Giant Dioon is technically a cycad of pre-historical origin, and the Dioon palm tree can grow up to 1 ½ ft. in diameter with a Dioon trunk growing twelve feet tall. The bright waxy-green leaves of the Dioon are feather-like and pointed on the tips. The giant Dioon palm tree is a favorite container plant and will tolerate temperatures of 25 degrees F.

Dioon edule palm is not technically a palm but a member of an ancient group of prehistoric plants called cycads. Dioon means “two egg” seeds that are born on the female cone of the plant in pairs and edule meaning edible, and the Mexicans grind the seed into a flour and use the tortillas as a food item. The newly formed fronds (leaves) arise from the center of the Dioon in a strange form and arching like an exotic feather. The bright waxy green leaves are fern-like but stiff and sharp as they mature. The Dioon edule is an excellent plant for containers and is often seen at entrances of hotels and homes in the Southern U.S. The Dioone edule is common in Mexico and grows South in other Central American countries into clumps that may grow 12 feet tall. In containers the plants grow very slowly and are actually more cold hardy than the Sago Palm Trees, which they strongly resemble. The Dioon edule will survive very cold hardy weather down to 10 degrees F., and ranks as the most cold hardy cycad like the Sago Palm Tree. The Dioon edule is easy to grow from seed or offsets and this cycad will respond quickly to fertilizer and water with vigorous growth. The Dioon edule should be grown in some shade.

Fishtail Palm Tree- Caryota mitis

The Fishtail Palm Tree is a common container plant that is often used in offices, where it can grow in low light conditions, however, in South Georgia, it has survived outdoors in below freezing winters showing a resurgence of growth in the Spring after the outer parts freeze back. The Fishtail Palm Tree has that tropical look with leaves shaped like a fishtail. The Fishtail Palm Tree is excellent to grow as a house plant and responds fast to watering and fertilizer. In lower Florida the Fishtail Palm Tree can be grown in the landscape in full sun where, it can grow 25 feet tall, and from a distance it looks like a bamboo grove. The Fishtail Palm Tree originated in Indonesia where it grow vigorously in tropical rain forests.

Lady Palm, Rhapis excelsa, is an ideal office plant. Very large, 6 – 7 feet Lady palms can be seen growing in 25 gallon containers in extremely low lighted areas inside the Hotel and are placed at dark corners at several covered outside walkways that receive only small amounts of reflective indirect sunlight. This palm may become your office or home favorite. Lady palm trees grow 10 feet.

The Lady Palm tree historically dates back to the 1600’s when Japanese and Chinese propagated the palm trees to be grown inside the Imperial residences. The Lady palm trees were imported by European monarchs and admired because of their qualities of long-life, easy maintenance and unique beauty and their attraction to be used as an ornamental plant. Lady Palm trees, Rhapsis excelsa, can grow twelve feet tall in clumps or clusters under low artificial light. Very few palm trees have the advantage of large indoor growing as does the Lady Palm tree, Rhapsis excelsa.

The Lady Palm Tree is a delicate plant but tough and thrives easily as an indoor container plant, where it grows vigorously with enough water and fertilizer into large clumps. The stems of the Lady Palm Tree are covered with fibers, and the stems of the Lady Palm Tree can grow outside to 10 feet tall and multiply rapidly to form a dense plant hedge in outdoor landscapes. The Lady Palm is used to make a Japanese garden and is commonly found in malls in giant bush clusters or in office and commercial indoor entrance gardens. The Lady Palm Tree foliage will tolerate cold temperatures of the mid twenties but will resurge in the Spring after temperatures in the teens.

Often called the Elephant Foot palm tree, the Ponytail (Bottle) palm tree, Beaucamea recurvata, grows a swollen base, and has a trunk capped with a canopy of (ponytail) leaves. Often grown as a low-light bonsai specimen, the Ponytail palm tree can grow for years and years and slowly grows-easily manageable. Ponytail palm trees are available in variegated forms but are difficult to maintain when compared to the green form of the Ponytail palm trees (Bottle), Beaucamea recurvata.

The Ponytail Palm Tree is often called the Elephant Foot Palm, because the swollen base of the plant is swollen and covered with a gray, wrinkled skin. Many Japanese bonsai gardens consider the Ponytail Palm Tree perfect for containers and low light or brightly lit rooms. The Ponytail Palm Tree base is topped by stringy leaves that grow into a green canopy of ponytail-like hanging leaves. The Ponytail Palm Tree is very slow growing requiring decades to grow to 4 or 6 feet in height. In Gainsville, FL. huge specimens of the Ponytail Palm Tree clusters can be found growing in outside arboretums in clumps. The Ponytail Palm Tree cannot be grown outside in cooler areas than zone 9 and the plant can be easily grown from seed or offsets from a mother plant of the Ponytail Palm.

