Palms & Tropical

If you are building a garden around height, canopy and that unmistakable holiday feel, palms are the fastest way to get there. This page brings together feature palms, screening palms and the tropical companions that sit comfortably beneath them, all suited to warm and coastal parts of Australia.

Start by deciding whether you need a solitary trunk or a clumping habit. Solitary palms such as those with a single clean trunk suit feature positions beside pools and entries, while clumping types fill out to 2 to 4 metres wide and double as privacy screens. In frost free areas most palms can go in the ground year round, but in cooler zones plant in spring so roots establish before winter. For instant presence look at 45L and 100L sizes, which typically stand 1.5 to 2.5 metres on arrival, while 200mm and 300mm pots are an economical way to plant in numbers and let them grow on.

• Coastal blocks: choose salt tolerant palms and plant on the leeward side of fences where possible
• Screening runs: space clumping palms 1 to 1.5 metres apart for a dense visual barrier within 2 to 3 years
• Pool zones: palms drop far less litter than most shade trees, and fronds are easy to collect
• Pots and courtyards: many palms live happily for years in a 400mm or larger container with regular feeding

Palms do their best work with layers of foliage below them, so browse our tropical plants to build out the understorey. If you are leaning towards one of the most popular screening palms, the golden cane palm care guide covers spacing, feeding and watering in detail, and the frangipani care guide is worth a read if you want fragrant summer flowers alongside your palms. Not sure where to start with such a large range? The plant finder will narrow things down by climate, position and purpose.