Category: 9. Uses in the Landscape

Related to Chapter 9 of The Palmetto Book, which deals with cabbage palms in human designed landscapes

Cabbage palms: the insidious, surreptitious, cuckoos of the Florida retail landscape

This post complements Chapter 9 Cabbage Palms in the Landscape in my book, The Palmetto Book: Histories and Mysteries of the Cabbage Palm, published by the University of Florida Press.

How are cabbage palms analogous to cuckoos? Their sneaky strategy for survival.

Eurasion reed warbler raising a common cuckoo. Photo by Per Harald Olson from Wikimedia commons

Cuckoos lay their eggs in other bird’s nests unnoticed and then the unsuspecting parents accept the interloper. That’s pretty much what cabbage palms are all about in parking lots and various retail landscapes. This morning I encountered a great example at Home Depot.

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Cabbage palms in the urban environment

This post complements Chapter 9 Cabbage Palms in the Landscape in my book, The Palmetto Book: Histories and Mysteries of the Cabbage Palm, published by the University of Florida Press.

The urban environment can be a challenging place for trees. A species that makes sense in a park or nature preserve may or may not work well in a parking lot or between a curb and a storefront. The strong desire for natural leafy shade in urban environments can lead to species that outgrow the alloted space– lifting sidewalks or pavement, obscuring storefronts, or posing problems for infrastructure.


These challenges have led landscape architects and horticulturists to the maxim “right tree-right place”, which calls for careful consideration of landscape goals and matching plants to situations.


Our state tree, the cabbage palm, is frequently overlooked in urban areas, typically because of the observation that a single cabbage palm will never produce as much shade as an oak. But there is no rule that prevents the planting of multiple palms to create dense shade. Here are some facts related to the pros and cons of cabbage palms in urban settings.

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