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My Garden in Pyrgos...


Kostas

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Thank you very much Peter for your comments and advise! :)

It sound like a wonderfull place you own! Gardening with trees certainly requires a good deal or patience cause seeing a tree you plant, big,as you want it,takes many years... :( But even the babies are beautyfull to the eyes of their owners,not sure about third person's eyes though... :unsure:

I went to Pyrgos Friday night,as i told you i would and returned Saturday night...I worked mostly on the installation of the solenoid valves for the automatic watering and connected the installed lines with them and everything...This took me lots of time as due to the recent rains(rained most of the past week but not on Saturday fortunately...),the pit for the solenoids was flooded and everything was muddy in there,making connections and work difficult...Not to speak of the condition my clothes(and shoes even more....)were when i finished :unsure: Anyway,this is done now and the pit burried so it should not fill with water again.The automatic watering is not finished at all though,i have many many more meters of watering lines to install and burry.I have lines installed only for the already planted plants and even these,have no drippers installed yet(not that they need them for now with all the rains we are having...).I will continue the installation as the planting continues :)

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

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Unfortunately,i was unable to plant the Trachycarpus again :( The cement in the planting area was only broken on the surface by the worker who was supposed to do it while we were away and there remained 30-40cm THICK cement to break :blink: I tried breaking it with my little Black & Decker cement breaker but...i only broke a 10cm by 80cm wide area of cement that was thinner than 30cm in 2-3 hours...Of course i quit afterwards and the were 1,5m by 40cm average area with 30+cm thick concrete to break :unsure: Of course i called someone with a bigger tool to break it :blink: Took him some minutes of hard work :lol: It was getting dark though and there were plenty of scrap to remove from the planting area and much soil to remove and replace with a mixture of the clay we have and good peat and leaf mulch soil for the Trachycarpus to be planted.Also,due to the rains,the places where the fencing was welded in place,werent painted and had rusted already so there will be some paint work going on this week on the fence and would hate to have to worry about my Trachys so this was one more reason that i didnt planted them(the main reason i would say,after all,i had all night to do it :lol: ).So they remain for potted for next time...With the help of the rains and all the humidity,there was quiet some root growth from last time,now they have many thick roots coming from one side of the base of the trunk that are exposed :drool: The pots are having some odd shapes too,probably from getting pressed by the palm's roots from inside and i worry about how i will remove them from their pots without damaging them or the leaf bases getting pulled off while holding the trunk :unsure:

Anyway,the goods remain for the next time unfortunately but,next time,there will be some good planting surprizes for all ya! :rolleyes: Stay tunned,next time will be a pure joy! :)

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

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  • 2 weeks later...

Update!!!!!! :lol:

I went to Pyrgos again this Friday night and left Saturday afternoon so again,i had to work time pressed unfortunately... :( In my trip to Pyrgos,i took my 2 Livistona rotundifolia and 2 Archontophoenix alexandrae with me to plant them if i can and if not,to be in a good,humid,warm enough to be safe from killing cold, place to grow and adjust :)

Anyway,regardless of the chilly tempratures,which fell to 0.1C the past night,after some shade cloth shopping,Cycas revoluta searching and a Photinia fraseri ''Red Robin'' buy,i was set for Trachycarpus planting and so begun the preparation of the Trachycarpus planting bed! :) With the help of the whole family,i hand collected big and small pieces of scrap cement,removed the whole top soil from the planting area due to it being full of scrap brick pieces and other things and of bad quality and also removed most of the soil of the holes we dug for the Trachys in the muddy,soaking wet,flooded soil,removing water from the holes all the time to be able to continue digging as they were filling with water fast due to our shallow water table...Anyway,overcoming things as they came,we finally made it and had two very big(twice as deep and wide as the rootballs :) ) holes to work with! :) I then added about 1 part ground peat and 4 parts good quality soil in the palnting hole and made it of correct depth,compacting it everytime by hoping in there(splash! splash! lots of water for everyone :lol: ).When i was done,the dificult part came:moving the Trachycarpus to the planting spot,removing them from their pots and and lowering them in the planting hole :blink: I couldnt dare to think of it before that time! :unsure:

