25 Front Yard Palm Tree Landscape Designs (with Pictures)

Christmas palms (Veitchia merrillii) by the entrance create instant landscaping and add some shade.

There are no better plants than palm trees when it comes to creating attractive tropical landscaping. These beautiful, tall, leafy plants can turn your front yard into a paradise filled with striking focal points, cooling shade, and comforting privacy.

With so many different palm species, you can mix and match colors, sizes, and shapes. If your lawn needs a new accent or you want to add a one-of-a-kind plant to impress the neighbors, consider using palms that bring some color to the landscape.

Creating a privacy barrier couldn’t be easier with palms like areca palm which has multiple trunks and broad palm leaves.

While multi-trunk palms are great for privacy, sometimes you need a tall palm tree for extra shade especially if you have a second-floor balcony that gets a lot of sun during the day.

Palms can also make an attractive addition to your forgotten flower bed and turn your flowers into a spectacular centerpiece.

You can use any type of palm to frame your entryway in a dramatic way. For a united and sophisticated look frame the entrance to the gate, home, or driveway with two parallel palms.

Use Palm Trees For Framing The Home or Entryway

Palms can add a formal or informal feel to your landscape design. The curving lines, asymmetrical arrangements, and blending of harmonious plants are the essence of the informal garden.

On the other hand, symmetry, straight lines, and squared-off hedges are more suited for formal use. Christmas, foxtail, royal, pygmy date, and queen palms, are the most popular palms used for framing the house.

Here is a house with Pygmy date palms on both sides of the entrance. The uneven number of trees makes the design less formal.

Groups of Pygmy date palms (Phoenix roebelenii) on both sides of the entrance.

Boost your front garden with an assortment of palms. Large, small, clustered, or stand-alone — there are many choices. Palm trees add a great level of vertical interest with lots of depth and contrast to the landscape.

Different types of Date palms are used to create a focal point, fill up an empty space, and add some shade to the front yard.
Two Pygmy date palms (Phoenix roebelenii) on both sides of the entrance add interest and create a formal look.

This front yard has a spectacular mixture of different palm trees. Two groupings of three foxtail palms by the front entrance highlight the formal design.

Another element that adds formality is the boxwood bushes that are planted in a symmetrical manner on both sides of the walkway.

Foxtail palms (Wodyetia bifurcata) are used to frame the entrance to the house. Medium size bismarck palm in the corner of the front yard, adds an interest and provides shade.

This stunning estate would not look as grand without those queen palms on both sides of the fountain. This is a great example of how palms can help a feature stand out without blocking the view from the windows.

These palms are also storm-resistant and don’t require a lot of maintenance.

Four Queen palms (Syagrus romanzoffiana) were planted around the fountain.

Create More Shade With Tall Palm Trees

Tall palm trees can add tropical fill as well as shade to the front yard without blocking the view from the windows.

A few tall Foxtail palms (Wodyetia bifurcata) by the windows provide needed shade without blocking the view.

Tall palms in the front yard can add some necessary shade as well as a tropical feel.

Different types of tall palms that are different sizes used to create shade by the entrance and near the driveway.
This group of Foxtail palms (Wodyetia bifurcata) adds plenty of shade by the front door while creating a dramatic focal point.

Use Palm Trees To Soften Corners Of Buildings

A space only needs a couple of palms to achieve instant landscaping. If the corners of your house’s exterior are looking a bit lonely, fill them with one or more palm trees.

It will soften the look and add the most personality to the yard, elevating it to another level.

A few Queen palms (Syagrus romanzoffiana) on the corner of the building.
A group of small Christmas palms (Veitchia merrillii) by the garage is a great addition to the landscape.

Fill Empty Spaces With Small Palm Trees

Small palms are perfect for filling empty spaces. I see a lot of homeowners using palms to fill up that space between the entrance and the garage.

A group of Christmas palms (Veitchia merrillii) fill the space with much-appreciated color, texture, and warmth.
Here is another house with a medium-sized caranday palm, also known as wax palm, between the entrance and the garage.

A couple of palm trees by the entrance of the modern house will bring fantastic color, texture, and character to the otherwise blank canvas house.

A couple of small Christmas palms (Veitchia merrillii) were planted in the raised planter by the entrance of the modern home.

Here is a wonderful combination of Christmas palms on one side and foxtail palms on the other side of the entrance. These palms add plenty of shade and elevate this yard to another level.

Foxtail palms (Wodyetia bifurcata) are on the right and Christmas palms (Veitchia merrillii) are on the left.

Create a Focal Point With Palm Trees

Palms are great for creating a focal point in the front yard. You can use small palms and plant colorful flowers underneath to create a beautiful accent. For a more dramatic effect, use taller palms as a single specimen or in a group setting.

Pygmy date palm (Phoenix roebelenii) in the front yard creates a focal point.
Here is a group of three Pygmy date palms (Phoenix roebelenii) situated as a central focus of a flower bed. It makes a marvelous focus for the front yard drawing lots of attention.

This front yard uses a mixture of small palms to create a focal point and to bring a tropical less formal vibe to the landscape.

It has a group of Christmas palms (Veitchia merrillii) in the middle, with majesty palm as an accent on the right and a group of Pygmy date palms (Phoenix roebelenii) by the entrance on the left.

Mix Palms With Boxwood To Add Different Shapes

I absolutely love the combination of palms and boxwood. Palms give the landscape that tropical feel while boxwood creates a more formal look allowing gardeners to add different shapes to the landscape.

The house below, does it especially well. The colorful tropical plants complete the design, bringing this front yard to the next level.

A group of Pygmy date palms (Phoenix roebelenii) is on the left and a group of two Queen palms (Syagrus romanzoffiana) is on the right by the entrance.

Both houses below use a group of two pygmy date palms as a front yard accent with nicely shaped boxwood in the background.

Two Pygmy date palms (Phoenix roebelenii) in the front yard.
Combination of two Pygmy date palms (Phoenix roebelenii) and boxwood in the front yard landscape.

Mix Tropical Plants With Palms To Add Color and Texture

A landscape consisting of only palms can be beautiful, but palms combine well with other plants. While a grove of kentia or coconut palms can be gorgeous, a mixed canopy of palms with other woody plants creates a more natural display similar to the palm’s natural habitat.

Numerous herbaceous and woody plants add color and texture to the garden. While some of these plants are focal points, others serve as great fillers that complement the palms they accompany.

Front yard design with a combination of boxwood, Pygmy date palms (Phoenix roebelenii), and tropical plants.
The front walkway to the entrance is lined with boxwood, tropical plants, and Pygmy date palms (Phoenix roebelenii).
Here is an interesting combination of two Foxtail palms (Wodyetia bifurcata), tropical plants, and boxwood by the front entrance.
Two Pygmy date palms (Phoenix roebelenii) combined with colorful tropical plants.

As you can see, it’s easy to use palm trees to create a stunning front yard that has depth and visual interest. Palms can also enhance a landscape without being overwhelming or overly complicated.

No matter the style of palm tree you choose there are other plants that pair well with them to make amazing dynamic profiles.

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