The Garden of Dr. Dewayne Richardson

[Dypsisdean]

Very nice garden Jeff. Thanks for taking the time to post.

[Palmə häl′ik]

You da man Jeff. Thanks for the photos.

I need some tissue now to wipe off my keyboard...

~Ray.

[John in Andalucia]

Amazing-looking place, Jeff and thanks for another great palm-photo journal! The palm in #34 is perhaps Geonoma gamiova? Does that sound familiar?

[SubTropicRay]

All I can say is wow!

[PalmsZA]

Hey Jeff

Firstly: thanks for those great pics!

Secondly: the palm beetle you refer to, is that the rhino beetle that bores a monster hole into the palms heart? If so what is the Dr. using to catch them? I am soo tired of these buggers killing and abusing my palms!

Cheers

Dennis

[palmislandRandy]

Another magnificent garden Thanks for taking the time to post the photos!

[Jeff in St Pete]

Amazing-looking place, Jeff and thanks for another great palm-photo journal! The palm in #34 is perhaps Geonoma gamiova? Does that sound familiar?

John, I checked his list and I do not see G. gamiova listed. Here is his list of Geonoma in his collection:

G. congesta

G. cuneata

G. ferruginea

G. interrupta

G. leptospadix

G. longevaginata

G. macrostachys

G. maxima chelidondura

G. procumbens

G. stricta

G. undata

G. species

[Jeff in St Pete]

Hey Jeff

Firstly: thanks for those great pics!

Secondly: the palm beetle you refer to, is that the rhino beetle that bores a monster hole into the palms heart? If so what is the Dr. using to catch them? I am soo tired of these buggers killing and abusing my palms!

Cheers

Dennis

Hi Dennis, they call them Rhynchophorus palmarum and they use pheromones to trap them. It's big business here because of all the African Oil Palms growing in Costa Rica. Forum member Jose Maria knows a lot more about this than I do. Maybe he will jump in here and provide some information.

[TikiRick]

Jeff...thanks for the tour.

You got a load of seedlings...be sure to post what you stole, ah got as a gift, from them!

[paulgila]

what an amazing garden! great coverage,jeff!

[Walt]

Great palm photos, Jeff. Dr. Richardson is a man after my own heart! I really liked that Livistona species, too. Thanks for taking the time to upload all those outstanding photos. Seeing all those palms make me want to go out right now in my garden and plant a palm -- or two -- or three....

[bubba]

Jeff, Thank you for a great tour! That Areca vestiara among others is a mind blower!

[realarch]

Nice photos Jeff, Dr. Richardson is quite a pioneer with the species in his garden. He must have some interesting stories on how he acquired many of them. Can't imagine the challenge collecting twenty or thirty years ago. Pretty exciting stuff when you get to see a great palm garden. It's like falling in love over and over again.

Tim

[kylecawazafla]

THOSE PHOTOS ARE SPECTACULAR!! His selection of palms is very different from what you see in most tropical US gardens!! I love the variety!

[palmcurry]

Thanks for the pictutres Jeff. Always nice to take a little visual trip to Costa Rica.

[bayside mike]

Thanks for taking time to share those wonderful stills.

Lucky you man.

[Jeff Searle]

Jeff,

As usual, your always sharing interesting stories from CR. What a nice garden, to say the least! All the times I've been down there, I never heard of his garden. Well, thanks for sharing and great pictures.

Jeff

[Jose Maria]

Hi Dennis, they call them Rhynchophorus palmarum and they use pheromones to trap them. It's big business here because of all the African Oil Palms growing in Costa Rica. Forum member Jose Maria knows a lot more about this than I do. Maybe he will jump in here and provide some information.

I just saw my name , thanks Jeff .

We have about 57000 hectareas of oilpalm planted in Costa Rica, enough for the local market and exports, but this beetle problem almost brought the whole industry down a few years ago. The control is now legally enforced but is not complicated nor expensive.

