Open Writing

A few years ago I had a home on Pine Island off Florida’s Gulf coast. Pine Island is so named, not for Pine trees, but for the Pineapples that were a major crop there, along with Mangoes and Lychees. But rapidly developing commercial and residential real estate in the region soon pushed those species into the background in favor of more profitable Palm tree plantations.

When people come to live or vacation in Florida, they expect to see Palm trees, even though most varieties aren’t native to the state, any more than are Pink Flamingoes, Jacaranda trees and Poinciana. But they all go well with the Italianate and Spanish architecture so popular with designers and home builders in the southern half of the state. In truth, visually, the native flora are not especially appealing.

It was during my sojourn on Pine Island that I received my Palm tree education. Initially, the plantations were set up by individuals as a hobby, or as way to derive additional income. Even a person with a full time job could handle fifty or sixty trees, since they require little attention other than fertilizing and clearing out underbrush and fallen fronds.

It was one such part-time grower that gave me my insight. Don is a retired Chicago cop with more energy than he knows what to do with. Constantly in motion, he maintains several rental properties he owns, helps his son build houses, and tends his Palm trees. After hurricane Charlie, I needed to replace a large Palm tree that had blown away, and asked Don if he could supply one.

Sure he could, but did I want a Queen, a Royal, a Bismarck, a Date, a Coconut and on and on. I was, of course, at a total loss, but fortunately he remembered that the one I had lost was a Queen, and proposed he should replace it with the same. The next step was to visit his plantation and choose one. Taking care to avoid the fire-ant hills, snakes and other venomous critters, we roamed the rows of mature trees in the hot sun until we found a Queen, about fifteen feet tall.

Only a few days later, a flat-bed truck arrived with the selected tree aboard, and a back-hoe with a special, ice-cream scoop-like attachment, that would scoop out a hole and then encase the root ball of the tree and gently place it into the hole. Even mature Palm trees have a relatively a small root structure, so supporting stakes were placed around the trunk until the roots took hold in the soil.

I was surprised that mature trees could be transplanted and survive, but in Florida, no one wants to wait until a sapling grows to full size, and almost all landscaping is “instant.” The development I now live in did not exist eight years ago, but looking at the trees and plantings you could easily conclude it had been here for twenty years or more. All I was required to do to ensure my tree thrived was to water it regularly for a few weeks.

Once commercial enterprises became aware of the money crop that Palm trees are, they set about leasing land on Pine Island and elsewhere. They come in and plant the young trees, then visit periodically to clear the underbrush and fertilize until the crop is mature enough to sell. The landowner then collects a percentage of the sales. Easy money in a way, but the practice has all but eliminated the hobby and private grower

The selection of a type of Palm depends on a number of factors. Some, like the Royals, are self-tending, and therefore more expensive, but ideal for part time residents. Others are more hardy, and the Bismarck’s grow rapidly into low level, very effective privacy screens with their big, hand-like grey green fronds. Coconut Palms are also attractive, but in public places, require the owner to cut off the coconuts before they fall and fracture some one’s skull.

Curiously, the palms that command the highest prices are the, so called, “leaners.” These are the ones that bend gracefully towards the ground rather than growing straight up. I suppose they are valued because they are suggestive of everyone’s romantic idea of a palm-fringed reef.

Estimates as to how many kinds of Palm trees there are range from several hundred to over one thousand. Several are only found in specific areas of the world, particularly the ones that thrive in very arid environments like the Sahara and parts of Afghanistan. On a trip to Malaysia, I drove the length of the peninsular in the interior and saw nothing but field after field of Palms, grown just for their oil.

The desire for Palm trees in America has spread far from sub-tropical zones such as Florida and California, and hardy types can be found in Georgia and the Carolinas, in Arizona, Texas and New Mexico. Supposedly these varieties can survive temperatures down to minus 20F, but I wouldn’t want to bet money on it.

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