A visit to Dick Douglas' Garden

[John Case]

I had the chance yester day visit Dick Douglas at home. He is recovering, apparently well, from his surgery and we spent over an hour talking and taking photos. I have sent the palm photos to Patric Shafer for identification (I can ID about half, but I want them correctly done).

However, the Northern California Chapter created a plaques for Dick commemorating his contributions to the IPS (a former president) and to plam culture overall. These photos are below with him in the center and flanked by Patric and me.

I hope to get the correct IDs back quickly so they can be posted..... watch for details.

John

[buffy]

Let's keep on feeding Dick some cheeseburgers to get some weight back on him. I've only communicated with Dick a few times by email, so I'm terribly thankful we didn't lose him. That plaque is a very good thing. Kudos to you, John, and the rest of the group.

[Brad-Tampa]

I am using this opportunity to post a picture of what I believe is Dick from October, 1974. I am going through my parent's estate and making digital copies of hundreds of slides from the 60's and 70's. The pictures are from family, garden, PRA's, and many palm excursions through out the tropics. Sorry to hijack the thread, I am looking forward to seeing updates from the miracle garden of Walnut Creek.

If this is not Dick, maybe someone knows who it is!

Thanks,

And get well DD,

Brad Young

[Ken Johnson]

I believe that is Paul Drummond who was a good friend of Dicks. Wow that's a flashback!

[Darold Petty]

Yes, that is Paul.

[Brad-Tampa]

That's right, I knew I recognized him. Thanks

[DoomsDave]

Glad to hear Mr. Douglas is improving.

Keep us apprized of his progress, and show us the palm pictures!

[TikiRick]

Wow! Brad, what a great photo of Paul alongside of a Vershifeltia. Paul and Richard (Dick) were inseparable back in the day.

Glad to see Richard is up and around now. Where is the plaque going to be mounted?? Is it an outdoor plaque?

[Brad-Tampa]

Wow! Brad, what a great photo of Paul alongside of a Vershifeltia. Paul and Richard (Dick) were inseparable back in the day.

Glad to see Richard is up and around now. Where is the plaque going to be mounted?? Is it an outdoor plaque?

I knew I recoginized Paul from meeting both him and Dick during Dad's PRA adventures. It makes since that this picture was from a film set from a Miami trip (I recoginized Fairchild). I found one of Dick (I think) during a Summer of 1978 IPS meeting escapades in Califorinia. It's been fun going through slides of old palm adventures, many of which I tagged along, unfortunately there are not to many notes included.

[Tassie_Troy1971]

Good to see Dick again . I was only wondering the other day how he was doing !

[etan]

John, Grateful for the update! And for Richard: If you do not believe in miracles - try Chamomile and Propolis (with your preffered drink, of course)! Cheers to your health!

[John Case]

Wow! Brad, what a great photo of Paul alongside of a Vershifeltia. Paul and Richard (Dick) were inseparable back in the day.

Glad to see Richard is up and around now. Where is the plaque going to be mounted?? Is it an outdoor plaque?

Tiki,

It is a plaque to him not of him. It is a thick plastic designed to be mounted indoors...I assume that he will put it on the wall of his home.

The only other place that might be concievable would be at the Oakland Palmetum, I suppose; but that was not its intent....

Thanks,

John

[John Case]

I have decided to post the photos and ID the ones I know....hopefully Patric will have time to ID the rest.

[John Case]

Photos 2 of 5

[John Case]

3 of 5

[John Case]

4 of 5

[John Case]

Last of 5

[Firepalm]

Is the palm at the bottom left of post 12 (with Dick in the picture) his Butia x Parajubaea? If so that thing is literally growing like a weed. Looks like it has the potential to be bigger than all of his other hybrids.

[John Case]

I have decided to post the photos and ID the ones I know....hopefully Patric will have time to ID the rest.

per Patric, this is the list

1# BJXQ

2#BJXQ

3#BJXQ

43 Sabal Riverside

5#BXJ f1 crown

6# BXJ f1 trunk

7# Jubaea seeds

8# BXPJC

9# BXPJC and Dick

10# Wags planted 2006

[John Case]

Photos 2 of 5

Patrics comments -

11# Torallyii planted 2006

12# biggest Jubaea planted aprox 1972

13# Jub & Me

15# JuubaeaXqueen in the middle of left BXPJC , right jubaea

16# Serenoa

17# chamaerops ?

18# C. cerifera

20# Butia Yatay

[John Case]

3 of 5

21# Butia paraguayensis

22# QXBJ

23# Trithrinax biflablata

24# Brahea Elegans

25# Nannerops - my comment - I have not seen a Nannorhops taller than my head,..ever...except for this 20 foot monster.

26# " "

27# " "

28 # " "

28#

29# Another Nannerops " normal "

30#Jubaeopsis

[John Case]

4 of 5

31# another nanner

32# Brahea Brandegeei

33# T, Acanthcoma

34# " "

35# Parajubaea cocoides , 15 degrees

36# monster Mule

37# Me and monster mule

38#Tracycarpus Matinanus

39# " "

40#not sure sabal trunk , maybe delete ?

[John Case]

Last of 5

41# Center Jubaea , hybrid seed in basket

42 "

[Miccles]

Simply awesome. My best wishes to Dick - speedy recovery to you Sir.

Regards

Michael.

[Eric F]

It has been about 10 years since I visited that garden, and it is interesting to see how things have changed. The Jubaea hybrids have put on a decent amount of trunk in that time! Dick's garden was very inspirational for me and I wish him the best in recovering.

