My Garden in Pyrgos...

[Kostas]

Stangeria eriopus(Forest Form)

Dypsis lastelliana

[Kostas]

Musa ''Kandrian'' with me for scale!

Its leafs are pretty huge,the hanging leaf you see here reaches all the way to the ground!

Musa ''Pisang Ceylon''

Howea fosteriana finishing its acclimation after about a year in the ground. Still needs quite a few months to replace its damaged leafs and finally start looking good...

[Kostas]

Cibotium glaucum. This is starting to look good and grow big leafs again a year after a severe drought it experienced from failed irrigation(for 2 weeks!) during hot weather. Still the largest leaf is about 2/3 what it had before the drought but seems to be catching up!

Cryosophila warcewiczii! This was a total surprise find for me as i had pulled the rotten remains of its spear and leafs last spring! I had planted this one last winter and being greenhouse grown and weak,it didnt take well the very rainy and unusually cool winter well,nor the 45cm of rain in just February! I saw it looking pretty bad,pulled the spear and out it came! Then pulled each of the other leafs and came out almost without effort,rotten at their base. I was sure this was a goner and i think i even got it of irrigation. But this tough little guy survived and is growing vigorously now!

Prostechea cochleata flowering one my olive tree!

[Kostas]

Dictyosperma album var. rubrum and Veitchia joannis!!! These were both planted this summer and have done quite well for me till now. They are pretty marginal for my area but i hope they survive and have the chance to put on some more bulk or preferably some trunk before they see any damaging temperatures...They are planted at one of my best microclimates and really hope they survive long term as they both are favorites of mine!

[Kostas]

Cycas multipinnata

Chamaedorea tepejilote(Blanco)

Ceratozamia miqueliana

My Archontophoenix alexandrae opening a really red new leaf!!!

[Kostas]

[Kostas]

Bismarckia nobilis(Silver)

[Kostas]

And finishing, a few photos taken during sunset...

Sophronitis wittigiana(rosea)

Prostechea cochleata

[Kostas]

Ceratozamia miqueliana

Cibotium glaucum

[Kostas]

The sun setting on the horizon behind my Ziziphus sp. tree with a Wittrockia gigantea visible

The flowers of my Prostechea cochleata visible behind a fork of my olive tree,appearing bright in the dark...

Stangeria eriopus(Forest Form)

[Kostas]

Bismarckia nobilis(Silver) under the light of a pole...

These were the photos from the Christmas holidays! There was no cold damage on anything so far even though a few very light frosts had occurred. A pretty severe hailstorm hit Pyrgos during mid December with big hail balls and enough quantity that it made a layer on the ground as my cousin said! Hail damage was obvious on many of my plants but the apperance of most wasnt affected much. The cycads got some necrotic spots as they always do from hail but the most severely hit were a couple of my bromeliads,notably Nidullarium innocentii which's rosette folded in half and on one of my Hohenbergia correia-araujoi clumps,2 of the 3 plants folded in the middle and developed a crushed or necrotic area in the middle and can no longer support a rosette shape. The smallest pup of this clump had its leafs open more than normally but at least looks decent and should continue its growth unobstructed hopefully.

Looking forward to visiting my garden again!

I hope you liked it!!!

[Kostas]

Thought i would post a few photos i took a week ago when i was there. Here they are!

Syagrus romanzoffiana and Howea fosteriana(the Howea has some burn from last summer's unusually hot heatwave,hottest summer of at least the last 5years according to the weather station.Its growth rate is unfazed though and grows fast)

Bismarckia nobilis(Silver)

[Kostas]

Chamaedorea tepejilote(Blanco)


A view of the garden pathway with various palms and plants around it

[Kostas]

Newly planted Cyphophoenix alba(=Veillonia alba)!


A second newly planted Cyphophoenix alba! I planted them using a mix of the native clay soil i dug out,good planting soil mix of peat/compost/little perlite plus river sand and lots of pumice of 1cm diameter or a little more to add porosity and increase drainage. I really hope they do well for me in the ground as its a favorite of mine and have been growing this species for 3 years! Digging to plant them,I found my water table had risen to just 30cm below soil level btw


Everything is growing nicely now and recovering from the heavy beating of last winter's multiple hail events and the couple of frosts they saw. In a month or two,everything should be decent looking again!

