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My Garden in Pyrgos...


Kostas

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The now broken pit...

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A fuller view of the bags with scrap cement pieces...And we only cleaned 1/3 of the walkway distance,still 2/3 leaft to clean :lol:

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That was it for now...Still lots of cleaning left to do but planting shall start soon!I will be going back to Pirgos again this weekend so i hope to finish with the cleaning and start planting some palms and a tree!The irrigation needs installation too before planting but this should not take me too much after the cleaning is complete :)

I hope you enjoyed it as much as i did!!! :)

''To try,is to risk failure.......To not try,is to guarantee it''

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Kostas, Glad to see lots of work being done. If its winter time there, you are a braver man than I to split those Howeas at this time. Good luck on that.

Also, I spent much of New Years day with my Greek friend and his family, I didn't remember your town, but I just now emailed him to ask if he knew of your area. His mother is visiting from Greece and I always enjoy going to eat over there when she is in town!!!

Zone 10a at best after 2007 AND 2013, on SW facing hill, 1 1/2 miles from coast in Oceanside, CA. 30-98 degrees, and 45-80deg. about 95% of the time.

"The great workman of nature is time."   ,  "Genius is nothing but a great aptitude for patience."

-George-Louis Leclerc de Buffon-

I do some experiments and learning in my garden with palms so you don't have to experience the pain! Look at my old threads to find various observations and tips!

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Thank you very much for your reply BS Man! :)

I know,a bit risky splitting the Howea,not only now but whatever time of the year,so i thought that now,with lots of rains and high humidity would be an ideal time to do that so as them to not dehydrate in the meantime of producing new roots :) Plus,although winter time i Pirgos,we dont have very low tempratures i general,we have 12-13C or more for much of the day and to my surprize,in the two days i kept them out prior to splitting,they showed spear growth! :) So i hope that if they were able to grow some spear,they should be able to start producing new roots too! :) The root mass saved is considerable too though so i hope that in the worst case,this should be enough to supply them with the water they need...Hope that it wasnt too much of a brave behaviour :unsure: I know i would chicken splitting them in summer though,thats for sure! :) Thank you for the good luck! :)

I am glad you hang out with your Greek friend such days! :) I think he must know Pirgos as its a major city and the headtown of Helia county :)

You like Greek food huh?

''To try,is to risk failure.......To not try,is to guarantee it''

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Hi Kostas,

I DO love Greek food! Anyway, my friend George said he knows Pyrgos, he also said he has some property near there in Krestiana?

Zone 10a at best after 2007 AND 2013, on SW facing hill, 1 1/2 miles from coast in Oceanside, CA. 30-98 degrees, and 45-80deg. about 95% of the time.

"The great workman of nature is time."   ,  "Genius is nothing but a great aptitude for patience."

-George-Louis Leclerc de Buffon-

I do some experiments and learning in my garden with palms so you don't have to experience the pain! Look at my old threads to find various observations and tips!

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He,he,you sounded so! :lol: I am glad you love it! :)

Yes,i do know Krestaina(pronounced Krestena) :) Great area too,more village like than Pirgos :)

''To try,is to risk failure.......To not try,is to guarantee it''

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This is a great thread to watch and see the garden develop. Greece is one beautiful place.

What you look for is what is looking

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Hi Kostas,

Thanks for these beautiful pics from Greece. I hope to see many many more!

Cheers,

Mike

Michael Ferreira

Bermuda-Humid(77% ave), Subtropical Zone 11, no frost

Warm Season: (May-November): Max/Min 81F/73F

Cool Season: (Dec-Apr): Max/Min 70F/62F

Record High: 94F

Record Low: 43F

Rain: 55 inches per year with no dry/wet season

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Kostas, my friend replied regarding both our climates (since he has been in both places) He seemed to think that you go a little further at each end of the temp scale than I do, so, a little cooler and a little warmer too. No fog either at your place?

