Ornamental palms for tropical gardens, you can grow easily. Different varieties of palms will make your garden really amazing. Especially, along with other flowering and non-flowering plants, bonsai trees etc.
Truly there are a lot of ornamental flowering trees that are suitable for gardens. Hibiscus, Pinwheel flower plant, bougainville etc. are best examples for this. Moreover, Ficus benjamina, Golden Cypress, Bamboo plants and Ficus alii are beautiful trees, that are ideal for tropical gardens.
Definitely different species of palm trees can make our gardens more attractive.
For landscaping as well as indoors, you can find the most suitable palms for the garden. The abundance in varieties of the plants, make it easier for choosing the right one.
Certain species of palms are fast growing, whereas a lot of others are having a much slower rate of growth.
For landscaping and spacious gardens, we can use the palms that grow taller.
Likewise the slow growing varieties are commonly used for indoors or for container gardening.
Given below are a few examples of ornamental palm trees, that we can grow easily in our gardens.
1. The coconut palm-one of the best ornamental palms for tropical gardens
In Kerala, the land of coconuts, we can find different varieties of coconut palms. Surely the tree has got a very important place in our day to day life.
The dietary coconut kernel is an important ingredient for cooking dishes. The delicious as well as nutritious tender coconut water is really refreshing, specially in the hot summer days.
In addition to that, coconut oil and milk are effective remedies for a lot of common ailments.
Surprisingly every part of the tree is useful to us in one way or the other. For this reason, it is considered as the kalpavriksha on earth. Really kalpavriksha is an imaginary tree in the garden of Indra, the king of Hindu gods.
However it is one of the most beautiful ornamental trees, that we can grow easily. Usually the tree grows up to a height of about eighty feet, and having a life span of sixty to eighty years. For home gardens, we can use the dwarf hybrid varieties that are much shorter.
It is very common in Kerala to have a few golden coloured coconut trees in front of the houses. Besides, the golden coconuts in bunches are important decorative items.
Therefore, you can definitely grow one coconut palm in your garden.
2. The Red palm
Also known as the lipstick palm, this beautiful plant is ideal for home gardens. Surely we can grow these plants either in containers or directly in soil.
If grown in pots, always remember to use large pots for your red palms. As the plants become older, lots of saplings sprout from the base. Hence, there is the possibility for the pot to break, due to the outward pressure.
Repotting your red palms occasionally, can retain its beauty and health. Moreover, you can make new plants from the saplings through division of the mother plant.
High humidity and damp soil are the favourable conditions for the plant.
A cluster of the plants with striking orange red colour, can make your garden really fantastic.
Above all, the red palms are considered as good luck plants, that can bring positive energy. Certainly it can make an ideal gift for your loved ones.
3. The Areca palms
Surely we can use these beautiful plants for indoors as well as outdoor gardens. Usually, the plants are with golden yellow trunks and narrow feathery leaves or fronds.
This clean air plant can purify the indoor air by absorbing a lot of toxins.
The plant can thrive in bright indirect sunlight in a medium with proper drainage. Definitely we should water the plants moderately on a daily basis. In addition, occasional feeding with a liquid fertilizer, can keep the plant healthy.
We can propagate the plants through rooted saplings, collected from the base of the mother plants.
4. Lady palms ( Rhapis excelsa )-one of the beautiful ornamental palms for tropical gardens
It is one of the most suitable palms for pot planting. Owing to its thick leaves, this plant is also known as the broad leaf lady palms.
Usually we cannot find the lady palms in the wild, because it is a cultivated species.
Likewise we can use this slow growing plant for indoor gardening. A place where the plant gets bright sunlight for a few hours a day is ideal. Generally the lady palms can thrive in a moist medium with good drainage.
Using suckers collected from the base of the mother plant, we can propagate the lady palms.
5. The Majesty palms
This beautiful plant, also known as majestic palms, can make our indoors fantastic. Surely the palm can thrive indoors if the lighting, moisture, humidity etc. are favourable. For example, indirect bright sunlight, well drained moist soil medium and high humidity.
Your balconies will look really awesome, by keeping potted majestic palms along with indoor plants and a few bonsai trees.
Always remember to water the plant regularly, for maintaining its health and beauty.
Generally majestic palms are having a much slower growth rate, and hence an yearly repotting is not necessary.
However the plant can attain a height of more than ninety feet or above, in outdoor gardens.
Bottle palms and Royal Palms
Bottle palms are best options for home gardens as well as landscaping.
Normally, the slow growing plant reaches a maximum height of about ten feet only.
The swollen greyish trunk of the palm becomes tapering towards the top. In a like manner, there will be a maximum number of four to six fronds that remain opened at a time.
Having close similarity, the spindle palm is often confused with the bottle palm. But the trunk of the former one is swollen in the middle, with the shape of a spindle.
At the same time, Royal Palms grow up to a height of more than eighty to ninety feet. Therefore, these trees are usually used for spacious gardens, parks or other such outdoor spaces.
It will be a wonderful experience to visit the Palm Avenue of the royal botanical garden in Sri Lanka.
6. Fox tail palms are ideal ornamental palms for tropical gardens
The dark green foliage of the palm resembles the tail of a fox. These easy growing palms are ideal for home gardens, especially in tropical climates.
The fox tail palms have the tendency to shed the older leaves. Therefore, the tree can always maintain its beauty without pruning.
Generally there is no need for the palm trees to prune on a regular basis. If necessary, we can remove the leaves that are damaged or with brown tips, using scissors or pruning shears.
The Sago palms
Though the name of the plant is sago palm, it really belongs to the cycadaceae family. However, this beautiful plant with spirally arranged leaves, makes it ideal for any type of gardens.
Undoubtedly we can use the Sago palms for home gardens, landscaping or pot planting.
Through the germination seeds, we can propagate the sago palms.
Given above, are a few examples of ornamental palm trees for tropical gardens.
Certainly you can find many more beautiful palms, from the broad family. The Chinese fan palm and ponytail palm are examples.
Keeping the above points in mind, try to grow ornamental palms to make your garden fantastic.
