Sabal Palmetto (State tree of Florida and South Carolina)
Native Range (Native also in the Caribbean and Cuba)
Sabal Palm is a lush sub-tropical evergreen, and is the state tree of Florida and South Carolina. One of the most cold hardy Palm trees in the world down to around 7°F. Landscaped all the way up to Tennessee, Virginia, Maryland…
These trees mature anywhere between 30' to 60' tall. A few rare specimens likely over 150 years old have exceeded 90' in height. These trees are painfully slow to grow from seed to desired size. From germination to the first sign of a trunk (4'-5') tall can take at least 10-15 years! This means 20' tall specimens are about 50 years old, and 30'-40' tall specimens are 70-95 years old. This also means the millions of Sabal Palmettos landscaped over 20' tall across the deep South are at least 50 years old. So obviously these trees are not propagated from seed in nurseries. Most of the time they are dug from the wild from private land. Young trees with trunks less than 3' are almost impossible to transplant, but tall ones are extraordinarily easy, and are foolproof option for landscaping. There remains debate how much longer we can keep digging them up from the wild before there aren't enough left to meet the demand. So many nurseries are now growing them from seeds so decades from now Sabal Palmettos will still be readily available when we can't continue to mass dig them from the wild. Super drought tolerant, tolerant of virtually any pH and soil type, and very salt tolerant.
Hardiness: USDA Zones: 7b-11
Mature Size: 30'-60' tall by 5'-15' wide (Few very old wild specimens grow to 90'+ tall)
Light: Full Sun-Part Shade
Water: Dry-Moist
Grows best in moist well draining soils. Excellent drought tolerance once established. Tolerates wide moisture conditions from drought to moist soils, and some flooding.
Soils: Not particular with specific pH level. Grows in most soils.
Deciduous/Evergreen:
Evergreen
SOURCE:
https://www.plantrealflorida.org/info/florida-ecosystems/sustaining-the-sabal-palm-floridas-state-tree/
