Just a few new pictures of my yard

[Hilo Jason]

My wife and I were out of the country in Uganda for the past 3 months. Since being home I've replaced a few palms and straightened up a bit. Thanks to a mild winter and a friend taking care of the place while we were gone, it's looking pretty good around here for just coming into spring.

Here's a couple of pictures from my iPhone yesterday:

The palm in the front / center is a Burretiokentia vieillardii that I planted yesterday. This will be the third I've tried, so really hoping it takes. This is the nicest one I've started with, so hoping that does the trick. It's keeping company with a lot of New Caledonia friends in this planter. Kentiopsis Pyriformis on each side of it, Kentiopsis Oliviformis behind it to the right and a few others hidden for now.

Foxy Lady looking foxy! Probably 13-14 feet tall now.

In my backyard, this is one of my favorite spots to sit in the late afternoon. This was a full sun part of the yard in the summer when we bought this house 5 years ago! I love how it feels now!

Sitting in the same spot as the previous picture, but just looking the opposite direction to where there is still more sun getting through.

Will try to post a few more pictures later. I'll be out in the yard all day today squeezing in a few more plantings!

Happy Easter everyone.

[MattyB]

Wow! What; a difference from the first pics you posted years ago. Looking great Jason!

[Palmdude]

Looks great! You've been at least as busy as I have been over the past 5 years keep up the excellent work! I'm imagining some bromeliads, cycads, crotons and some variegation thrown into your beds for some color, I can't help designing beds in my head when I see available dirt, it's what I do

Keep posting pics of your great work! I love it!

[Kim]

Your garden is looking very flash! Uganda? Will we see photos in the travel forum? There is more to this story...

[George Sparkman]

Very ,very nice Jason !

And welcome back.

George

[DoomsDave]

Great garden!

Pictures of Uganda? Palms . . .

[Tassie_Troy1971]

My My how things have grown since i last saw your garden on here Jason !

I agree that some broms would add a touch of color here and there !

[Jeff Searle]

A trip to Uganda? Wow, I for one would love to see some pictures posted here on a new topic. I'm amazed how big some of the palms have grown. Your really creating a nice tropical setting. Very inviting. Hope to see more, Jason, thanks.

[LJG]

Jason, the yard looks like your friend have it some TLC while gone. You are lucky to have someone like that.

Also hope to hear good news from your trip.

[Hilo Jason]

Thanks everyone for the comments! It's nice to be back on Palm Talk a bit these days and to be back out in my yard enjoying the perfect weather right now.

Palmdude & Troy - I agree that bromeliads would be a great addition to my place. I have tried several and have not had much luck. I'm hoping to get some more experience with them as the yard fills in and to be able to keep them alive. I've been planting more ti plants and a few other colorful plants here and there, but I could really go crazy on bromeliads if I can get them to stay alive!

[Hilo Jason]

Len - yeah my friend Chris ("Chris In Murrieta" here on palm talk) would stop by once a week or so and keep an eye on things, pull some weeds and treat a few palms with hydrogen. Yes, I am very lucky and thankful to have him help out.

[Hilo Jason]

So here's a brief summary of our connection with Uganda.

My wife and I have been supporting an organization there, run by a local woman, that has a medical clinic, orphanage, school, farm and some retail shops. After supporting financially for a few years, we decided to go visit and meet the people there face to face. This was in December 2012. While there, we fell in love with a little girl at the orphanage. After returning home, we inquired about adopting her. Due to a very sad story, she was available for adoption so we started the process. In December 2013 we booked a trip there to hopefully finish the process and bring her home. We ended up staying for 3 months and for situations way out of our control, were not able to get a court date for our adoption hearing. We had to come home to take care of some work and also renew some of our paperwork on the US side. So we are just finishing that paperwork now, and preparing to head back over there soon. Not sure when as we are still waiting on a court date. We spent everyday for 3 months with her, so that was amazing. We also connected with a lot of other people there and un-officially adopted an 18 year old girl who we met on our first trip as well. Uganda is a beautiful country with very warm and generous people. We didn't travel around the country a lot because we couldn't take our soon-to-be daughter out of the village. But we plan on visiting Uganda quite a bit with her once she is legally ours so she can always remember where she came from and have that connection.

Here is a picture of her and I. This is at a pretty nice hotel in western uganda that had a nice garden. The palm behind me looked like some type of Dypsis Madagascariensis.

