Hear Gasper Landscape Architect, Christina Reeves, discuss using palm trees during the summer months to get that tropical resort feel right in your own backyard.
Most palm trees and other tropical plants cannot survive the zone 7 winters here in the Philadelphia region without protection or being brought indoors. But that does not mean that you cannot use palm trees to accent your landscape, instead think of them the same way you do seasonal annuals, which are replanted each spring and removed each fall.
Our nursery at Gasper Home & Garden Showplace imports several species of palms and other tropical plants from Florida each spring to be used as seasonal specimens, container or specialty plantings. Depending on the size of the plant, it can be planted in containers or directly into prepared ground. Large palms, in particular, are rare in our area and so they can be a really unique addition to your landscape. They are especially good to use around pools where they lend a feel of a tropical resort. Low, sustained freezing temperatures will typically kill most tropical species although there are a few varieties of palms that are more cold-tolerant and could possibly survive a mild winter if properly wrapped or sheltered from cold temperature extremes. Of course, if you have room inside, tropical plants make great houseplants. Typically though, at the end of the summer season and before the first hard frost, all tropicals and other annual plantings will be removed from the landscape, composted and replaced with a new plant the following spring
