So many plants require full sun locations. As such, most palms also do best in full sun sites for best performance. However, the lady palm, also known as Rhapis excels, is a palm that does best in low in light environments. Growing in shade to partial shade conditions, the lady palm is a great fit for many difficult landscape nooks and crannies. The lady palm is the “right plant for the right place”!
Lady palms don’t grow very large with individual stalks barely getting seven feet tall. As a clumping palm, they slowly spread by means of underground rhizomes and eventually develop into quite a dense thicket of plants. Shiny palmate leaves (like a hand with fingers) form fans of dark green connecting to bamboo-like trunks surrounded by brown fiber. Besides being shade-loving plants, they are also very cold-hardy in our area. Shade is good, but if lady palms get too much sun, they will actually fade to yellow-green and may develop some marginal tip browning.
Lady palms make a good slow-growing screen in shaded areas. Also consider them for northern foundation plantings or to accent shady entrances. Alkaline soils can cause them to develop a manganese deficiency (frizzled new leaves) so check your soil pH and/or provide proper fertilization. Iron deficiency (light, greenish-yellow leaves) is another common problem that can be reduced with proper fertilization or chelated iron applications. Just like all palms, we would recommend that you use an 8-2-12-4 in November, February, and May, as per label directions, and a 0-0-16-6 in August (or a 0-0-24 “Summer Blend” if you cannot find it). This fertilizer program provides all of the nutrients needed by palms.
While lady palms do great in our landscapes, they are also ideal for containers and as indoor houseplants. You have probably seen lady palms in hotel lobbies, at malls and similar public places thriving in these artificial environments. Although lady palms are slow-growing, container grown specimens will eventually fill their root capacity and will need to be stepped up into another large container, or carefully divided to start new plants.
While the lady palm all by itself is a beautiful foliage plant, there is a variegated form that has stunning green, white and creamy yellow stripes. This variegation adds another dimension in your plant pallet selection by projecting color into a shady spot – I want one!
My original lady palm was purchased at a Master Gardener Volunteer Plant Sale in about 2013 as a small division barely one foot high. Although relatively slow-growing, this clumping plant is now at least four feet tall and six-foot wide making a beautiful border along part of a lanai – I like it! For more information on all types of shade-loving plants, or to ask a question, you can also call the Master Gardener Volunteer Helpdesk on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 1 to 4 pm at 764-4340 for gardening help and insight into their role as an Extension volunteer. Ralph E. Mitchell is the Director/Horticulture Agent for UF/IFAS Extension Charlotte County. He can be reached at 941-764-4344 or ralph.mitchell@charlottecountyfl.gov. Connect with us on social media. Like us on Facebook @CharlotteCountyExtension and follow us on Instagram @ifascharco.
Resources:
Broschat, T. K. (2017) Rhapis excelsa – Lady Palm. The University of Florida Extension Service, IFAS.
Gilman, E. F. (1999) Rhapis excelsa. The University of Florida Extension Service, IFAS.
The Florida-Friendly Landscaping™ Guide to Plant Selection & Landscape Design (2022)the University of Florida Extension Service, IFAS.
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