More before & after

[bgl]

Didn't realize I had taken the above photo in "portrait", and this one, today 18 Mar 2007, is in landscape, so there's a little bit more stuff visible.

[bgl]

OK, a few of the "ancient" ones. And this is where the real fun begins, because there's been a LOT of change since.

Here are two Licuala ramsayi on what we later named "Licuala Lane".

Photo: 04 Apr 1996

[bgl]

And the (approximate) same view today, 18 Mar 2007. All the Clinostigmas, and most of the Licualas were added after 1996.

And the tall Pigafetta elata in the background (more or less center in the photo) was planted in July 1997. It was about 10 inches tall at the time. YES, inches!

[bgl]

A handful of Verschaffeltia splendida in the area that we later named Seychelles Court.

Photo: 04 Apr 1996

[bgl]

And the (approximate) same view today, 18 Mar 2007. More Verschaffeltias have been added (there's a total of more than 50), plus Phoenicophoriums, Nephrospermas, Roscherias and Deckenias. All are not visible in this photo.

[bgl]

This is on our main driveway, and we've planted a number of Cyrtostachys renda here, about 5 ft above the driveway. When my wife took this photo on 13 Apr 1996 there were only a couple of palms.

[bgl]

A few more Cyrtostachys have been added since, and the rockwall was built in 1997.

[tim_brissy_13]

Great pics Bo.  I am always amazed at how fast palms can grow in Hawaii (and how slow they can grow in Melbourne).

[amazondk]

Great pictures Bo.  You have a great landscape that I am sure will just keep getting better with age.  It is always a pleasure to see your work.  I hope to get over and see the place close up someday.

dk

[NCpalmqueen]

BGL

Your place is a regular palm botanical garden.  I imagine you love giving tours!   Spectacular.  More photos, please!  How many acres of palms do you have?  Also, once the palms cover the sky, do you then underplant with shade loving plants, or do you keep it open under the canopy?

[Carlo Morici]

I am fascinated by the rock walls appearing "after" the palms.

Carlo

[Zac in NC]

Still spectacular. You live in (palm) paradise.

Zac

[Matt in SD]

Great photos Bo.  It's amazing to see your garden before the rockwalls, driveways etc...  Like Carlo I was surprised the walls went in after the palms.  But I am also relieved because this is our plan as well, so I guess it can work.

Matt

[Kom Thai Palm]

Your garden so beautiful and all above pictures show me how much work you've done and how much time you've spent. Noone can do these without really love in palm. Bo, you are always my hero .

[bgl]

Everybody - thanks a lot for all your comments. I'll post a few more photos later today.

Don - I certainly hope to see you over here at some point!

Cindy - yes, I do enjoy giving tours, and that's happening with increasing frequency. The funny thing is that even though I do this all the time, I almost always see something new in the garden that I had NOT noticed before. Usually a particular palm with a brand new inflorescence!

Carlo and Matt - with the rockwalls - a little bit of both. I obviously planted a few palms before we had many of them built, but in the case of the C. renda above I planted most of them after that rockwall had been built. Not that it really made a difference. The palms are at least 3-4 ft behind the rockwall.

Bo-Göran

[bgl]

A few more. My apologies for the poor quality of the early ones - all are photos of photos, and I had a hard time getting some of them in focus.

We bought our initial 3 acres here on 28 Feb 1996, and the land was completely untouched at that time. Here's a photo taken out in Malama Street. The umbrella on the right is where our 3 acres begin, I'm standing roughly where we're going to create an entrance and the Toyota Van is 300 ft away, where our 3 acres end.

Photo taken: 2 Mar 1996

[bgl]

And this is what the same view is like today, 19 Mar 2007. A row of Phoenix roebelenii along the entire property, and on the far side a row of Clinostigma samoense.

The pole on the extreme right is only a foot or so to the right of the umbrella in the first photo, but not visible in that photo. The taller palms to the right of the driveway are Dictyospermas.