Zone 10a at best after 2007 AND 2013, on SW facing hill, 1 1/2 miles from coast in Oceanside, CA. 30-98 degrees, and 45-80deg. about 95% of the time.

"The great workman of nature is time."   ,  "Genius is nothing but a great aptitude for patience."

-George-Louis Leclerc de Buffon-

I do some experiments and learning in my garden with palms so you don't have to experience the pain! Look at my old threads to find various observations and tips!

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I did a little checking. Google Maps locates Pyrgos on the western coast of Greece. The nearest Klimadiagramme (German website) is for

Zakinthos. Csa climate, 943 mm rain, 10 degrees in winter. The nearest match I could find in California is

Redding, Csa climate, which has the same summer temperature but cooler winter, falling to about 7 degrees in winter.

San Diego BSk climate (elevation 9 m, so a coastal site) is a bit cooler in the summer, much warmer in the winter (14 degrees) and far more dry (258 mm)

Perth, Australia is somewhat similar. Csa climate, 769 mm, 25 degrees summer, 17 winter.

_______________________

We in Florida (with wet summers, dry winters) try to have gardens like those in California and the Mediterranean. Florida is full of "Spanish" and "Tuscan" houses. At least Rosemarinus officinalis, the herb, grows reasonably well here.

_______________________

Magnolia grandiflora is native to the coastal southeastern US. It will live happily in Washington, D.C. (I think there's some on the White House lawn), but in the heart of its range, it's a tree that grows fast under the shade of other trees. A magnolia can grow beneath a big live oak (Quercus virginiana), pop out above the oak's top branches, and create enough shade to at least partly kill the oak. So magnolias that grew in forests have very tall, straight trunks. Unfortunately, the timber isn't valuable. The southern limit of this tree's native range is in central Florida, which of course has a wet-summer climate. It's an incredibly popular tree. In Japan, big ones grow in traditional gardens, even temple gardens.

____________

I suspect you could grow some nice Californian plants. Maybe an Arbutus menziesii (Madrone or Madrono), which looks a lot like the Mediterranean abutuses. California poppies (Eschscholzia) or tidy tips (Layia) or Brodiaea (bulb flowers in the iris family). California unfortunately has only one native palm.

___________

Have a good time with your garden!

Fla. climate center: 100-119 days>85 F
USDA 1990 hardiness zone 9B
Current USDA hardiness zone 10a
4 km inland from Indian River; 27º N (equivalent to Brisbane)

Central Orlando's urban heat island may be warmer than us

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Hello again Kostas,

I want to thank you for the information that you gave me about germinating shucked coconuts!! I checked my greenhouse today and Bingo!!! I have one that germinated!!! One out of seven, not too good but i had allways been told that it was not possable,,, so i am very happy!! Do tell, did you ever find your Jamaican Tall? I have a Jamaican guy who works w/ me and he told me to tell you to google "Jamaican Gift Shops" and see if they will ship a coconut to you. He said they will,

no problem!!

Thanks again,

Mark

Orlando, Florida

zone 9b

The Pollen Poacher!!

GO DOLPHINS!!

GO GATORS!!!

 

Palms, Sex, Money and horsepower,,,, you may have more than you can handle,,

but too much is never enough!!

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That is a lot of work. When that job is done, it's gonna be niiiice. Grab a bottle of Santorini Boutari down in the Plaka and have a drink on me.

Coastal San Diego, California

Z10b

Dry summer subtropical/Mediterranean

warm summer/mild winter

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Thank you very much all of you for your replys! :)

Thank you very much Buba,i am glad you like Greece!!! :)

Thanks a lot Mike! :) Will try to provide them on my next update which is not far from now as this weekend,i will be in Pyrgos again,working on the garden! :)

Thank you for your reply BS Man! :)

We do get extreems on the up,reaching easily 40-45C the hottest days of our summer and mostly staying well above 30C,more like 35C for the summer months and before after too of course,in the transition seasons we get 30C or more often :) Now for colder,i am not sure how cold you get but its very possible as you grow many beautyfull and tender palms,but the town of Pirgos doesnt freeze very often,just outside it though,freezes are much more often and harder in the form of plain low tempratures of 0C or below...In the colder days,you always find ice in the morning in pockets of standing water outiside of town but much less often in my property and in the town generally :)