Hope you liked it!

[Phoenikakias]

Kostas, I like it and I agree with more than anything else with the combined use of pumice and peat for amelioration of soil. What was the percentage of pumice in the soil mix? You are from a certain perspective lucky to have underground water. You suffer also like I do from lack of enough space, and when all those palms plus the the canopy providing plants grow further competition between them wll be less harsh due to this water, to which extent however we shall see in future. Is this cycad? in last pic a Dioon spinulosum?

[Kostas]

Thanks for your kind comments Phoenikakias! I used 50-80% pumice in my mix,less in the bottom and more towards the base of the palm,basically filled the space around the roots and base with pumice and filled the gaps between the pumice with the native soil/peat/compost/sand mix, as rot is my biggest concern with this species in the start,till it acclimates to my native soil. Then cold and frost is a concern as well,as i havent found much cold hardiness information on this species but i am optimistic as i grow other New Caledonian species fine,with no damage and the other Cyphophoenix species are supposed to be cold hardy enough for my area. Hope the do well!!!

I consider the perched water table of my area as a big benefit along with the high humidity as it allows everything to grow bigger than ''normal'' for the mediterranean climates, and have a lush look to them! The fact that most plants can tap into it and have water available yearound even without irrigation,is of great benefit in the summer as the established palms and trees are not limited in their growth by the amount of water i irrigate with but have an unlimited supply of water they can use to cover their needs and thus leafs grow bigger! At the end of the dry season,the water table is still just 2-3meters below the soil surface and thus in reach of most bigger or deep rooted plants. Indeed it should be of great help in sustaining a forest of huge plants in the future and decreasing the chance of problems due to competition between the plants,especially in combination with the fact that the soil is rich and well draining clay which is good at holding water and nutrients! It should also help in cutting down irrigation costs as watering a rainforest themed garden with huge trees would require an insane amount of water in the summer without a continuous and free supply of water the plants can tap into on their own! I would also not start a water demanding,rainforest themed garden in an area without shallow underground water as i would hate it all relying on irrigation to live and when one day something happens and cannot be irrigated with that huge amount of water they need,that they would all die...

Yes,in the last photo there are 2 cycads,one of which is a Dioon spinulossum,my favorite Dioon species along with D. meijae,D. rzedowski and maybe another one i cant remember. The bigger palm visible is a Ceroxylon amazonicum

[Rafael]

Thanks for sharing the update.

The garden will be more and more impressive with the time.

Be carefull about the cyphophoenix alba, it is not supposed to like heat waves, at least with low moist conditions. Mine will be planted soon too

Cheers

Rafael

[Phoenikakias]

Well done with the pumice! Is the reason for the poor look of spinulosum excessive sun or cold?

[Kostas]

Thank you very much Rafael for your kind comments and advise!

These Cyphophoenix alba were grown in almost full sun in a relatively hot climate so they are relatively used to these conditions. The area i planted them doesnt get too many hours of sun and the Ceroxylon amazonicum i am growing there do well,so the Cyphophoenix should be ok with the heat too till the canopy grows some and shades the area. I planted them early so that they can grow some roots and gradually acclimate helped by the rains till the summer comes. Humidity is pretty high yearound which helps too. Wish you success and all the best with yours!!! How have they done for you so far and what have they liked or hated?

Thanks Phoenikakias,i consider pumice a good media when you need extra porosity and drainage but dont like the fact thats its very lightweight and i worry it may not anchor plants well. I dont like its color either as white doesnt go well with the dark soil,but the rotting mulch should eventually bury it and conceal it completely with the years. I prefer lava but its not locally available and its more expensive when i find it. I think pumice is a good choice for pots and should be ok for amending the soil in the immediate vicinity of a precious seedling planted in the ground as the palm's base will grow bigger than that hole,fill it with roots or with the trunk itself and the native soil around it will stabilize it well.