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

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Of course i brought help for all these,my family plus my uncle,4 persons in total including me :) We decided to saw the pot away to remove it as they were very tightly pressed in their pots to be removed from them,roots pressing from the inside everywhere! with visual bumps on some places from the pressure! After this was done very carefully,damaging only about 10 roots total maybe from the hundrents visible,we had to pass the palm above the brick lining of the patio and lower them in the planting hole...We used a scrap,freely bending tile like wood piece,reinforced by bricks under it to hold the weight,to make smoother the step on the brick lining :) My uncle then wanted to use a thin rope to support the rootbal and he hold the trunk but,as i knew this was trying to cut through the rootball with all this weight.So after a short try and before any root damage occured i think,i made this stop and brought a water hose tubing which i used double and that way,we were able to lower the palm without any root damage! :) We then leaned the palm and removed the tubing from under it! But the weight of the palm pressed the soil so hard that it went it and the palm was now too deep...Well,just leaned it,placed soil under,leaned it to the other side,added soil again and after a few leans and soil adds,the palm was on correct height again! :) We repeated the method we developed for the other Trachy and things were done faster for the second one!After adding more soil and compacting it everywhere arround the palms,i procceeded to the Photinia planting which was done at the left patio,where the Strelitzia reginae is planted! :) The pot required sawing again to remove the plant but this was just a 2-2,50meter tall tree so things were much easier as i could hold the plant from the trunk with 1 hand on this one :lol: Planting was fast and i then staked the plant with 2 stakes to fix some wrong curves on the trunk.

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

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And now it was time to plant one of my Archontophoenix! I dug a hole little bigger than the pot(the spade was bigger,thats the reason! :lol: ) in the ready planting bed at the rightmost place of the right patio,where i had long ago planned on planting an Archontophoenix alexandrae :drool: I turned the pot upside down,tapped a little to remove the palm from pot and a good amount or soil fell off,with all the rest falling once i removed the Archontophoenix from his pot,he had little roots and came off virtually bareroot. I planted it in the hole,filling with the soil he was growing in plus the one i removed.Fortunately the roots were enough to hold the plant upright withough fear of tipping over so i didnt need to stake(didnt even thought of it,generally,i dont stake...).The planting position is quite protected from the sun,which should barely see the palm but i didnt want to risk with it as i would subsequently be away and unable to do anything,so i setted up a temporary shade house for it! I placed 4 metal stakes in the ground arround the palm and covered with a 2X4meter piece of 30-40% shade cloth! I tied the cloth to the 4 stakes and to 2 of the wooden veranda roof posts and placed bricks to hold the cloth down at the two sides with longer shade cloth.The front one,which is a little short unfortunately,was tied to bricks.Well,everything seems stable enough to withstand wind,should it come,without anything bumping on the palm...I hope it grows and adjusts fast so that i can remove it soon!

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

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Here are 2 pictures of the now planted Trachycarpus! :yay:

Taken by me from the veranda :drool: Also visible in this photo are the bags of scrap material i removed from the planting area :blink:

DSC03046a.jpg

Then my mother came,took the camera out of my hands and asked me to go with the Trachycarpus for a photo :) Of course i had no reason to decline,so here is the photo! :lol:

DSC03047a.jpg

Unfortunately,the batteries died after that photo...I hadnt noticed they were so spent already but flash must have done them in fast...Unfortunately,we were leaving at the time so i didnt had time to buy new batteries and do the thorough coverage of the plantings as i wanted it :( Well,next time then for sure! :)

I hope you liked it!!! :) I will go to Pyrgos again in two weeks from now and plan to do more plantings then! I need to finish the final garden design for the major plants first so that i can know where its best to plant what to fit the most plants i can without them annoying each other or appearing unnatural or poor :)

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

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Kostas, what an amazing transformation from your original photos! You can tell that a lot of hard work went into this project.

Thanks for the update.

Formerly Jeff in Costa Rica
 

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I totally agree! And it will get even better. Plant palms! :D

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 am glad you like it both Jeff and Pivi! :)

Some hard work for sure but at least you find the result so far better!I am starting to like it and enjoy it too now that some palms have been planted and i am sure i will like it more with more palms as Pivi suggests :lol: I just have to find some more time to plant the 2 Livistona rotundifolia and the other Archontophoenix alexandare i have and then wait for some seedlings to grow to be plantable as all the rest of my palms will be seed grown from seeds and seedlings i am curently germinating/growing :)

