If I wanted to see rockets, I could spend a day at the Kennedy Space Center or wait to catch a view of the next shuttle launch.  No, I don’t  need to see the neatly trimmed missile shapes gardeners create from their palms in my neighborhood.  Neither is it good for the palms.

Seriously — who thinks a palm with a few fronds at the top is beautiful, a great landscape addition or a proud feature for the neighborhood?  Even though we all agree such palms are not plants of beauty — palms like the one picturedPalm_rocket_cut_1 get the “Rocket Cut” every year.  Now except for cabbage palms at transplant time, tell me  — why are palms pruned so heavily?  Maybe we are not sure what is best and we get carried away with the pruning.

Palms need every one of their healthy leaves to manufacture food, produce growth and remain attractive.  Removing most of the foliage is about like taking half the food off your plate — I don’t think you would be happy, and the palms aren’t either.

Good palm pruning removes only the declining leaves.  If you see a lot of brown or the leaves are injured, it’s all right to remove these fronds.  Also, you can remove the flower stalks or the long stems of seeds too.    Probably one or two prunings is all the palms need every year.

Palm_trimmed_right Now doesn’t this palm look a lot better?  It was pruned at about the same time as the one above.  But this palm is still beautiful and a great landscape feature.

While we are talking about palms, let me mention they need regular feedings too.  University of Florida researchers find a light feeding once a month March through October is not too much.  It keeps the palms healthy and green.  If you wish, a slow-release fertilizer can be substituted following label instructions.

Let’s all treat our palms a little better.  What do you think?