The brief
The owners had moved up from Florida and missed palms. The challenge was a planting that would read as an avenue, survive a Piedmont winter and not look out of place next door to oaks and lawns.
What we did
We lined the drive with windmill palms, one of the few palms hardy to zone 7, set at even spacing and underplanted with low evergreen grasses so the trunks stand out. Behind them, the lawn was regraded and resodded with a crisp steel edge.
Lighting at the base of each palm turns the drive into an avenue at night. Irrigation zones are split so the lawn and the palms get the water each needs.
A year on
All the palms came through their first winters, including the January cold snap in 2022. The lawn is on a Signature plan with fall aeration.