Pygmy Date Palm Tree- Phoenix (roebelenii)

The Pygmy Date Palm is a graceful delicate palm tree that looks much like a miniature, true date palm tree, Phoenix dactylifera, and producers small black dates on female trees, like its close relative the true date palm tree. The Pygmy Date Palm Tree tends to form clumps (offsets) and are often a favorite plant for container planting to plant in mall gardens or as specimen plants. The Pygmy Date Palm Trees is rugged and tough and resistant to salt water spray, but this palm tree can show damage to foliage if the temperatures drop below 30 degrees F. or high winds. The mature Pygmy Date Palm Tree can grow to 10 feet in height, if given adequate fertilizer and water. The Pygmy Date Palm Tree is native to th tropical rain forests of Indonesia and needs plenty of water, but the containerized Pygmy Date Palm Trees can grow also in sunshine or partial shade.

Queen Palm- Syagrus romanzoffiana

The Queen Palm Trees originated in South America and grow well in the United States in zones 9 and 10, but show cold damage or death when temperatures drop below the mid-twenties, F. The Queen Palm Tree can grow 50 feet tall, and is generously used in lining streets and boulevards in acceptable climate zones. The green delicate leaves of the Queen Palm Tree arch majestically on a fast growing, gray trunk. The Queen Palm Trees grow rapidly in landscapes or in containers. Hybrids with the Pindo Palm, Butia capitata and Queen Palm, Syagrus romanzoffiana have produced a “Mule” palm tree with the cold hardiness of the Pindo Palm Tree. The Queen Palm Tree is usually grown commercially by nursery propagators, forming rapidly growing plants for tropical gardens.

Triangle (Madagascar-Triangle) palm tree, Dypsis decaryi

The exotic Triangle Palm Tree, like many other bazaar and unusual trees, comes from Madagascar. The Triangle Palm Tree is named because of the irregular trunk shaped like a triangle. The Triangle Palm Tree is a recent palm brought into the United Stated and is a good container plant grown from seed or it can grow to 25 feet in the landscape in zones 9 and 10. The feather-like leaves of the Triangle Palm are 15 feet in length and grow upwards at a 45° angle and arch downward slightly. The Triangle Palm grows best in sandy soil, full sun and needs regular watering.

Zamia (Cardboard) palm tree - Zamia furfuracea

The Cardboard Palm Tree is easy to grow in the landscape in zones 9 and 10, and grows easily as a bonzai plant in Japanese gardens. The thick cardboard-like leaves have a fern-like appearance from a distance where they grow into huge clumps up to 3 feet high and 6 feet wide. The Cardboard Palm Tree can form cones at an early age on female plants. The seed mature into bright orange-red seed that can be germinated into new Cardboard Palm plants. The Cardboard Palm Tree is easy to grow just like the Sago Palm Tree, which it resembles. For shady or sunny spots the Cardboard Palm Tree grows well, is drought resistant and salt water tolerant. Like the Sago Palm Tree, the Cardboard Palm Tree is a cycad (palm-like), but technically is not a palm tree at all.

William Bartram, the famous American botanist and explorer discovered the Zamia Palm tree growing in Central Florida on an expedition in the year 1773. William Bartram wrote page 160 in his book Travels. “The Zamia pumila the Erythryna corallodendrum (Cardinal Spear), and the Cactus opuntia, grow there in great abundance in perfection. The first grows in pine forests, in tufts or clumps, a large conical strobile disclosing, its coral red fruit which appears singularly beautiful amidst the deep green fern-like pinnate leaves.” William Bartram’s description for Zamia (Coontie) palm trees, Zamia pumila is vivid and accurate even 233 years past. Zamia (Coontie) palm trees thrive as outside plants, Zones 9-11, also as containerized palm trees for that tropical look. Clumps of Zamia pumila can easily divide to form real plants or the seeds can be planted to grow new Zamia (Coontie) palm trees that are fast growing.

The Coontie Palm Tree is very similar to its cycad relatives, the Cardboard Palm (Zamia fufuracea) and the Sago Palm Tree (Cycas revoluta). The Coontie palms are popular landscape plants in the South and grow along the seaboard coast, where the Sago Palm is salt water tolerant. Full sun can burn the Coontie Palm, but light shade will make it grow vigorously in sandy acid soils. The Coontie Palm Tree is cold hardy in zones 8 through 11, and the evergreen fern-like leaves make the Coontie Palm Tree a top choice for growing in containers inside or for that tropical flair near a pool or courtyard. The Coontie Palm Tree is a native plant to FL and grows in a naturalized stage in several southern states. The Coontie Palms are rugged and tough being drought resistant and untouched by insects and disease.