As far as palms go, I saw a lot of large multi-trunk Phoenix palms. Usually always near streams or some sort of water source. I'm not a phoenix expert ,but they could have been reclinata. I also saw a good size grouping of Raphia Farinifera growing in a river bed area. As far as non-native palms, Royal palms were the most common, and also Archontophoenix Alexandrae. If a gas station or string of shops had a palm or two planted, it would be one of those. I saw a few Dypsis Madagascariensis types at a couple of nice hotels and only a couple of Coconuts. Climate-wise you could really grow anything tropical there as the weather is always between 68-85. But it's not the kind of economy where anything unique would be available anywhere. Not sure where the nicer hotels get their plants from.

[Hilo Jason]

Here are a few more pictures of my place. It was a perfect weekend for some new pictures as I continued to clean things up.

Nice to have a little piece of Africa in my yard, and looking pretty good after a mild winter, Raphia Farinifera:

My friend and fellow palm talker Nick (Quinn Palms) helped me move this Dypsis Pembana last week. In 1 week the new spear has pushed 4" so looks like it's not skipping a beat. This was planted out as a small 1 gallon exactly 4 years ago.

Dypsis Prestoniana:

This Dypsis has been interesting. It looks like a Decipiens but with finer leaves and was very fast. However shortly after planting it out, it stopped growing and then out of nowhere it started pushing growth out the front of the base of the original plant. The new growth has now split into these two colorful suckers and the original plant still hasnt moved at all. Curious to see what this develops into:

[Hilo Jason]

Rhopalostylis Sapida Oceana:

A slightly different view of the Oceana on the right and Rhopalostylis Baurei on the left (with a lot of other stuff in there too!)

In that previous picture you can see some stairs leading up to a small deck. That then leads out onto a short bridge over to the roof of my garage. Here's a look back at the yard from the roof of the garage:

The schizolobium are just now flushing out their new branches and I just noticed today that one of them looks like its about to flower for the first time.

That's all the pictures for now, thanks for reading and looking.

Hope you all had a nice easter.

[Tassie_Troy1971]

Looks like a lovely little girl jason

Rhoplostylis oceana looks great - do you find thisd one to be the faster than the other Rhopies ?

Broms are impossible to kill even down here in Tas ! just leave a bit of water in the crown and plant in the ground !

[comic097]

Done a fantastic job Jason, Looks awsom mate.

[Hilo Jason]

Troy - This Oceana and the nearby Baurei seem to be growing at about the same rate for me. Both were planted as 5 gallons at the same time. The Baurei seems to like my yard a bit more as it never burns or brown tips like the oceana does. I am 15 miles inland from the coast and we can get some 100+ F degree days in the summer so I don't think they like that too much.

[MattyB]

What a cutie! I hope everything works out for you and your new daughter. What's her name? Looks like she adores you, and you her.

[Kim]

What an amazing story, Jason, out there changing lives. She looks very happy with her new papa. I wish you and your wife all the best with the completion of the adoption process.

[TikiRick]

Jason,

Congratulations on your adpotion process, fantastic garden, but moreso for having a huge heart. I hope everything works out for you, your family, and your growing family too!

[PalmatierMeg]

Jason, your daughter-to-be is adorable. And your Cali palm garden looks fantastic.

[akamu]

You and your wife are awesome good luck with getting your new daughter home safely Cheers

[yachtingone]

Jason your garden looks really nice! Congrates on becoming a Dad with that beautiful little girl!!!

[Hilo Jason]

Thanks for all of the great compliments everybody! I appreciate it.

[Jeff Searle]

Jason,

Wow, what a great new adventure for you and your wife. Andrea and I wish you all the best with a smooth adoption and the start of a new family. She's one lucky child!

[Hilo Jason]

Thanks Jeff, we appreciate it!

[Walter John]

Fabulous, good luck with everything new too.

[Hammer]

Garden looks amazing. Hopefully us SoCal folks will have the privilege of meeting your daughter at an event one day in the future.

[Palmdude]

Wow Jason! What a beautiful little girl, I'm a big softie, you're story brought tears of joy!

As for keeping Broms alive in the garden, they're like orchids, the more you look after them the more likely they are to go into decline. They like to fend for themselves and be left alone. Don't water them unless their cups have almost completely dried up. They seem to like to rot if watered too much.