Florida Thatch Palm (Thrinax radiata)

DavidMac

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22/02/13
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052.jpg One of Florida's neatest native palms in my opinion is the Florida Thatch Palm (Thrinax radiata)-it reminds me of a scaled down version of our Cabbage Palms and can be found on Big Pine Key with our miniature Key Deer! The white fruit are rather unexpected. Too bad it is tender to cold. I don't think that it would make a good container palm-which is a shame-so I have to enjoy it during my vacations to south Florida.
 
I have probably owned a thousand different species - but never one of these guys. But I have to admit, it is a good looking nice sized palm for the typical residential property.
 
Yes-it has a neat skinny trunk and would be real cool for planting in a home landscape as a small accent. In the wild it is protected by state law-but is often growing in real rocky limestone areas so at least in much of Monroe county it has escaped plant vandalism.
 
Moose, no canopy here, yet. We're tryin' but even the fastest growers (Bamboo, Eucalyptus) are slow in this lousy sand. Too hot, too cold, too dry. But on the up side, its almost never too wet (except when it is!). Rainy season decided to vacation somewhere else and even the Bahia grass is curled up! No significant rain in 2 weeks. In a curse of fortuitous timing, we wust planted a bunch of pot-bound Bamboo....what a pain to water every day. WeatherUnderground says rains will return again tomorrow. Fingers and toes crossed. Gonna be a long dry season here....
 
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Next to a house is also a sort of canopy that helps tender plants. Like when you see an oak tree in a field on a frosty morning the frost doesn't start till about 30 feet from the edge of the canopy. I planted t. radiata near my house in Tampa and they made it through our two nasty winters without a problem.
 
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