No,we generally dont get fog but the air isnt very clear in the morning due to the high humidity of the place...Not enough to call it anywhere near fog though,you can see everything far away,just not clearly :)

I hope that this town protection will be enough to allow me to grow some really marginal species like an Iriartea deltoidea,Socratea exorrhiza and Livistona rotundifolia under tree canopy in my most protected,wet and humid places and that they will continue to live after emergance from it...Dont bet anything on it though... :unsure:

''To try,is to risk failure.......To not try,is to guarantee it''

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Thank you very much for you reply Dave! :)

Thanks for searching about Pyrgos! :) Where did you found those annual info about rainfall and temprature?I would be very interested in finding the record low for Pyrgos but have been unable to do so :( Are the winter tempratures you list in C or F?Are they the average tempratures or the lowest?Because,i know,coastal Zakinthos never sees 10F,ever!I doubt if it sees anything below 28F...and that may be too low! :)

I see you like the Mediterranian Dave and are into Mediterranian plants too :)

Thanks a lot for the very interesting info on Magnolia grandiflora!Liked it a lot,never heard of that before!I may be visiting it in its southern habitat in Florida when i come in Easter! :)

Thanks for the Californian plants suggestions! :) Will search them up! I know i do like Californian Pinus sp. though! :)

Thanks! :)

''To try,is to risk failure.......To not try,is to guarantee it''

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Thank you very much for your reply Mark! :)

You are very much welcome,i am glad you got results already! :) If the rest still look ok and dont have a cracked shell(the endosperm matters to not be cracked but if the shell is broken there is great chance that the endosperm is too and that is an invitation for inside rotting :( ),they should eventually germinate too,just need more time :)

No,i havent found the Jamaican Tall coconut variety i want yet,nor a sure way to id it...But i havent come to Florida yet,where i hoped to collect coconuts from the northernmost coconut in Clearwater beach(if it fruits and has fruit ready at the time :( ) or others from old Jamaican tall stands.But what you suggest is even better,a Jamaican Tall coconut directly out of its country! :):drool: That would be great!!!Thanks a lot!!! :)

I will search for a supplier and will update on that soon! :)

''To try,is to risk failure.......To not try,is to guarantee it''

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Thank you very much epicure3! :)

I hope that it will look nice,well,in a few years maybe as the only biggish palms planted anytime soon would be the 2 Trachycarpus fortunei , 2 of the Howea fosteriana and an Archontophoenix alexandrae...All the others will be planted small and would need at least a couple of years to look like something you could easily notice...I hope that then i will have much more palms i can look at from some distance! :)

I will do with all my heart! :)

I see you know of Greece too! :) Have you maybe been there? :)

This weekend i plan to go again to Pyrgos and do some more work and definately plant the Syagrus romanzoffiana at last! :) I will update with plenty of photos afterwards if things go as planned! :)

''To try,is to risk failure.......To not try,is to guarantee it''

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As i had told you,i went to Pyrgos this weekend,leaving Melissia in late Friday night with only 30minutes of preparations(thats close to a record for me as i have aquariums and indoor palms that i have to take care of... :unsure: )so that i will be in Pyrgos and able to work early in the morning of Saturday! :) So i woke up early and the work began.We threw away most of the bags i showed you last time and filled a many many many more!!! :lol: I dug,cleaned from stones,scrap cement and building material the right patio and also broke a hell of cement that was just a few cm down under the soil in parts of the patio while i had told the worker who build it to break any cement within the bricked area :blink: Anyway,i managed to finish cleaning the right side of the patio at Saturday noon and then added good quality soil,a mixture of peat,leaf soil and nutrients and after i got the desired soil level,i dug a hole and planted my first palm in the ground,my seed grown Syagrus romanzoffiana :drool: I followed Pivi's advise who not long ago had told me ''Get them(Syagrus) in the ground!''...And thats what i just did!It was a very moving moment,my first seed grown palm in the ground :) This was done in mid afternoon so sun had set an hour ago but still,couldnt help myself looking at it for some time! :drool:

