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Economical palmetto trees showing up all across S.C.
By Kathleen Dayton
Staff Writer
No matter where you are in the Lowcountry, you’re probably not far from a sabal palmetto, South Carolina’s state tree.
More than likely, though, the tree you’re looking at came from Florida.
Palmettos are a type of palm that grows like weeds in both states, but Florida has more of them and S.C. state law prohibits the digging of wild palmettos. Florida trees are being harvested from land set for development and are being hauled up Interstate 95 by the hundreds to satisfy a growing appetite for tropical landscaping.
One local nursery owner thinks the issue of supply and demand will soon drive up prices.
“In Florida, the government is buying up more and more wetlands and rural land,” said Michael McAlhany, owner of Palm Trees & Garden Center of South Carolina. “I have a feeling in five years, the trees I sell for $225 (now) will be $600. They’ve gone up considerably since I started buying them, and what especially has hurt us was all the storms in Florida.”
McAlhany said developers are snapping up palmettos trees to be cost-effective.
“You can get an 18-foot sabal palmetto for $225 and an 18-foot oak tree would be $3,000,” McAlhany said.
The trees are so popular in landscaping that McAlhany has turned about 100 acres in Awendaw into a designer-palmetto farm.
Here, in a field along U.S. Highway 17, McAlhany’s company has transplanted about 400 sabal palmettos so that the foliage at the top of the trees can grow out. Most trees are shipped after having their foliage stripped, which gives them a better chance of surviving.
“A lot of Northerners don’t want a tree without foliage, so they’re willing to pay the difference,” McAlhany said.
The price of a designer tree is almost double that of a tree with less foliage, he said. The more expensive trees are used in plans drawn by the company’s landscape designers.
Judy Burn, who manages McAlhany’s Mount Pleasant garden center, said there are a number of reasons why people want to duplicate the tropical look in their gardens.
“We have so many people who have moved into the area from non-tropical areas and they like that look,” Burn said. “It enhances property value, and the lifestyle is so busy now, many people just want a place to retreat. I also think all the home and garden shows on television are giving people that impetus.”
Jeff O’Donnell, a developer who bought 55 palmetto trees from McAlhany’s company for his Mount Pleasant home, said the trees have almost become a hobby for him.
“I’m originally from the North, a Yankee,” O’Donnell said. “So I came down here and one of the things I loved about Charleston were the palm trees that were here. I have a long, winding driveway and we put palms on both sides of the drive, all the way down, and that kind of gave it a resort look.”
Palm Trees Limited, a wholesale-retail nursery on Johns Island, sells nothing but palmetto trees. Nursery manager Dan Perkins said demand for the trees has easily doubled in the past 10 years. The trees are drought-resistant and salt-resistant and can tolerate most any type of soil, he said.
“A good 80% of our business is wholesale: landscapers, other nurseries, landscape architects, construction companies and developers,” Perkins said. “As the building boom took hold, they started using them because they’re fairly inexpensive.”
While four palm varieties are native to South Carolina, including the sabal palmetto, only about 20 of the more than 2,000 total palm varieties can withstand the state’s climate, Perkins said.
Even in the Upstate, where winters are harsher, gardeners are finding ways to incorporate tropical style.
Donna Foster, executive director of the S.C. Nursery Landscape Association in Spartanburg, said she knows of a homeowner who is heating the soil in a small garden so he can have more tropical plants.
“There’s no research I know of as to why tropical plants are becoming so popular, but it is probably because it creates that image of beach and relaxation,” Foster said.
The island look caught on about 10 years ago and shows no sign of fading.
“I wonder if it has something to do with the number of people moving from the Northeast and migrating down who are interested with that aspect of our
landscape,” said Julie Dombrowski, a spokeswoman for the Daniel Island Co.
The company installed more than 100 sabal palmettos five years ago at the Daniel Island exit ramp off Interstate 526.
Jeff Elliott, senior project manager for the Daniel Island Co., said palmettos are a popular landscaping choice because they don’t require irrigation to do well in the local climate. They also offer immediate design impact.
Economist Al Parish, director of the Center for Economic Forecasting at Charleston Southern University, said the palmetto tree craze has taken off because they are identified with a tropical climate and are also hardy.
“A live oak is hardy, too, but you’ll never live to see it grow,” Parish said. “These trees you plant full-grown. It’s the state tree and it goes with the idea of a nice, warm climate.”
Palmetto tree sales are only part of an industry that Parish said has exploded along with the development in the region.
“We’ve seen an explosion in the number of landscaping businesses in the last several years,” Parish said. “Nice landscaping is becoming an amenity that appraisers will actually value. If you put money into your yard, it becomes a good investment.”
Kathleen Dayton is a staff writer for the Business Journal. E-mail her at kdayton@charlestonbusiness.com.
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