Business Notes LANDSCAPING

When they close up shop at night, many Southern California landscapers have to lock up their most valuable merchandise: palm trees. The plants, essential for any chic Southwestern edifice, are in such demand that nurseries are unable to keep them in stock. A prize specimen of Phoenix reclinata, which grows only a foot a year, now retails for $25,000. The new Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas spent a seven-figure sum to install 200 palms averaging 40 ft. each.

Landscapers are replenishing their supply by buying mature trees from homeowners. The most sought-after palms were planted in the 1940s, when Los Angeles promoted the trees to boost its mystique. The palms have become hot property in more ways than one. Unscrupulous dealers roam neighborhoods at night, digging pygmy palms out of yards and grabbing potted ones from the fronts of landscape centers.