My Garden in Pyrgos...

[Kostas]

Straight trunked Dicksonia antarctica doing well!

My newly planted Musa ''Sar'' I fenced it to protect from cat/dog damage as everything small i had planted in its immediate surroundings always ended up dead from being dug up...Well,that should stop them!

[Kostas]

This is the Howea fosteriana i planted in July. It doesnt show much growth,if at all unfortunately but i think the spear is begining to unfold which i guess would be a good thing given the condition of its other leafs. On the other hand,its condition doesnt seem to have gotten much worse so i think it would pull through ok and recover perfectly. What do you think?

Zamia hamanni's newest leaf. The color is totally wrong as the leaf is pretty green with orange tips,not a sickly yellow...

Hyophorbe indica(Southern) along with understory Cycas and newly planted Chambeyronia macrocarpa(Hookeri)

[Kostas]

Newly planted Chambeyronia macrocarpa(Hookeri) along with Stangeria eriopus(Forest Form) on the left!

Ceratozamia miqueliana

[Kostas]

Kerriodoxa elegans along with another newly planted Chambeyronia macrocarpa(Hookeri)

The same newly planted Chambeyronia macrocarpa(Hookeri) from another angle,along with my Cryosophila warcewiczii!

[Kostas]

Archontophoenix alexandrae

Howea fosteriana and Archontophoenix alexandrae

[Kostas]

Archontophoenix alexandrae base close up! OMG,this palm it trunking!!!!!!!! As you can see from the photos below,this palm has 3 or more rings of trunk so far!

[Kostas]

One of my Zamia standleyi has put out its first ever pinnate leaf!All the other leafs have only had 3-4 leaflets so far which doesnt give a pinnate/palm-like appearance...So this is a great start!

[Kostas]

My Syagrus romanzoffiana with its newest,huge spear! Its about 3 or more meters tall!!!Looking forward to see this palm grow big and shade my Howea fosteriana! It certainly seems on a good way now!

These are all the latest pictures so far. I hope you liked it!!!

[John in Andalucia]

Kostas, your garden is looking great, especially the Howea and Archo double planting.

Good luck with the Kerriodoxa and Cryosophila too! It'll be interesting following their progress in your climate. Thanks for the updates!

[Sutter Bob]

Great stuff. Thanks for the update.

[Kostas]

Thank you very much John and Bob for your replies and kind comments!

John,

Thank you very much! I like this planting a lot as well and it was maybe the first planting i planned for my garden when i was starting it up! The immediate next thought i had about how to make this planting even better for when both the Archontophoenix and Howea will be trunking and towering above,was a Kentiopsis magnifica between them!

Thank you very much for your wish John! Both of them have been growing successfully and problem free in my garden for more than 2 years now so i am very optimistic that they are gonna excel in my garden! The Kerriodoxa is one of the two you sold me a few years back btw and i planted it straight to the ground!

Bob,

Thank you very much,you are very welcome!

[Kostas]

Following my reply above to John,i thought i would show you 2 pictures i missed. Well,after 2 years of patience to germinate the seeds and almost another year growing up the seedling to 2 leaf size in a pot,i planted the Kentiopsis magnifica i had planned in its final position this past July! Here it is!!!

The above pictures are from July but checking on it last weekend,its alive and well and doing excellently!!! Its still flawless looking,no damage at all from our hot summer or sun and it even grew well!

[Janni]

Hey Kosta,

great pictures! The emrpovement of some of your palms is amazing. especially the washies and archontophoenix' are really exploding!! I didn't expect the hyophorbe indica to develop so well. btw what happened to your roystonea? I'm afraid there's no good news!?

Janni

[Kostas]

Hi Janni!

Thank you very much for your kind comments! I am glad you liked them!

Indeed,some of my palms surprised me this year with excellent growth and trunkMy Hyophorbe indica(Southern) has seen two winters now,its first one actually in a pot,and has done very well so far! I lost my other 2 though on their first winter as they were more exposed to the elements and their soil wasnt draining well enough. One of them actually sunk deeper which pretty much doomed it. I plan to grow more of this species as soon as i can find some seeds from the same locality...

