121 replies to this topic

[Jeff in Costa Rica]

The Costa Rica Palm Society held a meeting at Wilson Botanical Garden this past weekend. The garden is located near the town of San Vito up in the mountains near the border with Panama at about 1,100 meters (3,609 ft). The OTS (Organization for Tropical Studies) aquired Wilson Botanical Garden in 1973 as part of Las Cruces Biological Station.

The Wilson's began planting the garden in 1962 and remained on the property until they passed away in the mid and late 1980's. This is an amazing place with a vast collection of mature palms and other tropical plants from around the world. I immediately fell in love with this garden and can't wait to go back again.

Some photos of the gardens around the old Wilson home which is now a dormitory for students.


Bromeliad Garden

[Jeff in Costa Rica]

More photos from the gardens around the house

[Jeff in Costa Rica]

More

[Jeff in Costa Rica]

More

[bgl]

Jeff,

That is indeed an incredible garden. Too bad we weren't able to include it in the Biennial in 2008. I certainly wouldn't mind visiting Costa Rica again, so I could see this beautiful garden. Thanks for posting! And I believe there's more on the way so I look forward to seeing the rest!

Bo-Göran

[Jeff in Costa Rica]

More around the Wilson home

[Jeff in Costa Rica]

Jeff,

That is indeed an incredible garden. Too bad we weren't able to include it in the Biennial in 2008. I certainly wouldn't mind visiting Costa Rica again, so I could see this beautiful garden. Thanks for posting! And I believe there's more on the way so I look forward to seeing the rest!

Bo-Göran

Bo, now that I've been there I understand why it wasn't included in the Biennial - there are just not enough hotels in the area to accommodate a group of that size.

This garden is definitely worth a return visit to Costa Rica. The cabinas are clean and very comfortable, the food is delicious, and it's wonderful to stay in the middle of such a beautiful garden. The rates include three meals a day plus all taxes and it's very reasonable.

I have a LOT more photos to post....

[Jeff in Costa Rica]

Archontophoenix purpurea



Various Areca vestiara

[Jeff in Costa Rica]

Arenga pinnata


Asterogyne martiana


Astrocaryum alatum


A. alatum seeds

[Jeff in Costa Rica]

Attalea butyracea or perhaps A. rostrata


This next palm was labeled Attalea iguadummat

[Jeff in Costa Rica]

The largest stand of bamboo that I have ever seen

[Jeff in Costa Rica]

Some birds near the dining hall one morning




Mot-Mot

[Jeff in Costa Rica]

Broms around the garden

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[Jeff in Costa Rica]

Early in the morning a member checks to see if I am awake yet. I was already up and photographing the garden!


A few of the cabinas

[Jeff in Costa Rica]

Cordylines


Cochliostemma odoratissimum



Chamaedorea seeds

[Jeff in Costa Rica]

Calamus caryotoides


Calathea lutea


Calyptrocalyx spicatus

[aussiearoids]

Jeff , imn post 13 , the first 2 broms looks like Guzmania zahnii ,next is a form of Vr fosteriana the lovely 4th is Vriesea platynema var. variegata .

[Jeff in Costa Rica]

Calyptrogyne ghiesbreghtiana


Calyptronoma plumeriana


These large Caryota sp were planted all over the garden - see person next to it for scale.

[Jeff in Costa Rica]

Jose Maria and Martin under Cyphophoenix nucele


Dictyosperma album


Dypis crinita from top of hill

Dypis crinita from below

[Jeff in Costa Rica]

It's getting late here so I'm heading off to bed. I will post more tomorrow.

[ariscott]

Jeff, you are killing me with these perfect looking Vriesea. I bet they are all in full sun!! I just wish they would grow in full sun here, it would make planting them a lot simpler. More photos please... and more Vriesea, if there is any....

Regards, Ari

[bgl]

Jeff,

What a place! Thanks for all the photos! And you are of course correct - we did know that we would not be able to accomodate a group of 180 people there during the Biennial, not even if we had split it up in two groups. I hope you have a few more photos!

Bo-Göran

[Jeff in Costa Rica]

Dypsis decipiens

[Jeff in Costa Rica]

These next tall palms were labeled as Dypsis sp. There was a grouping of them planted in the same area. Anyone have any idea what they could be?

[Jeff in Costa Rica]

One of my favorite palms on the property - Wettinia hirsuta

[Jeff in Costa Rica]

A couple of large Licuala's


and a few Livistona's

[Jeff in Costa Rica]

The Costa Rica Palm Society touring the garden


Of course it rained a little...




More photos coming...

[Kim]

Fantastic group of D. decipiens, wow! I agree with you on the Wettinias too, just gorgeous!

For the Costa Rica Biennial, I had originally signed up to go to this garden as a post-trip, but there weren't enough participants, so it was cancelled and I went to Corcovado instead. Corcovado was charming, but this garden has such a wonderful collection, how I wish I might have seen it. Good excuse to return, right?

[Patricia-CR]

Wow, thanks Jeff!!

[Jeff in Costa Rica]

Jeff , imn post 13 , the first 2 broms looks like Guzmania zahnii ,next is a form of Vr fosteriana the lovely 4th is Vriesea platynema var. variegata .

Thanks Michael! The Brom collection was overwhelming.

[Jeff in Costa Rica]

Jeff, you are killing me with these perfect looking Vriesea. I bet they are all in full sun!! I just wish they would grow in full sun here, it would make planting them a lot simpler. More photos please... and more Vriesea, if there is any....

Regards, Ari

Ari, I still have a lot more photos...

[Jeff in Costa Rica]

Fantastic group of D. decipiens, wow! I agree with you on the Wettinias too, just gorgeous!

For the Costa Rica Biennial, I had originally signed up to go to this garden as a post-trip, but there weren't enough participants, so it was cancelled and I went to Corcovado instead. Corcovado was charming, but this garden has such a wonderful collection, how I wish I might have seen it. Good excuse to return, right?

Kim, That's unbelievable that there was not enough interest for a post-trip. This is the best garden I have ever seen. Although I haven't been to Hawaii yet...

I would love to organize a small group of people to go to Wilson and help identify many of the palms that are missing id tags or labeled incorrectly. This could be folks from the International Palm Society and/or the Costa Rica Palm Society. I plan on getting in touch with the Director of the garden to find out if they would be interested in our help. If anyone is interested in visiting the garden and participating in this, please contact me via a PM.

[Jeff in Costa Rica]

Wow, thanks Jeff!!

My pleasure Patricia!

[Jeff in Costa Rica]

I couldn't stop staring at this palm. It didn't have an id tag and no one knew what it was. Can anyone id it?






I found this old photo that Mike Evans took three years ago when he visited Wilson. You can see how much the palm has grown since then.

[Jeff in Costa Rica]

Some Euterpe around the garden





This E. oleracea was a monster!

[Jeff in Costa Rica]

A giant Fern. I managed to find a small one of these at a local nursery near the garden.


Some shots from the forest trails

[Jeff in Costa Rica]

A beautiful ginger


And lots of heliconias




These had a metallic sheen on the top of the leaves and were purple underneath

[Jeff in Costa Rica]

These palms were labeled as Phytelephas aequatorialis
The lighting was not the best for photos...

[Jeff in Costa Rica]

There were many tall Pigafetta's and many more replacements for the ones that have died of old age.

[Jeff in Costa Rica]

I guessed these were Pinanga casesia?


This one had fallen across the path and then starting growing upright again.