Palms up!

Only one kind is native to the state, but California is defined by these trees
- Judy Richter, Chronicle Staff Writer
Saturday, July 30, 2005

[ed: recently i asked the same question - are there actually any palms that is native to singapore? why does npark keep planting these annoying non shady plants! worse yet if they are not native! grr]

The first time I visited California, I drove west from Indiana on Interstate 80, across the Sierra Nevada and down through the foothills toward the Central Valley.

Somewhere around Auburn in Placer County, I saw a palm tree and knew I was truly in California.

About two years later, having settled in the Bay Area, I drove to the Sierra via I-80 to go skiing. I saw that same palm tree and wondered how it survived there. To my mind, palms evoked images of deserts or jungles, not places where the temperature can fall to freezing or below.

It turns out that several species of palms can tolerate colder climates with short periods of freezing temperatures or snow, said Flora Grubb, co- owner of the Palm Broker nursery in San Francisco's Mission District. Others are heat lovers that have a tough time surviving in the Bay Area. However, there are several that thrive in the Bay Area's Mediterranean climate.

One of them, the Canary Island date palm (Phoenix canariensis), graces the Embarcadero in San Francisco.

"The most regal, large-scale (palm) tree," the Canary Island date palm was brought to California from the Canary Islands by Spanish missionaries in the 18th century, said Damon Hull, sales and operations manager at Jurassic Palms in Albany. Junipero Serra planted them at each of the missions he established.

Some of the oldest Canary Island date palms in the state can be found at the historic Presidio in San Francisco. The Claremont Hotel in Oakland also has numerous Canary Island date palms, along with queen palms (Syagrus romanzoffianum), one of the most popular trees he stocks, Hull said.

Another popular tree is the pygmy date palm (P. roebelinii), which has multiple trunks that give it a pleasing symmetry. "It's people-sized," reaching about 12 feet, he said, so it's good for small gardens, or it can remain in a container.

Others that do well in the Bay Area, according to Grubb, are the windmill palm (Trachycarpus fortunei), the miniature windmill palm (T. wagnerianus), blue hesper palm (Brahea armata), Chilean wine palm (Jubaea chilensis), Kentia palm (Howea forsteriana) and Senegal date palm (P. reclinata).

One of the most common mistakes that people make when buying a palm tree is to choose one that will outgrow its space. It might be quite attractive in its nursery pot. However, if it's a fast-growing variety, it can get messy, shedding fronds that are so tough, they aren't allowed in curbside compost bins.

The Mexican fan palm (Washingtonia robusta), for example, grows at least a foot a year. Fast-growing palms also tend to be the cheapest, whereas slow- growing trees stay with the growers longer, raising their costs.

One such slow-grower is the Kentia palm, which resembles a coconut palm (Cocos nucifera) and grows about 6 inches a year, Hull said. The true coconut palm prefers a hotter climate than the Bay Area's.

Kentia palms are often used as houseplants because they don't develop a true trunk for about 20 years, Grubb said.

Palms tend to take well to transplanting because they have relatively small root balls, but transplanting a large specimen can become a logistical challenge and thus expensive. Therefore, people who want to get rid of a palm tree find it's not that easy. "There are always more sellers than buyers," Grubb said.

First, there's the issue of access for the crane that lifts the tree into the truck. The crane costs about $100 an hour. Height is another issue. The tree can't be any taller than the length of a flatbed truck because it must be transported on its side. Otherwise, it won't clear power lines.

Moving and transplanting a Canary Island date palm with a 17-foot-tall trunk, or about 25 feet total, (palms are measured by their trunk length from the base to the center spike) within the Bay Area would cost about $3,000, Hull estimated. Delivering and installing such a tree from a nursery would cost $9,000 or more.

In a case of serendipity last year, Millbrae was looking for trees for the Millbrae Avenue median by the new BART station, said John Marshall, superintendent of the Millbrae Parks and Recreation Department. At the same time, the nearby Clarion Hotel was expanding its parking area and needed to get rid of four Mexican fan palms. The city requires the recycling of reusable vegetation if it makes economic sense. In this case, recycling did make sense because of the high dump fees for trees that don't easily break down.

Thanks to private donations, the trees were moved and transplanted at no cost to the city. About 20 or 30 feet tall and 20 years old, they're worth about $3,500 each, Marshall said.

Retail prices at Palm Broker can range from about $24 to $36 for a 5- gallon container to up to $9,000 delivered and installed. Trees in 24-inch boxes are popular choices for home gardens, Grubb said. They cost about $300, but it takes two people to plant them.

The least expensive tree at Jurassic Palms is a 2-year-old Kentia palm in a 1-gallon can for $8. The most expensive also is a Kentia that's 30 years old with multiple trunks in a 40-inch box for $9,500.

Most palms like lots of sun once established, but not all. They also want well-drained soil that's consistently moist. Because many parts of the Bay Area have heavy clay soils, a large planting hole is needed, and drainage may have to be improved with piping or a French drain, Hull said. He recommends feeding with a 13-5-8 fertilizer.

Scale and sometimes mealybugs are the primary pests. They can usually be controlled with a blast of water mixed with some mineral oil. Palms near the ocean may have to be sprayed with water to rid them of any salt accumulation.

The bottom fronds of some palms like Mexican fan palms and the California fan palm (W. filifera, the only palm native to California) turn brown. Some will fall off of their own accord, but others stay put. In that case, the owner may want to trim them off for aesthetic reasons.

However, it's important not to cut into the trunk because the wounds can lead to disease, Hull said.

Both Palm Broker and Jurassic Palms get their trees from wholesale growers. Jurassic Palms is a subsidiary of Imperial Palms, which grows its trees by the Salton Sea in Niland (Imperial County).

Because of the variety of sizes and growth habits, people who want to add palms to their landscaping should do their homework and ask lots of questions before they buy.

Some good places to see palms are the UC Berkeley Botanical Garden, the San Francisco Conservatory of Flowers and the San Francisco Botanical Garden at Strybing Arboretum.

A new coffee-table book, "Palm Trees: A Story in Photographs" by photographer David Leaser (Westwood Pacific Publishing; 144 pages, $39.95), contains a wealth of color photos of palms around the world, along with some historical photos, including one of the San Francisco Conservatory of Flowers in 1878. The text also is informative.

When it comes to designing a garden, "palms add something that few other plants have. Plant one, and it immediately feels exotic and far away," Grubb said -- similar to the impression that palm in the foothills made on someone from northwest Indiana.

E-mail Judy Richter at jrichter@sfchronicle.com.