PlantFiles: Date Palm
Phoenix dactylifera

I planted a small sprig and in three or four years had a magnificent fountain like palm shrub. A well meaning lawnscaper trimmed away the lower flowing branches and it is turning into a gorgeous tree. Can't decide which way I like it better. Very healthy with no care.

Interesting propogation information from the University of Florida:

Several date palm species, most notably the commercial date palm, Phoenix dactylifera, produce offsets or suckers at the base of the trunk. These can be cut from the parent plant and either planted in containers or planted directly in the ground. If no roots are present when the suckers are cut, the leaves should be reduced in number and/or size.

This palm grows in zone 8b, but you will have to wrap the trunk with a blanket in January to keep it from freezing. If you don't pay attention to your date palm in zone 8b, you will eventually lose it which is a huge loss, because this palm is very expensive over here.

The date palm, which give out tasty fruit, is a fine choice for a landscape tree. Although if you are around when your seed-grown one matures or have one of these palms, it would be a pain to obtain the fruit. Regardless if you are planning it to fruit you need a male and female, but even if you don't get any, it's still a nice tree. They love the warmth and dry climates. Here in Fresno California, they are every were! Litteraly, there is not a neighbor hood or near buildings, with out a date palm. Palmbob has a point. Even here they are trimmed and when that happens, it makes them look dull. Planting the seeds are not hard neither. My technique I just did for the first time about one or two weeks ago. First the day before, I soaked the seeds for 24 hours in room temp. water. Then what I did was got a ziplock baggie, and some new zealand sphagnum moss, I soaked it, and then squeezed it till no drops came out. Then I drained the water from the cup and took out the seeds, and mixed them with the baggie and moss. I zipped up the baggie containing the seeds in the moist (not wet) moss. Then choose a really hot place in your house. I used my garage, during the day it gets incredibly hot in there. Check on them every few days. Be sure to keep them OUT of direct sunlight (it will roast them) It just so happends that yesterday afternoon, I went to check on them and they had little roots. The roots will burst out in the middle on the side without the parting line.

This is the edible date palm. IT is a wonderful specimen palm for any garden in the Southern US, from California to Florida. It has an attractive blue-green coloration of the leaves (more so in the drier climates) and a very tall, ornamental 'woven' trunk look to it. It can grow up to about 80' of trunk, perhaps more. It loves hot, dry climates, but can do great in humid climates, as well (for edible dates to be produced, you need a hot, dry climate normally). It is dioecious (needs male and female trees to make fertile seed). It is a suckering palm, though in cultivation, most keep trimming away the suckers to give it that monolithic look. Without trimming, it can become a very difficult palm to deal with, having sharp spines and sharp tips to the leaflets. THis is one of the faster growing palms you can get in the US.

The source of this species is probably northern Africa, but it has been in cultivation so long (over 5000 years), true wild populations are hard to identify. It is thought by some to be a cultivated form of Phoenix theophrastii, aslo from Northern Africa and Crete.