The secret life of the sabal palm

In the late summer, strolling through the Ritz-Carlton property on Amelia Island, it is always nice to walk over the dunes to the beach. One particular boardwalk leads from the hotel lawn to the beach on a spectacular adventure, taking you through a coastal dune ecosystem up close. Regularly seeing gopher tortoises, marsh rabbits, dune sunflowers, cacti, muhly grass, frogs and small springs. 

My favorite part of the journey … the sabal palm up close!

The boardwalk carries you up and over the dunes with a few sabal palm trees growing approximately twelve feet below, making you the same height as the sabal palm flowers. You can then witness the magical swarm of pollinator activity, often missed by humans. Normally, this scene is too high above our heads. 

Hundreds of pollinators are so close you can feel the wind off their wings. You can hear the buzzing before you even spot the sabal palm flowers. Happy pollinators make very loud buzzing sounds. It is a wonderful experience, not scary at all, just nice to be caught up in the great dance of nature in her full splendor!  

The palm blooms are large clusters of small flowers with a creamy white color and a pleasant fragrance, forming a branching compound panicle. The clusters are quite large and it is stunning to see so much activity going on — bumble bees, honey bees, sweat bees, ground bees, lots of different wasps, and flies. There are literally hundreds of individual insects enjoying this explosion of nectar from thousands of flower heads. 

I am shocked to realize that this goes on every day above our heads here in Florida and we don't even notice it. I feel both left out and privileged at the same time, for at least today I am witnessing the roar of a swarming crowd of insects feasting on sabal palm nectar. And for a long sweet moment I lose myself in nature’s bounty. Amelia Island is full of these sweet moments for those who are paying attention. 

I realize having just one flowering native sabal palm tree in a yard could support so much life! What a great way to participate in nature. Many people think palm trees are not doing much, but they are! They are feeding the whole neighborhood. 

They are vibrant, nutrient providing, part of a very busy, very lavish feeding buffet, and greater ecological system. Sometimes you may see a lone palm tree off in the distance, looks a little like the desert, but the desert too is alive with pollinators!

The sabal palm, also called cabbage palm, is the Florida state tree, being native to the Southeast United States, Mexico, Caribbean Islands, and South and Central America. They grow wild in flat woods, dune systems, coastal areas, along rivers, and in maritime hammocks. These trees can grow rather large or can also remain stunted due to non-optimal growing conditions. Some trees can reach as tall as 80 feet, but on average, heights are more like 30-50 ft. Sabal palms can easily live 100 years, possibly 200. 

Some sabal palms are host to epiphytic plants such as rare endangered orchids.

Not only can we appreciate how important this sabal palm tree is, we can also appreciate the beauty it has and the beauty it attracts. If you are willing to share nature's delight and bounty with the pollinators in your neighborhood, consider holding off on cutting the flowers off your palm tree, adjusting your annual palm maintenance for the winter months when the palm flower has turned to berries, berries into seed, and the seeds have all been eaten.

This intricate, multi-bloom composite flower is full of precious food for so many creatures we cherish. You can feed them. It is hard to see all the action on top of a sabal palm tree unless you have a perfectly placed second-story window or you walk over the boardwalk at the Ritz-Carlton. If you have never been surrounded by frantically feeding pollinators from the smallest to the largest and the brightest to the blackest, it is a great experience; don't miss out!