Mast Trees Longboat Key, Florida – Wholesale
Looking for some vertical appeal for your Longboat Key, Florida landscape design? Line avenues and driveways, create privacy screens, reduce noise pollution, slow the wind, and hide unwanted views with wholesale Mast Trees from Palmco.
Palmco assists landscape contractors, architects and developers with everything they need to beautify resorts, golf courses, commercial properties, residential estates and more, by providing large tree transplants and specimen trees throughout the country and worldwide.
Origins of the Mast Tree or False Ashoka
The beautiful Mast Tree, or Polyalthia longifolia ‘Pendula,’ is native to India and Sri Lanka. It is also called the False Ashoka because it is often mistaken for the sacred Indian Asoka or Ashoka tree (Saraca indica), which has similar foliage, but is not related. You may also hear the Mast Tree called Buddha Tree, Weeping Mast Tree and Indian Fir Tree.
The Mast Tree belongs to the Annonaceae family, one of the largest families of flowering tropical plants and trees. Its more familiar relatives include the Custard Apple or Wild Sweetsop (Annona reticulata), Soursop (Annona muricata), Ylang-Ylang (Cananga odorata), and Cherimoya (Annona cherimola).
In the days of sailing ships, the straight, flexible trunks of Mast Trees were used to build masts, hence the name. Today in India and Sri Lanka, they are commonly planted around temples (they appear on the grounds of the Taj Mahal), and the wood is mainly used for decorative items and drum cylinders.
Mast Tree Attributes
The Mast Tree is best suited to USDA Zones 10A to 11, including Longboat Key on the central west coast of Florida between Sarasota Bay and the Gulf of Mexico.
The tree features dense layers of feathery, wavy-edged leaves that hang from drooping branches and cover the tree from top to bottom. The lush foliage ranges from coppery brown when new, to light lime green, to a glossy dark green as the tree ages. Leaves remain on the tree in all seasons, almost completely covering the trunk and creating an eye-catching and colorful focal point.
One of the tree’s best attributes is its ability to form a solid wall of green while using just a small amount of ground space. It will grow to 30 to 45 feet tall and 4 to 5 feet wide at maturity, providing an excellent substitute for the temperamental Italian Cypress.
Mast Trees are stunning when used to line avenues or driveways, and make excellent tall hedges, privacy screens, noise screens, windbreaks, and architectural accents to frame entryways, soften building corners and vertical edges, and cover vertical drain-pipes. They are also suitable for narrow spaces because they grow quite tall but stay slender.
They have very little leaf drop, no pest issues of note, and require little to no maintenance. They prefer well-drained soil, will grow in full sun or partial shade, and are drought-tolerant when mature.
Consider wholesale Mast Trees when you need unique, eye-catching, easy-to-maintain trees in Longboat Key, Florida that few others will have! Get in touch with Palmco at (239) 283-1329 or (855) GO-PALMCO to discuss your design requirements.