''To try,is to risk failure.......To not try,is to guarantee it''

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My father and my mother managed to get the smaller,right patio ready,after they too broke lots of cement,more than me as more than half of the patio had all cement under it! :blink: (did i tell you the workers should had broken it? :blink: )Anyway,so they too got a plant in the ground,the Strelitzia reginae :)

Then,after relaxing in front of the TV and thinking of the now in ground Syagrus all the time,it was Sunday,a new day for garden work!This is the day where the most difficult cement breaking took place as we had to pass the irrigation lines to the patios and to places where patios will form as we are going to have the cement floor areas dressed with Karystos stone tiles... :) We finally did it though and i very much enjoyed passing the irrigation lines through the hollows made for them :lol: I finished passing all the neccessary lines just as the sun begun to set and i had to drive my way home to Melissia again unfortunately...I watered everything before i leave,leveled a Howea that had a lean,snapped a few quick pictures for you and left...I didnt even have enough time to completely level the Howea so please excuse me for not taking too many photos...It was a weekend full of work and not much time for pictures really,especially as i had my hands dirty all the time digging...So here are the pictures! :)

The patios ready(well,the right one almost as its right side isnt ready yet...) and with their first plants! :)

Strelitzia reginae in the left patio...

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...and my Syagrus romanzoffiana in the right!!! :drool:

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''To try,is to risk failure.......To not try,is to guarantee it''

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In the past photos you can see the irrigation lines too passing from hollows i made for them :) Here are a few more photos to get a fuller idea on the network!

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Unfortunately these are all the photos i got,just enough to remind me somewhat of all the work i did and mainly,of my first in ground palm planting!

I hope you enjoyed it!!! :)

''To try,is to risk failure.......To not try,is to guarantee it''

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Kostas you're doing a great job. It's goona look great when you finish!

island Vis, adriatic sea, Croatia. Zone 9b/10a

Temperature low last winter: -0.9°C/30.4 F

Temperature low this winter: -0.3°C/31.5 F

-Creating my own little palm heaven-

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I went to Pyrgos the past weekend again,arrived on Friday night and left on Saturday evening,so it was an express trip but one that made some changes too :)

I finised installing the irrigation lines at the patios,i cleaned from larger rocks and from scrap material the right side of the right patio, which i had left last time,and added new good soil to it,amending the clay under with it too :) I also removed a small mandarin tree that came out really easily,most probably because it was growing under the shade of my Olea europea and my Ziziphus tree,where the soil stays moist yearsound and it doent need deep roots :) This tree went to my uncle so its not dead by the way :) I tried to pull out a lemon tree too but even after working my way 60-70cm under earth,it still holds hard and doesnt even rock the least bit!I think i will spend a good deal of time to remove it,along with another,slightly larger lemon tree i want to remove :unsure:

Apart from all these,i moved my Howea fostriana(potted) where the mandarin tree was so that they wont be bothered by the workers that will be replacing the simple fence with bars as two of them were by the fence and also from my Uncle which is digging the lemon tree deeper as we speek to help me remove it and i will give it to him too once removed :)

For those of you wondering,my recently split Howea fosteriana are doing great till now and havent showed any distress yet,apart maybe from the smaller one which has 1-2yellow leaves which i dont remeber if they were that way when i bought it or not.Most probably they were but i am just not sure...One of the bigger has a yellow but it was that way when i bought it,fading away slowly.

My Grevillea had grown a bit from what i saw,by 1-2 leaves :) As soon as the lemon trees are removed,its going to the ground where will hopefully grow to be big and tall soon as i want it as a shade tree for some palms and tree ferns :) !

