Florida Native Sabals
Our speaker in July 2016 was Lisa Dougherty from Boggy Creek Trees. (Update 2023: Apparently this company is out of business. The description of Sabal Palms is accurate.) She spoke about Sabal Palms, our Florida state tree, and explained the benefits of regenerated palms versus the problems with hurricane-cut palms.
Terms
- Slick: Removing the boots or bracs on the tree with a sharp instrument tp create a smooth lower trunk. Using something sharp might damage the trunk. This is not a "best practice" as the boots are there to protect the trunk. As the tree matures the bracs will loosen and can be pulled off by hand. Boots eventually fall off by themselves.
- Hurricane Cut: Removing all the fronds. The practice began to keep the fronds from causing damage when blown off by a hurricane. Then it was discovered that Sabal palms recovered more quickly from transplant shock if the fronds were cut.
- Regenerated Palm: "Sabal Palms are initially dug in the field and hurricane cut. The palms are then re-planted in a nursery environment and are consistently irrigated and fertilized to stimulate maximum regeneration of the roots and fronds." Boggy Creek Farm
These palms have a 98% success rate when planted in the landscape. They cost more, but the expense of replanting is saved, and you have a healthier tree with growing fronds. You do not have the scalped look while you wait for the hurricane cut to grow out.
Most Sabal Palms are harvested from natural growing stands. Lisa explained that this is because seedlings take years to put on a trunk. Often a farmer or developer will contract with Boggy Farms to clear out an area. The trees are hurricane-cut and baffled. If your landscaper buys a tree at this point, all of the root regeneration and frond development will take place in your landscape. Regenerated palms are taken to the nursery, heeled in, and cared for in the nursery while they regrow their roots and fronds.
Sabals have to have 6 to 8 feet of trunk in order to be able to recover from transplanting. If you want a smaller tree, you'll need to start it from seed. Boggy Creek Farms is a wholesale nursery. In The Villages area, Terrascape and Fairfield Farms sell regenerated trees. Lisa strongly recommends that before you accept a palm into your landscape you cut away the bag around the bottom to make sure there is a good root ball.
In the picture below, all trees are hurricane-cut, and the ones on the left and right are slicked. The ones in the center still have their boots on. People want trees liked because they like the look. However, in one of Lisa's slides, she shows the bountiful wildlife that uses the Sabal Palm. Slicking reduces the ability of the plant to meet the needs of wildlife.
Lisa Dougherty, Boggy Creek Tree Farm
Species & Ecology
Recently, a new mutant form of Sabal palmetto has been discovered in South West Florida, and named as a cultivar Sabal palmetto 'Lisa'.
The difference between the 'Lisa' and the wild-type Sabal palmetto is in the form of the leaf. The 'Lisa' has leaves that are costapalmate, acute, not pendulous, not filamentose, rigid, not strongly divided, cupped, and slightly undulating.
This mutation of Sabal palmetto is beginning to be seen in the nursery trade, as it is just as hardy to cold, salt, drought, fire, and wind as the wild type of the species, but looks different.
Seeds from Sabal palmetto 'Lisa' have a 68% chance of becoming true to type, the other 32% develop as the wild type.
Images: Sabals-species-and-ecology
Contributions:
Jamie Wright
Principal Landscape Architect
PLA/LEED AP®
DIX.HITE + PARTNERS, INC.
Blake Gunnels
Landscape Architect
DIX.HITE + PARTNERS, INC.
Courtesy of :
FANN
Dix Hite + Partners
