Plants with lovely forms 1

When people from non tropical zones are asked about palm trees they invariably will go to the ones best known, Coconuts Palm (Cocos nucifera), Washingtonia Palm (Washingtonia robusta), Cabbage Palm (Sabal palmetto) and Date Palm (Phoenix dacctylifera). But with about 2600 species, and growing, in this plant family, one could spend a lifetime in study and still not have a handle on all the complexity. Now that nurseries today are growing a surprisingly large variety of palms, gardeners in the warm climes can become hooked on cultivating these uniquely formed flora. I enjoy the family members from this part of the world and will tend to use them more often than not in the gardens I design. Here's my favorite, the Florida Thatch Palm, Thrinax radiata.



The smaller scale of Thrinax radiata
lends itself to small planting areas.



Here are some very old specimens,
most likley over 50 years in age.