The palmettos are the palms of the American South, and Woodlanders has been growing them since the nursery opened in 1979. Ten kinds are gathered here: the cabbage palmetto on the state flag, the dwarf palmetto that will take a Zone 7 winter without complaint, and a run of rarer cousins from the Florida scrub, the Texas coast, the limestone hills and Pacific llanos of Mexico, and the Caribbean. Most are seedlings on the bench now, a year or two from a pot, and one is kept as a reference listing for a palm we have grown and expect to grow again.

A few of these palms carry Woodlanders in their history. Sabal 'Birmingham' survives in gardens today because Bob McCartney collected seed from the original Alabama tree before that tree was lost, and nearly every plant in cultivation descends from his seedlings. Our Sabal louisiana comes from the much-argued Brazoria County population in Texas, and we were the first nursery to offer the palm. Sabal tamaulipensis was named only in 2025 and is our first seed offering in decades. Five of this year's seed lots came to us from Joe LeVert of Augusta, who knew a good palm when he saw one.

All of the Sabal are fan palms, slow, long-lived, and tougher in cold than their coastal reputations suggest. Give them sun, room, and patience. The full palm house, cold-hardy kinds from four continents, is in our Palms collection.