There’s nothing like Palms for creating a lush, tropical paradise in your backyard. Just sit back, relax with a cold drink, and watch as the summer breeze gently billows through the fronds. These tropical foliage plants are among the best ‘thrillers’ for patio containers, plus they’re deer resistant and easy to maintain.
Container Gardening with Palms
Create Your Own Oasis
Tips & Tricks
Growing Palms
Light | Keep in full sun outdoors (6+ hours of direct sunlight), to bright indirect light indoors (5-6′ away from a sunny window).
Soil | Use a 50/50 mix of regular potting soil and cactus mix.
Watering | Keep soil evenly moist to slightly dry.
Humidity | Palms benefit from increased humidity indoors. Spray mist their foliage regularly, or place them on a humidity tray.
Fertilizer | For palms indoors, apply a slow release fertilizer 1x per year in spring. For palms transitioned outdoors for summer, apply a slow release fertilizer 2x per year — 1x in spring and 1x mid-summer.
variety spotlight
Ravena rivularis
Majesty Palm
Native to Madagascar, this elegant, robust, feathery-fronded species thrives in consistently moist, warm, and humid areas. Majesty is great for both indoor and outdoor use. Outside, it prefers sunny to partial shade conditions, and it is sensitive to cold temperatures, so avoid exposure below 40° F. Inside, it is tolerant of bright, indirect light. Majesty grows up to 80’ tall in the tropics but at a very slow rate. Here in Northeast Ohio, it will perhaps reach 10-12’ tall over time.
Chamaedorea elegans
Neanthe Bella
This petite parlor palm is one of the best species for shady, dry sites where a soft, light green, upright arching accent is needed. It is commonly grown indoors for its air-purifying qualities. Additional benefits to growing Neanthe Bella as a houseplant include its tolerance of low-light conditions and its designation as pet-safe plant per the ASPCA. It’s a slow-growing plant, reaching 2-7’ tall x 2-3’ wide over several years while producing slender, bamboo-like stems that create interest in the home. If enjoying a potted Neanthe Bella outdoors for the summer, know that it pairs beautifully with a few simple Begonias or Impatiens planted at its base.
Livistona chinensis
Chinese Fan Palm
Distinctively handsome, palmate foliage makes this palm a “fan” favorite that has been popular since Victorian times. Chinese Fan’s boldly textured, bright green foliage grows up to 3-6’ across! In the wild, this Asian species with a slow-growing, rounded shape reaches 10-30’ tall x 10-15’ wide, developing as many as fifty cascading fronds. Here in Northeast Ohio, it can reach 6-8’ tall x 6-8’ wide over time. Outdoors, Chinese Fan is fabulous for planting in large containers in full sun to part shade, and it offers good drought tolerance. Its resistance to cold is also better than the average palm, given it can handle temperatures down to 15-20° F. When young, watch out for the plant’s spiny leaf petioles, which do subside as the plant matures.
Cycas revoluta
King Sago
Truly a living fossil, this plant forms a squat, shaggy trunk with a rosette of glossy, dark green, stiffly arched fronds that produce 3-6” long, needle-like leaves. It technically isn’t even a palm (it’s a cycad), but it offers the same tropical vibe in a long-lasting, easy-care plant. Grow King Sago outdoors in part shade to shade in an urn-shaped container to show off its stately habit. It is wonderfully drought tolerant. Just be sure to transition it indoors before temperatures drop below freezing. Indoors, King Sago needs bright, indirect sunlight. This ancient species is so extremely slow growing, it takes fifty years for it to reach its mature size of 3-10’ tall and wide!
Veitchia merrillii
ADONIDIA Palm
This plant is also known as the Christmas Palm, due to its bright red fruit development in winter. Although fruiting is unlikely to happen here in Northeast Ohio, this species is nonetheless very attractive. Look for Adonidia’s sleek, bright green to gray trunk and its crown of 4-5’ long, arching fronds with long, green eaves. This palm is easy to grow and self-cleaning – fronds simply peel off when dying back. Grow it outdoors in full sun where soil dries out sparingly. Adonidia’s native range is Malaysia and the Philippines, where it grows 15-25’ tall x 6-8’ wide. Here in Northeast Ohio, while it loves our summer temperatures, you can expect it to be a much shorter specimen plant perfect for use in mixed container combos.
Bismarckia nobilis
Bismarck Palm
Beloved for its unique texture and habit, this palm grows from a single trunk, producing large, fan-shaped, silvery-blue fronds. The striking nature of Bismarck adds a certain flare to any porch, patio, or deck it’s placed on. Native to Madagascar, this plant is drought tolerant and thrives in full sun conditions. This palm is incredibly slow-growing – especially in our cooler Northeast Ohio climate – only needing to be root pruned or re-potted every few years. In its native habitat, the Bismarck Palm averages 50′ tall and 15′ wide, with the potential to reach heights up to 80′. Though it’s sensitive to cold weather (experiencing foliage damage when temps dip below freezing), this palm can easily be enjoyed year-round as a houseplant.
year-round care
overwintering indoors
You can enjoy the lush foliage of palms year-round by transitioning them indoors in late fall. Treat them as a houseplant throughout the winter months, providing proper water, humidity, and light, and then transition them back outdoors once the weather warms back up in late spring! Learn just how easy this process is by reading our care guide.
How to Transition Palms Indoors & Out
mix in some color
with container gardens
Palms, tropical foliage, and flowering plants combine wonderfully in container gardens to provide an enticing and exotic look for porches, patios, and poolside. The upright, vase-shaped habit of palms casts some dappled shade on the plants below, especially varieties growing closer to its trunk, so remember to place varieties that can tolerate a little less sun closer to the center of combo planters.
Some of our favorite tropical, sun-loving plants to add to combo planters include:
bringing it all together
like a boss
Whether you prefer palms for the welcome shade they cast on hot, sunny patios or their versatility as houseplants, there’s no shortage of reasons to love these gorgeous tropical foliage plants — and learning how to properly care for them is an easy task that delivers year-round enjoyment!
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