Unfortunately i didnt had time to take any photo this time,the change isnt huge yet anyway,i will be going again this weekend though and this time,i promise you lots of pictures and photos of...Big Trachycarpus planting!!!! :drool:

Till next week...have a nice palmy time! :)

''To try,is to risk failure.......To not try,is to guarantee it''

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Kostas, it's been interesting watching the progress... look forward to more pics and seeing how the plants flourish next summer. Jv

Jv in San Antonio Texas / Zone 8/extremes past 29 yrs: 117F (47.2C) / 8F (-13.3C)

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good work. keep it comming. I am learning a lot and really like what yo have going so far.

the yucca seems to be Yucca guatemalensis or Yucca elephantipes. - spineless yucca

apprently is VERY common in both California and Greece and South Florida.

I have one planted 4 years now and has grown very well for me and it has showed no damaged with mutiple times at 23 over the years.

Luke

Tallahassee, FL - USDA zone 8b/9a

63" rain annually

January avg 65/40 - July avg 92/73

North Florida Palm Society - http://palmsociety.blogspot.com/

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Kostas,

Very interesting project, and fun to watch the transformation. But you do need a few more palms! :) And I wish we had a Greek restaurant here in Hilo...!

Bo-Göran

Leilani Estates, 25 mls/40 km south of Hilo, Big Island of Hawai'i. Elevation 880 ft/270 m. Average rainfall 140 inches/3550 mm

 

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Kostas,

And I wish we had a Greek restaurant here in Hilo...!

Bo-Göran

Funny thing. For the last couple years, it seems Italian restaurants have become more popular than Greek ones here - both with tourists and the locals.

Lardos, Greece ( Island of Rhodes ) 10B

1.9 km from Mediterannean Sea

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Thank you very much all of you for your replys! :)

Glad to see my thread interests you! :)

Jv,I will be posting update pictures of the plants regularly as i cant help myself :lol: I like them :drool:

Thank you very much for the id FRITO!Was really looking forward to it :)

How can you tell these two appart so as to know what i have?

Yeap,its very common,i have in Athens too and have withstood -8C with very little damage...In Pyrgos they never burn,well,at least not from cold as with some fires my Uncle had set to burn some things at the neighbor's property,it got some burn from the hot air...And my mother could see it and trimmed the burnt tips away and now it looks like :unsure: Anyway,looking forward to it growing and throwing these leaves...

I am glad it interests you too Bo! :) I surely need more palms and they are on their way!I have most of the species i will be planting eventually but currently most in seed form so not much to see... :unsure: But i hope that in a year i should have some plantable palms plus this summer i will already be planting seedlings of some species i already have from seed bought last August and also i have already ordered two 40-50cm Archontophoenix alexandrae from palmeperpaket.de that i will be planting as soon as they arrive,provided that frost isnt forecasted anytime soon...And my 2 Livistona rotundifolia are also heading for the ground this spring so there will be some more palms planted already before summer to grow! :) And 4 of them viewable from some distance :lol:

''To try,is to risk failure.......To not try,is to guarantee it''

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I had promised you a photo update on my garden,remember?Well,here it is!!! :)

I drived last Friday night to Pyrgos once again,with heavy rain but when i arrived in Pyrgos,the sky was relatively clear and the starts visible so i hoped for a great sunny Saturday...Well,upon awaking on Saturday,i saw heavy clouds and unfortunately,not much latter,they turned to rain :( The workers left and so no more hardware work for the weekend...The rain stopped somewhat and there was only light rain so i begun my work,clearing the mess once again,collecting scraps and garbage from the garden...They seem to never end,i collect,collect and collect and there are still more... :( I filled a great deal more bags these time and cleaned most of the side ''patio'' that goes along the garden...This was for water runoff but years now its closed so i will use is as an extension of my garden,a patio but i will hide it so that its seems like a natural extension of the ''jungle'' i am gonna make there and not look manmade...I found there whatever you can imagine from bricks,decorative stones to a broken toilet :blink: Anyway :lol:

I also dug a hole for the pit i will place the solenoid valves for the automatic watering once the plumber moves the tap.

