Palms, Ferns & Tropical

How to choose from a range this size

Start by deciding what job each plant does. Canopy comes first: a feature palm such as the Foxtail Palm, an Alexander or a Bangalow gives height, shade and instant structure. The middle layer is where the tropical character lives, with giant white bird of paradise, heliconias, cordylines, frangipanis and elephants ears filling the space between trunk and ground. The floor belongs to ferns, philodendrons, alocasias and monsteras. A garden that uses all three layers looks established years before one planted with a single specimen of everything.

Then check mature sizes against your boundaries. Palms are honest plants: a Foxtail will reach about 10m with a 4m crown wherever you put it, while a clumping Golden Cane Palm holds a screen of 6m to 8m and can be kept far lower. Use the mature height and width filters above the grid rather than guessing from the photos.

Tropical gardens outside the tropics

The resort look is not restricted to the resort latitudes, but the plant list changes as you move south.

• Tropical and subtropical gardens. Everything here is on the table, and the growth rates are the fastest in the country. The main discipline is spacing: plants that look sparse in year one will be fighting for room by year four.
• Warm temperate gardens around Sydney, Perth and coastal South Australia. Most palms, the strelitzias and nearly all the foliage layer perform well. Wind does more damage than cold here, so shelter the big leafed plants behind fences, walls or the palms themselves.
• Cool temperate gardens including Melbourne, the hills and Tasmania. Build around tree ferns, which genuinely prefer cool moist conditions, with kentia palms, cordylines and hardy strelitzias. Bangalow and golden cane palms handle only light frost once established, so give them overhead canopy or a warm courtyard.
• Hot dry inland gardens. Be honest with yourself: this is a high water look in a low water place. Keep it to a shaded courtyard microclimate on drippers, or choose the tougher cordylines and drought tolerant palms rather than ferns.

Poolside and screening choices

Palms earn their poolside reputation on their roots: fibrous, dense and non-invasive, safe beside paving, pipes and pool shells where a fig or a large tree would be a liability. Golden cane palms planted 1m apart make a lush 4m to 6m screen along a pool fence, and clumping types can be thinned at the base to show trunk. Evergreen foliage means no autumn leaf drop into the water, though every palm sheds the odd frond, so allow access to collect them. If you want privacy with less flair and less water, compare the plainer evergreen options in the hedging and screening range before you commit.

Planting and care basics

Dig each hole twice as wide as the pot and no deeper, so the plant sits at its original soil level. Improve sandy soil with compost, water in heavily and mulch 75mm deep, keeping mulch off trunks and fern crowns. Water deeply twice a week through the first summer, daily for ferns in hot spells, then taper back as roots establish. Feed palms and foliage plants in early spring and midsummer with a controlled release fertiliser; tree ferns prefer a gentle liquid feed watered into the crown area in the warm months. Shelter new plantings from hot dry wind for their first two years, because wind burn on a big tropical leaf never repairs, it only gets cut off.

Common questions

Which palms handle frost?

Established Bangalow, kentia and European fan palms shrug off light frosts, and tree ferns cope with frost under an open canopy. Golden cane, foxtail and most of the ornamental tropical palms do not, so in frost prone gardens keep them in the warmest microclimate you have, or in pots that winter under cover.

Will palm roots lift paving or find pipes?

No. Palms grow a mass of fine fibrous roots rather than thickening woody roots, which is why they are the standard choice beside pools, paths and driveways. The base of a clumping palm does widen over the years, so plant golden canes about 1m clear of a fence or pool edge.

What if I want the tropical look indoors?

Many of the plants in this collection, kentia palms, monsteras, philodendrons and birds nest ferns among them, are equally at home inside in bright indirect light. The indoor plant range covers the houseplant sizes and varieties.

How fast will a tropical screen fill in?

Fast, by garden standards. Golden cane palms from 200mm or 300mm pots give real privacy in two to three years in warm climates, and the foliage layer beneath them fills its space in one to two growing seasons. Planting larger container sizes buys an immediate effect rather than a faster plant.

How are large palms delivered?

Everything here is delivered Australia wide, with delivery from $29.95 and a minimum order of $300 before delivery. Advanced and large stock is freighted at cost, quoted for specialist transport where needed, and every plant carries our 30 day healthy plant guarantee.