The Howea fostriana are heading for the ground this autumn as i feel they wont be enough sun acclimated till summer to not burn badly if planted then...However,they are seeing increasing amount of sun now in more parts of their foliage and they havent burnt yet,only the oldest leaf of each of them has some burns marks but nothing serious even on that! :) Hope they acclimate without burning,i love their looks more than any other palm i own! :drool:

In two weeks,i should have more updated photos of the garden and plants and the recent plantings will probably include my 2 now potted Livistona rotundifolia and the other Archontophoenix alexandrae i have :) All babies but they will hopefully grow! :drool:

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

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Kostas, regarding the L. rotundifolia - plant them in as much sun as possible. I planted some in shade and after two years they have hardly grown at all. I saw some (the same size as mine) that were planted in front of a hotel in full sun and those plants are now 5 times bigger than my shade grown plants. The more sun they get, the bigger and faster they seem to grow.

Formerly Jeff in Costa Rica
 

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Hi Kosta,

you've done a very nice job! I hope we'll get to see more pics like these and hopefully you'll inspire other gardeners in greece with your work... :lol:

I think you(and your palms) have no trouble with the low temperatures this week, have you?! According to www.metar.gr the temps in pyrgos did not go below freezing, but in your neighbouring cities, like zacharo, it went down to -1,3°C! But spring is coming :winkie:

Keep it up and so long,

Jannis.

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Hey Kostas,

Good luck on the L. rotundifolia. I have been tempted to try one for the last 5 years ( always an easy palm to find in many supermarkets across Europe ).

However, my understanding is it is considered to have very tropical requirements and has never been successfully grown in California.

Interesting to see how that one turns out.

Regards

Maurice

Lardos, Greece ( Island of Rhodes ) 10B

1.9 km from Mediterannean Sea

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Thank you very much for your replys! :)

Jeff,

Thank you very much for the tip on Livistona rotundifolia!Didnt know that,i thought they prefer shade when small! I was thinking of planting one in shade in a very protected spot due to to being marginal here and another one in a more exposed situation,getting some hours of full sun and a few more of filtered sun.I am very happy they do better in full sun as i was a bit concerned about that :) I will still be planting the other in shade though in case it needs the protection(from cold...) from the canopy till its bigger and stronger to emerge from it! :)

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

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Janni,

Thank you! :) I have been going to Pyrgos with very tight time windows the last times and so photos have been few but i hope this will change in 3 weeks from now :) After these,i hope to go and stay a full weekend...So there will be many more photos as much has changed! :)

I hope others get influenced by my plantings in the near future,when they grow up a bit and are viewable from outside! I have been informing some nurseries here of my Kentia ouside planting plans but they all freak out :lol: I received an amazement look though from a friendly(relatively knowledgable and eager to help :) ) girl working at the nursery near my house in Pyrgos,when i told her they have been outside all winter and they are just fine!

No,everything is fine in Pyrgos,no burn from the cold as my cousin tells me :) I dont know how cold it got there these days though,just that the plants are fine!A nearby nursery told me last Saturday i was there that frost formed during the night but i did not see any damage(or frost in my property for that matter too though :unsure: ).Wasnt expecting any damage to be honest anyway as this week althought was supposed to be cold(and it is...),it wasnt supposed to be anything extreem for the areas.I will be installing some minmax thermometers there just to know for sure how cold it gets but havent had the time to do so yet...

Funny t got colder in Zacharo! I had always thought it as a warmer area but that may have been only due to the beatyfull Ficus trees it has! It seems that they are just more interested in tropical plants :lol:

Its snowing out of my window in Melissia now...Wish it was spring already!!!

I will do Janni! So long my friend for now! :)

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

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Hi Maurice,

Thanks! :) I had been tempted earlier too,2-3years ago maybe,when i first saw it and didnt buy any at the time due to reading about its tropical requirements(its tropical origin however is something that makes me love it more! :lol: )...