Unfortunately that all i managed to do this time as due to the heavy rains of most of the days of the past week,the workers hadnt finished yet and so i could plant anything yet...I hope that there will be some sunny days this week and that they will all finish so that i can go and plant the Trachycarpus the coming weekend as afterwards and for a month,i wont be able to go to Pyrgos due to entering an exam period at my University.So lets hope they finish......

And now the photos showing the progress of the past 2 weeks!

A view from the right sidewalk of the house,looking to the old bakery building.The right patio of the sidewalk of the bakery building has been widened to be 70-75cm so that palm trunks can fit better while the previous left patio has been paved.The paving is schistolith,similar to the Karystos one.As you can see,i made a patio arround the Yucca and another in front of it where a plam will be planted...I have long before decide what palm is going there but i wont tell you now,i am taking your guesses!So,what do you think i will be planting there? :rolleyes:

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''To try,is to risk failure.......To not try,is to guarantee it''

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A view of the semi-done patios from the veranda...

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Looking to the right of what the last picture shows,again from the veranda...The patio of my Magnolia grandiflora has been widened a bit more at its left side to get a round shape and be a bit bigger...In these photos you can also see the pit for the solenoid valves and the filled scrap bags...They are getting more and more...

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Some close ups of the potted Howea fosteriana,taken from the veranda with zoom,looking between the bakery and the Magnolia :)

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''To try,is to risk failure.......To not try,is to guarantee it''

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Looking at the planted patios from above...Starting from the right patio(when you look at the from the veranda) and proceeding to the left and arround the corner to the far left...

Strelitzia reginae

DSC02954a.jpg

''To try,is to risk failure.......To not try,is to guarantee it''

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My 2,5 year old Syagrus romanzoffiana...The leaves became like that from the heavy rains it has been constantly getting since it was planted!

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The patio going arround the corner...You can see its flooded from the heavy rains but also from the runoff water of the verand's roof all falling into it at the corner...I have now corrected this problem and the water falls away from the patio...

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And here is the leftmost part of the patio,no plants as of yet but here is where one of the two Archontophoenix alexandrae i am getting,will be planted! :)

DSC02956a.jpg

''To try,is to risk failure.......To not try,is to guarantee it''

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My two Trachycarpus fortunei with my Grevillea robusta in the middle,all enjoying the rain... :) Can you maybe tell from these photos which variety my T. fortunei are?Their fans are easily 60-70cm without the petiole and their trunk base widens at its very base.

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A close up of the crown of the left Trachycarpus fortunei...

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...and of the crown of the right one!

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All the pictures were taken in the rain and no plant was harmed during the process :lol:

I hope you liked it! :)

''To try,is to risk failure.......To not try,is to guarantee it''

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You are doing a great job Kostas! It is going to look really nice when you are done.

Looks like you are doing some of the work in the rain. You are very dedicated!

What other palm species are you thinking of planting?

Joe Dombrowski

Discovery Island Palms Nursery

San Marcos, CA

"grow my little palm tree, grow!"

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Funny thing. For the last couple years, it seems Italian restaurants have become more popular than Greek ones here - both with tourists and the locals.

There was a documentary here about italian restaurants in New York.

Our dalmatian food and wines are served as "italian food and wine" because that's the way they can sell it.

That was in documentary.

There's even a tv show there where a woman form Istria (region in croatia, situated next to italian slovenian/italian border) cooks istrian food and istrian specialties and calls them "italian" because that's the name that sells.

sorry for off topic.

Kostas, you're doing a great job. I hope there'll be lot's of palms. As much as you can squeeze in :D

And about that trachycarpus fortunei, i would call it trachycarpus fortunei. I don't seperate them by varieties.

