Hi, I am wondering what species of palm tree these are. They are in our front yard. We live in Tucson, Arizona. The palm trunks are both about six feet tall (minus palm fronds). The prior home owners did not take good care of them as you can see by the lack of grooming of the trunks. Can you help? Thank you in advance!
And that's what the trunks are supposed to look like, more or less. If you find them unsightly, you can soak those bracty bits with water for about a week or so, and they'll pull off easily.
Hi, Phoenix canariensis are very commonly planted here in Portugal. The leaf bases are almost always trimmed back with a chain saw. The trimming is done annually although the time of year does not seem to be important. Two points: 1, It is very tough on the chain saw -there is silica in the tissue which tends to blunt the teeth rapidly and the fibres and sap tend to clog the "box" where the chain drive is. You should clean this out directly after use as it eats away the chain cover. 2, The leaf bases are a favourite home for rats....so a good reason to trim them back....and be prepared for one to jump out when you are trimming!! Here lizards and very occasionally snakes also use the leaf bases as a home. I really like it as a tree - it is wonderful in its native Canary Islands. Until this week we had one in our small town garden. Unfortunately (and predictably) it had outgrown the space and was pushing down our garden wall - so it had to go. But I miss it !! BTW it is a very useful tree - you can read about the various uses (in Spanish) at: http://www.bienmesabe.org/noticia.php?id=24829 and http://www.pellagofio.com/?q=node/370 Enjoy your trees! Brian
