Tidbit Tuesdays - Palm Tree Pruning and Alligator Talk

First, please remember the Department of Natural Resources will be here Thursday, June 19th at 5:00 pm in the clubhouse to present "How to Co-exist with Alligators". This is a great opportunity to better understand our cold-blooded neighbors who share this community with us. 

Palm Tree Pruning

 

 The Retreat has many palm trees in the community, which produce new branches, or fronds, each year. The older fronds die away but do not fall off normally, resulting in the bushy appearance you see above. The main reasons for pruning palm trees are 1) for aesthetics by removing these dead fronds and 2) preventing any of these dead fronds from falling unexpectedly. The HOA is currently pruning all the palms in the community. 

Why now? Well, there is a third reason to prune palm trees. Some species of palms produce fruits that can be messy. By timing the pruning to just after these fruit branches emerge, we can limit the debris from these plants without harming the plant itself.

See what a difference the pruning does for the trees? If you would like more information about pruning palm trees see this great University of Florida article.

Thank you, Karen, for the great before and after photos!  What do you think about the palms? Don't they look nice?