Mesa Tree Company

Most of our large nursery stock was acquired through barter on landscape projects but we also buy and “rescue” mature palms. 

To market your palm tree you must first determine the variety. You can do this by looking up the palm in a book or checking out our list of palms following this section. To a novice, most palms may look alike, if you are confused, give us a call. Palms are typically sold by the “trunk foot” or the height measured from the ground to the center of the crown (where the green fronds originate).

Once you know the species of the palm and the height, you can start to determine if your palm has market value. Here’s where things get confusing. The tree must be accessible, the larger the tree the more access required.  The cost of removing the palm is deducted from the determined value, if tree removal necessitates heavy equipment, repair of underground utilities or site restoration, these costs can quickly devalue even a valuable palm. Your best bet is to give us a call, we will be happy to access your situation.

As mentioned, most of our large nursery stock was acquired through trade in plant material or services, so if you are looking to renovate an old landscape, give us a call, we may be willing to trade out existing palms for new trees or tree maintenance on existing trees.

Following is a list of palms of varying value; again, the value of a palm is directly affected by cost of removal, condition of the tree etc.

Palms with little resale value

Washingtonia robusta
Mexican fan palm: These are the most abundant palms in our landscape, the are very fast growing often resembling a telephone pole and therefore have little value.

Washingtonia filefera
California fan palm: very similar to Mex. Fan palm

Saygrus romanofskiana
Queen palm: another fast growing palm, very abundant. May have value if several trees are available and access is good.

Caryota species
Fishtail palms are monocarpic, this means that the tree dies after flowering. If left unmolested, Caryotas may be around a while, often the shock of transplant    will cause the tree to blossom, effectively killing it.

Arcantophoenix Species
King palms are very difficult to move with about a 60% mortality rate. If the tree does survive the move it will often end up with a constricted trunk (skinny section) indicating that the tree was transplanted.

Palms with some resale value

Bhahea edulis
Guadalupe palm, looks very similar to a young Mexican fan palm, therefore not a lot of value, becoming more popular.

Phoenix robelenii
Pygmy date palms are common and as the name implies, small often growing in multi trunk form, size and configuration may give it some value.

Trachycarpus fortunei
Mexican windmill palm, smaller variety of palm, easy to move therefore some value.

Brahea armata
Blue hesper palm, not commonly used in landscapes, poor transplant success rate.

Butia capitata
Pindo palm, very common and fast growing. Older specimens tend to develop pockets of decay in the trunk detracting from the value. 

Phoenix canariensis
Canary Island date palm: These are one of the larger palm varieties and are in big demand in high end commercial landscape projects.The physical size and weight of these trees make them very expensive to move and therefore limit resale. Ty Warners insatiable appetite for this variety in his new projects may soon put it on the “high value” list.

Palms with high resale value

Chamaerops humilis
Mediterranean fan palm, generally grown in multi trunk form. Some value depending on size and configuration

Phoenix reclinata
Reclinata palm is a suckering palm often growing with several trunks. The size and configuration of this tree determine the value, bigger and more trunks the better.
 
Howeia fosteriana
Kentia palm, a very common indoor palm but planted outdoors, in time, can be a valuable tree. most desirable with five to fifteen feet of trunk, multi trunk configuration has more value.

Jubaea chilensis
Chilean wine palm, a very unique palm, very slow growing therefore rarely used in landscapes, there is a demand for mature trees.