Seen across the Florida landscape throughout bushes and marshes comes the Sabal Palmetto, also commonly known as the Cabbage Palm. The Sabal Palmetto originates from the Southeastern United States and is known to be a tough palm tree. It grows over 80 feet tall with a worn-looking fibrous trunk. The Sabal Palmetto tends to strectch towards the sunlight and are even seen looping around other trees just for it. Not only is the Sabal Palmetto a cold-hardy palm it is also drought and salt tolerant, making it ideal for coastline areas. The Sabal Palmetto Palm are usually seen in groups however they make great as a potted palm.
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) classifies the Sabal Palmetto as a zone 8B through 11. The USDA is a summary of geographical areas for growing different types of agriculture, which includes palm trees, however it is only a guideline. The Sabal Palmetto has been seen as far north as Washington D.C. all the way to northen Ohio. The Sabal Palmetto has quickly become a very wanted palm tree for those living in cold climates.
Cabbage Palm
The Sabal Palmetto can be best described as an upright palm that grows between 30 to 60 feet tall with a symmetrical green canopy. The costapalmate leaves of the Sabal Palmetto are about 3 feet long and green to dark-green in color. The overall size of the crown of the Sabal Palmetto, also known as the spread, is usually between 8 to 14 feet. The trunk of the Sabal Palmetto grows towards the sun and does not have any thorns or spikes. As the old leaf stems fall away, they leave the trunk of the Sabal palmetto furry to the touch.
The Sabal Palmetto flowers spring and early fall with branched inflorescence. After flowering, the Sabal Palmetto will bear a black fruit which surrounding wildlife enjoy. The black fruits has a small shiny brown seed inside them that will germinate with ease. Some owners of Sabal Palmettos do not like these times of years due to the over seeding of each palm. Each Sabal Palmetto will drop thousands to tens of thousands of seeds per year and if not properly pruned, will overgrow small plants or shrubbery in the area.
Designing with Sabal Palmettos are the way to go. First they are inexpensive always readily available and makes the statement you are looking for. Start by contemplating where you will want your Sabal Palmetto trees to go. When you are designing with palm trees that will grow up to 50 feet, it is best to know where to place them. One reason for this is because you do not want a 50 foot palm tree right in front of your house; this will take away from the curb appeal and devalue your home. This palm tree will tolerate many different soils and environments. So placement will be easier, since this palm can do well in shade and in full sun. In my do it yourself design with the Sabal Palmetto I would place a few along the side of the house, spaced from the house about 5-6 feet. I would also space out the Sabal Palmetto trees about 5-10 feet from each other to give them room to grow. Once I have correctly placed the palm trees in their location, I would water them and add fertilizer to maximize health. Next I would add other plants and mulch around the palm tree to add to the appeal to the landscape. Mulching is important and will not only improve the over all appearance of your home or business, but will also protect the palm tree as well. There are very little difficulties when designing with palm trees. In general, where ever a palm tree is placed, whether it be by the pool area, the garden, the patio or in a corner; a palm tree will still have the same effect of giving you a piece of the tropics.
The tropical Sabal Palmetto is usually not used much for interior designing. How ever, the Sabal Palmetto is still considered an indoor palm. Given the right environment, any palm can flourish in an interior space. For an interior design concept, the main goal would be to find the place your palm tree will go. With the spot picked, you can further decide what pot would fit that area and size of the palm needed. Most likely the palm tree would have to be by a window or an area that receives much natural lighting. The Sabal Palmetto thrives in warm conditions but will tolerate other such conditions. There are infinite variations of pots you can choose to accent the Sabal Palmetto tree. Some variations to consider are the type of material, color(s), pattern(s), and size. If the pot will be visible in your design, than choosing the right pot is critical for your overall appearance of the Sabal Palmetto and your interior design. After choosing the right pot that fits your interior design, place the pot and palm in the location and provide about 1 to 2 foot radius spacing around the Sabal Palmetto. Try to prevent the leaves from touching any other objects, this will help to reduce browning. I hope these ideas help you on your next interior design encounter with the Sabal Palmetto!
The Sabal Palmetto, which is also known as the cabbage palm, was used as a primary food source for early settlers in the southeastern United States. Inside the Sabal Palmetto is found the heart which is used for the stew. Unfortunately, once the heart of the Sabal Palmetto is taken out, it will eventually whither and die. The stew, known as Cabbage Stew, can still be eaten today throughout rural areas of northern and southern Florida.
The Sabal Palmetto is the State Tree for not only Florida, but South Carolina as well. The Cabbage palm can be seen on mostly all Government seals and the State Flag of Florida.
The Sabal Palmetto is an extremely tough type of palm tree. Throughout Florida you can see scheduled burnings on the interstate and highways with the palms still surviving and thriving.