What are the varieties anyway?! B)

Edited by Pivi

island Vis, adriatic sea, Croatia. Zone 9b/10a

Temperature low last winter: -0.9°C/30.4 F

Temperature low this winter: -0.3°C/31.5 F

-Creating my own little palm heaven-

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Thank you very much both of you for your replys! :)

Thanks Joe! :)

I am happy to hear its gonna look great!I hope that once i have it all planted and some years go by,it will look as i imagine it and intend it to be :)

Yeap,rain isnt gonna stop me when i have something i want to do!After all,what and if i get wet?Its just like taking a shower and working at the same time :blink::lol:

I am thinking of lot of species,in addition to those i already have sitting in pots in Pyrgos,waiting to be planted(Howea fosteriana,Trachycarpus fortunei),i am also going to plant Washingtonia robusta(from Sonora collected seed),Beccariophoenix sp. Eastern,Hyophorbe indica(Red),Archontophoenix alexandrae,Archontophoenix purpurea(maybe),Actinokentia divaricata,Clinosperma bracteale,Cyphosperma balansae,Basselinia pancheri,Veillonia alba,Kentiopsis magnifica,Burretiokentia grandiflora,Burretiokentia viellardii(maybe),Chambeyronia macrocarpa,Lepidorrhachis mooreana,Hedyscepe canterburyana,Euterpe precatoria,Euterpe edulis(maybe),Attalea rostrata,Iriartea deltoidea,Socratea exorrhiza,Chamaedorea elegans(most probably,maybe another Chamaedorea instead though),Acrocomia vinifera(maybe),Loxococcus rupicola,Caryota maxima(Himalaya),Heterospathe glauca and the palm you have to guess....I am not telling you till you find it! :) Its not any super rare stuff,pretty common for many of you and much much more common than most of the palms my list contains... :)

I think it will qualify for palm squeezing as Pivi said :lol: But i will relly to their different growth rates to achieve a good looking result! :)

''To try,is to risk failure.......To not try,is to guarantee it''

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Thank you Pivi! :)

I think that by looking to the above list you can take an idea... :unsure:

Surely varieties arent something very important as they are within the variables of a species but still i think its good to know what variety you have and i think that natural varieties are worth preserving too as you would do for a species... :)

I suspect(read:want badly...) that i have the Nainital variety as my palms appear to be bigger in general than the other T. fortunei i commonly see in Athens(in Pyrgos there arent many...lets say mine are maybe the first in the town area...).They appear to be about 1,5times the T. fortunei i usually see and i am talking about speciemen in the ground too and well irrigated...What can i check to know for sure?What leaf/trunk dimensions/characteristics would make them definite Nainitals?How can i know if i have a pure variety or not?Come on,there are many of you very knowledgable on the Trachycarpus genus! :)

Thank you very much in advance! :)

''To try,is to risk failure.......To not try,is to guarantee it''

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Kostas

Don't know what real Summertime temperature extremes you get up there ( only really been to Patras once - in October ).

If you get any of the searing heat we do, Hedyscepe canterburyana or Euterpes will prove to be expensive additions to your composter.

As for the rest of your list, don't see any concerns there. Nice to see somebody else in Greece with ambitions!

Doing some work on a project in Budapest now ( with occasional trips to our POS device manufacturer up in Munich ) and could probably drop off a couple from your list if you could come by Eleftherios Venizelos when I'm passing through.

Maurice

Lardos, Greece ( Island of Rhodes ) 10B

1.9 km from Mediterannean Sea

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Thank you very much for your reply and the offer Maurice! :)

We stay pretty ok in Pyrgos as its very humid and tempratures generally dont pass 40C and this for only a few days...Our usual tempratures are 30-38C during the summer with tempratues falling quite a bit during the night and humidity rising to 80-90% again...