The Dioon spinulossum you see has damage from multiple things:during it latest flush,wind and animals damaged the leafs some and they were thus deformed and hardened in not the most attractive way and with some broken leaflets. Then,the multiple hail events of last winter did some damage and frost finished the leafs off now...The previous time i was there they looked decent,just heavily spotted from the hail but it seems some heavy frost got them since then as it doesnt have overhead canopy protection yet. Its fine though and actually has more green than visible in this angle. It should flush nicely soon. This species damages to varying degrees from frost and it usually takes a heavy one to do much damage like what you see. Under canopy(or weeds...) they get no damage. Full summer sun at noon yellows the foliage and the leafs come out more formal looking so this species looks best in shade although it grows considerably faster with some hours of sun.

[Phoenikakias]

Indeed a kind of bug or even a turtle finds young tender leaves of D. spinulosum very tasty also in my garden! Try pure pumice in this Dioon, it likes it a lot. The one in picture I have regrown it from an offset of the initial rotten caudex after freeze of 2004 in pure pumice. I have outplanted it using only gravel and few pumice this summer. It got some leaflets scorched during past summer but it remained unscathed this winter.

[Kostas]

Nothing eats my Dioon's new leafs here,its just that sometimes a cat or a dog chooses to pass between the leafs and indadvertedly causes some leaflets to break or causes some damage to the new leafs and then there is hail which falls any time of the year,even during summer and has disfigured the leaf flushes of my cycads a few times,when it falls before the leafs harden. Dioon leafs,as all cycad leafs are quite toxic so if a turtle would make that its habit,it would die after a few times as cycad toxins build up and cannot be removed from the body. Insects dont care much for the toxins though,they just become toxic themselves if they are able to attack cycad leafs. I get insect damage sometimes on Cycas sp. leaf flushes,never Dioon and this damages always occur to my Cycas species growing and flushing in the hottest and driest conditions(sun beaten areas with bark mulch which gets real hot under the sun,can even burn the leaf petioles where it touches them!),when flushing in better weather these same plants seldom get any insect damage.

Well done regrowing your D. spinulossum from an offset after cold/rot damage. I havent had rot problems with any of my Dioon so far and they are planted directly in clay,almost no amendment as they supposedly like so and need a great amount of water for good growth. I have had my Dioon for the majority of the years i have had my garden and they have done very well. That particular specimen is slower than my other 2 and flushes less often but puts out some of the most lax and tropical looking leafs of all of them due to growing in more shade. Its soil is worse than what the other 2 are growing in as it doesnt have anywhere near as much organic matter covering its soil and its soil hasnt been amended naturally through rotting organic matter like the soil of my others has. Still, it grows well and i will check its irrigation along with my Archontophoenix this spring to verify its getting water as i havent checked in 2years Hope for a nice big flush this year!

I am saving the pumice/lava planting for my xerophytic cycads,the rainforest Dioons love the water and dont rot easily at all. I bet yours was severely cold damaged down to its caudex and that set the rot,otherwise they are fine with wet soil...My Dioon had moss covering it when i got it to give you an idea and its roots were perfectly healthy and in a clay like media if i remember correctly. Has your Dioon ever coned so far? Is that E. altensteinii to the left of it?

[Kostas]

Just spent my Easter holidays at Pyrgos planting the biggest part of a largish palm order and doing some maintenance and i am still behind on both matters! Had a great time there though!

I was out doing garden work during the late sunset and noticed the colors of the plants,the sky and everything else,seemed strange and like fake ,so i took a few photos from my porch in Pyrgos showing the view. The colors dont seem to have been captured very well by my iphone camera but here are the photos as they are the only ones i took!

[Kostas]

Neighboring properties to the west.

Hope you liked it!

[sergiskan]

wooow Kostas.

...good job!!...stunning place and palms!

regards.

[stygiana]

Wow, Kostas, I can't believe how much progress there is in your garden. And your collection is simply astonishing!

