up the fronds and wrap the head with frost cloth or warm blankets.

The Florida Thatch Palm is a very slow grower, with an ultimate height of about 15 to 20 feet, with weepy fan leaves and a narrow gray trunk. Sun or shade is fine for the thatch, and the more shade, the more slowly it grows. Tender and tropical, the Florida Thatch Palm is best in Zone 10B and along the southwest coast of Florida up to Naples. Because it's cold-sensitive in inland Zone 10 locations, minimize cold damage by placing it in an area sheltered from winter winds. Like many Florida native palms, this one is drought-tolerant once established, as well as being very salt-tolerant another plus for beach-side locations.