[bgl]

And back to 2 Mar 1996. Here I am, standing exactly where we're going to create our entrance.

[bgl]

And 11 days later, on 13 Mar 1996, this is what the same area looks like, after we've had a 35 ton D8 Bulldozer in here for a week, clearing a housepad and some of the major driveways.

[bgl]

And our entrance today, 19 Mar 2007. The Madagascar area is on the right, and to the left mainly South Pacific and SE Asia palms.

[bgl]

And back to 13 Mar 1996. In the photo in Post#59 a yellow "roller" is just barely visible in the center. In this photo I have walked up the driveway about 150 ft or so to that exact spot. The photo shows the main driveway, heading off towards the right (towards the area where we now have our house), and the driveway to the left is an area that's now called New Caledonia Place.

[bgl]

And the same little intersection today, 19 Mar 2007. The palms straight ahead are all New Caledonia palms.

[bgl]

Back to 13 Mar 1996. I'm in the exact same spot, but I have turned around 180 degrees and I'm looking out towards the entrance and Malama Street. My wife is walking down the driveway, which was just built a few days earlier.

[palmsrgreat]

These are great photos and could make the perfect brochure for real estate. I can't wait for the day to visit Bo!

[bgl]

And the same spot today, 19 Mar 2007. Madagascar palms on the left and S. Pacific/SE Asia on the right.

[Zac in NC]

Great shots Bo. You continue to amaze me with the pics.

Zac

[epicure3]

What???? No queen palms????  ::

Those pictures are absolutely fabulous. I am floored by the work and planning that went into this project. Congratulations!!

You must be very proud.

Since my wife won't allow us to move to Hawaii, these are as close as I can get. Beautiful!!!

[Dypsisdean]

Bo,

I am enjoying your photos for obvious reasons. I can testify it is not nearly as easy as your photos make it seem.

[bgl]

Michael, Zac, John and Dean - thanks a lot!

And John, we MAY have a Queen Palm (or possibly a hybrid) on our property. I bought it as a Syagrus amara 11 years ago, and all I know now is that it is NOT a S. amara. Nobody has been able to identify it. I need more experts from SoCal come over here and have a look at it!!

And I've had lots of fun looking at these old photos, and taking up-to-date photos in those same areas. With some of these old photos, I can't even locate the exact (or even approximate) spot where the photo was taken back then! That's how different it looks today!

Bo-Göran

[Utopia Palms]

Hi Bo

I must come in here and say that you have done an out standing job I know only to well all the hard work that it has taken to get to this stage! excellent, great work. I whish I could have tar on my roads but would think that I would need to own a bank to do so! You must be running out of space now for those bigger palms ?

You might have to start looking at those smaller ones? I hope so! Jeff.m should have some little special ones that would love your place it’s just a matter of getting Jeff to part with some of his little treasures?

Thank you for the great photos on the building of your fantastic jungle

Clayton.

[bgl]

Clayton,

Thank you very much for those kind words! Having seen many of the photos of what you've accomplished at your own paradise I know that you know what it takes to create a palm garden from scratch! And while we are indeed running out of space on our own 5 acres for big palms, we still have PLENTY of space on the land next to us that we are leasing. (And yes, I do hope to get some of those smaller beauties from Jeff M. every now and then!! ).

Here's a photo of my current project (on the land that we have on a long term lease). There is no "after" shot here, because this photo was taken on 2 Mar 2007. Right now we're getting rid of all the weeds in between the eight tall ohi'a trees (which will remain, as they are), and in a few weeks I'm going to fill in the entire area in and around them with palms. The area in this photo is minuscule compared to the entire area that I'm planning to plant palms on.

Bo-Göran

[Moose]

That was an amazing garden

[bgl]

2 hours ago, Moose said:

That was an amazing garden

Well, the garden is still there! I just don't live there anymore!