Palms Finally Planted

[Jubaea]

I'm posting some before and after pictures after I finally had the chance to get some palms planted in the ground after several years. I got interested in palms about 5 years ago starting with Jubaea. After planting many seeds and killing many of my first seedlings I finally figured out that palms don't like to be treated as succulents. After figuring this out I expanded to other species growing most from seed and purchased seedlings or smaller palms of species I could not find fresh seed of locally.

As for the planting location and climate these palms are located in Santa Barbara, California approximately 3-4 miles from the ocean in a cold pocket making it borderline 9b/10a. Typical extreme winter temperatures fall to 28-30 degrees Fahrenheit where every 5-10 years temperatures can dip into the mid 20's. Winter lows tend to be in the upper 30's to low 40's with average highs in the low 60's. In 2007 it got down to 23 and this year it got down to 25. In summer the high is around 80 and lows are typically in the 50's.

Thanks for looking,

Dylan

Here are some pictures starting with before the application of roundup and after from street view:

[Jubaea]

Here are some close ups starting with my 4-5 year old Jubaea that I grew from seed. It is around 23 inches tall.

[Jubaea]

Next is my Brahea edulis I grew from seed. I think it is around 2 years old and is around 20 inches tall.

[Jubaea]

Here is a Bizzy I got about 2 years ago as a seedling. After being planted only 2 weeks it has opened up a nice new silver leaf. It is around 15 inches tall.

[Jubaea]

I have managed to keep this Dypsis decipiens alive for the past 2 years unlike its sibling. The both suffered 50-75% leaf damage after their first winter. I thought they were cold hardy so I left them outside with minimal protection. It is about 10 inches tall.

[Jubaea]

Next is my Rhopalostylis baueri. I had this as a potted specimen on the patio where it did well in the shade for the past two years growing thru the winter and suffering no cold damage. It is not taking well to the sun and is getting burned even with the shade umbrella over it for half the day. I hope it will adjust and take the sun better. It is about 5 feet tall.

[Jubaea]

Here is the Ravenea rivularis. It is 4-5 feet tall and is one of the fastest growing and closest palm I have to trunking.

Edited September 15, 2013 by Jubaea

[Jubaea]

This is a king palm that I dug as a seedling from the neighbors yard. I think it is A. cunighamiana but I get confused with all the different kings and can't tell them apart.

[Jubaea]

Not a palm but here is my Dracaena draco I grew from seed started 6 years ago.

[Tassie_Troy1971]

Hi Dylan

Looks like you are off to a great start with that selection of palms . I have all these species in my garden down here in Tasmania.

Good idea getting rid of all the grass as its only competing for water and nutrients .

Santa Barbara looks like a great place to live as i went up there for the day back in early March and could have easily stayed !

Rhopalostylis baueri will eventually adjust to full sun ,i usually hammer in 4 stakes a round the palm and staple on some 50 % shadecloth for the first 12 months .

cheers Troy

[LilikoiLee]

Aloha Dylan,

You have quite a selection of palms! And they all look so healthy! Too bad about you D. decipiens. Many people don't find them to be beautiful but I find them very interesting. We are in a climate the like but also lost one earlier this year. It looked one week and the next week was dead.

We've had three Dracaena dracos in pots for several years. Poor things were stuck in pots so long their roots and grown 2' long trying to free themselves from the pots. We were so busy planting palms they got ignored. Good thing they're survivors. We finally cleared a sunny area that they would like and got them planted. They bounced back immediately. For slow growers they are really taking off.

We have three R. rivularis. We wanted them to be close togther with a small space between them - just enough for people to walk through. They got gigantic within a few years. We can still walk between them but visually they have taken over. They are so disproportionate to the other palms in the area I feel like taking a chainsaw to them. There is no way we could transplant them without a backhoe. So you might to move yours to a location farther from your house.

Lee

[Mauna Kea Cloudforest]

Nice palms, Goleta is a little colder than santa Barbara but you should still be able to grow most of the stuff that grows in SB. I am surprised you lost decipiens, they take quite a bit of cold. I lost a decipiens that only looked good in the Winter but after June would start to decline. It finally gave up the ghost this Summer no matter how much water I gave it.

[_Keith]

And mostly all from seed. Truly a palm garden of your creation. I can't wait to see it evolve over the years. Before and afters are always the best threads.

[NApalm]

Love it. Great before and afters and nice selections. Really good colour on that bizzay

[Jubaea]

Thanks for the replies everyone.

