Coconut Palm Cocos nucifera

Coconut palm grows as a single leaning trunk ringed with old frond scars, carrying long pinnate fronds that move constantly in coastal wind. Its distinguishing feature needs no description: the nuts, which develop in clusters under the crown and are the reason the species spread across every tropical coastline on earth. In Australian landscaping it does one job, the beachfront look, and it does it on sand and salt spray where almost nothing else of that scale will hold, in resort frontages and far north coastal gardens.

The tropics, and not a kilometre further

Will it grow in Brisbane? It will sit there. This is a genuinely tropical species that performs where winters stay warm and humid, which in practice means far north Queensland and the wet tropics coast. That is the failure mode, and it is a purchasing failure rather than a gardening one: planted south of the tropics it does not die dramatically, it just stalls, thins out, holds four tired fronds instead of a full crown, and any real cold sets it back further. People spend serious money on advanced stock that then looks worse every year. Where the climate does suit, it wants sand or other free draining coastal soil, tolerates salt spray and shallow sandy profiles, and asks for warmth and humidity above all. Site it away from driveways, paths, pool surrounds and play areas, because falling nuts and whole shed fronds do real damage; this is why resorts and councils run de nutting crews. Shelter from cold wind counts for as much here as the temperature figures at the nearest weather station.

The tropical look, further south

If you are outside the wet tropics and want this reading, the substitutes in this batch are the Archontophoenix. Alexandra palm gives a slim ringed trunk and an arching crown through the warm subtropics, and bangalow palm carries the look into cool coastal gardens where a coconut has no chance at all. Neither drops nuts. Take the coconut only when you are in its climate and the frontage genuinely calls for it, and take an Archontophoenix everywhere else. The other honest option on a marginal site is a fan palm with real coastal tolerance rather than a feather palm pretending to be tropical, since salt and sand are the parts of the brief most palms fail, not the silhouette.

Nut management and steady feeding

Remove browned fronds at the base of the stalk once they have gone fully brown, and cut nut bunches out while they are small and green if the palm stands over anywhere people walk, park or swim; that is safer and easier than dealing with them at full size. Do the work in the warmer months. Feed two or three times over the growing season with a palm fertiliser carrying potassium and magnesium, since coconuts on sand run short of both and show it as yellowing and frizzled older fronds. Mulch the root zone and keep it clear of the trunk. More sizes in mature trees.

Choosing a size

This plant is available in 3 sizes, from 45L up to 100L, priced from $329.00 to $999.00 per plant. The size shown is the pot the plant arrives in, which is the rootball, not the height of the plant. Every size here is established stock rather than a starter plant, so this line is intended for immediate effect rather than for growing on. Not sure which to choose? Read our guide to when to plant in Australia.