I have the feeling that your garden will look like Ralph Velez' in California in the future (haven't been there myself, but I'd love to, as I think from what I saw in this forum that Ralph's garden is a must see!!!).

Thank you for sharing and please, keep posting! :greenthumb:

[Maxim]

Kostas thanks for a detailed report,your Bismarkia nobilis simply super

[Tassie_Troy1971]

Great Kostos keep up the good work !

[JT in Japan]

This is an inspirational thread, for its detail, history, and variety. Thanks for sharing, Kostas. I went through it from beginning to end this morning, and drank way too much coffee along the way. ;-)

[Phoenikakias]

How is the progress of your biggest Dioon spinulosum? How many leaves has it produced till today this season?

[Cedric]

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.

_______________________

Had to laugh at this, when I started reading this thread I was expecting a glorius mediteranean happening particularily a Greek one. Weeping mulberry smothered in black fruit, figs grasses and wild flowers, flax, poppies galore. Its one of those things we all wish we had a completely different "zone" or two to play in.

I adore Greece especially Athens but everything, I can still smell the roast lamb and rosemary during Easters in Athens(everyone should do an Easter in Athens even if they're an agnostic) and the heat the wonderful dry dry heat in the evenings, stars the meaning of life and everything. Im sure even concrete baking in that blue navy blue sky smells nicer in Athens than absolutely anywhere else the sea even does.

Well there's a thing a tropical garden in Greece, honestly Im thinking half of Northern Europe if they read this would be bowled over by the sheer hedonism, wonderful. While they are coaxing on a tiny olive branch in a tin can Kostas is setting an emerald jewel in an already very golden part of the world. A brand new garden too I cant wait to see the progress either. What fun and that garden looks fantastic for creating a micro climate, some evaporating water would work well somewhere too for the humidity. Good luck Kostas!

[Phoenikakias]

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.

_______________________

Had to laugh at this, when I started reading this thread I was expecting a glorius mediteranean happening particularily a Greek one. Weeping mulberry smothered in black fruit, figs grasses and wild flowers, flax, poppies galore. Its one of those things we all wish we had a completely different "zone" or two to play in.

I adore Greece especially Athens but everything, I can still smell the roast lamb and rosemary during Easters in Athens(everyone should do an Easter in Athens even if they're an agnostic) and the heat the wonderful dry dry heat in the evenings, stars the meaning of life and everything. Im sure even concrete baking in that blue navy blue sky smells nicer in Athens than absolutely anywhere else the sea even does.

Well there's a thing a tropical garden in Greece, honestly Im thinking half of Northern Europe if they read this would be bowled over by the sheer hedonism, wonderful. While they are coaxing on a tiny olive branch in a tin can Kostas is setting an emerald jewel in an already very golden part of the world. A brand new garden too I cant wait to see the progress either. What fun and that garden looks fantastic for creating a micro climate, some evaporating water would work well somewhere too for the humidity. Good luck Kostas!

I would be glad however with some summer rain...

[Phoenikakias]

Nothing eats my Dioon's new leafs here,its just that sometimes a cat or a dog chooses to pass between the leafs and indadvertedly causes some leaflets to break or causes some damage to the new leafs and then there is hail which falls any time of the year,even during summer and has disfigured the leaf flushes of my cycads a few times,when it falls before the leafs harden. Dioon leafs,as all cycad leafs are quite toxic so if a turtle would make that its habit,it would die after a few times as cycad toxins build up and cannot be removed from the body. Insects dont care much for the toxins though,they just become toxic themselves if they are able to attack cycad leafs. I get insect damage sometimes on Cycas sp. leaf flushes,never Dioon and this damages always occur to my Cycas species growing and flushing in the hottest and driest conditions(sun beaten areas with bark mulch which gets real hot under the sun,can even burn the leaf petioles where it touches them!),when flushing in better weather these same plants seldom get any insect damage.