I dont know if it has ever been grown in California but i just decided to give it a try the past July! :) So far,they has done only good for me,under the shade of my W. filibusta(most probably... :unsure: ).They have liked the plenty of water i have been giving them,they havent had any problems with the barerooting,splitting and transplanting i did to them in fall and have tolerated tempratures somewhere between 0 to -2C under canopy(W. filibusta),1(completely under canopy) with no damage at all and the other(canopy edge,partially without canopy) with 90% defoliation,but with the newst,opening leaf just spotted and the emerging spear undamaged! You can see my input and some recent photos of them at their cold hardiness thread in the Freeze forum :) I think they stand good chances to grow in Pyrgos and far better to grow fine for you!(with LOTS of water,they love it!You cant rot them....)So go buy some already!!!! :drool:

I will let you know how mine do :) The only problem i have found with them is slow growth but this might be due to growing in shade as it complys with Jeff's experience :)

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

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Hi Kosta

if you want to see some palms and other plants, which are unusual for greece, than you have to go to nafplio. Plenty of Phoenix and Washis and Queens all around the town, but in the central park and on some other spots of the town, there are some other species. I dont' know what species exactly they are, but i could identify one as a sabal uresana (most probably), sabal minor, brahea armata, caryota something..., ravaena rivularis, pheonix roebellenii, rhapis excelsa different ficus varieties and scheffleras. And one of the palms in the park was a livistona rotundifolia I suppose. I was supprised and took some pictures but unfortunately my external HD is damaged... I'll try to recover the pics that I took from that trip and post it in "Travel Logs". A friend of mine also identified this palm as a l. rotundifolia, at least he said it is very likely a rotundifolia.

Go on and try it, I think it will grow well in your garden.

Best Regards

Janni

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Thank you very much for your reply Janni! :)

Wow,didnt knew there were such palms planted in Nauplio!!! :drool: I had been there some years back and had noticed the plethora of well grown Phoenix,Washingtonia, Syagrus romanzoffiana(these were an oddity for us back then,and still they are rare for Greece,although i have never seen a cold damaged one even in Northern Athens and a seedling of mine experiencing the worst tempratures we get in Melissia of -6C and maybe below,didnt even bother to show any slight damage...)and Ficus but hadnt spotted any of the others you mentioned!I didnt knew too much about palm ID back then but i tend to spot even minor differences in things...It seems i completely missed those!I would love to see Sabal uresana from close(as its one of my favourite Sabal!) as well as,and maybe even more,a Livistona rotundifolia :drool: You made my day!!!If these grow well for me and fruit,i will be flying! :mrlooney: The rest would be great to see from close too! Phoenix roebellinii are getting quite common in Greece currently and they even grow successfully in Vrilissia! :blink: (under light canopy though,they burn in exposed situations...Vrilissia are neighbouring to Melissia,positioned south of them but of course still get low tempratures...).Schefflera are increasingly tried outside but never saw a large,ground planted one unfortunately...All potted in patios or pots most of the times...

Looking forward to those pictures if you manage to save them! :) But i will surely plan a trip to Nauplio shortly,such palms would be worth it!!! :drool:

Best regards,

-Konstantinos

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

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Hi Janni,

Livistona rotundifolia in Greece you say? Would love to see that picture!!

Always wanted something "round" growing in my garden - had a nice Licuala peltata var. sumawongii that my gardener accidentally ran over with the lawnmower and can't find another.

Matter of fact noticed a L. rotundifolia last month in a Hungarian OBI. Looks like I need to pick one up.

Regards

Maurice

Lardos, Greece ( Island of Rhodes ) 10B

1.9 km from Mediterannean Sea

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Hi Folks,

I must admit that i haven't fixed the problem with my external HD yet, but i'm trying...

Janni

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Go get it already Maurice! :) It will grow just fine for you after sun acclimation :) You could even have Licuala grandis in your place in shade...

Janni,

I hope you manage to restore your HD soon!When you do,we would both love to see the photos!!! :drool:

I have great news from Pyrgos! I called my Aunt Lydia who lives in Pyrgos yesterday to ask how my palms are doing there and she told me that some plants arrived 2 days ago but forgot to call me :mrlooney: So,you are now wondering what had i ordered and from where?Well,i had ordered some plants(not palms but equally impressive and beautyfull)from The Palm Centre which is located in UK,2 2meter tall Phyllostachys nigra and 2 2feet(or 3,dont remember :unsure: )tall Dicksonia antarctica trunks :drool: Unfortunately she didnt know and left the trunks in half day sun :blink: for 2 days,yesterday it has been raining though fortunately...As you can understand,i am worried about the Dicksonia but hoefully they will be fine as they are covered with plastic on their long sides and my Aunt told me it seems moist inside so hopefully there hasnt been done any harm... :unsure:

And as you may guess,i will be heading for Pyrgos this night... :rolleyes: Cant wait to see them from close and plant them!