As for my Roystonea oleracea,after successfully flying through 2 winters as a young seedling,it got dug up and killed a year ago by a cat I plan to replace it with Roystonea elata as i really liked a pair of true R. elata i saw in FL,growing straight out of the water with moss tinted trunks!

Best regards,

-Konstantinos

[cristi]

Great great work. Thank you for updating your progess with these very beautiful images. I'll keep an eye to your posts in the future as I did from the begining.

[Kostas]

Thank you very much for your kind comments Cristi! I am glad you like my work and enjoy my updates!!!

Here is another update! I went to Pyrgos last weekend,planted some more plants and took updated photos for you to enjoy! Here they are!

Washingtonia robusta(Sonora) and Howea fosteriana hiding underneath!

[Kostas]

Trachycarpus fortunei and Bismarckia nobilis(Silver)

Washingtonia robusta(Sonora)

Encephalartos concinnus

Normanbya normanbyi

[Kostas]

Looking down the sidewalk....

Cycas micronesica(Rota)

Ceroxylon amazonicum

Musa ''Kandrian''

[Kostas]

Dicksonia antarctica,Grevillea robusta,Ceroxylon amazonicum and Musa ''Sar''

Musa ''Sar'' doing well!

[Kostas]

Newly planted Musa ''Orinoco'',a temporary addition to that part of the garden just to help it pass through winter safely till i open and prepare some new patios for bananas and of course,more palms and cycads!

Musa ''Utafan'',a new and hopefully permanent addition to this part of the garden!

[Kostas]

Zamia hamannii and Ceroxylon amazonicum

[Kostas]

Cibotium glaucum!

Ceratozamia miqueliana

Hyophorbe indica(Southern) and Chambeyronia macrocarpa(Hookeri)

[Kostas]

Cycas multipinnata,Hyophorbe indica(Southern) and Chambeyronia macrocarpa(Hookeri)

Ceroxylon amazonicum

Dioon spinulossum

[Kostas]

Acanthophoenix rubra

Castanospermum australe

[Kostas]

Chamaedorea tepejilote(Blanco) putting out its first divided leaf!!!!!

Kerriodoxa elegans

[Kostas]

Chambeyronia macrocarpa(Hookeri),Dioon spinulossum and Allocasia odora

Archontophoenix alexandrae

Cryosophila warcewiczii

[Kostas]

Magnolia grandiflora

Chamaedorea tepejilote(Blanco) and two Zamia standleyi growing at the base of the Magnolia grandiflora

Female Cycas revoluta

Howea fosteriana and trunking Archontophoenix alexandrae

[Kostas]

Syagrus romanzoffiana and Howea fosteriana. The new leaf of Syagrus romanzoffiana is now more than 3m tall and is taller than me even when standing on the veranda!!!

Callistemon laevis and Syagrus romanzoffiana!

[Kostas]

Strelitzia reginae,Callistemon laevis and newly planted Ananas comosus ''MD-2''

Bismarckia nobilis(Silver)

These were all the pictures my mother took of the garden. I hope you liked it!!!

[Maxim]

Kostas at you a magnificent garden.

I when thought that in Greece it is possible to grow up so much different palm trees.

[greekpalm]

Kosta your queen is growing very well ! mine are way slower .... 3 leaves in 10 months....

your howea next to your queen also looks stunning ! was it from seed ? if not how long did it take to acclimatize? how old is it ?

[Mandrew968]

I love the ceroxylons! How many do you have, Kostas?

[fdrc65]

Magnolia grandiflora will grow up a big tree and will make a lot of dried leaves! if you don't prune it every year, nice collection of palms !!

[Kostas]

Thank you very much all of you for your replies and kind comments!

