OUR COMMUNITY OF PALM PEOPLE
The Personalities of the Palm World
44 topics in this forum
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1956-1957 Dent Smith, Florida 1957-1960 Dr. Walter Hodge, Florida 1960-1962 Eugene Kitzke, Florida 1962-1964 David Barry Jr., California 1964-1966 Nat J. DeLeon, Florida 1966-1968 Otto Martens, California 1968-1970 Dr. Jerome P. Keuper, Florida 1970-1972 Dr. John Popenoe, Florida 1972-1974 Kenneth (Ken) C. Foster, California 1974-1976 Dr. U.A. Young, Florida 1976-1978 Myron Kimnach, California 1978-1980 Donn Carlsmith, Hawaii 1980-1982 Paul A. Drummond, Florida 1982-1984 Richard Douglas, California 1984-1986 Allan Bredeson, California 1986-1988 Edward McGehee 1988-1992 Jules Gervais, Florida …
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1958 Miami, Florida, USA 1960 Miami, Florida, USA 1962 Miami, Florida, USA 1964 Arcadia, California, USA 1966 Miami, Florida, USA 1968 Arcadia, California, USA 1970 Melbourne, Florida, USA 1972 Mexico City, Mexico 1974 Miami, Florida, USA 1976 Melbourne, Florida, USA 1978 California, USA 1980 The Big Island, Hawaii, USA 1982 Tampa, Miami and Key West, Florida, USA 1984 San Francisco, California, USA 1986 San Diego, California, USA 1988 Queensland, Australia 1990 The Big Island, Hawaii, USA 1992 Miami, Florida, USA 1994 Caracas, Venezuela 1996 Orange County, California, USA …
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SIMONSSON, Cecilia
by Ciczi in Sweden- 4 replies
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Forum name; Ciczi The name has been used since she was born, but the spelling came from a desire to be unique on a forum back in 1999. Discovering gardening interest back in 2004 she started small by making a small summer meadow. From this it all evolved to studying gardening and horticultural subjects at the Swedish Agricultural University (SLU) for two years. Somewhere along that road Ciczi discovered palmtrees and the fact that she lives in a town which has palmtrees as a town logotype and palms both here and there, made her do her final thesis on the subject Hardy palms for Scandinavian climate. Her fascination for palmtrees isn't so much the beauty of them …
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ADAIR, Cindy
by Cindy Adair- 7 replies
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Six years ago, Cindy (apaandssa) fell in love with a Puerto Rican farm planted with dozens of palms, some quite rare. Efforts to learn more led her to the Encyclopedia of Palms in the local library. Soon more books and internet searches directed her to the IPS website and Palmtalk. Fast forward a few years and palms have become a major interest, thanks largely to this forum. An unexpected benefit of her palm obsession was attending the Thailand Biennial. Encouragement by IPS/Palmtalk members convinced Cindy to take a more active role. Sitting in on a Board meeting in Thailand persuaded her to join the Palmtalk committee. She still grows orchids and many other…
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BRIAN, Tim - Director
by realarch- 1 follower
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Palmtalk Username: realarch Tim has always had palm fever, but it didn't become terminal until purchasing property in Hilo back in 2004. After retiring from architecture and moving to Hawaii from San Diego full time in 2009, Tim became an active member in the Hawaii Island Palm Society. He served as Vice President for one year and is now in his third year term as President. Along with creating and maintaing a one acre palm garden in Hilo with his life partner Bob, he is also part of the crew that helps maintain the palm garden at the Panaewa Rainforest Zoo in Hilo. Keeping busy isn't problem and he has been described by his friends as a palm impersonating a human. Tim …
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BAILEY Jr., Liberty Hyde
by bgl- 1 reply
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Liberty Hyde Bailey, Jr. was born on March 15th, 1858 in South Haven, Michigan. His father was Liberty Hyde Bailey, Sr. who had come from Vermont in 1842. He was a farmer and orchardist and was purported to have more than 300 varieties of apples in his orchard. The younger Bailey’s parents were married in 1845 and moved to South Haven in 1854 to an 80 acre plot. At three years old, Liberty Hyde Bailey, Jr., his two brothers and his mother contracted scarlet fever. Ultimately his mother and eldest brother died of the disease. The father remarried in 1862. LHB, Jr. was interested in nature and assisted his family in the garden and the orchard. In 1877, he entered M…
