There’s really nothing quite like the atmosphere that you get hosting a lovely little palm. It’s a touch of the tropics, after all, and with a little theme decoration, it’s almost like having your own hidden island cover right at home. Not surprisingly, there are a lot of small types of palms that can even grow indoors, and that brings us to our subject of the day.
In this article, we’re going to explore many different and interesting palms, some of which even produce edible fruits, and along the way, we’ll tell you a little about each, including the proper care and maintenance that you need to know about.
If you’re ready, then let’s set sail to the tropics – that you can host at home!
Table of Contents
Small types of palm trees (and what you need to know about them)
In the sections below, we’re going to tell you a little bit about each of these beautiful palm and palm-like trees. covering their family names, a little bit of description of the trees themselves, and some care and consideration to help you get started if you would like to host one of these beauties yourself.
Let’s take a look!
1. Adonidia PalmÂ
- Difficulty Level: Intermediate
- Family: Arecaceae
- Scientific Name: Adonidia merrillii
- Other Names:Â Christmas PalmÂ
Care and information
The Adonidia palm is a dwarf palm species that is quite popular in Florida and if you visit, then you’ll definitely see them all over. Measuring in at around 12-25 feet fully grown, these trees have skinny trunks, and a spread of up to 8 feet wide.
As far as why they are also called Christmas palms, this name comes from when this palm starts blooming white flowers and then bears its fruits. Those palm fruits start off green, quickly turning into a lovely red, and while you won’t like the taste of them, the birds definitely do!
Adonidia palms prefer a slightly sandy and well-draining soil, but they are not very tolerant of cold, so unless you live in Florida you will need a lot of space to grow yours indoors! That said, aside from keeping out of the cold, these palms need to be watered when the top 3 – 4 inches of soil are dry and they prefer full sunlight.
 Partial shade will also work, but full sun will be best, otherwise your palm will have thin fronds and the trunk will be a bit on the skinny side!
2. Arikury Palm
- Difficulty Level: Intermediate
- Family: Arecaceae
- Scientific Name: Syagrus schizophylla
- Other Names: Parrot Palm, Parrot Beak palm
Care and information
The Arikury palm is a Brazil native that grows about 10 – 15 feet tall outdoors, which has fronds that are 4 to 6 feet long and which extend outright. Due to the way that they grow, those 4-6 foot fronds only spread out about 3 feet around the tree, making this a nice palm for adding a little tropical ambience without the need for a whole lot of space to host it.
These palms will also tend to flower early and will also produce orangish-yellow fruits, each about an inch long, clustered together much like you see with grapes.
Arikury palms prefer a slightly acidic or alkaline soil and while full sunlight is best, they will also do well in partial shade. Arikury’s are also tolerant of cold as low as the high 20’s and as far as water, you should typically water them twice a week when it’s warm and the top 2 – 3 inches of soil are dry.
3. Cat Palm
- Difficulty Level: Beginner
- Family: Arecaceae
- Scientific Name: Chamaedorea cataractarum
- Other Names: Cascade palm, Mexican Hat palm
Care and information
When it comes to dwarf palms, it’s pretty hard to beat the Cat palm. This native of Southeastern Mexico grows outdoors to be about 6.6 feet tall and 8 feet wide, but indoors it might reach about a humbler height of just 3.3 feet.
This is great news already, but we should also mention that this particular palm is also hardy against the cold. Mind you, it will start becoming unhealthy if the temperatures drop below 50 degrees Fahrenheit, but it can survive at temperatures as low as 20 degrees. You just can’t say that with most other palms!
The Cat palm likes a well-draining soil and ideally, you can mix up a perfect one with perlite, sand, and bark chips. When it’s warm, you’ll want to make sure that its soil stays moist – but not soggy – and this usually means watering it every 5 to 7 days. This palm can also tolerate full sunlight, but it will look its best if you put it somewhere with at least partial shade.
4. Dwarf Palmetto
- Difficulty Level: Beginner
- Family: Arecaceae
- Scientific Name: Sabal minor
- Other Names: Dwarf Palmetto, Sabal Palmetto
Care and information
The Slow Growing Dwarf Palmetto will average around 5 inches of growth every year until it reaches a height of 5 to 7 feet tall, with a spread of 3 to 7 feet wide! This fan-shaped palm is thus an excellent choice for growing inside of your home and wish to add a little tropical ambience to a favorite personal space. You’ll want to put it in front of a south-facing window, however, as palms definitely need their sunlight!
This fan palm will grow in clay, sand, or loam, and it can thrive in alkaline, acidic, or even neutral soil. That said, a simple mix of 30% perlite with a standard potting soil is really all that you need, just be sure to change it out every 3 years and give it a nice palm fertilizer during the warm months to ensure that it stays happy and healthy.
This palm should also have full sun or at least partial shade and SOME full sun. For water, the best watering scenario is heavy daily watering for the first 2 weeks and once it’s established, then you simply water it with a deep-soaking at the base once every 2 weeks.