Hi Maxim,

Yeap,in most of Southern Greece the palm and other tropical plant possibilities are great! Few areas have great climate though,with almost yearound warmth and rains as a good part of Southern Greece doesnt have much rainfall. Still,from the warmth part the climate is good and can be worked with to plant lots of tropical species by making a suitable growing place for them(planting trees for shade and to elevate humidity,lots of mulching,correctly set irrigation,etc).But as you go norther and inland,the possibilities narrow down a lot....

Pyrgos has a great climate,warm and rainy for most of the year!!!

Hi Manoli,

My Syagrus romanzoffiana has been growing pretty slow the past year as well as it developed a severe Boron deficiency and it probably didnt have a very well developed root system as well as it leaned heavily on my Howea last winter and had to tie it to stakes till almost a month ago. Last year's summer,it grew only a single,deformed leaf the whole summer!!!! I have since been fertilizing heavily every 3 months with a complete,Boron containing,organic fertilizer and it slowly overcame its deficiency and picked up speed! It is still picking up speed i think as it can do even better than it did this summer. Still,i am very happy to get a 3m+ perfect looking leaf after so many months if not even years,of getting less than perfect leafs...I hope the fertilizing schedule i am currently following will keep it satisfied,healthy and deficiency free for the years to come...

Actually,my Howea fosteriana right next to my Syagrus doesnt look the best right now as its quite burnt from the scorching summer sun coupled with the heat waves. Its very exposed and always burns heavily in August but it seems that every year,it burns slightly less. But the Howea fosteriana next to the burnt one,is looking awesome even after the heat of the summer as its more protected from the sun. This year it burnt minimally which shows progress. Last year it wasnt too bad but this year its even better looking! My Syagrus romanzoffiana should take care of the burning problem of my Howea fosteriana as once it grows some more,it will shade them a good deal and that should be more than enough to keep them looking at their best the whole year around!

Anyway,i didnt grow my Howea from seed but just bought them as triples and split them up. I dont know their age but got the biggest it could find and the base diameter of the biggest in the pot was around 10cm. They have been with me about 2,5years. The first,basic acclimation after splitting them to individual pots was allowing them to root and establish again without added stress in a humid,shady environment for about 2-3 months. Then,after growth had resumed,they where exposed to more and more sun for about 3 months. They burned a good deal but i always made sure they have 1-2 new and acclimated leafs before moving them to more sun. In total,it took about 1,5years for them to look good and the most exposed one is still ruined every August. This time it kept two leafs unburned which is awesome as last year it was close to no good looking leafs after August but opened a new spear and got a new good leaf fast after that. In other words,dont even think of planting yours to grow in full sun!!!!! A few hours(2-3) of sun may be tolerated without burning but it should be shaded for the rest of the day. Maybe once they grow big and form trunk,they get more sun tolerant but that is still not guaranteed in our climate.

[Kostas]

Hi Andrew,

I currently have 5 Ceroxylon amazonicum doing from excellently to decently for me. A few had a tough time with root rot and clogged drippers while potted but still pulled through and have either already recovered or are still recovering! I had six but lost one to my Aunt's dog which defoliated it and it never recovered after that I will soon be buying and planting a replacement though as with Ceroxylon being dioecious palms,i need a decent number to have my chances close to 100% for getting both sexes and getting seeds after the many years it will probably take them to reach flowering size....

[Kostas]

Hi Federico,

Thanks for the heads up! I know that and thats the reason i planted it! I love big trees and would be extremely happy and feel really privileged to see it reach or surpass 45m in height one day I also have Castanospermum australe and Grevillea robusta planted which max out at about the same height as Magnolia grandiflora and hopefully,if i am extremely lucky,one day,i may have a really tall canopy at my place with palms growing above and below it!!!

About the dead leaf aspect,i have another Magnlia grandiflora at Melissia for years now and know that first hand as well! In Pyrgos that is a great bonus as its essentially free mulch for my garden and will hopefully,eventually make my garden self mulching along with my other trees

I will be going to Pyrgos again the coming weekend to do some more garden work and new plantings! Cant wait!!!!

