The dense foliage of this plant creates beautiful texture, indoors or out in the garden.
Lady palm(Rhapisspp.
)is easy to grow indoors or outdoors.
Paul Craft.
Where to Plant Lady Palm
Lady palm is an attractive specimen plant in the landscape.
It thrives in well-draining soil and prefers dappled light or morning sun.
Lady palm is cold-hardy in USDA Zones 9-11.
Credit: Paul Craft
Rich in texture, lady palm makes an attractiveaccent plant for indoors, too.
Miniature species such asRhapis gracilisare wonderful for tabletops in large spaces like living rooms and family rooms.
Large varieties can enliven the corner of a room.
Credit: Paul Craft
How and When to Plant Lady Palm
InZones 911, plant the shrub any time of year.
Lady palm likes crowded roots.
Settle the palm at the same depth it was in the nursery container and backfill the hole with soil.
Credit: Ed Gohlich
Press down on the soil with your hands to remove any air bubbles.
Create a hedge or screen using lady palm by planting nursery-grown container plants about 4 feet apart.
The plants will grow together within a couple of years, creating a dense screen.
Lady palms grow up to 15 feet tall.
The less light they receive, the deeper green are the leaves.
Soil and Water
Plant lady palm inwell-draining soilthat has been amended with organic matter.
Water the palm thoroughly when the surface of the soil is dry to the touch.
They are as content in humid areas as in dry areas.
Fertilizer
Don’t fertilize a lady palm for the first six months after planting.
Lady palm houseplants are slow-growing and benefit from a monthly dose of fertilizer from April through September.
Use ahouseplant fertilizerand dilute it to half-strength.
Pruning
Lady palm spreads by underground stems called rhizomes.
Plan to regularly remove the suckers on the outskirts of a lady palm to keep the plant contained.
Dig the suckers out with a sharp spade or cut them off with hedge trimmers.
Otherwise, lady palms dont require much pruning except for removing damaged or dead fronds.
Use a sharp pair of sterilized pruners to snip off the fronds.
Potting and Repotting Lady Palm
Select a palm-specific potting mix for a lady palm houseplant.
Gently tamp down the soil and water the plant.
Repot the lady palm every other year in spring into a slightly larger pot.
Pests and Problems
Lady palms are relatively disease-resistant.
Somemild leaf spotmay occur.
How to Propagate Lady Palm
Lady palm can be propagated by divisions and seed.
Lady palm has a rhizome-based root system, which makes it easy to divide.
Brush away the soil until you might see the rhizomes.
Do not cover them.
Place the tray somewhere warm and keep the medium moist.Rhapispalms are slow to germinate.
It may take 3-6 months.
Types of Lady Palm
There are several species of lady palm in theRhapisgenus.
Of these,Rhapis excelsais the most common in the United States, although a few others are available.
Broadleaf Lady Palm
Rhapis excelsais the most widely grown species of lady palm.
It has been cultivated for so long that its exact origins are unknown.
This lady palm grows in light to heavy shade and makes an elegant houseplant.
It also forms an excellent privacy screen.
It grows 10 feet tall and wide.
It makes a good container plant or privacy screen and grows 15 feet tall and wide.
The foliage forms a dense canopy above clumps of sturdy stems.
Yes, mist your plant daily to increase humidity.
Lady palm prefers an environment with at least 50 percent humidity, which many homes don’t have.