It all boils down to having traps( empty one gallon jars wth holes cut in them) made out of " feromones", that hang from a little wire above a gallon jar with some diluted molasses. The beetles are attracted form hundreds of meters around and drown in the molasses. ( The former design was with pieces if sugar cane or pineapple and an insecticide. This new design does not need any insecticide)

The trap is hung at 1,2 meters above the ground on a palmtrunk. One trap is for 5 hectares and must be inspected every 15 days to monitor the amount of dead bugs. The feromone is replaced after 3 months.

This must be maintained "Secula seculorum"( for ever ) but it controls the beetles very well.

Diseased palms get poisoned with a herbicide inyected in the trunk. No palms may be cut down if they are not imediately burned or diposed of, because they harbour the bugs...The poisoning of diseased palms is the best way to stop the weevils from multiplying. Since there is a nematode transported by the weevils that kills the palms, they wont recover.

In some areas ( in other countries like Spain..)where there are no nematodes that damage the palms,palms might recover from an insecticide inyection, but I have no pratical knowledge from this treatment;only comments from Spain and Mexico.

[Jeff in St Pete]

Jeff...thanks for the tour.

You got a load of seedlings...be sure to post what you stole, ah got as a gift, from them!

I felt like I was stealing Rick He was very generous, as are all the members of our little palm society. He sent me home with 5 nice sized Drymophloeus oliviformis, 2 Pinanga caesia, 2 Lytocaryum weddellianum, 1 Hydriastele pinangoides, and a Syagrus seedling. He had some monster Syagrus growing on his property that were unlike anything I have ever seen before. I need to ask him again which species he gave me. I also received a nice sized Neonicholsonia watsonii given to me by Jose Maria. I think I have some seedlings of these, but I was thrilled to get a nicely started plant. This was all part of a palm swap that we have been doing after every meeting. It's supposed to be a palm auction, but we always run out of time and just end up swapping palms. Many people have a 3+ hour ride home, so folks can't always stay until the end. Now that we have a full Board of Directors who can meet to discuss business, the rest of our members can enjoy touring great palm gardens (like Dr. Richardson's) and we'll still have plenty of time to do an auction.

[Jeff in St Pete]

Nice photos Jeff, Dr. Richardson is quite a pioneer with the species in his garden. He must have some interesting stories on how he acquired many of them. Can't imagine the challenge collecting twenty or thirty years ago. Pretty exciting stuff when you get to see a great palm garden. It's like falling in love over and over again.

Tim

Tim, I would love to sit down with him and hear all about it! I hope to be able to do that someday soon.

What I find amazing is everything in that garden was planted after 1990.

[edric]

Amazing photos Jeff, Ed

[PalmsZA]

Ah thanks Jeff and Jose!

It looks as if the beetle in question is the American Palm Weevil. It would appear that our enemy here is Oryctes monoceros, the African Rhino beetle and another the coconut rhino beetle...I am going to do some searching to see if there is a feremone for these bad-boys!

Thanks

Dennis

[Gileno Machado]

Thanks Jeff for showing us this lovely diverse Palm collection. I'm inspired by seeing some grown up specimens for the seedlings I've germinated during the last few years. Is the Cryosophylla warscewiczii growing in full sun? That Geonoma is truly beautiful...Congrats for the new seedlings too.

[Jose Maria]

Thanks Jeff for showing us this lovely diverse Palm collection. I'm inspired by seeing some grown up specimens for the seedlings I've germinated during the last few years. Is the Cryosophylla warscewiczii growing in full sun? That Geonoma is truly beautiful...Congrats for the new seedlings too.

Gileno,

As you asked about the Cryosophila warscewiczii, there are many large( guagara in the indian language) palms growing in the forests around here, I would say up to 10 meters high some in full sun.

Some gardeners take seedlings to their garden and they do fine in full sun.

[Moose]

Jeff - thank you for taking the time posting and labeling the fantastic photos.

Costa Rica has such great soil and climate. For people on the east coast of the U.S.,

it is like going to Hawaii without the jet lag.

The Cost Rican Palm Society appears to be getting off to a great start!

Kindest regards,

Ron.

