The Historic District

Not every plant that shows up uninvited (AKA a "volunteer") is a weed. Sometimes you get lucky, as I did with this young palm that was part of the tangle of overgrowth up against the house. I left it because it's a palm (not knowing what kind) and it's in a good spot, thinking that eventually I'd have to cut it down (or someone would) when it developed a trunk. But Amanda Wilkins, Curator of Collections for Mobile Botanical Gardens, identified it as a dwarf palmetto (Sabal minor) a native species that stays low (~9'). Now that the competition has been removed, it will be able to grow, look fuller and more robust.

Sabal minor by James McInnis, on Flickr

That's a nice volunteer to have. It feels like good fortune when they plant themselves in a place that is just right.

Lily's mention of milkweed got me thinking about volunteers. Human settlements have fragmented what used to be a continuous source of habitat for wildlife. Sometimes we can allow volunteers of native plants to occupy a portion of our gardens to provide the continuity that serves as a bridge between wild areas. Watch out for invasives, though. They're just as willing, and a little bit more eager, to take over your precious land!

Willa wrote:It feels like good fortune when they plant themselves in a place that is just right.

It is good fortune; because it "chose" the spot, the chances of this plant's survival are exceedingly high. I'm just goofy for palms, anyway. To me, they are incompatible with stress. Although there are half a dozen palms that thrive in this area, some of them native, they aren't used much. There is a prevailing sense that they're out of place and a little trashy, so much so that Bill Finch, the garden writer in residence here, wrote an impassioned article on how palms historically dominated the city of Mobile, and a defense of their use in the landscape.

Ha. Out of place. Given how much we, as humans, have introduced because it's "prettier" and other so called positives, that makes me laugh like hell, if you'll pardon the expression.

Having lived in LA County in Cali, I can see how some folks get the trashy mentality about them, as a lot of folks poo-poo the shedding, and there's a crazy amount of landscaping companies that keep them "trimmed" out there. Still...I feel bad sometimes for folks who feel the only good garden is one that looks cultivated and culled to death.

I'm really glad you found such a delightful volunteer!