A favorite haunt is Sunshine Nursery in Clinton, Okla., an elevated oasis of zone 6 surrounded by zone 7 west of Oklahoma City. Sharon's penchant for palms, some of which are 20 years old, paid off in a particular way this week, when he cut fans of Sabal minor palmetto so that each member of the congregation attending a Lenten service could have a frond. It was a big sacrifice for Sharon. Each plant grows only three new leaves a year. And getting a palm to leaf stage can seem like an eternity in itself.
Some palm seeds take three years to germinate.
They receive nothing and they make it. The north wind is the enemy. The leaves break. The oldest of his palms are the Sabal minors, bush types without trunks. Sharon expects that his, too, eventually will grow trunks.