PlantFiles: Cabbage Palm, Sabal Palm, Carolina Palmetto
Sabal palmetto

We have 4 sabal palms; 2 are close to the back door and bake in the Western exposure, 2 are out front by the sidewalk and get more sun hours but less radiant heat from the house. Of the two out front, one palm's fronds are nice and erect and the other one's fronds are droopy. This one had a large ant bed at the base and when my yard man was cutting away the spent lower fronds from a ladder, he noticed a large ant bed in the crown which he sprayed w/ant killer. I had read that ants were not harmful to these palms, but now I wonder....
I do still like them very much.

Newnan, Ga(7b)
I love this tree and it even grows here in 7b, with little damage during the coldest of our winters. I was surprised of this fact and that so many people and businesses in the Atlanta metro area(south) now have these beautiful trees. I have Windmill, Sonoran Palmetto, and Live Oak growing here too.

This palm is the best alternative of Tachy Fortuneii (Wind Mill Palm). In Oklahoma, the compleately defoilage Windmill palm always grow back in spring but fungus kills them all. The wind will tears off all the fan leaves of Windmill as well.

Sabal palmetto has non of these problems. For people do not like hairy trunk, this palm works even better. The only flip side of this palm is not growing faster than Windmill Palm.

this plant is extremely common here in south carolina. it was formerly called "Inodes palmetto" before being classified as "Sabal palmetto". it is our state tree and for a very good reason. in 1776 the british were about to attack and capture charleston, and our only defense was a small fort on sullivan's island at the mouth of the harbor. this fort was made from palmetto logs which proved to be a superior material than the oak used in the british ships because it absorbed the shock of the cannonballs and allowed us to reuse them against the british. this noble tree is a common landscape plant all the way up to Columbia. I know this because i just recently moved from there after living there for 15 years (my entire life). in fact it was not out of th ordinary for us to find babies living in the woods or our yard. (this also lives all the way up to southern NC and can survive in greenville, SC, that is like almost in the mtns, of course it could use some protection there) oh yeah i almost forgot... it was OUR state tree first. Fla copied us :-) here's is a link for a bit more info: [HYPERLINK@www.scstatehouse.net]
p.s. To FLpalmgirl: we have every right to have beach music as our state music. we may not have the most coastline, but we certainly have more than most states in the US, and we may not be as famous for our beaches as FL, but tourism is not one of our major industries for no reason!

This palm is beautiful...but there's just too many! And, um, WHY is it the state tree of South Carolina?? They can really only grow them on the beach, and they don't have enough beachfront to really call it their state tree. Bunch o' Florida-wannabes (their state music is beach music..ha ha..yeah right). It does look very well lining roads, etc. But, for a Florida yard, I'd rather go with a Queen or Coconut (for central and south FL).

I live in zone 7a and have several sabal palmettos which I grew from seed collected in Florida. I have not lost any of my sabals however I they do get some leaf burn below 10degF.My sabal minors are tougher and are never damaged by the cold even at 0 deg.F. My largest sabal palmettos are about ten years old and are sometimes completely defoliated by near 0 winter temps. however they always make a quick recovery in the spring.They seem to have about the same cold tolerance as my butia capitata which do quite well here with a little protection (if i don't forget to wrap them).My windmills are by far the hardiest though surviving 0 deg.F with no protection even as seedlings.I have several 15 year old trees in my yard some of which are over 25 feet tall.

The Sabal Palm grows all over Palm Beach county including my backyard! Not many people are aware, but it is also called Swamp Cabbage and may be eaten! The trunks are peeled to expose a large white heart. These hearts are cut up and cooked with bacon, sugar, salt and pepper until soft and has a wonderful cabbage like flavor. It is full of fiber and minerals!

I garden for enjoyment and butterflies. The first year in this house I dispised the utility wires that strung across the eastern boundry of my yard. However the second year I began noticing all the plants that were growing under the lines from bird droppings. I transplanted three palm seedlings that turned out to be Sabal Palmentto.
It took several years before I noticed the bases of dead leaf stalks surrounding young tree trunks had a fibrous material in the boot-jacks, as their called and around the trunk. I quickly experimented and found I can grow an assortment of fern, bromeliads, orchids, cacti, and climbing vines in the boot-jacks. This adds charm and character to the young trees. My three palms bloom for about 2-3 months. When blooming their fragrance is strong and sweet (most fragrant early morning or just after the sun goes down.) They attract nectar feeding insects from bees to butterflies. I often see butterflies resting on and drinking from the many bromeliad plants I have growing on these palms. They also provide a pleasant shade for the many birds in the neighborhood. Mine are fifteen years old and only one needs to be pruned with a ladder. They are just great trees, but better yet, when young they look and act like bushes. This will also give you a good idea of planting radus when they mature. I suggest buying them young or growing 'em yourself.
Last word, when pruning be carefull not to cut into the palm's bark. They won't heal themselves and the palm will die.

