Long Island homeowners embrace palm trees for summer oasis

A colorful truck with the Island Wide Palm Trees logo painted on the side pulls up in front of a ranch home in Deer Park and delivers a dose of the tropics — Paul and Dana Saladino have ordered three palm trees to place next to their inground swimming pool.

"It gives you privacy, shade and a tropical feel," Dana, 52, a hairstylist, says as the trees are set at the border of their backyard fence one recent morning. She adds flowers to the area as well. "We do tropical hibiscus, and it looks so pretty."

In Merrick, Rahreese Kenchen, 32, who works in real estate, admires the two palm trees he had planted at the entrance to his long driveway. "I wanted the ‘wow’ factor for the summer," he says. He also ordered trees to border his house and his backyard pool.

More homeowners on Long Island are upping their staycation vibes by adding the tall, willowy palm trees typically found in South Florida or the Caribbean islands to their property for the summer, sellers say. Kevin Boehning, owner of the Blue-Point-based Island Wide Palm Trees, has been marketing palm trees on Long Island for 13 years, with 80% of his clientele being residential. "When I first started we were doing two truckloads," he says, with about 150 trees in each load. "Now we're doing 10 truck loads."

Prices typically start at about $200 per tree and go up depending on the variety and size, and the trees can last until October, sellers say. They come from Florida in pots and need to be set in the sun and watered frequently; they can be planted in the ground if the homeowner desires. Varieties might include Christmas, Windmill, Coconut, Robellini, Spindle, Mexican Fan or Majesty. The tallest trees might reach 20 feet and cost about $1,000 each.

HOMEOWNER DEMAND GROWING

While restaurants with outdoor dining and beach clubs and even movie sets are major buyers, homeowners are a burgeoning market. In the past few years, more palm tree businesses have sprouted, with pop-up lots across Long Island operating during May and June reminiscent of Christmas tree lots that pop up in December. "Everybody and their mother is selling palm trees now," Boehning says.

John Auwaerter, winter plant care/greenhouse manager at Bayport Flower Houses, says his palm tree business "exploded" during the COVID pandemic, when people weren't traveling and used their disposable income to upgrade their backyards. "People realized, 'Hey, I can feel like I'm in Aruba and be sitting in my backyard with a Margarita,'" Auwaerter says. The demand has remained, also fueled by social media posts, he contends.

Nick Calandra owns Paradise Palms, which has a pop-up lot on Hempstead Turnpike in East Meadow. "We’re right on the main road. A lot of people come in just from seeing the palms. They ask, ‘Are these for sale?’ Everybody wants to go on vacation and bring that feeling home, and now they can."

Brett Sanicola launched Palms Direct three years ago with his fellow Baldwin High School Class of 2000 member Peter Mikoda. Mikoda operates a palm tree farm in Homestead, Florida, that supplies the trees, and Sanicola handles the retail sales. "Our main clientele is a homeowner," Sanicola says.

Palms Direct started with one lot and now has five affiliated locations on Long Island, Sanicola says. Customers can order on the website for delivery to their door or can come to the lot to choose which tree they want. But buyers need to act soon because the lots are typically open only from May 1 to the end of June.

‘TRANSFORMS THE BACKYARD’

Basha Karolak, 44, of Bellmore, ordered five trees from Palms Direct. "It transforms the backyard," she says. With her busy schedule running a restaurant, she doesn’t have time to go on summer vacation, but for the six months she has palm trees, she says she feels like she has paradise in her backyard. "You feel kind of like you’re fooling yourself, but in a good way," she says. "It changes everything, the mood, waking up with the backyard with palm trees."

Matthew Kondrup, 43, a travel agency owner from Wantagh, ordered three trees from GO Palm Trees this year. He says some people have a waterfall and some have a fire pit in their yards — but he chooses palm trees. "It makes it feel like you’re in a resort," he says of the ambience.

Unless they store them in a greenhouse, customers need to buy new trees each year; most varieties won’t survive the winter, even inside the house. "They need heat, humidity and sunlight," says Dino Tsidavis, who manages a Palms Direct lot in East Northport. "Most of the stuff gets composted ... at the end of the season."

Bayport Flower Houses offers greenhouse storage over the winter for people who buy palm trees from them and from any other palm tree owners who need it, Auwaerter  says. Prices range from $50 to $675 depending on the size of the plant's pot and its canopy, he says.

Only customers who purchase the Windmill variety of palms from Island Wide Palm Trees can pay to have them wrapped by Island Wide so that they survive the winter, Boehning says. He’s also looking into establishing a service that would bring homeowners' trees back to Florida over the winter.

CAN’T AFFORD TO BUY?

Customers can also rent palm trees for a day from Island Wide Palm Trees and even a backyard tiki hut to go with them. Long Islanders can also experience palm trees at restaurants with outdoor seating and area beach clubs.

At The Rust & Gold and 1653 Pizza in Huntington, owner Frank Antonetti has more than a dozen palm trees between the two adjacent eateries that he purchased from Paradise Palms.

"We’re set against a parking lot. This creates a beautiful, natural barrier and excellent shade," Antonetti says. "Overall, it adds a nice pop of color to the entire space as well."

Tadhg O’Callaghan was shopping for palm trees recently for his restaurant at the GO  Palm Trees lot in Hicksville; he owns Lilly’s in Long Beach. "We do it for our backyard also," O'Callaghan says of his home. He explains why with one word: "Oasis."

By Beth Whitehouse

beth.whitehouse@newsday.comBethWhitehouse1

Beth Whitehouse writes about families, parenting and great things to do with the kids on Long Island. She’s been a Newsday editor and shared a 1997 Newsday staff Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the crash of TWA Flight 800.