PlantFiles: Cretan Date Palm
Phoenix theophrasti

I have collected the drupes when on holiday in Crete, they are very easy to grow and I have plants aged from 2 to 5 years old, to 60cm tall. The plants are very robust and need little in the way of attention, I do however over-wintered them in the greenhouse, although with global warming this is becoming less of a problem in SE England. Pot on every year and if you have suitable soil (free draining) and climate you can plant outside an get a very elegant palm (to 10m, with a similar spread). The soil in crete is calcarious but I use a loam based compost mixed with gravel in which the plants thrive. In Crete you see quite old specimens in tiny pots outside local tavernas, which one can only assume have never been fed, yet look very healthy, very drought resistant.

My wife got this as a gift from her brother its a 15 gallon about a month ago. It is still in the pot it came in and its pushed out a frond already just sitting out on the back porch in a sunny spot and its been kept dry and seen temps from 60 down to 12 degrees and there is not a hint of damage. This will be an interesting to see how it progresses this year. It seems to grow fast for a phoenix.

In Seattle these are susceptable to rot, so don't water them too much in winter, but in summer you can.

They have edible dates too.

Probably THE original date palm from which Phoenix dactylifera, the edible date, was derived from. It is native to the coasts of Turkey and Crete and looks a lot like a date palm. The main differences is it has a bit more color in the spines and it much spinier, nastier palm (be very careful around this one)- every single leaf ends in a very sharp, stiff barb. The other difference I have noticed is this one is a super aggressive clumper- makes LOTS of suckers and is a constant chore (and a very dangerous one) to keep the suckers down to a minimum. Don't recommend leaving all the suckers or you will eventually have a massive, tightly spaced grove of deadly sharp, impenetrable palm trees. Very drought, wind and heat tolerant.