Sabal Palmetto does not survive in Brownsville, TX, as well as Sabal mexicana(texana). We allow both palms to be planted with our commercial landscape ordinance but our native (to south Texas) Sabal texana has a much higher survival rate(planting both with 6' trunk heights), and grows with a larger diameter and wider crown. Some landscapers suggest the roots are cut smaller while others suggest that with our dry hot winds we aren't as good of an environment for palmetto as Florida. Any other comments on the differences?

This also happens to be the state tree of South Carolina. So where are all the gardener's notes from SC, hmmm?

I live near Huntsville, Alabama and have been experimenting with various hardy palms. The cabbage palmetto seedlings I collected from Florida grow nicely and survived one winter already unprotected when uncovered windmill palms died. Nice growth rate but seedlings slow to establish.

I inherited a sabal palm with new property, and I was happy to have one. I also got another queen palm (Syagrus romanzoffiana) and was less thrilled about that. Sabal palms tend to be less prolific seed producers, whereas the queen palm will send out a bloom stalk at least twice a year here in central Florida, and many germinate just FINE. I love both frond types, however, and the queen does create a bit more shade with its longer fronds.

My husband prunes off the dead Sabal fronds once or twice a year, mostly to discourage wasp nesting. When we moved here a year and a half ago, the tree was about 15' tall. Now, it is past 20' and a fine specimen. I will grow some from seed when I have ripe seeds, because I am very fond of tough native plants that pretty much grow themselves and are well behaved.

I live in San Diego, California (U.S.) The Sabal Palm will make a beauitful addition to my landscaping. I visit Florida often and just admire the beauity of this palm. In comparison, the Washingtonia or Mexican Fan Palm are very boring and grow way too fast.

Having the Sabal will add a different look and with it's slower growth, require less maintenance. I plan on transporting a number of these specimens to California for my home.

This palm grows pretty slow in California, but has a nice, woven look to the trunk when pruned. However, it is not a great palm for So Cal since it is so slow. But in Florida and the Southeast, this is a much more attractive palm than a Washintonia in my opnion. Washingtonias all get cut down by lightening, and looks sort of anemic on the east coast. They (Washys) do look much better out in So Cal, though.

I think this palm is rather... well... ordinary. Its closest competitor is Washingtonia robusta, which has far better color [both frond and boot].

This plant also grows along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico & down thru the Gulf coast in Mexico to the Caribbean, that I know of. It is a beautiful plant/tree, and the rustling sound of the breeze thru its fronds is very soothing and relaxing.

Florida's state tree is exceptional for its beauty, ease of transplant, and versatility. The genus and species names are correct as listed: Sabal palmetto. Serenoa repens is the name of another Florida native palm that bears a superficial resemblance to the immature Sabal palmetto.

This is Florida's State Tree

The cabbage palm is a medium sized (30’-50’) spineless, evergreen palm with an unbranching trunk and very large, fan-shaped leaves that form a circular crown. When the palm is young, the gray-brown trunk is rough and covered with the old boots of leaf stalks. These stalks fall away, revealing the trunk as it matures.

This U.S.A. native palm occurs near the coast, from Southeastern North Carolina to the Florida Keys, including the coast of Northwest Florida. It is the northernmost New World palm and is one of the hardiest. It occurs along sandy shores, often in crowded groves, and inland in hardwood hammocks.

The cabbage palm is used as an ornamental and street tree, well adapted for group, specimen or avenue plantings. This palm is very salt tolerant and can be grown on the beach or directly at the water's edge of bays and inlets. Very adaptable. Average moisture will do. Tolerates drought, standing water and brackish water.

Please avoid eating hearts of palm, as most commercially available canned product is obtained from wild strands of Sabal species in Mexico and Central America. The large leaf buds of immature cabbage palms are used in southern cooking to make swamp cabbage and hearts of palm salad, but this practice is lethal to it.