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CYR, Kimberley - Director
by Kim- 1 reply
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PalmTalk Username: Kim Encouraged by her palm-collecting brother, Kim joined the Palm Society of Southern California in 2006, and contributes articles and photographs to the Society's Palm Journal. An International Palm Society member since 2008, she is a regular participant on PalmTalk, the interactive online forum of the IPS, contributing photographs from gardens and palm habitats both locally and from travels. She maintains palm gardens in San Diego, Calfornia and Pahoa, Hawaii. As an enthusiastic gardener and plant collector, Kim is supportive of efforts to increase education, awareness, and preservation of the world's rich array of palms. Kim experienced her …
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STEPHENSON, Grant - Director
by bgl- 0 replies
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PalmTalk Username: palm a grant it At age 3, Grant Stephenson began helping his grandmother tend her garden. Little did she know, she ignited in Grant a passion for plants that would one day lead him to a life in horticulture. Grant worked for several nurseries at the start of his career, but it wasn't until the early 1980's that he met Joe Montgomery, an IPS member from Austin, TX who introduced him to the world of palms--especially cold hardy species. Joe became a close friend and mentor, and he encouraged Grant to pursue his growing passion for palms and other cold-hardy yet tropical-looking plants. In the mid 1980's Grant joined the IPS and in 1993, with a vision…
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SAYERS, Jack - Director
by bgl- 0 replies
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PalmTalk Username: elHoagie Jack is an Astronomer at California Institute of Technology. He moved from Denver to Los Angeles in 2002. Lindsey (his wife) and Jack now have a few hundred palms growing in their garden and several hundred more coming along in containers. He has been interested in plants since childhood and even convinced Lindsey to choose their home based partially on the palm-friendly microclimate! They joined both the International Palm Society and the Palm Society of Southern California (PSSC) in 2004. In 2006, Jack became a board member for the PSSC, on which he has served continuously since that time (and on which he continues to serve.) For PSSC, Jack …
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MORICI, Carlo - Director
by bgl- 1 reply
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PalmTalk Username: Carlo Morici Carlo was born in Messina, Italy, in 1974 and has lived since 1995 in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain. He is a biologist specialized in palms and is also known for his landscaping projects. His palm research has been within the Group of Island Ecology, Department of Ecology, University of La Laguna, Tenerife. His field work has spread over various countries, but his research focuses on Phoenix canariensis and the palm flora originating in the Caribbean Islands, with a special focus on the genus Coccothrinax. In 2006, Carlo described a new palm species native to southeastern Cuba, Coccothrinax torrida, together with the Cuban …
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MORGAN, Kathryn - Director
by bgl- 0 replies
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PalmTalk Username: Kathryn Kathryn Morgan is a native resident of New Orleans, Louisiana. She received a BS in Chemical Engineering from Louisiana Tech University and is a process engineer at a refinery just outside of New Orleans. Kathryn got her love of plants from her mother and bought her first palm, a Phoenix roebelenii, in 1997. At that time, there were only a few common species of palms readily available in the New Orleans area, so Kathryn began germinating seeds of the more unusual palms that caught her attention. She has been a member of the IPS since 2001 and served as President for the Louisiana Palm and Cycad Society for over ten years.
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JOHNSON, Ken - Director
by bgl- 7 replies
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PalmTalk Username: Ken Johnson Ken saw his first palm at six years old and “it was in my yard!” At 14, he worked in a palm nursery pulling weeds. After college Ken again worked with palms and established his own palm specialty business . . . almost 30 years ago! He writes “On the way, I found the International Palm Society. I have served 6 years as president of my local chapter and have been a previous IPS board member. I look forward to the 2014 Biennial!”