Hi Troy,

I have seen many of your posts of your own gardens and those
that you have traveled to. Please keep
up the good work sharing with everyone who is unable to see the gardens in
person.

Santa Barbara is a nice place to live and it having a good
climate for going many species of plants and palms certainly does not hurt.

We left the dead grass under the mulch with the exception of
the planting site to give an extra layer of mulch and to try to conserve as
much soil as possible.

I’m hoping the R. baueri will adjust to sun. It will be shaded by the house for much of
winter and if it appears to burn in the spring time I will need to add some
shade cloth as you suggested.

Dylan

[Jubaea]

Hi Lee,

Thanks for the warning about the R. rivularis. I have the trunk planted 4-5 feet from the
house and it is only a single so I hope it will be ok there and provide some
shelter and protection for more tender palms in the future. I have not seen any really tall ones around
here either but they certainly put out many leaves each year.

The Dracaena draco’s are quite hardy. The ones that I have grown in posts will
quickly fill their new pot with roots after transplanting. I’m hoping that they will do the same in the
ground.

I’m hoping my other D. decipiens will pull through but I
have read that many others have had difficulty with young plants as well. It’s unfortunate to hear that someone else
lost another one as well .

Dylan

[Jubaea]

Hi Axel,

Many people seem to be losing their D. decipiens. I thought my D. decipiens would be able to
take the cold here as well but we are in a bad microclimate where many things
that should do well perish during the winter.
Even some of the newest leaves
and spears on my Jubaea seedlings had some discoloration on them after
winter. I think it may have been cold
damage but they all outgrew it over summer.

Dylan

[Jubaea]

Hi Keith,

I’ll try to post an update in a year to so. Hopefully things will be adjusted by then and
will have some nice growth. I am fortunate
that I got things started early so that I will have time to watch everything
grow up.

Dylan

[Jubaea]

Hi Napalm,

That bizzy opened up a new leaf , its second for the year
about 2 weeks after planting and it is finally starting to turn from purple to
silver.

Dylan

[KennyRE317]

maybe it's just me and I don't know how thick that bark mulch is but that decipiens looks a bit deep and will probably only pull itself even deeper. when I got one a potted one a couple of months ago I had to empty out about 2-3" of soil to make sure the growing point stays above the soil line.

[Jubaea]

maybe it's just me and I don't know how thick that bark mulch is but that decipiens looks a bit deep and will probably only pull itself even deeper. when I got one a potted one a couple of months ago I had to empty out about 2-3" of soil to make sure the growing point stays above the soil line.

I was unsure on how deep to plant the palms with heels. I removed some of the soil around the D. decipiens and then replaced it with course orchid bark thinking that would shade the roots coming off the heel but not retain too much moisture. I used a finer cactus/palm mix in the top inch or so for my other palms but I think that would retain too much moisture for the D. decipiens. Hopefully it won't root on me its first winter in the ground. I think if it survives the first couple of winters maybe it will grow up enough so I won't have to worry about rot.

[Mauna Kea Cloudforest]

maybe it's just me and I don't know how thick that bark mulch is but that decipiens looks a bit deep and will probably only pull itself even deeper. when I got one a potted one a couple of months ago I had to empty out about 2-3" of soil to make sure the growing point stays above the soil line.

I was unsure on how deep to plant the palms with heels. I removed some of the soil around the D. decipiens and then replaced it with course orchid bark thinking that would shade the roots coming off the heel but not retain too much moisture. I used a finer cactus/palm mix in the top inch or so for my other palms but I think that would retain too much moisture for the D. decipiens. Hopefully it won't root on me its first winter in the ground. I think if it survives the first couple of winters maybe it will grow up enough so I won't have to worry about rot.

I don't think the growing point needs to be above soil level. The usual thing to do with heeled palms is to keep the heel itself about 2/3rd above the soil line. To avoid rot, it's usually a good idea to keep putting mulch around the base of the palm as it digs itself in. All my dypsis have growing points below the soil as tiny seedlings, but I use lava rock to fill in around the base as it drops down into the soil.

I lost a d. decipiens seedling during the Summer, it was just too hot so the leaves scorched. I compensated by extra watering and I got rewarded with a dead decipiens. The base just rotted from being too moist. In the Winter it grew fine, but as soon as Summer showed up the thing just went into decline. It did that every Summer so I am glad it finally croaked. Sometimes we get specimens that no matter what we do, they just don't grow well. That was my lesson with decipiens, now I don't put any decipiens in the ground unless it's at least a 5 gallon size. Then you can make sure the heel is 2/3rd above ground and they usually will thrive.