[Kostas]

Hello!

I went to Pyrgos the past weekend and ground planted a couple palms as well as mounted a few epiphytes,the first ones so far!!! Last week i was pretty busy searching for a nice Syagrus romanzoffiana that is close to trunking but not trunking yet and arranging its timely delivery to Pyrgos to have it before the weekend. Well,i eventually found a good one with a 14cm base that isnt showing any signs of vertical trunk growth so far and has a pretty leaf arrangement and the widest leaflets of its batch I bought it as a 2,5m tall plant and its more like 4m tall!!!It arrived safely and in time to Pyrgos and had the pleasure of ground planting it on Saturday! Here it is in the ground!

[Kostas]

Its my second Syagrus romanzoffiana in Pyrgos,a little taller than my other one but with a smaller base diameter so far than my other one. I planted it at the north border of my property to shade the area in the summer and improve the microclimate in the winter by offer some overhead protection as this area is exposed to the northern winds and shaded in the winter,something that coupled with the winter rains,makes for a bad microclimate to grow tropical palms. I have tried growing palms that grow for me successfully elsewhere in my garden but they all failed there,except Ceroxylon which loves it there in a shaded area(not a surprise at all). So i am now planting more cold and wet soil tolerant palms at the northern border of my property to cut the wind some and offer frost protection to hopefully improve the microclimate of the area between them and the building's wall enough to grow some more sensitive species there too! We will see how this works out one of the coming winters

The second palm i ground planted is a Howea fosteriana. I ground planted it on a mound of soil,tree branches and rocks/gravel leaning towards a ''patio'' in front of a border wall. I will eventually extend this mound over the patio,to reach the border wall,and plant a Ficus bengalensis i am growing from seeds i collected during my Florida vacations from Ficus bengalensis growing across the ''Old Culter road''Its a pretty protected location and i hope it survives there long term and grows to be a beautiful big tree with lots of aerial rootsI planted the Howea near where his trunk will eventually reach once it grows,being inspired from pictures of of Howea fosteriana on Lord Howe Island,growing at the base of huge Ficus macrophylla columnaris. Hopefully the Howea will start trunking before the Ficus grows to life threatening size for it I will also keep it as well as the nearby plants,free from aerial roots trying to grow on or very close to them!

[Kostas]

Here it is! It was sun acclimating and thats why it has pretty burned leafs,although most of them have green portions as well

I also managed to mount some epiphytes on my Olea europea this time,a Stanhopea tigrina and 2 Zamia pseudoparasitica!I mounted the Zamia directly on the tree trunk and then dressed a canal like depression of the trunk,running from the mounting point down to the base of the tree,with moss,the one sold for reptiles,etc. so that the Zamia can grow their tap roots and eventually reach the ground,as they do in their habitat I barerooted the Stanhopea from its bark medium as best as i could,damaging quite a few roots in the process as they stick to the bark and are very difficult to safely separate them from it,until there was close to no medium left and the plant could stand flat on the trunk. Fortunately,still many roots seemed to be in decent condition and there were many roots left on the orchid which were easy to work with and have them spread on the trunk. I mounted the orchid on a thin layer of moss i had already tied to the trunk to protect the Zamia pseudoparasitica roots and tied the orchid firmly to the trunk,as well as its roots,which i had positioned to engulf the trunk and covered with moss.

[Kostas]

Unfortunately my mother didnt take any good photos of the mounted plants but here is the only one i have of them. I will take better pictures of them next time i am there and also a photo of the irrigation system i made for them In the photo below,you can see the Stanhopea tigrina and just barely spot the leaf of one of the Zamia pseudoparasitica,the light colored leaf hiding among the dark green foliage of the Olea europea at the upper part of the photo.

I also took a couple of growth update pictures, Here they are!

Bismarckia nobilis(Silver)

Ananas comosus ''MD-2''

I hope you liked it!!!