Coconut trees are having a moment.
The coconut palm, which is just one of more than 2,500 species of palm tree, is a universal symbol of the tropics. It’s prolific in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu, where Vice President Kamala Harris’ mother was born.
If you want such a tree in New York City, Brandon Hall of CT Palm Trees, in Hamden, Connecticut, will deliver and install one for you in mid-May and pick it up in the fall, before Northeast winters inevitably kill the summery plant.
Hall makes regular trips to South Florida tree farms throughout the winter, handpicking the 600 or so palms that make up his initial spring shipment.
So far this year, he’s delivered 813 trees, mostly to residential customers in the tristate area. He estimates 30% of his business comes from commercial clients, including restaurants, events and film productions.
He’s installed temporary trees at palatial estates in the Hamptons, the outdoor terrace of a 70th floor Midtown penthouse, and suburban backyards in New Jersey and Connecticut.
“I’ve had people cry numerous times over a palm tree I delivered,” Hall said. “Families who lived in Florida their whole life and really got attached to them for whatever sentimental reasons. They move up here and they really miss those trees.”
A spokesperson for the local parks department confirmed that New York City has not planted any palm trees in the five boroughs, though it does grow a few in its Forest Park Greenhouse in Queens.
While coconut trees have been trending online, Hall said he was unaware of the now-ubiquitous meme that sprang from a 2023 Harris speech where she recalled how her mother would often say: “I don’t know what’s wrong with you young people. You think you just fell out of a coconut tree?”
“I’ll have to get into this more,” Hall, 39, said. “At my age I should be more versed in meme culture. There’s probably an opportunity for some social media posts.”
A professional path less taken
Slinging palms across the Northeast was an unlikely career move for the former manager of a UFC boxing gym in Fairfield County.
Hall fell in love with palms while living in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, in his 20s, and missed them when he moved back to Connecticut in the 2010s.
He started bringing a few back on visits to plant in the backyard of his rental house in Fairfield, watching as they thrived in the Northeast summer heat and humidity before sheltering them over the winter in a local greenhouse or back down south.
Eventually, his neighbors noticed.
“It wasn’t until year three, when the whole neighborhood must have had some sort of palm tree meeting without me and said ‘All right, when you go down this year, we’re going to bring up trees for everybody,’” Hall said.
Soon, seven houses on his street had palm trees in their front yards or backyards, prompting the local paper to come out for a story. After that, demand for the trees exploded, and Hall realized he had a small business on his hands.
He estimates that 95% of his first-time customers want trees again the next year. He’s done 137 deliveries so far this year, with trees ranging from 5 to 15 feet tall.
“They’re trying to recreate that resort feel”
Hall said several of his clients a year are interested exclusively in coconut trees, usually for beachfront homes or bars.
“They’re trying to recreate that resort feel,” he said. “We bring these massive 13-, 14-, 15-foot trees and plant them directly into the sand.”
He said he’s not aware of anyone falling out of a coconut tree he planted.
“Most people keep the coconuts on the tree for looks,” said Hall. “They’re not eating them, though you could.”
Every season has its surprises, Hall added. One year he had a massive last-minute order with three days’ notice, for someone who wanted 90 palm trees installed in their backyard for a party.
“I can’t say the name because I had to sign an NDA [non-disclosure agreement], but it was somebody in one of the political parties,” said Hall. He had to take a convoy of four 26-foot box trucks up to Maine in the middle of the night before the party.
“It blows my mind, not even the amount of money, but just the thought,” he said. “For somebody to say, ‘Yeah, you know what? Just bring 90 palm trees up here for this party for the evening.’”
Hall estimates that 30% of his business is in New York City. That’s included corporate events for brands like Bacardi and Captain Morgan, film shoots that wanted to recreate Florida on backlots, and the New York Jets’ retirement ceremony for cornerback Darrelle Revis, whose spot on the field was nicknamed Revis Island.
Hall said he’s had more than one tricky Midtown penthouse project where the trees were taller than the elevator.
“You’ve seen palm trees in a hurricane — we were just bending them and bending them, praying that nothing broke,” he said of a job installing six coconut and Christmas palms on the terrace of a high-floor penthouse for “the owner of a very, very, very, very famous pizza place.”
“It was a disaster,” said Hall. “But when all was said and done, holy moly it was beautiful.”