Cabbage Palm (Sabale palmetto)Wiki Article:
Sabal palmetto, also known as Cabbage Palm, Palmetto, Cabbage Palmetto, Palmetto Palm, and Sabal Palm, is one of 15 species of palmetto palm (Arecaceae, genus Sabal). It is native to the southeastern United States, Cuba, and the Bahamas. In the United States it occurs throughout Florida and coastal areas of Georgia, South Carolina, Mississippi, Alabama, North Carolina and Louisiana. Although historically reported from Chincoteague, Virginia, this population has long been extirpated. It is the state tree of South Carolina and Florida.
Sabal palmetto grows up to 65 ft (20 m) in height (with exceptional individuals up to 92 ft (28 m) in height, with a trunk up to 2 ft (60 cm) diameter. It is a distinct fan palm (Arecaceae tribe Corypheae), with a bare petiole which extends as a center spine or midrib, (costa) 1/2 to 2/3rds the length into a rounded, costapalmate fan of numerous leaflets. A costapalmate leaf has a definte costa (midrib) unlike the typical palmate or fan leaf, but the leaflets are arranged radially like in a palmate leaf. All costapalmate leaves are markedly recurved or arched backwards. Each leaf is 5 to 6.5 ft (1.5–2 m) long, with 40-60 leaflets up to 2.6 ft (80 cm) long. The flowers are yellowish-white, .20 in (5 mm) across, produced in large compound panicles up to 8.2 ft (2.5 m) long, extending out beyond the leaves. The fruit is a black drupe about .5 in (1.3 cm) long containing a single seed. It is extremely salt-tolerant and is often seen growing near the Atlantic Ocean coast. For a palm tree, Sabal palmetto is very cold-hardy--it is commonly accepted that Sabal palmetto is able to survive relatively short periods of temperatures as low as 7 °F (-14 °C). However, it has also been reported to survive temperatures much lower. Maintenance of the Cabbage Palm tree is very easy and very adaptable. The Cabbage Palm is known to tolerate drought, standing water and brackish water. Even though this palm is drought-tolerant, it thrives on regular light watering and regular feeding. It is highly tolerant of salt winds, but not saltwater flooding.
The Sabal Palmetto is an extremely tough type of palm tree. Throughout Florida you can see scheduled burnings on the interstate and highways with the palms still surviving and thriving.
Culture of the Cabbage Palm (Sabal palmetto)by Floridata:
Sabal palmetto is very salt and drought tolerant and can be used in beachside plantings. It is able to adapt to most types of soil. Cabbage palms are easy to transplant if they have at least six feet of trunk. Commercially the palmetto is dug from the wild and all of the leaves are cut from the trunk (care is taken not to damage the tender bud). All of the roots are cut back as well (damaged sabal die anyway and new ones grow directly from the trunk). A new planting of sabals looks like a garden of telephone poles from a distance! If the telephone poles are kept watered they will soon put forth new roots and leaves within a few months. It's recommended that new trees be staked or otherwise supported until established - especially in windy beachfront situations.
Cultivation and uses of the Cabbage Palm (Sabal palmetto)by WikiPedia:
Sabal palmetto is a popular landscape plant known for its tolerance of salt spray and cold. Because of their relatively long establishment period and prevalence on ranchlands, few, if any are grown from seed in nurseries. Instead, established plants are dug in the wild with small rootballs since virtually all the severed roots die and must be replaced by new roots in the new location. Most leaves are removed at this time to reduce transpiration.
It is the state tree of South Carolina and Florida. Most references rate the species as hardy to USDA hardiness zone 8a without protection, although with protection, proper siting, and care it can be grown in zone 7. Cabbage palms have good hurricane resistance, but are frequently overpruned for a variety of reasons. The growing heart of the new fronds, also known as the terminal bud, gives the tree its "cabbage" name, since this is extracted as a food and superficially resembles a cabbage head in shape and tastes like an artichoke. It is what is referred to in a Heart of palm salad. This was commonly eaten by Aboriginal Americans. However, this practice is very destructive as it will kill the palm, because the terminal bud is the only point from which the palm can grow and without this bud the palm will not be able to replace old leaves and will eventually die.
The cabbage palm is remarkably resistant to fire, floods, coastal conditions, cold, high winds and drought. Despite this, alarming causes of recent mortality include rising sea level (most noticed on the Big Bend Coast of Florida), and Texas phoenix palm decline (TPPD) a phytoplasma currently found on the west coast of Florida.
New Sabal Palm Discovery (Sabal Lisa) Article by WikiPedia:
Recently, a new variety of Sabal palmetto has been discovered in South West Florida, Sabal sp. Lisa. The difference between the Sabal Lisa and the Sabal Palmetto in the leaf arrangement. The Sabal Lisa has costapalmate, acute, not pendulous, not filamentose, rigid, not strongly divided, cupped, slightly undulately leaves. This mutation of Sabal palmetto is beginning to be seen in the nursery trade, as it is just as hardy to cold, salt, drought, fire and wind as Sabal palmetto, yet looks more out of the ordinary. Two specimens can be seen in Ft. Myers, Fl at the intersection of Luckett road and I-75, and many seed is collected and distributed from these specimens. Seeds from Sabal lisa have a 68% chance of becoming true to type, the other 32% develop as Sabal palmetto
