Coconut Palms are a pretty common sight in South Florida. Starting in the Sarasota area, they grow very nicely along the beaches and shoreline, and the further south from there that you go, the more common it is to see them growing. According to the University of Florida’s Extension site, “The fruit can float for long distances and still germinate to form new trees after being washed ashore.” So, it’s not surprising that we see them growing along the shoreline. But another reason that they do well there is that they are very much a warmth-loving tree, and by growing next to a bay or a gulf, they are likely to experience a climate that is several degrees warmer than it would be just a few miles inland, lowering the odds that they might experience a hard freeze.
Coconut Palms will do just fine with a cold spell now and then. But what they can’t stand is a hard freeze that lasts for any length of time – a borderline freeze might just kill the existing palm fronds, but a serious one will kill the entire tree. And for that reason, you don’t see too many Coconut Palms in the St. Petersburg area. We don’t have long duration hard freezes very often, but all it takes is one every twenty or thirty years to discourage anyone from planting these trees.
But some brave souls do plant them. And one such planting is in a seemingly unlikely spot – next to the parking garage at the International Headquarters of Raymond James Financial in the Carillon Center in north St. Petersburg. When Raymond James expanded from their original two buildings to add a third and fourth ‘Tower’, they landscaped a large portion of the grounds with trees that produce fruit. There are several citrus trees in one area of the grounds, and there are a few coconut trees planted alongside the parking garage. I suspect that they’re close to the garage to help shield them from the full effect of a potential freeze – the interior and the walls of the garage would likely retain some of the day’s heat and help to keep the trees a few degrees warmer. But whatever the reason, they are there, and they have matured to the point where they bear their ‘fruit’ quite regularly, and it’s a fun sight to see!
Coconut Palms at Raymond James (click for larger image)
A Closer View (click for larger image)