[Eric F]

Here we go, 11 years growth, with my pictures taken in September 2001:

Jubaea chilensis

Butia x Jubaea

[TikiRick]

I first saw Dick's garden in 1994. I had met him in Miami, through the late Paul Drummond, at the Fairchild Palm Sale in November. Shortly thereafter, Paul and I flew to San Francisco (my first trip there) to stay at Richards home. Coming from Miami, I was a bit spoiled by the variety of palms we could grow, and thought to myself that all I would see were Queens, Washingtonias, and possibly a Windmill palm or two. Wow was I surprised. I loved every inch of these strange palms, that for the first time I had seen because they are not tolerant of South Florida heat and/or humidity.

A true garden paradise.

[ghar41]

Nice John, thank you. Warm regards, Dick, hope to see you soon.

[PalmGuyWC]

Thank you guys from the bottom or the top of my heart ..

This post is not from our beloved Richard Or Dick as

he is often refered to

I am his Room mate and his best friend / care taker Jim

I know some of you but not all Im sure

Richard is doing well ,, or as well as can be expected

every day another struggle , every day another strain but through it

all he keeps his head high and does his utmost best to keep

one foot in front of the other . No drinking , yea..

Thank you for the plaque ,,,it made the old fart cry

He's so very proud to have you all as friends !!!!

i don't no if I can put his cell # in here but I will try

The one time a day when he brightens up and becomes

extreemly lucid Is when he has a friend call just to say hello

talk about palms , past times and say "i love you Dick "'

5102465485

[Harry]

All the best for a full recovery.

That Butia x Parajubaea is the most impressive palm I have ever seen.

When will it be coming to a nursery near everyone?

[Tassie_Troy1971]

Thanks John for the great Photo's . I had the pleasure of visiting Dick's garden in 2010 and i remember the Trithinax campestris as an awesome specimen .

[John Case]

Thanks John for the great Photo's . I had the pleasure of visiting Dick's garden in 2010 and i remember the Trithinax campestris as an awesome specimen .

Troy,

Thanks. The Trithrinax is a monster...I haven't seen one taller than me and thsi onwe has to be 15-18 feet or more....

[Darold Petty]

I don't have a photo of the plaque presented to Dick, but here is the text.

Presented to

Richard Douglas

President emeritus of the International Palm Society, founding member of the Northern California chapter, patron of palms, and gracious host to many meetings,. We honor and thank you, Richard, for your lifetime of service to palm horticulture.

From Northern California IPS members

October 7th, 2012

[John Case]

Thanks, Darold...I should have that in the original post.

[PalmGuyWC]

There is a picture of Dick holding the plaque

I wish u guys had had him tick in his shirt

I will get a nice shot of it with the iPad and post it here

Thank you all again

Can't begin to say how much it means to him !!!

[avanza]

Thanks for sharing sir.

[John Case]

I have created a gallery of the photos. Go to the Gallery section of PalmTalk to see them. I will update commentary as time allows.

Thanks,

John

[PalmGuyWC]

Here is a message from the "old fart" himself. First I'd like to express my heartfelt gratitude to the Northern Calif. Palm Society for the beautiful lycra plaque. It made me feel good at a time when I was feeling really low.

I have been undergoing chemo-therapy for two months and it's not fun. It makes me feel terrible most of the time an it's somewhat like having the flu and a bad hangover at the same time. My disease is not curable, but can be slowed down by the chemicals. The reason my shirt tail is hanging out is because it was a day after therapy, and they attach a battery pump to me that I must wear for 48 hours. The good news is my treatment is having some benifical effects. I walk around in a fog half the time and there even a name for it, chem head. My short term memory is not good.

Getting to palms: As you can see Jubaeas are not slow once they form a trunk. It looks as mine has grown about 20 feet in 11 years. I'd like to point out some of my hybrids. My favorite and the fastest growing is my 'butia X parajubaea. Its the palm that I'm standing under. It was a 5 gal. size when it was planted in 2006. The first photos are of Butia x Jubaea x (syagrus) It's very vigerous and fast growing, in fact all of the cocoid hybrids are fast growing once in the ground and start to form a trunk. I also have a Syagrus X (Jubaea X Butia and it looks like the other cross except its even nicer looking with flatter fronds.

I've used up my brain power for today, but any of you are free to drop by or give me a call at 925 937-4505,

Sincerely,

Dick

[WestCoastGal]

Haven't dropped in here for a little while, but when I saw the thread topic I had to click and read. Always a pleasure to see Dick's garden and was delighted to see and hear from Dick too! I too have wondered how you have been doing since coming home, Dick. Glad you were feeling up to a spin around the garden with John and Patric. Looks like a nice day for it too. Man, have your palms grown; a tribute to your love and care no less. Such gorgeous specimens for our Sunset 14, Zone 9 area.

Our yard is still coming along; hardscape for the most part is done, pavers being finished up and ready to add some more palms soon. They are contagious. Your garden has been a real inspiration for what is possible. I'm always in awe seeing photos of it.

BTW, that was a nice heartfelt plaque. Actually, one of the first places I saw photos of your palms posted and your name captioned as the source was on the Northern California Palm Society's website. Spent many hours pouring over the photos and zones for each. That site got us started on palms and resulted in me falling in love with mules. I was so excited to find that they did well in our area and gave us the chance for a coconut-like palm in our temps. We lucked out and found two beautiful specimens that are the anchor to our backyard now and provide us much needed shade as well. We look at them everyday and appreciate them so much. Had I not seen the NCPS site and photos from your garden of the various palms, we likely would have ended up with queens like all of our neighbors around us. You have influenced more people than you probably know.

Sorry your treatments have been rough and thanks for sharing how you are doing with us thru Jim when you aren't feeling up to doing so yourself.

[WestCoastGal]

Great photo of the three of you guys BTW.