Well done regrowing your D. spinulossum from an offset after cold/rot damage. I havent had rot problems with any of my Dioon so far and they are planted directly in clay,almost no amendment as they supposedly like so and need a great amount of water for good growth. I have had my Dioon for the majority of the years i have had my garden and they have done very well. That particular specimen is slower than my other 2 and flushes less often but puts out some of the most lax and tropical looking leafs of all of them due to growing in more shade. Its soil is worse than what the other 2 are growing in as it doesnt have anywhere near as much organic matter covering its soil and its soil hasnt been amended naturally through rotting organic matter like the soil of my others has. Still, it grows well and i will check its irrigation along with my Archontophoenix this spring to verify its getting water as i havent checked in 2years Hope for a nice big flush this year!

I am saving the pumice/lava planting for my xerophytic cycads,the rainforest Dioons love the water and dont rot easily at all. I bet yours was severely cold damaged down to its caudex and that set the rot,otherwise they are fine with wet soil...My Dioon had moss covering it when i got it to give you an idea and its roots were perfectly healthy and in a clay like media if i remember correctly. Has your Dioon ever coned so far? Is that E. altensteinii to the left of it?

I hope your Dioon spinulosum flushes more leaves than mine growing in humble pumice and and gravel. Pics taken today and I count 9 emerging leaves of my spinulosum growing in full-full sun.

[Kostas]

Wow,thank you very much for all your kind comments,i appreciate them a lot!!! Thank you sergiskan,Sebastian,Maxim,Troy,Shimoda and Cedric!

Sebastian,i can only hope i can create something as awesome as Velez's place,and my palms and trees need to grow a lot lot more before it starts looking like something! Its been almost 5years now and everything is still so small....

Cedric,i am glad you love Greece so much and like everything here! Our sea and beaches are some of the best in the world for swimming as they look great,like what is generally though of as a perfect tropical beach(minus the coconuts though...)and there is no fear for sharks or other dangerous creatures here,while swimming,so one can be totally relaxed!

I too would love some more rain though and no subzero temperatures in winter as that would make for a much greener Greece and a more tropical one too

Thank you very much for your kind comments and for liking my garden! Pyrgos is quite humid thankfully and with much more rain than the majority of the warm areas of Greece,plus a high underground water table which enables the bigger plants to have permanet access to a water source! I hope all my tropical palms tap into it and become independent from the irrigation!

I have ferns and epiphytes under and on my bigger trees which are spray-watered daily and this increases the already high humidity of Pyrgos,even more. Not enough space for a pond though,i need the space for planting more palms and trees

Phoenikakias,none of my Dioons have flushed yet,they usually start flushing towards the end of June for me,with the exception of my youngest one which flushed twice last year,two leafs each time. They flush more and more leafs each time and last year's flush of my biggest one was 6leafs. I dont know wether they will top the 9leafs of yours this time or not but cycads can be quite unpredictable!

Congratulations on your flush! Its always nice and D. spinulossum is one of the best looking species of cycads!

[Kostas]

Went to Pyrgos last weekend for the monthly treatment of my palms with entomopathogenic nematodes + chitosan,planted a Pritchardia schattaueri and some more plants while i was there and took a good deal of photos before leaving this time! Here they are!

Cycas revoluta(male) and Washingtonia robusta(Sonora)

Its coning season!

[Kostas]

Howea fosteriana

Coccothrinax alexandrii var. alexandrii planted a month ago after having passed last winter undamaged,unprotected,in its pot

[Kostas]

Alcantarea imperialis and Livistona mariae

Newly planted Monstera deliciosa,unrelated to my other specimen. So far 4 unrelated specimen total and hope for eventual fruiting and seeding from them all!

Washingtonia robusta(Sonora)

Beccariophoenix alfredii

[Kostas]

Encephalartos concinnus flushing!

Cycas micronesica(Rota) flushing!

Musa 'Kandrian' flowering for the first time! My first banana to bloom!!!

[Kostas]

[Kostas]

Grevillea robusta seeding for its first time!

View through the Grevillea robusta foliage to the back of the garden

[Kostas]

Grevillea robusta and Dicksonia antarctica

Disksonia antarctica's crown view from the front...

...and from behind