Desert Palm Trees

Introduction

A common request at the nursery is for suggestions of palms that will live in hot and dry climate. As an example, consider growers in such areas like Palm Springs, Phoenix, El Centro, Temecula, or other hot inland areas in the southwestern United States. These residents want to know which species of desert palm trees will grow for them. Selecting the right plants can be a real challenge. The purpose of this article is to guide people who experience intense inland weather and give suggestions for which palms might survive in their area.  When trying new species in any given area, I can't offer guarantees.  However, I can share my experiences with customers and others that live in such climates.  On some species, the information is still unclear. But, for others species, we have seen success and this article will guide you on your path to successful growing of many species of palms in desert areas.

The Desert Climate

Desert climates offer a unique challenge.  There is not only the problem of extreme heat, but also the intensity of the sun is higher and often the winter low temperatures are much lower than coastal areas.  Palms that take full coastal Southern California sun often cannot be grown in full sun in the desert.  Thus, much thought has to go into preparing a list of recommended species.  Shady locations in desert climates are a lot more forgiving, and many species not mentioned below will survive in protected desert locations.  This article, however, will deal only with palms that can take full sun or partial day sun.  Also, be aware that not all desert areas are the same. All have intense sun, but some areas are really blistering, others milder.  Regarding humidity, all tend to be dryer than coastal areas, but some are extremely dry.  Regarding cold, there are lots of variations in the maximum winter lows.  Thus, you must get to know your area and not generalize that all desert areas are the same. 

Cultural Requirements

There are cultural factors that I must discuss before recommending a particular species of palm. Remember that inland, desert culture can be more demanding and require more planning than along the coast. This is quite simply because inland climatic conditions are more harsh. If purchased from a coastal nursery, it is often necessary to acclimate one's plants into the new, hotter and brighter desert area where you live.  This is true even if the plants purchased were already growing in full sun.  This is true especially with greenhouse grown plants, which definitely need a slow acclimation to desert sun. This acclimation process is described in other articles at this website, so review the procedure as one should definitely follow these instructions.  Additionally, with the intense heat seen in the desert, proper planting is a must.  This includes adequate watering of the dug hole for the palm and follow-up watering as needed. Desert climates can desiccate a plant in a day or two. Furthermore, picking the proper location for the plants is important. It might be that a plant can take half a day sun in your area, but not all day sun. If you hear of others in your area successfully growing a species outdoors, inquire a bit more and find out the exact amount of exposure their plant received:

• Did it take all day long sun? 

• Was it protected by a taller tree overhead?

• Was it fully exposed to the sun?

• How cold do you get? 

This type of information can be critical to the success of your efforts.  Also, remember that you have low humidity.  This can be improved by frequent watering or misting systems where needed.

Variety of Species

Consider utilizing many different species of palms. All look different.  Therefore, selecting a variety of plants will make it more fun for you and you will get a more interesting botanical collection. Don't just use pinnate (feather shaped) palms; add some fan palms! Mix them up. You'll be glad you did. Also mix up trunk textures, leaf colors, heights, and crown sizes. These things will spur your interest and help turn landscape into enthusiasm. Also, some species grow faster than others. Mixing up the species will add some faster growing alongside some slower growing plants. This will add various layers to your canopy and offer more landscape appeal.  But, remember not to shade out sun-loving species by planting quicker growing species adjacent, thus shading out surrounding plants.  Simple planning will give you a better final product immediately and in the future.  

Consider How Cold You Get

What about winter and your coldest temperatures? This is an important limiting factor in determining what you can grow.  (High temperatures, sun intensity and low humidity are the other factors).  Sometimes it is the most important and limiting factor.  As in any area, it is critical that you know how cold you get. You cannot equate Las Vegas, Nevada to Phoenix, Arizona. The latter is much warmer during the winter. Both become hot but, growers in Phoenix, AZ can grow a lot more species because they don't experience the same severe winter cold.  All desert areas are not the same. Always factor your cold into the selection of species to try!  We have given some information on cold tolerance below, but there in an article at this Site entitle Cold Hardy Palms that may give you further advice.  Also remember that, with cold hardiness, there are factors of importance such as duration of low temperatures, temperatures following the cold spell, wind and humidity.  All these factors will lead to different cold tolerance reports that seem perplexing.  But, numbers given can serve as a general guide and help you select the species right for your area..  

Conflicting Data on Desert Palms

One of the difficulties in writing this article is the fact that a grower in one desert area says he is growing a given species successfully and another from a comparable area says he's had difficulties. This could be from a variety of differences in the two localities, even though both are considered desert area. There are differences between high and low desert areas. Humidity differences could also be important, with dryer areas being more difficult on plants. In addition, there is also the winter cold factor. In any case, on some species, there are conflicting reports of success. Therefore, in the comments below I have tried to given some caution where needed.

Full sun?... Part Day Sun?...

As you read the recommendations below, you'll come across some species where I do not recommend full day, unobstructed, hot desert sun, etc., This is based upon reports that it can be grown in desert areas, but not in the open sun. In such instances, I may comment that you should try this in part day sun. By this, it is meant a few hours, or possibly up to half-day sun. A good way to experiment with new species is to try them in morning sun from about dawn to 10:00 AM. See how they do. If no problems, challenge them a bit more. But, acclimate slowly over a gradient and over a few months. Don't push your plants too fast into full sun.  Even palm trees for hot sun take time to acclimate.  Also, if its apparent that a species doesn't tolerate your full sun, give it a try in less sun. The latter might prove to be just what it wants. 

Desert Palm Trees, The Species

Now, lets discuss the specific species or genera which we consider to be Desert Palm Trees , all listed alphabetically, with comments about each species and photos if available.  My goal is to guide you into selecting species that might tolerate your desert sun. Desert shade plants are not discussed in this article. Moreover, I will be discussing only plants that you might find at a specialty palm nursery. Never or rarely-available species will not be discussed.