I think Euterpe shouldnt have a problem with the heat due to its tropical origin anyway if it has a moist soil,plus i will grow them under canopy from which they will have to emerge to get the full heat and hot sun and the shaded part of their trunk and any stilt roots they may develop at the high humidity present under the canopy,should help them cope well with the high heat,when we get it :) What i am more concerned about with the E. precatoria i want to grow there is their cold hardiness...I hope they dont burn in a usual winter... :unsure:

As for the Hedyscape,i dont know how much problem it has with the heat but seeing it grown in California by Pogobod,i think that i should be able to grow it too! :) I will be starting the Euterpes from seed and will most probably be buying some Hedyscape canterburyana seedlings directly from Lord Howe Island so they wont be pricey anyway and i will have plent of both to experiment with :)

I am happy to hear that the rest of my list sounds ok to you! :) Personally i think that my greatest challenges will come with the Iriartea and Socratea and maybe Welfia if i decide to go with it too... :unsure:

Its nice to see another in Greece growing tropical palms too!!! :) And you are well ahead of me having planted your garden some years ago...Looking forward to seeing more photos of your garden and palms!!! :)

Thank you very much for your offer Maurice! You got pm! :)

''To try,is to risk failure.......To not try,is to guarantee it''

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Kostas - Love the slate you have put into the backyard. Once all the palms come in, it will look very tropical.

Huntington Beach, CA

USDA Zone 10a/10b

Sunset Zone 24

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thank you very much for your reply Joe! :)

I am very happy to hear you think so,i really hope that! :)

Today i am going to Pyrgos once again but this time,the fencing of the sides has been installed,ready pre-painted and the brick linings of all the patios are ready too so i will hopefully manage to plant my two Trachycarpus fortunei to the ground finally! :yay: If so,you will see lots of pictures!!!!

Also,the plumber came and changed the position of the tap so i can install the solenoids and set the automatic watering this time!(although i will probably make it run only manually for now as its raining most of the time there months now and watering has only been needed once and only for the pots :unsure: )

Well,cant wait for Saturday to come!!!! Will take lots of pictures for you showing the new look and will try to have someone take some pictures of the proccess too as i will have my hands full then and will be unable to take them myself... :)

Have a nice weekend! :)

''To try,is to risk failure.......To not try,is to guarantee it''

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...and Howea fosteriana :drool: I bought them as a trio and managed to split them up :) It was very difficult...I initially thought of barerooting first and then untaggling the roots,as i did with my Livistona but with these it soon became obvious that it cant be done...There were lots of roots in the soil and all thin,very few thick roots,making the too numerous to bareroot easily...And when i finally reached 10cm inside,i found their old root mass,before a repot they had some time ago from what it seems and that old root mass was completely woody and could not be barerooted or for the matter,you couldnt even pass a stick through it :unsure: So i decided to split the whole root mass in three by carving 3 canals to the root mass to the core...This prooved undoable too due to the woody inner root mass....So i took drastic measure and out came a knife...It cutted trough the new roots fine but the old ones still possed a big problem,it couldnt cut them ,at least not to the core of the rootmass...So,i came up with an idea:use an axe to seperate them! :lol: As funny as it seems,it prooved to be the easiest and safest for the plants way as long as you pay attention to never tough the trunk base/leaves :) I pressed the axe hard in the canals and after few hassle,i managed to cut to the center with it!Then twist right,twist left,and the first canal is ready and open to the center!I putted the axe between the trunks too,but not touching them and with care,didnt even bruised them at all!Repeated for the second canal and got my first Howea with one third of the rootball :) The same was done fr the other two :) So here they are,planted individually in their own pots of about the same size and a little bigger than the original pot they were grown all together...I placed them under Ziziphus canopy,which is deciduous,but the place is dark and humid enough that they should not burn,ever...Enjoy!!! :drool:

Kentia 1...

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Kostas, keep up the good work. I bought two acres of sand on the southern coast of Guatemala and now have over one hundred tall coconut palms and many almond trees (the only thing that would take the heat and salt air). Now, several years later, I have a nice canopy that affords me the chance to plant an understory garden. One thing that my garden has taught me is patience. Peter

Kentia 2...

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Peter

hot and humid, short rainy season May through October, 14* latitude, 90* longitude

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