The Garden of Dr. Dewayne Richardson

[Jeff in St Pete]

Yesterday was our third meeting of the Costa Rican Palm Society. The meeting was hosted by Dr Dewayne Richardson who has been in Costa Rica since 1959. He retired in 1994 as Director of the Palm Research Group for United Brands Company. Dr. Richardson started this palm collection in 1990 and has about 250 species. Other than the Herrero brothers, this is one of the best private collections of palms in Costa Rica! We were handed a list of palm species upon arrival with location codes for each. All the palms were labeled with the name, the location where collected, and a location code. I'll do my best to id as many palms as possible. Enjoy the tour!

Wodyetia bifurcata on the left, Oenocarpus mapora in the middle, Washingtonia filifera on the right

Variety of palms at the front entrance

Areca vestiaria

A. vestiaria

[Jeff in St Pete]

Another shot of Areca vestiaria - this is one of the best specimens I have seen. It had a very large, fat crownshaft

Socratea exorrhiza stilt roots

Arenga undulatifolia

A. undulatifolia seeds

[Jeff in St Pete]

Arenga undulatifolia

A. undulatifolia

Teresa in front of Arenga pinnata

Zooming in on the crown. This was the largest A. pinnata I have ever seen. I believe it was just starting to flower.

[Jeff in St Pete]

Iriartea deltoidea on the left and Socratea exorrhiza stilt roots on the right

Iriartea deltoidea

Lytocaryum weddellianum - this photo does not do it justice. This was a very dainty and beautiful palm.

A large Areca vestiara frond was covering up most of it.

[Jeff in St Pete]

A very tall Pritchardia pacifica

Licuala grandis

I didn't take a photo of the name plate, I forget what this is.

It had a new pink leaf

[Jeff in St Pete]

Hyophorbe indica

Pritchardia hillebrandii

Geonoma interrupta

[Jeff in St Pete]

I think this was a Syagrus species. Size 12 Croc for scale

Looking up into the crown. It was so tall I couldn't get a good shot.

Small Bismarckia nobilis

[Jeff in St Pete]

Licuala pelatata v. sumawongii

I think this was tagged as Livistona sp.

[Jeff in St Pete]

Trunk of the Livistona sp.

[The Palm Nut]

That Areca vestiaria looks great, how old do you reckon it is? Dr Dewayne Richardson has a great garden and something to be proud of. Thanks for the photos.

Cheers

Mike

[Jeff in St Pete]

At this point we were entering the area where many of his Bactris are planted.

I asked Dewayne, but I forget which one this is. I want to say it was Bactris bifida

Bactris hondurensis

I believe he said this was another form of Bactris hondurensis

B. hondurensis

[Jeff in St Pete]

Bactris collection

Brassiophoenix schumannii

A couple very tall Caryota and Washingtonia

Dr Richardson checking one of his name tags

[Jeff in St Pete]

[Jeff in St Pete]

Dictyosperma album

In the palm forest

A colorful croton lit up by the sun

[Jeff in St Pete]

Dypsis madagascariensis trunks

And the crown

Bactris area again

Astrocaryum

[Jeff in St Pete]

Bactris

Asterogyne martiana

A. martiana

[BS Man about Palms]

WOW, Awesome Jeff! Caribbean side or Atlantic side?

[Jeff in St Pete]

I took a photo of the name tag, but I can only make out the species name - macrocarpa

Maybe Chambeyronia macrocarpa? He has Salacca zalacca on his list, I think that maybe the palm on the right.

Syagrus coronata

Syagrus coronata and crotons

S. coronata seeds

[Jeff in St Pete]

Sneaking in a couple more croton photos

This one had very dark purple leaves with red spots. It was hard to get a good photo

I believe he said these were Syagrus amara

Base of the S. amara trunks

[Jeff in St Pete]

Bactis gasipaes, the fruits were served at the meeting with a garnish if mayonnaise

I believe this is Trithrinax brasiliensis

T. brasiliensis

[Jeff in St Pete]

Latania loddigesii

Coccothrinax miraguama

[Jeff in St Pete]

Howia forsteriana! I think this is the first one I have seen in Costa Rica.

[Jeff in St Pete]

Phytelephas sp.

Male and female palms

[Jeff in St Pete]

Single Areca vestiaria

Livistona rotundifolia

[Jeff in St Pete]

Kerriodoxa elegans

K. elegans

[Jeff in St Pete]

Attalea rostrata

It was so big I could not get the entire palm in a photo

Trap for the palm beetle

I took this photo from a distance and didn't check the tag

[Jeff in St Pete]

Reinhardtia gracilis

R. gracilis

Reinhardtia simplex

Another shot of the pair of Phytelephas from a different angle

[Jeff in St Pete]

Dypsis lastelliana

D. lastelliana

Thrinax parviflora

Thrinax excelsa

[Jeff in St Pete]

Coccothrinax crinita

Acanthophoenix rubra

A. rubra crownshaft

Acanthophoenix rubra

[Jeff in St Pete]

Hyophorbe lagenicaulis - The largest I have ever seen in person

Acoelorrhaphe wrightii

Zombia antillarum

Zombia seeds

[Jeff in St Pete]

Beautiful hibiscus

I believe these were all different species of Veitchia on the left.

Another smaller Coccothrinax crinita

Luis Diego under the red Areca vestiaria

[Jeff in St Pete]

Cryosophila warscewiczii

C. warscewiczii rootspines

Licuala peltatata var. sumawongii

[Jeff in St Pete]

Licuala ramsayi

[Jeff in St Pete]

Verschaffeltia splendida

Looking up at the crown of V. splendida

This is another palm that I really liked and I asked Dr Richardson for the name. He told me, but now I forget. We were getting ready to start the meeting and I got distracted and forgot to write it down.

Another shot

and another

[Jeff in St Pete]

Dypsis lastelliana

Livistona rotundifolia trunk

Inside one of his shade houses. He gave away a lot of palms to our Palm Society members.

[Jeff in St Pete]

Phoenix roebelenii

2 Satakentia liukiuensis

[Jeff in St Pete]

Iriartea deltoidea trunk

The back of the SUV was packed with palms for the 3.5 hour ride home! I'll try and take some photos of my stash tomorrow.

That's most of the palm photos. I will post some more photos of his garden and of the meeting here Costa Rican Palm Society meeting

I'll try to get those photos posted tomorrow.

Thanks Dewayne and Cristina for hosting our meeting and opening your garden to us! Also a big thanks for the seeds and palms!

[Jeff in St Pete]

That Areca vestiaria looks great, how old do you reckon it is? Dr Dewayne Richardson has a great garden and something to be proud of. Thanks for the photos.

Cheers

Mike

Mike, I didn't take a photo of the name tag which would have included the date it was planted. Sorry!

[Jeff in St Pete]

WOW, Awesome Jeff! Caribbean side or Atlantic side?

Bill, he is located in the San Jose area.

[Kris]

Dear Jeff

That's a fentastic garden,with lots of beautiful palms & your coverage of that garden has come out very well !

Thanks for the tour,

Lots of love,

Kris