5. Dwarf Sugar Palm
- Difficulty Level: Beginner
- Family: Arecaceae
- Scientific Name: Arenga engleri
- Other Names: Formosa palm, Taiwan Sugar palm
Care and information
Also known as the Formosa palm, the Dwarf Sugar palm is a beautiful little palm with long, lovely fronds. Growing up to 10 feet tall outdoors, with a spread of 16 feet, you could conceivably grow it indoors but you’d really need a whole LOT of space to do it! Still, this palm is definitely a looker, and quite the popular landscape option in Florida where these beauties tend to thrive!
These palms also have lovely red-orange flowers, which will turn into little red fruits which are pretty, but definitely inedible for humans.
If you would like to plant one indoors (or outdoors if you live in Florida), then the Dwarf Sugar palm likes a moist, well-draining soil, and it’s recommended that you top that soil with a bit of peat moss when you are first establishing the palm. After that, full sunlight is best, and you’ll want to water it once a week during the warm months and once every 2 – 3 weeks when it’s colder out.
6. Jelly Palm
- Difficulty Level: Intermediate
- Family: Arecaceae
- Scientific Name: Butia capitata
- Other Names: Yatay palm, Pindo palm
Care and information
The Jelly palm is a native of Paraguay and southern Brazil which can grow between 10 and 20 feet tall, with an eventual spread reaching 10 to 15 feet wide. Easy to grow and drought-resistant, this palm is also quite the sight to see in the summertime, when it starts producing orange-yellow flowers.
These sweet-smelling blooms eventually turn into orangish-yellow fruits that are edible and even taste a bit like pineapples! If you grow it indoors, however, you should give it plenty of space – these palms are fast growers, and 6 to 12 inches of growth a year is to be expected!
These palms will grow in just about any soil type, but a standard, rich potting mix with a bit of perlite for proper drainage is going to be your best bet. Your Jelly palm will also need full sunlight or partial shade and it needs a lot of water – just check the top 3 inches of soil and if it’s dry, then water it slowly until it’s pretty-much saturated to a depth of 2 feet.
7. Lady PalmÂ
- Difficulty Level: BeginnerÂ
- Family: Arecaceae
- Scientific Name: Rhapis excelsa
- Other Names: Bamboo palm
Care and information
The Lady palm is also called the ‘Bamboo palm’ by some, as it naturally forms clusters of upright canes that look like bamboo. In its native habitat, these evergreen fan palms can grow to be as big as 15 feet tall and 15 feet wide from their lovely spread, but indoors your Lady palm should reach a sweet, petite 6 feet.
When it flowers, you can expect to see yellow, cup-like blooms, which will turn into small, waxy white fruits that look nice, but shouldn’t be eaten.
Lady Palms are best grown in an African violet soil mix that is well-draining and unlike other palms, direct sunlight is NOT advised for your Lady Palm. Full sunlight can burn them, you see, so stick to bright, indirect sunlight for a happy Lady palm in your home. Weekly watering is your final requirement and once a week will be just about perfect – you want the soil perpetually moist, but not soggy.
8. Needle PalmÂ
- Difficulty Level: Beginner
- Family: Arecaceae
- Scientific Name: Rhapidophyllum hystrix
- Other Names: Blue palmetto, Porcupine palm
Care and information
Another diminutive member of the palm family is the Needle palm, which is rather like a ‘palm bush’ in its growth habits. Outdoors, these palms may grow to be 6 to 8 feet tall and just as wide, but indoors your Needle palm should top-out at 3 to 6 feet max.
They will also flower, producing lovely white blooms, and eventually you’ll get small, brown fruits in grapelike clusters. While technically edible, the taste of them has been described as ‘rather like stinky toes’, so it’s better to simply admire them from afar!
For a growing medium, Needle palm will work in more well-draining soils, although you need to avoid peat, as it can burn the Needle palms roots. That said, an ideal soil would be a loamy one with a pH between 5.5 and 7.0. and a partial shade scenario is best for your sunlight, so that the palm gets 4 – 6 hours of full sun per day.
For its watering needs, starting off you should water it 2 – 3 times per week for the first month, and then just once a week after it’s been established.
9. Parlor PalmÂ
- Difficulty Level: Beginner
- Family: Arecaceae
- Scientific Name: Chamaedorea elegans
- Other Names: Neanthe Bella palm
Care and information
The Parlor palm definitely lives up to its name. Petite to the point of elegance, these beauties are found between southeastern Mexico and Guatemala where they thrive in the rainforests and seldom grow taller than 8 feet. In the home, you can expect them to get between 5 and 6 feet tall, but these single trunk palms have small, delicate fronds, so they won’t take up much home space at all!
Parlor Palms are easy to please, needing only a well-draining potting soil and a little compost to help them to grow up to be the best palms they can be. After that, place your palm where it can get plenty of bright, indirect sunlight, and water it whenever the top 2 inches of soil are dry (typically once a week).
