Phoenix roebelenii is a slow-growing palm that has become one of the most widely used landscape palms in Florida. It is also a very popular houseplant because of its smaller size and easy care. I've grown this palm as a landscape plant as well as a containerized plant and I must say that it's an easy-care tree ... just beware of the sharp thorns!

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For several years I grew a specimen of this species native to southeast Asia in a big pot and it got about 5 feet high under those conditions. I had to be careful when I pruned off the dying old leaves because there were powerful leaf spines near the bottom of those leaves. It was lovely. When I visited Flaming Gardens west of Fort Lauderdale, Florida in February of 2022, I took a photo of a group of this species that were 15 to 25 feet high. The literature often says it only grows about 10 feet high, but I must say that most any so-called dwarf or compact tree can stay short for many years and then decide to get bigger. (I saw a good example of that at Morton Arboretum in Illinois in the 1980's where a Silver Cedar (Juniperus virginiana 'Glauca') that was supposed to only grow to 15 to 25 feet had grown to about 40 feet high with a labeled old specimen planted about 1922.) The Pygmy or Dwarf Date Palm can be growing with one narrow trunk to around 1/2 foot in diameter, but it usually is growing with several trunks. It is dioecious and bears creamy flowers in clusters in spring. Those flowers bear small brown dates about 1/2 inch long on the female trees in September-October. The species was named after Carl Robelen, who was an orchid collector.

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Fairly slow-growing small palms for a smaller garden. They do grow in clumps of 2 to 5 stems, however, and if they are happy they will put up new "pups," so when you are planting them, allow for more spread than a single crown would take. Use caution when trimming the dead fronds. There are long, very sharp thorns on the fronds near the trunk!

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