Discovery Island Palms

Backyard or hobbyist growers are a wonderful way to get less common or rare plants into your yard or collection. These growers are usually passionate, knowledgeable to the nth degree about their plants and will offer detailed advice on planting up or out your selections.
Joe, the owner of Discovery Island Palms, is this kind of grower. Joe can wax long and eloquent on Pritchardia, Bismarckia or Phoenix palms, easily offering comparisons, details on cultivation and his own planted specimens. And this is one the best features of a visit here: You can see what your seedling will look like as a full sized palm.
Make an appointment to visit. The nursery is around his home and not open to the public without notice. Joe’s home/​nursery is located at the top of a small hill, steep hill. Be sure you get directions from Joe and only follow your GPS to the intersection of Discovery. At the top of the driveway, turn your vehicle around and back in carefully. It’s super steep, so be sure to use your parking brake and turn in your front wheels. All the palms are labeled, dated and may also include their source of origin. The plants are not individually priced, but Joe has a price list at the ready. The paths can be tight, but the plants are very healthy and the growing areas are incredibly neat and clean.
Discovery Island Palms grows a great selection of palms grown from seed, liners and small plants. Joe is totally upfront about where he has sourced his material and when it was moved into a bigger pot. I’ve never gotten a palm from him that did not fill its pot with roots — meaning, I’ve never been charged for a 10 gallon palm that was just bumped up from a 5 gallon pot. None of his plants are grown in a greenhouse. The vast majority are raised under 40% shade cloth or out in the open. You’ll need to do little to no acclimation of your new purchases. All of his plants are on drip and will go right into the ground easily. I don’t think I’ve ever lost a palm I’ve bought from Joe.
Joe is also super accommodating. Do you need to show up at 7 am on Sunday? No problem. Have a bunch of palms pulled and ready to go? Joe is set, smiling and ready. Delivery, crating and potting is also available (though I have never used these services). He answers emails fast and will offer suggestions of where to look for palms if he does not have them. That being said, Joe has an amazing selection of palms, with most in a variety of sizes, as well.
The prices at Discovery Island Palms are often the best in Southern California. Other retailers will offer the same 5 gallon palm at more than 3 times the price Joe is selling it. And while others vendors sell palms from greenhouses with treated water and very controlled conditions, Joe’s plants are grown in the same manner any home gardener will inevitably have to raise them in, meaning you have no awkward transition period when you bring your treasure home.
Joe is great to work with. He’s easy to talk to, incredibly helpful and really approachable. Whether you are a first time visitor, new to palms or an old hand in the garden, Joe treats everyone warmly and professionally. Discovery Island Palms is at the top of my list for great palms.

Such a pleasure working with Joe! We found his business through Unilocal and it happened to be right down the street from us. We picked up a multi trunk king palm. He spent a lot of time with us trying to find the perfect tree and giving us planting tips. We’ve only had it in the ground for a week, but it looks healthy and should thrive! Thanks Joe!

Joe Palma is great to work with!
His place is on a side access road and if you use your GPS instructions you may pass up his place. The parking is up a steep driveway!
He has a great selection of palms all grown outside but mostly shade exposure. He’s got great deals on hard to find palms so give him a call to see what he has in stock cause his prices are good that items get sold fast.

We purchased 3 15 gallon Kentia Palms. We were very happy with the service along with the quality of the palms.

Fantastic Service and Very affordable!
If you are considering getting a palm or another large tropical plant, talk to Joe first. He was very helpful in educating us about the right kind of palm for the environment we have. He’s extremely knowledgeable and wanting to help ensure every detail is taken care of. He’s passionate about making the whole experience a very positive one. We really appreciated the extra service– we needed help with delivery and potting and Joe was able to help us out. (you would never see this from Home Depot or a regular garden store!)
We hope to buy more soon!

If you’re looking to add a tropical touch, that old Hollywood feel, or just some lovely palm trees to your yard, then you HAVE to check out Discovery Island Palms. Since my husband was on vacation from his insane work schedule, he decided it was time to beautify our back yard with some awesome tropical plants like palm trees and bamboo. We’d checked out some of the bigger, more mainstream nurseries during the previous year, and they left us feeling less than impressed. For starters, no one had Senegal date palms!
Well, we knew we’d come to the right place when Joe Dombrowski, the owner of Discovery Island Palms, not only showed us Senegal date palms, but WAY more types of palm trees than we knew existed! My husband has done quite a bit of research on different plants, but he was still blown away by the variety, and after we made our purchase, he definitely went home feeling like he still had a lot to learn (in a good way). There are over 140 varieties of palm trees here!
The plants are happy and healthy, and Joe is really nice. He’s also amazingly knowledgeable. Compared to Evergreen Nursery (where they THOUGHT they might have certain plants in stock but weren’t really sure and just waved us off in their general direction without help), Joe really knows his stuff. He knew where every plant was, its Latin name, if he had it in other gallon sizes, how long ago he’d grown it… pretty much, you could ask him anything about his plants, and he’d have an answer.
I also really liked that Joe helped us load the plants into our truck. At other nurseries, we’ve been left to haul things away on our own. Joe helped us move the trees up hills, down hills, over some cool terrain (he has a great piece of land), and into the truck. That’s some excellent customer service!
The nursery can be a little bit hard to find, but Joe is available by phone to help; just give him a call when you’re in the right area. Obviously, you should make an appointment before showing up.
The prices were very fair and we spent WAY less than we were expecting for some beautiful trees.
If you’re looking to beautify your area with some high-​quality palm trees from a knowledgeable grower, contact Discovery Island Palms.