Sabal Palms Now Grace Interlake

LAKE PLACID - Interlake Boulevard is undergoing a sprucing up.

Town workers were planting some of 127 Sable Palm trees in a row of three, on Friday, west of U.S. 27 on Interlake Boulevard.

The downtown improvements were paid for with a $25,000 Urban and Community Forestry Grant from the Florida Division of Forestry.

Sable or cabbage palms are Florida's state tree and several non-native species of trees were removed to make way for the new towering sentinels.

Considered a hurricane grant species, the palms were chosen in part because they were judged hurricane wind resistant.

Mayor Tom Katsanis was thrilled with the new additions.

"I think it looks like Disney World or something," said Katsanis. "When people drive through and see these trees they will realize it's the beginning of the downtown."

Mike Eisenhart, of E'Harts Nursery & Landscaping Inc., was overseeing the project that started on Tuesday .

"We want to create a gateway into town," said Eisenhart. "We like a lot of trees and they should be 100 percent successful."

Griffin Trees Inc., of Lake Placid, supplied the 25-foot palms as part of the ongoing Keep Lake Placid Beautiful program.

Maintenance should be minimal and include a regular trimming or "hurricane cut" just beneath the tops of the trees to keep the plantings from losing moisture, said Eisenhart.

In addition to 90 new trees near U.S. 27, 24 additional Sable palms will be planted at the Main Street and Interlake Boulevard intersection and another 10 trees starting about a quarter mile west of Eucalyptus on Interlake Boulevard.

About 15 town employees, along with Lake Placid police, worked together.