[Jeff in St Pete]

Thanks everyone for the kind words. Dr. Richardson has been reading this thread and I know he appreciates all the nice comments. One thing I forgot to mention earlier is that he was the first person to try and start a Costa Rican Palm Society. He tried about 12 years ago but couldn't seem to get much interest so the idea was dropped. Back then there was no internet here and getting in touch with people was very difficult since we are all spread out all over the country. The roads were much worse back then and it was harder to get places by car. With all the new roads, bridges and highways being completed this year, it will make it much easier to get around the country. Also since most everyone now has internet access, it makes organizing meetings much easier.

I finally got around to taking some photos of the palm stash he gave me.

Hydriastele pinangoides

another photo of the H. pinangoides

I forgot to mention this palm earlier.

Geonoma interrupta

[Jeff in St Pete]

5 Drymophloeus oliviformis

leaf detail

I love the crownshaft on these!

[Jeff in St Pete]

2 Lytocaryum weddellianum

Syagrus sp.

2 Pinanga caesia

P. caesia leaf

[Jeff in St Pete]

Neonicholsonia watsonii given to me by Jose Maria.

[bayside mike]

All I can say is :

Holy crap that's quite the collection.

[Kim]

Beautiful garden with lots of variety. Was it overwhelming to try to take it all in? I like the party favors, too!

Thanks for all the great photos.

[freakypalmguy]

Jeff,

Very nice tour of an awesome garden, thank you for taking the time.

Matt

[Jeff in St Pete]

Beautiful garden with lots of variety. Was it overwhelming to try to take it all in? I like the party favors, too!

Thanks for all the great photos.

Kim, it was overwhelming for me. It's one of those gardens where you have to stop and really look around, otherwise you will miss lots of things. He is very modest and had previously told me he was growing "a few palms" on his property. I was completely blown away when I got there. I was trying to keep up with the tour, take photos, look at id tags, plus I knew I didn't have much time before the meeting started so I quickly took as many photos as I could. There were flowers, garden art, crotons, and other colorful plants everywhere (see my other post under "Affiliate News and Meeting Dates" for more garden photos). After I got home and had a chance to read through his list of palm species, I realized that I missed many of them. I hope to be able to visit him again.

[Al in Kona]

Just got a chance to see this thread today and WOW what a garden he has! Is the property in a fairly high rainfall area or experience a definite dry season making some suplemental watering necesary? Approximate elevation? I can only echo what so many have already told you and that is, thank you very much for all your time and energy in posting these photos. You took home some choice palms as well. Lucky you.

[Jeff in St Pete]

I received an email from Dewayne with answers to some questions. I will copy and paste the info below:

Re: John in Andalucia -- The palm in post #34 is Calyptrocalyx hollrungii.

Re: Palms ZA -- Pheromone trapping of Rhynchophorus palmarum was developed in Costa Rica by Chiquita Brands. Dr. Carlos Chinchilla, pathologist of the Palm Research Program, working with Dr. C. A. Oehlschlager, a Canadian biochemist, perfected the trapping methods in 1992. These techniques have little application in Asia where different palm pests are found. Packets of pheromone can be obtained at <sales@asd-cr.com>

Since the pheromone is very effective and attracts insects from long distances, this technique is not as applicable to small gardens as large plantations. If you trap but none of your neighbors do , you will wind up with their Rhynchophorus as well as your own. In my experience the pheromone is very efficient, but the trap not so much. My wife and I actually catch more insects by hand than we do in the trap. The insects are very active between 5:00 and 6:15 P.M.

And in response to Al's questions:

Santa Ana has plenty of rainfall for palm growing, but unfortunately it is highly seasonal. We must irrigate from mid-December to early May. Winter winds are a problem. Santa Ana is at 910 meters (2,985 feet) above sea level

Dewayne

[OverGrown]

That collection is amazing! Great Post!

[Jeff in St Pete]

I finished resizing all the photos I took at the Richardson's and thought I would post the rest of them.

A couple more shots of his fabulous Areca vestiaria. I think Mike (The Palm Nut) asked how old it was. Before I resized one of the photos, I was able to zoom in on the name tag. The date appears to be 1995.

Nice chunky crownshaft

[Jeff in St Pete]

Arenga undulatifolia seeds

[Jeff in St Pete]

Looking up at Oenocarpus mapora (in the middle)

[Jeff in St Pete]

A couple more photos of Livistona sp.