Silver Saw Palmetto Palm
Serenoa repens
Plant Details
USDA Plant Hardiness Zones: 8a-11 Find Your Zone
Plant Type: Evergreen Shrub
Height at Maturity: 4-6′
Width at Maturity: 6’+
Spacing: 5′ for hedge; 10′ for space between plants
Growth Habit / Form: Upright Mounding Shrub
Growth Rate: Slow to Moderate
Flower Color: Gold-Yellow
Flower Size: 1/4″ in compound panicles up to 3 feet long
Flowering Period: Spring, Summer
Flower Type: Showy Panicles up to 3 feet long
Fragrant Flowers: Yes
Foliage Color: Silver, Gray
Fragrant Foliage: No
Berries: Yes
Berry Color: Yellow maturing to Black
Sun Needs: Full Sun to Full Shade!
Water Needs: Average, Low when established
Soil Type: Clay (amend heavy clay to ensure good drainage), Loam, Sandy, Silty, Poor Soil
Soil Moisture / Drainage: Moist But Well Drained to Dry
Soil pH: 5.5 – 8.0
Maintenance / Care: Very Low
Attracts: Butterflies, Beneficial Pollinators, Many animals, enjoy the fruit. Visual Attention
Resistances: Cold Temperatures (15F), Deer, Disease, Highly Drought Tolerant, Extreme Heat, Insect, Salt (moderate)
Description
Stunning and exceptionally easy to grow in USDA Zones 8a (15F) to 11, the Silver Saw Palmetto Palm is a highly adaptable ornamental shrub form that can be grown in full sun or full shade. It features large silver-grey fans up to 3 feet long and wide with up to 20 narrow leaflets per fan. The leaves seem to become more silver the closer you get to the coast. In late spring into summer fragrant and showy yellow flowers appear in panicles up to 3 feet long. At only 4 to 6 feet tall and wide it is a good fit as a specimen in smaller garden spaces or groupings in larger landscape borders. Also nice in containers, where it will be happy for years.
Interesting Notes
An extract made from the saw palmetto has been used for hundreds of years by everyone from Mayans to Florida’s Seminole Indians for a wide spectrum of medicinal purposes. Currently saw palmetto extract is hailed as an alternative medicine for prostate problems. The petiole at the base of the leaf stem has fine, sharp teeth or spines that give the species its common name, but the plant is so low maintenance you rarely have to touch this part except to remove a damaged frond, and just wear gloves.
Landscape & Garden Uses
Growing 4 to 6 feet tall and wide, the Silver Saw Palmetto Palm is ideal for use as a specimen in sunny or fully shaded smaller gardens spaces or home foundation plantings, or in groupings or as a barrier hedge in larger landscape borders. It is also excellent for growing in containers that can be situated around patios, decks, pools or other outdoor living spaces, and can even be grown year round as an indoor houseplant. A fine addition to tropical gardens, costal gardens and rock gardens.
Growing Preferences
The Silver Saw Palmetto Palm is easy to grow and about as easy maintenance as you can get. It is cold hardy to 15 degrees F. It prefers a very well draining sandy soil of average to very low fertility and will grow in full sun or full shade! It does not like overly rich or constantly wet soils, though will tolerate periodic flooding. It may also be grown in containers and conservatories and greenhouses where it is very tolerant of high temperatures. Additionally, it withstands strong winds and salt spray making it an ideal palm for coastal gardens.
Helpful Articles
Click on a link below to find helpful advice from our experts for how to plant and care for Palm trees.
How To Plant A Palm Tree
How To Prune A Palm Tree
How To Fertilize & Water A Palm Tree
Plant Long & Prosper!
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