Introduction

If you're like most Californians, then you would probably regard palms as rather mundane. After all, they are pretty much overplanted all over the state and for many gardeners, weeding in the garden includes pulling out palm seedlings. The most commonly found palm in California is the California Fan Palm, which comes in two forms, Washingtonia Robusta, and Washingtonia Filifera. For some, these palms are better known as "trailer trash" palms. While I don't believe any native California plant deserves such a terrible surname, I will admit that until I discovered highland palms. the word "palm" used to conjure up images of Washingtonias and shopping center parking lots. On top of that, all the washingtonias planted in coastal regions of central California just don't look very nice. Out in the desert or in inland areas, Washingtonias have beautiful, large drooping fronds, but out in cool coastal areas, the fronds remain rather small and pointy. The only palm that I would have even remotely considered to plant was the canary date palm, which looks beautiful in even the most heat deprived coastal microcmimates, but they're way too big for most average size yards, including mine.
So why the big fuss about palms anyways? Well, in my search for rare fruits that can be grown in our heat deprived climate, I stumbled across the Quito palm, also known as Parajubaea cocoides, which bears mini-coconuts the size of walnuts which not only look like miniature replicas of a tropical coconut, but also have the same taste and consistency of tropical coconut flesh. Well, this is a must have in any coastal central California rare fruit garden. I immediatly started conjuring up culinary delights such as Coquito Cookies and higland fruit salads with Cherimoyas and coquitos. Ummm, Yum!
Of course, finding plant specimens wasn't easy, and the only way of obtaining any was to contact the Palm Society. And of course, everyone was eager to introduce me to absolutely spectacular palms I had rarely even noticed before, all of which thrive in our cool coastal climate. While I would rather not plant anything that won't bear any fruits, I will make an exception for spectacular palms such as the Quindio Wax palm, Fishtail palms and other exotic, tropical looking palms which make the coast look a little more hospitable.
With that in mind, I have put together some fact sheets on various palms that I believe are really worth planting on the central coast. While my focus is really on highland palms, I have also included several cool growers from the South Pacific such as the Nikau palm from New Zealand, the Kentia palm from Lord Howe Island, and the Majesty and King palm, both which thrive in our cool climate. Those of us putting up with a heavy marine influence get the benefit of relatively frost free microclimates. If you thought King palms where best grown in Santa Barbara, then maybe this picture of a 7 year old king palm in the Sunset District will convince you otherwise.

The links blow are grouped into two sets, one being highland palms, e.g. which originate in the tropical highlands such as the Andes and the Himalayas, and the other being "Pacific palms", e.g. palms from the South pacific that thrive in a cool, marine influence. The latter tend to be less frost hardy, but have shown to be quite well adapted to the regions with the heaviest marine influence, which are thus also the most heat deprived, yet most frost free microclimates along the coast.

Highland palms

Parajubaea Cocoides and parajubaea torallyi
These palms originate in the Andean highands in Ecuador, Colombia and Bolivia, and thrive pretty much in all of Sunset zones 17 and parts of zone 16. These palms also bear coquitos, which are mini-coconuts.
Ceroxylon quindiense, alpinum etc... These palms are the most spectacular ornamentals, and used to be thought of as the largest tree in the world (200 feet) until the discovery of the tall redwoods of California.
Caryota urens, "Himalaya", gigas etc... These palms look quite different from their other counterparts. They are also known as "fish-tail" palms, due to the look of the fronds. Originating in the highlands of east Asia, these palms are not as hardy as their Andean counterparts, but are very tolerant of the cool coastal conditions.

Pacific cool growing palms

Rapolystilys ... Native to the New Zealand's north island, these palms grow well throughout California's coastal belts. They are very tolerant of cool conditions and thrive on the San Francisco Peninsula.
King palm The King palm is the least frost hardy of all the palms grown in the Bay area, but it is a fast grower, and is very tolerant of the lack of summer heat. The palm does best in the areas of heaviest marine influence wich also turns out to be the most frost free. This palm will do better on the Monterey and San Francisco Peninsula than in areas such as Santa Cruz.
Kentia and majesty palm These are the so called "houseplant rejects" which end up in the yard and turn out to grow quite well. There are mature Kentia specimens in San Francisco whcih survived the 1990 forst without any problems. Surprisingly, the Majesty palm also does well outdoors in cool summer areas. The palm will grow three or four new fronds all at once even when temperatures are in the low 60's for weeks at a time.
Dipsis decipiens Not much is known on how tolerant this palm is to cool coastal conditions, but it certainly does much better than the Queen palm, which is overplanted on the coast even though it requires much more heat than what is found in most coastal microclimates. SO if you like the looks of queen palms, then plant this one instead.