This snippet has been taken from “Northern California Gardening” by “Katherine Grace Endicott”. Fan Palm Growing Simplified by latest and modern technologies which can be better understood and discussed at “Tree Removal Hayward CA”
In the heat of August, a gardener’s thoughts are apt to turn to palm trees – those symbols of the cool oasis. Currently there are more than two hundred varieties of palms that will grow in Northern California and many are frost tolerant. There are even palms growing in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada that have survived snow storms. The one palm native to California lines many Central valley streets including Sacramento.
The California fan palm is a relic form a time predating the Ice age when luxuriant growth and interconnecting lakes covered the California desert. The lakes dried up and so did most of the rain, leaving behind a few seeps and pools of water that continue to support small groves of palms.
The California fan palm is considered so beautiful that it now dots the streets of the Riviera, Algeria, and even Hawaii, where it is referred to as the hula palm because of the petticoat of dried brown fronds beneath the crown. It grows fairly fast for a palm, reaching about eight feet at ten years and twenty- five feet at forty years. Enthusiasts of the California fan palm believe that it is criminal to cut away the dry brown fronds and deprive the palm of its skirt. Once the palm has reached a notable height (it grows to sixty feet at maturity), the lowest dry fronds may be cut away to reveal an interesting crosshatch pattern on the trunk.
The California fan palm produces fruiting stalks, which hang down between the fronds. When the small but sweet dates drop down to the desert floor, they are eagerly gobbled up by coyotes. The very best way to grow the California fan palm from seed is to gather the seeds from coyote droppings. Close to one- hundred- percent germination can be expected from seeds that have passed through a coyote’s digestive system.
Dates have been cultivated since Biblical times, and they “date” back to Paleolithic times. Because dates are grown commercially in the United States only in California’s Coacoohella Valley and a place or two in Arizona, date palms (Phoenix dactylifera) in gardens would seem as rare as oases. Actually date palms thrive in both desert and seaside settings and are used to landscape golf courses in perpetually sunny thrive in both desert and seaside settings and are used to landscape golf courses in perpetually sunny places such as Palm Springs. Fruit production depends upon long, hot, dry summers, copious irrigation, and no summer rain or even moisture in the air, which would rot the fruit.
Date palm fronds are killed by temperatures dropping to 200 F, but the tree itself will survive down to- 50 F. Date palms will grow in areas where they will not set fruit. The Promenade Des Anglais in Nice is lined with date palms bearing large clusters of fruit that never ripen.
One of the most reliable palms in Northern California is the Canary Island date palm (phoenix canaoriensis ), which grows to about forty- five feet in thirty – five years . Eventually its trunk will reach an impressive five feet in diameter. It will survive temperatures down to -120 F.
Another popular palm is the elegant, graceful queen palm (Syagrus romanzoffianum), which grows rather quickly for a palm, up to twenty- four inches a year. Although it is planted in the Central Valley, it grows better along the coast.
A remarkable aspect of most palms is their ability to be transplanted without setback, which is one reason for the black market in palms. More than a few unfortunate gardeners have discovered that a sizeable palm was surreptitiously removed during the night. For the address of a palm nursery.
Fan palm growing simplified
Botanical name: Washington filifera.
Common name: California fan palm
Site preference: Full sun, or partial shade when young.
Soil Conditions: Well- drained soil is essential.
Water: Palms prefer frequent water but will survive drought conditions when established.
Nutrients: Fertilize during the hottest months.
Problems: Hardy to about 180 F. Like many other palms, it will survive several short periods of frost better than a long frost that penetrates the trunk. The way to make an older, well – established palm tree frost tolerant in the Central valley is to withhold water during the summer; a dry palm can survive a freeze much easily than a moist one.
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