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

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I plant on planting 1 Dickonia antarctica in Pyrgos and bring the other with me to Athens to plant it in Melissia and regarding the bamboo,i also plan to plant only 1 in Pyrgos and plant the other one in a property of mine just outside Pyrgos to grow huge,unrestricted,close to a water channel :) May end up planting both Dicksonia in Pyrgos though...I plan to buy another one too but this time,a huge one,10ft or more tall... :drool:

Bad thing is,the forecast is for storms and heavy rains all weekend so it wont be the best weather to enjoy planting but i am sure it wont stop me from planting a couple of palms and another couple or trio of plants :lol: So,hopefully,in this visit i will plant in Pyrgos the remaining Archontophoenix alexandrae,1 Livistona rotundifolia,1-2 Dickonia antarctica and 1 Phyllostachys nigra :) I havent decided yet but i may also bring to Pyrgos and plant already 1 Washingtonia robusta and leave another potted one there for planting in a few months to a year(because it involves breaking cement and creating another patio and i am not set to have workers again that soon...). Lots of work to do as you can understand but i am sure i will enjoy it!!! :lol:

I hope to have some spare time for more photos this time as i will hopefully will staying all weekend and not just a day...I will do a good photo update for you when i return! :)

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

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Nice Kostas! We're waiting to see the pics!

One recommendation, this is an INTERNATIONAL forum.

We in europe use metric system, so i think you, me, europeans and all others that use it should write in centimeters/meters here. Nott foot/feets.

B)

edit:

"According to the US CIA World Factbook in 2006, the International System of Units is the primary or sole system of measurement for all nations except for Myanmar, Liberia and the United States."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metric_system

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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Hi Kostas

I'm sceptical about Licuala Grandis will ever have a chance - tried it once ( albeit in full sun ).

Too bad you didn't mention you were buying Phyllostachys nigra. I got some from the Plamcenter last year, it divides rather easy. Just water it really hard and you'll have nice results.

Regards

Maurice

Lardos, Greece ( Island of Rhodes ) 10B

1.9 km from Mediterannean Sea

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Thank you very much for your replys Pivi and Maurice! :)

Thanks Pivi,cant wait to see them myself!!! :drool: There will surely be pictures of these as they came and latter when taken care of! :)

Thanks for the recomendation! :) We in Greece use the metric system too,its just that i got them from England and their site uses feet so i though of presenting them here exactly as what i bought them :) I am also equally familiar with both systems so i dont mind too much...I will be using mostly the metric though being a European as you say :winkie:

Maurice,

I am sure Licuala grandis would be fine in a shaded place of yours :) But of course subjecting it to full sun from suddenly,it doesnt stand a chance...Done slowly,it could make it possible with lots of water but a shaded position would be the best for it! :) I dont know how big ones you find in Rhodes but here i can find 1,5meter ones easily and locally so if you cant in Rhodes,the next time you are here,i can tell you where to find them or possibly we could have a little chat and palm buy together :)

Thank you for the offer Maurice! Your thought alone is very much appreciated!!! :)

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

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Very nice garden improvement Kostas. Keep us updated of the new plantings.

Sirinhaém beach, 80 Km south of Recife - Brazil

Tropical oceanic climate, latitude 8° S

Temperature extremes: 25 to 31°C

2000 mm average rainfall, dry summers

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Thank you very much for your reply Gileno! :)

I am very happy you say that,you have a great place there :drool:

I went to Pyrgos Friday night,as i told you, and of course couldnt help myself and did a plant inspection when i arrived,i do thgat everytime :mrlooney: Everything seemed fine and the weather was good in that it wasnt raining but had rained probably an hour earlier...The Dicksonia were stood on their growing point though :blink: and i was a bit pissed about that...I layed them down as i saw them that way...Anyway,too excited with them to go to sleep immediately,i redid the garden planting plan,something i wanted some time now to do as the old one was getting too crowded to let me think with all the corrections...Did some changes too and counted to see if i can accomodate all the species i had planned...Well,fortunately i can,although a couple big ones may be a little crammed till they gain some height :unsure: Next morning,i was rainning so i went shopping for some things i was missing,soil,shade cloth,stakes,some irrigation parts and......a biggish female Cycas revoluta!!!! :drool: I had searched many times for a good looking,fat trunked and tall Cycas revoluta and i was always ending my decision on this beautyfull specieman i found at teh nursery in Korakochori(where i bought my Magnolia grandiflora and my Howea fosteriana too :) )but it had double row of leaflets in 90% of his leaves and this freaked me out a bit and decided to not buy it.But,this time,i saw that the very last row of few leaves was perfectly fine and normal,without any double row,so bought her,regardless of a trunk scar it has,probably from shovel hit :( Anyway,not sure if this will ever heal,but i positioned it so that its not visible at all and thought that such a fine specieman deserved a good home regardless of not very visible scar done by a careless worker :angry: I arranged delivery for the same day noon and left...I also bought thick rope,many meters long...*hint* :lol:

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

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After a fast restaurant lunch,i returned home to receive the good quality,leaf mulch/peat containing soil i had ordered and begun to work.My Cycas revoluta arived just minutes latter :) They wouldnt carry it to the planting for me and said it took 4 men to load the cycad on the truck.Being only two,you can understand they could barely hold it and in fact,it fell them on its side twice during lowering from the trunk,1 bumping on the tracks back and another laying on the ground :angry: Anyway,we loaded it on a 2 wheeled thing for moving things :unsure: with my uncle and with me on the front balansing its weight and my uncle holding the handles of the thing,we managed to move it safely and well to the planting spot without it falling us anywhere...After preparing the planting spot,the patio next to my Magnolia,digging out the soil 80cm or more deep and adding some of the new,good quality planting soil,and taking care of the prepositioned irrigation pipes so that they dont interfere with planting or the plant latter,the Cycas planting begun...The plant was in a 90liter plastic pot and had 70-90cm of trunk(didnt measure it,just a guess... :unsure: No less than 70cm for sure though...)I knew it wouldnt be easy...After getting the nessesary company,my parents and my uncle,we cut the pot's bottom out but left it on for now.Using wooden boards,we managed to slide the pot up and onto the bricks that line the patio.We then cut the pot vertically,leaving only about 10cm at the bottome part of the pot for it to still hold the plant to be able to use its handle to lower it into the planting hole,but to also allow for ''easy'' removal when in the patio...Interesting to note should be that the patio was only 70cm or slightly more in diametre while the Cycas pot was 60cm :lol: You can understand how much joy it was working in such a tight place latter... :blink: Anyway,we lowered the plant and it fell right in,slowly and well but because the pot was cut,the Cycas tiped and bit,causing the pot to touch the planting hole's side and the plant to be going straight for the bricks...I jumped down and caught the trunk before hitting the bricks and getting another scar and placed something my glove there to protect it from the acute tip of the brick.Unfortunately,we were unable to raise the plant the slightst bit from in there to position it correctly and my father was in hurry as he always it and cut the pot away...Well,now remained exactly nothing for us to move the plant arround :angry: My mother then thought of putting in soil arround the plant :blink: Even better...

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

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Well,to make a long story a little shorter,my mother ended up removing all the soil she putted in and my father helped me use move the plant with a couple of metal fencing posts.This is how we managed to move it from the bad positioning we did:we cut 1/2 of the plant's pot's side(1/2 of the length of the side arround the pot if you understand what i mean... :unsure: )and placed it at the side of the root ball closest to the planting hole's(and patio's)side,which we wanted to increase the space between to get the plant in the center of the planting spot.We then used long posts(first wooden->broken :lol: ) which we pressed down,between the pot's part and the planting hole's side,pushed these towards the plant as far as they would go without pressing the trunk,and then placed an obstaclebetween the post and the inside of the patio,just under the bricks where cement was.Then,we were pulling the posts towards us to push the bottome of the rootball away from the side,to the center of the planting hole.After many tries and a broken 7cm thick wooden post doing very little in moving the Cycad,we found some metal fencing posts with which we did the job in no time but with lots of force :) All in all,the hurry that my company always is in in doing things fast caused this bad situation.With good planning,all these could have been avoided.I have already thought of a possible fix to prevent such a situation:a board placed diagonially,with its one end at the wanted position of the rootball's end and the other end at the planting holes side,would slide the lowering rootbal exactly where it is wanted to be and prevent and tip over such as wht happened to us :) I described all these in detail in case it helps anyone planting big,heavy,difficult to manage plants :)

Here are some pictures of the planted Cycas revoluta! :drool:

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

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Close ups of the mature female cone...The seeds you see have a chance to be fertile as there were many male plants(for sale) surrounding this cycad :) I am not sure though as they could be cutting the cones to have a faster growth rate maybe and not use the plants reserves...I will cut one open next time i am in Pyrgos and see :)

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

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A close up of the second row of leaflets most leaves have...Why did that happened?The nursery owner said they most probably were caused from stress during that part of the cycads life for some reason(a possible reason could be a transplant although i dont know when that happened...)

