Palm trees
Question from Gayleen:
There are a couple of palm trees growing in my patio on their own. I did not plant them. I know nothing about gardening, planting, etc. They have been thriving on their own without any care. Now I have received a letter from my homeowner’s association stating that I must remove them because they have invasive roots and are causing damage to the common area, and that I am liable for any costs incurred. If these trees are indigenous to the area and I had nothing to do with planting them, do you think I am still responsible for them? What kind of “damage” could these trees cause? And lastly, if I need to seek legal advice, what kind of lawyer do I consult? Thank you for your time.
Answer from Pat:
When trees sprout (volunteer) in a garden, or as has happened in your case, in a patio, the variety is usually a native Washingtonia palm, either a California fan palm (Washingtonia filifera), native to desert areas, or a Mexican fan palm (Washingtonia robusta) native to Mexico, or even more frequently a natural hybrid between the two of them. Palms hybridize easily. Occasionally palm volunteers are date palms or King palms, but these instances are more likely to happen when a date or king palm is close by and raining down seeds in the close vicinity. All of these palms are common, so there’s no point in keeping a volunteer. A better idea is to pull it out right away. Any plant that springs up where you don’t want it can be considered a weed. Weeds are just plants we don’t want
The fact that you no nothing about gardening and didn’t plant these trees unfortunately doesn’t mean that you’re not liable for any damage they do. If a pipe breaks on your property and damages your neighbor’s bank, you are to blame even if you no nothing about plumbing, didn’t install the pipe, or even didn’t know it was there.
When you tell me these plants are “causing damage to the common area”, it sounds as if they are now mature trees or lat least arge enough to do considerable damage. I am not a lawyer, but if you have been warned to remove these palms before and have not done so and then they damage a neighboring property, it seems to me that you are liable for any damage. If on the other hand no one mentioned it before, it seems to me that removing the trees right away is the thing to do immediately and you pay the costs because they are growing on your property. When a tree is growing on your property and damaging the property of the house next door or common area belonging to everyone, it makes no difference whether you planted the tree or whether it grew there itself. You are responsible for the tree. On the other hand if you live in a condominium and the condominium owns all the property including your garden, then I cannot see that you could be responsible for removing the tree. If the condominium hires garden workers and they take care of your patio along with all the others in your development, then you are not responsible. The gardeners are.
As I stated, I am not a lawyer. Nor can I tell you what kind of lawyer to get, but lawyers who hang their shingles in small towns usually handle any kind of case. Bar associations usually have agencies who can advise you whom to get. Some law schools even sponsor charity organizations where young lawyers take indigent cases. But I can tell you this for a fact: Most good lawyers, with very few exceptions, will charge you a great deal more to even look at your case than it will cost you to hire a tree man to remove the trees and a handyman to repair any damage they might have done.
Thus if you are incapable of removing the palms yourself I would advise you to find a good, inexpensive but reliable tree trimming company in your area to come in and do the job as quickly as possible. If I were you I would get in touch with the garden club in your town and ask their advice. Go to a meeting and ask several people. Usually you will find one or two sensible down to earth individuals who have a line on some excellent tree men or handymen in your locale who can help you out at without costing you too much.
To answer your question about what kind of damage these palm trees could do: As a general rule palms do not have invasive roots—The sorts of trees that have invasive roots are ficus trees, Monterey cypress trees, eucalyptus trees, melaleuca trees, and the like—But if a palm is growing in the wrong place it can indeed do damage. Even though palms are not invasive, their roots and trunk takes up space and the larger it gets the more space it takes. If a palm tree is growing in the crack of a patio or next to a fence, it could push up the pavement or shove over the fence, especially in wet weather which might be causing the palm to grow at a rapid rate, even though most growth usually occurs in summer.
It is possible that the letter you got was written by a lawyer and might sound more frightening than need be. The idea of liabilities for any damages, for example, might be just thrown in there in case there are some later if you don’t act right away. The fact you ask me what damage they could do also gives me this idea because if they had done any damage you would already be able to see it. Therefore it seems to me if you act in a sensible manner and cut down and remove the trees as soon as possible, I trust all will be well.