Why the base of your miniature palm tree looks so weird

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If you have a miniature palm tree, sometimes called a dwarf or pygmy date palm, you may have noticed that the base of it gets kinda weird. But don't panic, that's perfectly normal, and it's how they grow. No, I have no idea why, and it's called "stilting". The roots get exposed and it looks as if the plant isn't really in the ground correctly. But it's fine.

Here at the Tropical Paradise I've had miniature palm trees for over twenty years, and they're doing great. They're big miniatures, over six feet tall now, but they really won't get all that much taller, maybe a few feet. Kind of like "jumbo shrimp"! Of course if they were full-sized palms they'd be thirty feet tall by now, and would have long since outgrown the space, so I'm glad the younger version of me was smart enough to plant miniatures over two decades ago.

And, as I say, they're fine, strong and healthy. And other than looking kinda weird, the stilted roots are perfectly normal. I tried growing stuff around the base to cover it up a bit, but ground cover really doesn't do very good in Phoenix, and I've ended up some piling some river rocks at the base, which is better than nothing.

I hope this helps if you've been worrying about your mini palm. It's fine. And if you have a mini dachshund, even better as these are great place to stand there at attention staring for long periods of time. I think she's looking for lizards. Wait! There's one!


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