Plant Care Guides / Outdoor & Coastal / Trees
Exotic (Mexico) | Easy Care | Palm tree
The Mexican fan palm is the tall, slender, fast-growing palm that you see towering over buildings and seaside hotels. It has a narrow, smooth trunk topped with a compact head of large, fan-shaped leaves, and it can grow remarkably quickly, adding well over a metre of height per year in good conditions, which is unusual for a palm.
It handles wind, salt air, drought, poor soil and coastal exposure. The main thing to understand before planting one is height: it will reach 15 to 25 m and there is no keeping it shorter. It is a skyline tree, not a garden tree, and it needs to be positioned where that height is an asset rather than a problem.
15 to 25 m tall. Slender trunk, typically 30 to 45 cm in diameter.
Fast for a palm. Over 1 m per year in good conditions.
Vertical accent, skyline feature, avenue planting, large property boundary. Not suited to small gardens.
Full sun.
Adapts to almost any soil including sandy coastal conditions. Very unfussy.
Drought-tolerant once established. Water while young.
Minimal. A feed with palm fertiliser once a year is enough.
Remove dead fronds. Old fronds can form a skirt below the crown, which some people like and others consider untidy. Removal requires professional help once the tree is tall.
Ask about availability. We keep a changing range of trees and large shrubs. WhatsApp us to check what is currently in stock, or visit the nursery and we will help you choose the right tree for your spot.