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PalmTalk Username: tom jackson Tom has been an International Palm Society member for more than 20 years and has attended almost all biennials in that time. A native of Wisconsin, his first exposure to palms was in the conservatories of the Midwest. Visits to family and botanic gardens in Southern California got him hooked on palms. While in Medical school, an externship in a small hospital on the Mosquito Coast of Nicaragua was his first exposure to the tropics. Tom moved to San Francisco to continue his education in a more palm friendly climate. While pursuing a career in hospital based pathology and blood banking, Tom and his wife, Kathleen Grant (an MD oncologist), pu…
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HARESH, R. - Director
by bgl- 0 replies
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PalmTalk Username: Haresh Haresh lives in Madurai, in the state of Tamil Nadu, India, and has been studying and growing palms for over 30 years. Palms are the integral part of his plant hobby that also includes tropical flowering trees, succulents and orchids. As a business executive, his work provides extensive travel opportunities to visit gardens and growers in the US, Europe and in many parts of Asia. He brings his business management and international exposure to the society. Haresh is currently involved in developing two gardens near Madurai. He hopes to take more time off in the coming years to visit threatened habitats and to study the palm populations in his par…
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DEMOTT, John - Director
by bgl- 0 replies
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PalmTalk Username: Redland John, a South Florida resident involved with commercial ornamental horticulture for almost 40 years, is the owner and operator of Redland Nursery, Inc. He has introduced many “new” palms to the industry. John has worked closely with Montgomery Botanical Center and the Florida Nurseryman and Grower’s Association in the development of a seed bank. John has been married to Carolyn for almost 38 years. They have two children: Jeffrey 28 and Jenifer 27. John was a fireman for 28 years, and holds a commercial pilot’s license. His latest passion has been the forming of the “Florida Keys Botanical Center”, a 501c3 corporation, which is being developed …
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PalmTalk Username: DoomsDave David Paul Bleistein’s dream of growing palms outdoors came true when he moved to southern California in March of 1985. Dave joined the IPS and Palm Society of Southern California (PSSC) in 1993 and has been a member of both ever since. He has been a director of the PSSC since 2009, and was elected President in early 2012. Dave moved many times during his first years in California and planted palms in the ground at most of the places he lived, which included San Bernardino, Riverside, Long Beach, Monterey Park, Sunland, and Los Angeles; many still grow today. In October 2002, Dave bought his half-acre in La Habra, California and transformed i…
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SPANNER, Tobias - Director
by bgl- 4 replies
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PalmTalk Username: Toby Tobias Spanner became seriously interested in palm trees in 1987 and joined the International Palm Society soon after. In 2002, Toby was elected to the IPS’s board of directors and currently holds one of the two offices of Vice President. Toby has also been a member of the European Palm Society since its formation and served as editor of the EPS’s journal for several years. Toby is the author of Das Palmen Kulturhandbuch (1992), a handbook for growing palms, and co-author of the 320 page Winterharte Palmen (2007), which focuses on his specialization, cold-hardy palms. Additionally, Toby has published numerous articles in “Principies” (now “Palms…
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ROCA, Fernando - Director
by bgl- 0 replies
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PalmTalk Username: Ceroxylon Born in Lima, Perú (1955), Fernando Roca holds a doctorate in Social Anthropology (2004) from the EHESS (Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales) Paris, France and a Master in Theology (1994) from Centre Sèvres also in Paris, France. He is an ethnobotanist and Catholic priest and a member of the Society of Jesus, a religious order. He found the first population of Parajubaea cocoides in the north of Peru in 2009 Palms (Vol 54 (3) 2010, pp.133-136). After spending 15 years living in the northwest Amazonian rainforest of Peru, Fernando now lives in Lima and teaches at the University. He has been a member of the IPS since 2004. He conti…
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The chocolate, cocoa beans and coconut business has taken Paco to the Middle East and Asia for many years, introducing him to palms and their multiple uses. But his passion for all palms started when Paco became a member of the Spanish group Amigos de las Palmeras, and through them, the IPS. Since 2009, Paco is Secretary of the Spanish society ABEPYC. Travelling to the 2010 Rio Biennial, the 2011 mid-term IPS Board meeting in Tenerife, and organizing a Valencia post-tour for some of the IPS Board members after Tenerife provided Paco with the opportunity to meet other palm lovers. A group from ABEPYC went to visit Venezuela and the AVEPALMAS Venezuela Palm Society early in…
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BISHOCK, Faith - Director
by bgl- 1 reply
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PalmTalk Username: faith bishock Faith has always been a 'plant' person. She became interested in palms in the late 70's and a confirmed “addict” in the mid 80's. She has lived most of her life in South Florida, spending lots of time at Fairchild Tropical Botanical Garden. Faith has been growing palms from seed since with her successes and failures being the basis of her palm knowledge.
