Know Your Palm Trees: A Few Types Of Palms You May Have Never Heard Of

Driving about on Siesta Key or Sarasota roadways you may seem some pretty exotic looking palm trees. While some of these are fairly well-known there are plenty of exotic palm tree species around to keep a tropical plant or gardening enthusiast interested.

Well start things off with the Purple King Palm tree.

Purple King Palms are also known as the Mount Lewis King, Purple Piccabean Palm or just the Purple Palm.

Rarely seen outside of tropical botanical gardens the Purple King Palm will turn heads as passers by look twice to make sure they really did just see a purple palm tree. Well, to be more specific the crown shaft of the Purple Palm is a dusky bluish purple that can have an intense purple color (really were not kidding).

The fronds of the Purple King Palm are nothing to sneeze at either. Long tropical looking graceful fronds that resemble a coconut tree's fronds except a little firmer and less glossy. The Purple King is from the Mount Lewis area of Australia, it's scientific name is Archontophoenix Purpurea, and it is a medium-large palm tree that grows to heights between 30-50 feet tall. The spread is moderate at 15 feet so it is recommended to plant this palm tree in groups between 3 to 5 trees.

The Purple Palm Tree prefers partial sun to full sun but can be also grown indoors if the lighting is bright enough. This tree also prefers moist soil well-drained soil, and when taken well care of has a fast growth rate.

The Caranday Palm

Another rarely seen palm tree is the Caranday Palm. The comes from South America in Paraguay,Bolivia Brail and Argentina. It's defining characteristic is only apparent if the landscaping company maintaining this tree does not become to aggressive when trimming off other fronds. When the fronds of the Caranday Palm are allowed to remain on the tree longer a fountain effect is created. The new leaves grow mostly up while older ones bend downward making a beautiful "fountain" of palm fronds that cascade downward from the top of the tree. However to obtain this unique look leave the fronds on the tree longer.

The Caranday Palm is a large robust tree that grows to heights of 50 feet or more with a spread of 15 feet. The trunk is "knobby" similar to a Date Palm until the tree is very mature and a large size.

Carandy Palms are cold hardy down to 25 - 30 degrees but well-established trees have withstood even colder temps. The trunk as with the date palm grows very straight. The color of the fronds can vary from tree to tree with some looking more of a silvery blue and others more of a light waxy green.