Beautiful In The Landscape.
The Wild Date Palm (Phoenix Sylvestris) makes a beautiful landscape specimen for North Florida gardens. Also referred to as the "silver date" or "sugar date", the wild date is native to India and is reasonably cold hardy down to approximately 18° F. It is a fairly fast growing palm for our area.
It is often mistakenly referred to as the "Sylvester Palm", though it's proper name is the Sylvestris Palm or the Wild Date Palm.
Habit.
It grows a single robust trunk 40-50 ft tall and has a canopy of pinnate leaves 1-3m long. It can be as much as 25 ft across even when it only has 2-3 ft of clear trunk. Trunks are about 13-18 inches in diameter. The plant also has sharp spines and sharp edges, so use extreme caution when handling the leaves.
It can take approximately 8-9 years to develop the first foot of clear trunk, but then grows about 1' CT per year thereafter in zone 9a. The palm can be found growing in zones 8a - 11 with much success. Expect some frost bite with extended freezes in the teens, but usually the mature tree will recover in the spring with much resilience.
Here’s a Wild Date Palm with approximately 18-20″ CT
Mature Wild Date Palm Specimens
photo courtesy of U.S. Dept. of Agriculture
Growing Conditions.
The Wild Date or "Sylvester Palm" is moderately drought resistant, though a well-watered tree will withstand a severe winter much easier. All Sylvestris palms grow best in rich but sandy soils, love nitrogen, and thrive in full sun or even partial shade. It is, however, quite adaptable to a wide range of soil conditions.
Species.
The Medjool Date (P. Dactylifera), Canary Island Date (P. Canariensis), Wild Date (P. Sylvestris), Senegal Date (P. Reclinata), and the Pygmy Date (P. Robelinii) are all part of the Phoenix family of palms. There's about 14 species in this genus of palms, with much variance in growth habit and cold tolerance.
The Wild Date Palm looks quite similar to the more tropical, traditional looking Canary Island Date, but it is a bit hardier with regards to our temperate temperature extremes. The Wild Date is a little more "lithe" (not so stout), slightly more grey-green than dark green, and the canopy is not quite as broad, though 25 ft across is still magnificent!
The P. Sylvestris or "Sylvester Palm" is widely used in India for sugar. Here in N. Florida it is simply a gorgeous landscape ornamental. It's as close as us N. Central FL Floridians are going to get to the islands!
For further comparison of specimen date palms, check out one of these articles: http://www.datepalm.com/available-palms or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenix_sylvestris/.
Buy Wild Date Palms here:
Nursery Overstocks: 7 gal Phoenix Sylvestris Palm Trees
inventory reduction prices: these retail at $60.
overall height is approximately 4'-4.5' tall; contact us for quantity pricing