10. Pygmy Date Palm
- Difficulty Level: Beginner
- Family: Arecaceae
- Scientific Name: Phoenix roebelenii
- Other Names: Roebelin palm, Dwarf Date palm
Care and information
Fancy a palm tree that looks like it belongs on a Lilliputian Island? Look no further than the Pygmy Date palm! Whether you grow it indoors or outdoors, these tropical beauties will range from 5 to 6.5 feet tall, and their lovely fronds can extend out as much as 5 feet wide.
The trunk of the Pygmy palm is also quite attractive, being thin and rather ‘scaled’ in appearance, and they can grow up straight or with a cool, curved lean to them. As the names suggest, these will also produce small, yellow flowers and delicious drupes that look rather like dates, but have a care – these trees also have some spiny thorns to them, approximately 2 – 4 inches in length.
The best soil medium for your Pygmy palm is potting soil with sand or perlite mixed in for good draining, and if 1/3 of your mix is a rich compost, your Pygmy palm will be all the better for it. Full sun is going to be your next requirement and after that, simply water it once a week at the base of the tree.
11. Sago Palm
- Difficulty Level: Intermediate
- Family: Cycadaceae
- Scientific Name: Cycas revoluta
- Other Names: King Sago
Care and information
Native to the topics of the Old World (from Madagascar all the way to Japan), the Sago palm is a small tree with a whole lot of character. While they can grow to be as tall at 10 feet, in your home you can expect a 6 foot height eventually – and we definitely mean ‘eventually’. This is because these slow-growing palms can take over up to or even over 50 years to reach their maximum height!
In all fairness, despite the name and the fact that it looks like a cute, fat=trunked little palm, this tree is technically NOT part of the palm family. It’s actually a very old type of plant called a ‘Gymnosperm’, and thus more closely related to pines than palms if you want to get technical about it. That said, they definitely LOOK the part and thus we felt it fair to include them.
Sago palms will do well in just about any soil, so a nice potting soil that is well-draining and either has compost or a slow-release fertilizer is an ideal soil medium to host them in. Full sun is going to be best for this evergreen and you should water it 2 to 3 times a week, adding a little liquid fertilizer every 2 weeks during the growing season.
12. Windmill Palm
- Difficulty Level: Intermediate
- Family: Arecaceae
- Scientific Name: Trachycarpus fortunei
- Other Names: Chusan palm, Fortunes palm
Care and information
While the Chinese Windmill Palm can grow to be anywhere from 10 to 40 feet, indoors they will stop at around 8, and this has earned them the final spot on our list. Windmill palms are a popular palm option, and they get their name from the finely-arranged fronds that extend out like a windmill’s arms, and the fibrous brown trunk that goes with them.
In the summer, these trees will produce lovely light-yellow flowers and while they will also make small, blue fruits, these are inedible for humans. That said, they definitely add a beautiful ambience to the overall look of these amazing trees.
Your best soil blend for hosting a Windmill palm of your own is a 3 part mix of high-grade potting soil, compost, and peat, and you should give it a little bit of shade. These palms may be harmed by too much full sunlight, so ideally you should limit this to 2 – 4 hours of direct sunlight a day.Â
For watering, your Windmill palm should be watered every 2 to 3 days for a period of 3 months to get it established. After that, once a week is fine, excepting hot summers when you should water twice a week (or whenever the top 2 inches of soil are feeling dry).
FAQs
While we will be concluding soon, we have a few frequently asked questions in order to help provide a few extra factoids on your way out. These are a few that we get a lot here, so we hope that you will find this information both interesting and useful. Without further ado, here are our modest FAQ questions.
What plants look like a mini palm tree?
There are actually quite a few plants that look like palms which you could place in your home to compliment your small palm trees. Some great examples include:
– Madagascar palms
– Cardboard Tree palms
– Ponytail palms
– Majesty palms
Be sure to check them out when you have a moment – they’re definitely worth a few minutes to take a peek and see if they pique your interest!
Can small palm trees survive cold weather?
Palms don’t do very well with the cold and this is because they are mostly water. With a lot of water being stored, when it gets down to freezing this becomes a huge danger for palms, as it can do a lot of damage.
Some palms will be more tolerant of cold than others, however, but for many you will need to grow them inside as they simply cannot endure too much cold.
What is the most cold tolerant small palm tree?
The Needle palm (which we talked about today) is the most cold-resistant palm on the planet. It’s been reported that some have survived brief periods of cold as low as -5 degrees Fahrenheit. That’s some pretty serious cold resistance, especially when you compare it to most of the other palms around the world.
Some closing words on small types of palms
We hope that you’ve enjoyed our exploration today in small palm trees and as you can see, there are actually quite a few of them out there. If you’ve never raised a palm before, they make amazing additions to your home if you have the space for them and a proper south-facing window to meet their sunlight requirements.
They’re also quite easy to care for, once you’ve adjusted to their watering schedule and picked out a nice biweekly fertilizer for the growing season.
As these trees are both beautiful and long-lived, if you take good care of them then you’ll be enjoying their exotic beauty for many happy, tropical-themed years to come. Thanks so much for reading and we hope to see you again soon!
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