
There are no better plants than palm trees when it comes to creating attractive tropical landscaping. These beautiful, tall, leafy plants can transform your front yard into a paradise filled with striking focal points, cooling shade, and comforting privacy.
With so many different palm species available, you can mix and match colors, sizes, and shapes. If your lawn needs a new accent, or you want to impress the neighbors with a one-of-a-kind plant, consider using palms that bring some color to the landscape.
Creating a privacy barrier couldn’t be easier with palms like the 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 to provide extra shade, especially if you have a second-floor balcony that receives a lot of sunlight during the day.
Palms can also make an attractive addition to your forgotten flower bed and turn your flowers into the 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 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.

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.


This front yard features a spectacular mixture of different palm trees. Two groupings of three foxtail palms by the front entrance accentuate the formal design.
Another element contributing to the formality is the symmetrical arrangement of boxwood bushes on both sides of the walkway.

This stunning estate wouldn’t look as grand without the queen palms on both sides of the fountain. It’s a great example of how palms can enhance a feature’s prominence without obstructing the view from the windows.
These palms are also storm-resistant and low-maintenance.

Create More Shade With Tall Palm Trees
Tall palm trees can provide both a tropical atmosphere and shade to the front yard without blocking the view from the windows.

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


Use Palm Trees to Soften Corners of Buildings
A space only needs a couple of palms to achieve an instant landscaping. If the corners of your house’s exterior appear a bit bare, consider filling them with one or more palm trees.
This will soften the look and add personality to your yard, elevating it to another level.


Fill Empty Spaces with Small Palm Trees
Small palms are ideal for filling empty spaces. Many homeowners use palms to bridge the gap between the entrance and the garage.


Planting a couple of palm trees by the entrance of a modern house can introduce fantastic color, texture, and character to an otherwise blank canvas-like house.

Consider this beautiful combination of Christmas palms on one side and foxtail palms on the other side of the entrance. These palms provide ample shade and elevate the yard to a higher level.

Create a Focal Point with Palm Trees
Palms are excellent for establishing 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, consider using taller palms either as single specimens or in a group setting.


In this front yard, a mixture of small palms is used to create a focal point and infuse a tropical, less formal vibe into the landscape.

Mix Palms with Boxwood to Introduce Different Shapes
I absolutely love the combination of palms and boxwood. Palms give the landscape a tropical feel, while boxwood creates a more formal look, allowing gardeners to incorporate various shapes into the landscape.
The house below exemplifies this combination exceptionally well. The colorful tropical plants complete the design, taking this front yard to the next level.

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


Mix Tropical Plants with Palms to Add Color and Texture
While a landscape consisting solely of palms can be beautiful, palms also blend well with other plants.
A grove of kentia or coconut palms can be stunning; however, a mixed canopy of palms with other woody plants creates a more natural display reminiscent of the palm’s natural habitat.
Numerous herbaceous and woody plants contribute color and texture to the garden. While some of these plants serve as focal points, others work as excellent fillers that complement the palms they accompany.




As you can see, it’s easy to use palm trees to create a stunning front yard with depth and visual interest. Palms can enhance a landscape without becoming overwhelming or overly complicated.
No matter the style of palm tree you choose, there are other plants that pair well with them to create amazing dynamic profiles.
Related articles:
–Top 10 Most Popular Florida Palm Trees (with Pictures)
–Top 35 Types of Palm Trees (with Pictures)
–20 Amazing Palm Tree Landscape Design Ideas (with Pictures)