Front Yard Landscape Ideas With Palm Trees

Focal Point

• A single palm tree in the front yard makes an attractive focal point that can set the tone for the rest of the landscape. If you have a large yard or the yard is divided with a walkway, plant two lines of palm trees spaced evenly apart. Select a focal point palm tree that suits the scale of your home. A single story house, for example, would be dwarfed by a 70-foot-tall Bismarck palm, but a dwarf palmetto, which grows to about 10 feet tall, is more to scale. Increase the visual appeal with a flower bed or mulch at the base of the trunk.

Border

• Palm trees can be used to create several types of borders throughout the front yard. They are especially attractive as borders when planted in straight lines using trees of the same species and similar height. Line the pathway to your front door with rows of palm trees on either side of the path; plant them far enough away to allow room for the roots to grow without damaging the pathway. Palm trees can also be used to border the curb of the front yard or to create a fence to divide the property line from surrounding yards. Pygmy date palms, with an average finish height of 6 to 12 feet, are attractive border palm trees. Mexican fan palm is another medium-height palm tree that would work well.

Conceal Foundation

• An exposed house foundation is a major eyesore, especially if it is visible from the front yard. The foundation can be concealed with bushy palm trees planted along the house. While the common palm tree image is of a towering tree with a narrow trunk, there are actually several short palm trees with growth that more closely resembles a bush. Bottle palm trees are short palms with wide, bushy fronds and a wide trunk to further help cover foundations. They can grow up to 10 to 15 feet and are well suited for tall homes. Needle palms have no trunks and grow much like shrubs; they are also the most cold-hardy palm in the world, with cold-resistance to zero degrees F. Leave enough room away from the foundation to accommodate the plant's growth at full height.

Shade

• Palm trees are not only desired because of their aesthetic value; their large fronds provide shade to front yards. Front yards that face south, in particular, receive large amounts of sun that may reduce a family's desire to congregate in the front yard. Landscape the yard with several palm trees and, as they grow, the yard will be covered with plenty of shade. You can plant any species of palm or plant several different species. They don't have to be planted symmetrically; plant them anywhere that the sun is unbearable. Take the palm species' mature heights and average root span into consideration so that you can space them far enough apart in the yard.