Last month, we played a little guessing game with my courtyard palms.
Based on the flower, the fronds, and the fruit, Sparks guessed that it was a Queen Anne palm. Independent verification says he is correct.
Scientifically, it is Syagrus romanzoffiana. From South America. Or more familiarly also called a Queen palm or a Cocos palm (not to be confused with a coconut palm).
The photographs of the Queen Anne palm on line are dead ringers for the two in my yard. Right down to the bees swarming on the wheat-head flower stalk.
I thought that was going to be the end of stories about those palms -- until I noticed the same tree has proven to be quite fecund. It had sprouted a second flower stalk.
On the last cycle, I let the nut-like fruit ripen in the hopes that they would provide another clue to the palm's identity. The cost of waiting was a courtyard strewn with ball bearing sized nuts rolling everywhere.
Dora and I are still cleaning up after the tree. And, as Patricia explained, they need to be corralled. Each one is a potential tree sprout.
Besides, we no longer need that particular forensic evidence. The tree's identity has been made.
Rather than put up with another housekeeping nightmare, this evening, I will break out the lopper and rely on the Marie Antoinette solution.
The flower stalk is pretty. But it has outlived its utility. Just like Marie Antoinette.
Thus is the vine pruned.
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