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After all these and as the sun was slowly setting,i procceded to planting the Phyllostachys nigra at the leftmost part of the patio my Trachycarpus fortunei are planted!I broke a cement pipe that was extending in the patio and was in the way,removed the top,scrapy soil of the area and dug the planting holes(decided to plant both as they were smaller than i though in culm diametre...but i am still debating in and i may remove the one and plant it at my other property near Pyrgos to grow freely and make a nice giant clump as our local bamboo? do along the water channel that passes in front of that property of mine :) )placing the soil at the yet uncleaned from scrap area of that patio.I then planted the bamboo filling the hole with good soil :) One required to cut the pot unfortunately as it had pressed from inside so hard it had made a lump on the pot :lol:

Here are some photos taken next day from the planted bamboos!I finished planting them in darkness so it couldnt be from the same day anyway...

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I enjoyed a good pita gyro the same night watching a good movie and thinking of my recent plantings...Good day it was although it was rainning most of the time and all the plantings were done in the rain... :lol: Next day i was up again early to continue the plantings! :)

To be continued....

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

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Nice looking cycas Kostas!

Did you plant archontophoenix?

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 Pivi! :) I am glad you like her!!!

Unfortunately i didnt have time for the preparations needed to plant my second Archontophoenix but i will do be posting photos of my first one which i planted the previous time :winkie:

....As the day started,light rain was falling from the bright sky which quickly stopped and sun shined through the clouds,getting brighter and brighter as they were moving away...A good day it seemed and so i was set to remove the 2 remaining lemon trees and an old lemon tree stump which was dead 2 years now.The stump was removed in no time,it had rotted a good deal and was coming apart easily.Then came the hard part:removing the 2 live lemon trees...An ML350 SUV vechicle was employed for the purpose,ours! :lol: Here came to play the rope i bought the previous day too :) We dug a trench arround the trunk about 30cm deep,tied the upper part of the trunk with rope,passed the rope trough the correct opening of the bars of our fencing(to not damage it...)and then linked the rope with a steel rope to the vechicle which was located at the property next to ours and tried to knock the tree down...Well,the 4X4 SUV slipped while the tree remained intact...We dug more,cutting roots with an axe,tried again...SUV slipped again but the tree leaned a bit!Dug some more,pulled some more.....->trunk on the ground :lol: But still could get out,the SUV was slipping.So,we placed a big piece of thick scrap cement under part of the root ball(after we got the tree vertical again...) so that with the pull from the SUV,any remaining roots would be cut.Well,still not out but most remaining roots got exposed enough to be cut and then,placing a shovel where the trunk touched the soil and placing a metal fencing pole under the rootball and pulling with both the car and the metal pot,out it got :lol:

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

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The the other tree's time had come...We had dug that out about 80-90cm and had cutted the roots to that point a month or more back but didnt had the time to remove it back then.With this one,just a pull with the car was enough to knock it down.We then cut any roots we saw underneath,and following the same principles with the other one(cement scrap piece under rootball,shovel,metal post),out i dragged it with the car! :lol: We then moved them to my Uncle's property to do with them as he wishes(either planted or woods for fireplace...).

Then,it was time for the fun stuff!It was time to finaly plant my Grevillea robusta and my Dickonia antarctica!!! :drool: I dug some more where i removed the rotten stump from and got to a depth of 60cm,added good soil and brough my Grevillea for planting!It has grown a lot from last time,maybe 30cm in winter alone!And not only that but it seems that it has a thicker and stronger trunk too as it broke its ties with its stake(except the lowermost one which was getting ready too though :lol: ) and was able to stand strong and straight alone and not bend with light wind :) I planted it about 20cm to the left of the stump,closer to the sidewalk of the second building in our property.Its amaging that such a huge tree was in such small pot(1g or at most 2 gal,cant remember with certainty but surely too small for such a tall plant!) and till not too much rootbound :blink:

