• The distinctive shapes of palm trees make them important landscaping plants.palm tree image by jimcox40 from Fotolia.com
  
  Large tropical palm tree species such as the Cuban royal palm are used as specimen trees in landscape gardens. Other smaller palms can be grown in clumps or stands and still have a powerful impact. There are also small tropical palms used as groundcover in the garden. When choosing palms for the garden it is important to know how large your selected species will become before choosing its final site.
  
  

Bismarck Palm

• The Madagascan Bismark palm (Bismarckia nobilis) is a large palm with distinctive, upright, blue-green, fan-shaped leaves. It can grow up to 60 feet high with a 20-foot crown but even young trees with short trunks have a large crown of leaves. The Bismark palm grows in full sun and is tolerant of drought. It will even survive occasional light freezes. The Bismark palm's large size means it is only suitable for large gardens and parks.
  
  

Pindo Palm

• The pindo or jelly palm (Butia capitata) is a South American species grown for its arching feathery leaves and edible fruit. It grows up to 20 feet high with a 15-foot crown and individual leaves up to 6 feet long. The trunk remains covered in dead leaf bases unless cleaned. Pindo palms produce showy clusters of edible orange fruits known as pindo dates which can be turned into jelly.
  
  

Kentia

• Kentia or the sentry palm (Howea forsteriana) is native to Lord Howe Island off the east coast of Australia. Adult trees can grow to 60 feet but are normally shorter. The slender trunk can be up to 12 feet long and is green with pale, raised rings and drooping, feathery leaves. Kentias thrive in sunny or partially shady conditions and are wind and salt tolerant.
  
  

Cuban Royal Palm

• The fast growing and upright Cuban royal palm (Roystonea regia) reaches 100 feet. The trunk, somewhat bulbous at the base, is smooth and silver gray and the long, feathery leaves form a large crown. Widely used as a street and avenue tree, the Cuban royal palm does need to have its heavy, old leaves removed before they drop.
  
  

Other Palms

• For coastal gardens the coconut palm (Cocos nucifera) is a good choice as it grows well in sandy soil and is salt resistant. The lady palm (Rhapis excelsa) can be planted en masse to form a dense shrub of fan-shaped leaves.