[Rafael]

Dylan, could you describe your micro climate where you live?

[Jubaea]

Dylan, could you describe your micro climate where you live?

Rafael,

The microclimate is in a cold pocket near the bottom to two hills were the cool air settles at night. Radiational freezes are not uncommon during the winter. The normal lowest temperature for the year is usually 28-30 degrees F or to -2 to -1 degrees C, however every 5 years or so we get down to around 25F or -3 to-4C. Temperatures in winter are usually 60-65 degrees F. during the day and 35-40 degrees F. at night or 15-19 degrees C for the day and 1-5 degrees C at night. We average around 18 inches of rain or 450mm a year but can get 10+ inches or 250+ mm in 1 months time in a wet year. During May and June there is usually fog so temperatures are cool. In the summer July, August and September we average around 80 degrees F or 27 degrees C for a high and drop into the 50's F at night or below 16 C at night.

[Tassie_Troy1971]

Thanks for the replies everyone.

Hi Troy,

I have seen many of your posts of your own gardens and those

that you have traveled to. Please keep

up the good work sharing with everyone who is unable to see the gardens in

person.

Santa Barbara is a nice place to live and it having a good

climate for going many species of plants and palms certainly does not hurt.

We left the dead grass under the mulch with the exception of

the planting site to give an extra layer of mulch and to try to conserve as

much soil as possible.

I’m hoping the R. baueri will adjust to sun. It will be shaded by the house for much of

winter and if it appears to burn in the spring time I will need to add some

shade cloth as you suggested.

Dylan

Thanks Dylan look forward to seeing more updates on your developing garden

Troy

[Rafael]

Dylan, could you describe your micro climate where you live?

Rafael,

The microclimate is in a cold pocket near the bottom to two hills were the cool air settles at night. Radiational freezes are not uncommon during the winter. The normal lowest temperature for the year is usually 28-30 degrees F or to -2 to -1 degrees C, however every 5 years or so we get down to around 25F or -3 to-4C. Temperatures in winter are usually 60-65 degrees F. during the day and 35-40 degrees F. at night or 15-19 degrees C for the day and 1-5 degrees C at night. We average around 18 inches of rain or 450mm a year but can get 10+ inches or 250+ mm in 1 months time in a wet year. During May and June there is usually fog so temperatures are cool. In the summer July, August and September we average around 80 degrees F or 27 degrees C for a high and drop into the 50's F at night or below 16 C at night.

Thanks for your complete description. Thats a similar microclimate compared to the one i have in my mild yard (surrounded by harder weather but in a sheltered spot, without north and west front). You can check here - http://www.palmtalk.org/forum/index.php?/topic/31527-my-new-garden-ovar-january2012/ - what i am growing.

I think you will be able to grow less hardy species. You will check it from now on.

[Jubaea]

Here is an update about 2 and a half years later.  Unfortunately I lost my Rhopalosytlis baueri pictured above.  It's heal got cooked in a heatwave and all exposed roots dried up and died.  I have since replanted two more R baueri but this time planted them much deeper and they are doing well.  I also removed my Dypsis decipiens as it was doing quite poorly and replaced it with a healthy Parajubaea cocoides that I grew from seed.  The P. cocoides is growing reasonably well but suffered 40% leaf damage this winter from cold. My Bismarckia nobilis started growing crooked and was removed.  I replaced it with another healthy Dracaena draco.  I have also planted several more Archontophoenix cunninghamiana, a Hedyscepe I grew from seed, a Howea foresteriana I grew from seed, a Howea belmoreana I grew from seed, a few Trithrinax and more succulents.

[Jubaea]

[Jubaea]

[Jubaea]

[Jubaea]

[Jubaea]

[foxtail]

Sorry about your lost, your garden looks nice.

[Neil C]

Looking really established now, you should be proud!

Regards Neil

[Palm Tree Jim]

The yard is coming along nicely!

[palmfriend]

Nice work and thank you for posting the before-after pictures!

Very encouraging, please keep going!

 

best regards

 

[Paul_T]

The garden looks great. Love the Jubaea. 

[User00]

nice pics,i love timeline photos 

[akamu]

That is good growth and I think it really cool you grew most of your plants from seed

[Jubaea]

Thanks everyone.  All the palms really took off after getting them in the ground and getting the drip irrigation finally hooked up.  I'm surprised at the growth speed of the Jubaea and Brahea edulis, both growing much faster than expected.  I think this summer will be a good year for growth and I will try to post some updates then.