Plant Library

Other Names:  syn. Cocos plumosa, Cocos Palm

Description:

This variety is a popular feather-leaved variety with gracefully arching leaves; hardiest of the tropical looking palms; tolerates drought and salt spray, adapts to a wide variety of soils; an excellent accent tree

Ornamental Features

Queen Palm features showy panicles of creamy white flowers held atop the branches in mid summer. It has attractive dark green evergreen foliage. The narrow pinnately compound leaves are highly ornamental and remain dark green throughout the winter. The fruits are showy orange drupes carried in abundance from late summer to early fall. The fruit can be messy if allowed to drop on the lawn or walkways, and may require occasional clean-up.

Landscape Attributes

Queen Palm is an evergreen tropical plant with a strong central leader and a towering form, with a high canopy of foliage concentrated at the top of the plant. It lends an extremely fine and delicate texture to the landscape composition which can make it a great accent feature on this basis alone.

This is a high maintenance tropical plant that will require regular care and upkeep, and is best pruned in late winter once the threat of extreme cold has passed. It is a good choice for attracting birds to your yard. It has no significant negative characteristics.

Queen Palm is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• Accent
• Vertical Accent
• Container Planting

Planting & Growing

Queen Palm will grow to be about 50 feet tall at maturity, with a spread of 25 feet. It has a high canopy of foliage that sits well above the ground, and should not be planted underneath power lines. As it matures, the lower branches of this tree can be strategically removed to create a high enough canopy to support unobstructed human traffic underneath. It grows at a slow rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for 50 years or more.

This tropical plant does best in full sun to partial shade. It prefers to grow in average to moist conditions, and shouldn't be allowed to dry out. It is not particular as to soil type or pH, and is able to handle environmental salt. It is highly tolerant of urban pollution and will even thrive in inner city environments. This species is not originally from North America.

Queen Palm is a fine choice for the yard, but it is also a good selection for planting in outdoor pots and containers. Because of its height, it is often used as a 'thriller' in the 'spiller-thriller-filler' container combination; plant it near the center of the pot, surrounded by smaller plants and those that spill over the edges. It is even sizeable enough that it can be grown alone in a suitable container. Note that when grown in a container, it may not perform exactly as indicated on the tag - this is to be expected. Also note that when growing plants in outdoor containers and baskets, they may require more frequent waterings than they would in the yard or garden. Be aware that in our climate, this plant may be too tender to survive the winter if left outdoors in a container. Contact our experts for more information on how to protect it over the winter months.