Then it was time to plant my Dicksonia antarctica!I decided to plant both there as they werent looking the same:one had a very thick and straight trunk to 1meter or more tall while the other had a parabolic trunk,longer in length but a little shorter in height when positioned correctly for a natural look in the ground :) I am very happy they are like that,i like both types a lot and the growing differences add lots of interest i think! :)

Here are a few photos of the packed trunks!The covered end is where the growing point is...You see the leaning one positioned like that because my Uncle thought they fell and he got them up again in the morning,on their growing points again...I layed the straight one on the soil mixes but left the leaning one since i felt it was not getting harmed that way,it was more on its side that its tip :)

Straight one...

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Cut end...

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

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Growing point :)

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Curved one...

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Cut end...

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

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Growing point :)

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Certification of ''Approoved removal'' tag on the trunk of the leaning one...The straight one got one too...Can these be removed without damaging the trunk on the proccess?Anyone had done this on its tree fern?They seem to be nailed in or screwed in but i am afraid if they may have ''hooks'' inside to prevent removal :(

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As the sun was bright and was hitting the packed trunks,i moved them near the planting place which only gets two hours of morning sun at the moment :) After much debating,i decided their planting places which were exactly where i had putted most of the soil i removed to make the trenches arround the trunks :lol: So,i firstly closed the holes,after cutting and removing as many of the thick roots remaning in the soil as possible,and then dug the planting hole for the straight trunk,much deeper and bigger than needed and filled with some rotten roots and good soil up to the height i wanted to palnt the trunk :) I then carefully unpacked it and waht did i saw!A crozier was unfolding inside the center hollow of the growing point!!! :yay: Upon closer inspection,a second oe follows close behind! So its alive and well and i should have fronds soon!!! :drool:

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

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Anyway,i began the planting of the trunk and placed the cut end on the soil :) It stayed there ok on its own so i had all the time i needed to add more soil and finish planting it before tying it to already positioned stakes and our fence :) Then it was the turn of the curved trunk to be planted! I dug a long and deep planting hole for this one so that the part of the trunk that would be laying on the ground,would all be burried for the cut to not be visible at all :) Again,i filled with rotten roots and good,leaf mulch/peat soil and the trunk was carefully unpacked :) I layed the trunk in the planting hole,did some adjustments to the planting hole seeing how the trunk should be stood,etc and i drived two 1,5meter long bamboo stakes in the soil,to the right and left of the trunk,close to it,to make a support for it :) Holding the trunk at the lean i wanted it,we filled the planting hole and the trunk seemed to stand on its own!However,due to the good deal of lean it has,i supported it by tying many plant ties joining the two stakes,so that the trunk rests on their support :) I also used an unturned pot,dressed with shade cloth and some of their plasit film packing material,as a support for the trunk to rest on...Then,i tied the straight trunk to its stakes and the fence and placed a stake for my Grevillea robusta too as the wind was strong and was bending it too much for my likings...I then watered well and here are some pictures of all them planted!Grevillea robusta and 2 Dicksonia antarctica!In this photo,you can also see the two lemon trees missing and their holes partly filled back :)

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Close up to the straight trunked fern's growing point,with the crozier vissible! I swear this thing grew from when i first saw it to an hour latter,after lunch :drool: It was below the edge of the hollow when i first saw it and when i took the photo,i had reached the edge as you see :)

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

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My curved trunk Dicksonia :)

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...and its growing point! :) Unfortunately this one is not growing new leaves yet...

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And now some pictures of the rest of the plants in my garden,some updates and some first timers!!! :)

Trachycarpus fortunei...

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Strelitzia reginae,Photinia fraseri ''Red Robin'' and Cymbidium(probably hybrid...looking forward to giving it away...) from left to right...

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

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Syagrus romanzoffiana :)

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Archontophoenix alexandrae under shade tent :) It did perfectly fine there,the damage on the leafs didnt progressed from the day i planted it and he has got very slight sunburn with the 30-40% shadecloth he is under :)

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

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Taken from the veranda...

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My 3 Howea fosteriana :drool: They are still fine after the transplant,growing and have got only slight sunburn while they are getting a good deal of sun where they are!!! :) Only the oldest leaves get sunburns from the sun while the rest of the leaves remain in top condition! :drool:

1st one...

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

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