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BEZONA, Norman - Director
by bgl- 0 replies
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PalmTalk Username: bezona Norman Bezona is a University of Hawaii Agricultural Extension agent with responsibilities in ornamental horticulture, forestry, and environmental studies. He has been an IPS member since 1961 and was active with the Society in Florida where he worked and completed his master's degree. Norman lives on the "Volcano Island" of Hawaii on 40 acres of montane cloud forest where he has planted thousands of palms. The area is becoming a center for teaching an appreciation of tropical montane forests. Local students and residents, as well as visiting plant lovers, tour the forest gardens to learn about native and exotic plant species.
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BEARE, Elena - Director
by bgl- 1 reply
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PalmTalk Username: Elena B. Uruguay Elena Beare, from Uruguay, South America, has been an IPS member since 1994, and with her husband George, has attended six biennials. She used to own a floral design business, but shifted to landscaping and that was the start of her attraction to palms. She bought a farm for palm production where she now grows two acres with more than 2000 Butias, queen palms, and Washingtonias. Her aim is to start a Uruguay palm society affiliate and to help preserve the world’s largest natural stand of Butia capitata, in Rocha, Uruguay.
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PalmTalk Username: scottzona Scott Zona is Florida International University’s Conservatory & Greenhouse Curator, a position he has held since February, 2008. Previously, he was Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden’s Palm Biologist, a position he held for 14 years. He holds a B.S. in horticulture and an M.S. in botany from the University of Florida. His Ph.D. in botany is from Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden and Claremont Graduate University, California. Scott grew up among pines and palms of Boynton Beach, Florida. He has explored for plants in Florida, California, Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean, Bermuda, the Pacific islands, Indonesia, Malaysia and Madagascar. …
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PalmTalk Username: John Dransfield John Dransfield was born in Liverpool, U.K., in 1945. He obtained his bachelor degree in botany at Cambridge University in 1967 and went on to do his Ph.D. at the same university, researching the two Malayan palm genera Johannesteijsmannia and Eugeissona. His first job was in Indonesia on a British aid project, attached to the Bogor Botanical Gardens and Herbarium. In 1975 he joined the staff of the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, where he was the head of palm research until his retirement in 2005. He continues to do research at Kew as an Honorary Research Fellow. John has been a member of the IPS since 1969. In 1981, he began collaboration …
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MERRITT, Michael - Director
by bgl- 0 replies
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PalmTalk Username: Mike in Kurtistown Mike Merritt is the son of a career Air Force officer and spent a childhood moving around a lot. A major early interest was growing plants, and his non-plant family watched in tolerant bewilderment as he planted rows of flowers in various backyards. His adult work was not related to plants, however, and culminated with a 25-year career with the U. S. Geological Survey as a Research Hydrologist working at various locations in Florida. While in Miami in 1980, a USGS colleague encouraged Mike to join the International Palm Society, and he began buying plants at the palm sales at Fairchild Tropical Garden. After relocating to central F…