Back from the jungle

[Urban Rainforest]

We just got back from another epic adventure to our little slice of paradise on the big island of Hawaii! We brought my son Ty this time and he was a good sport helping us in the garden (a little ) but he was rewarded with many snorkeling and hiking trips to Kona side and beyond. It was'nt all fun and games as we had not been there in a year and in Hawaii weeds grow at warp speed! Here is a Dypsis Decipiens That I planted last year buried in weeds.

[Urban Rainforest]

And unburied.

[Urban Rainforest]

Find the Vellonia Alba .

[Urban Rainforest]

This particular weed was eight feet tall and tough as nails! I was'nt sure there was still a palm in there but after doing some serious weeding I found her but alas very stunted due to root competetion. Vellonia Alba.

[Urban Rainforest]

Some of the palms made great gains in the last year though. Here is one that totally amazed me as a year ago it barely had a ring of trunk and now it has a foot of clear trunk that is 6" in dia. Here is a pic of Bentinckia Condapanna from one year ago.

[Urban Rainforest]

A close up of the trunkal region.

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And a couple of pics of the same palm 1 year later.

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Nice color on this one!

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And finally a pic of the fatty trunk .

[Urban Rainforest]

The other one that really surprised me was the Mad Fox. This thing had no pinnate fronds a year ago and now it has 6 and was opening a 7th as we left. I have it in a rather exposed area and the fronds are flawless and thick in texture. Here is a pic from one year ago.

[Urban Rainforest]

Here is a couple pics from one year later. It is about 3 ft. tall and has a 4" dia. base .

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Another showing the trunkal region.

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And one more pic showing the newest spear ready to open probably tommorow. Oh well I guess timing is everything .

[Urban Rainforest]

And that brings me to one of my other favs that blew up this year. Actually 2. Both of my Lemurs went from just under 3 ft. to 6 ft. in one year . Someone said these were slow . Ckeck it out before.

[Urban Rainforest]

And one year later.

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The other one.

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And lots of color .

[Urban Rainforest]

Thats it for the before and after pics as I have to keep switching files but you get the idea of the crazy growth rates. Someone told me that it's like your best growing month in Cali. year round. I know you guys like the mo bigga mo betta Dypsis so here goes with a few. Dypsis Prestoniana 8 ft. tall.

[Urban Rainforest]

Da base.

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Dypsis Tsarovosira.

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Dypsis Carlsmithii 9 ft. tall.

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And Dypsis Pilulifera. Well, Im gonna hit the rack but to be continued for sure!

Later,

Stevo

[bgl]

Steve,

it was great to see you and Steph again! And this is really deja vu - seems like I just saw all those palms! You must be thrilled with how they're doing!

Bo-Göran

[Urban Rainforest]

Steve,

it was great to see you and Steph again! And this is really deja vu - seems like I just saw all those palms! You must be thrilled with how they're doing!

Bo-Göran

Thanks Bo, It was great to see you and Karolyn as well! The deja vu thing is funny and yes I am very happy with the growth of my palms there. As you know my garden is still small and you can view the whole thing in about 10 min. . I was also very happy with the rain as we got a little every night and 2 nights it dumped! The funniest thing happened this morning and it happened when we bought the place and the owners told us it would happen is it poured rain for 10 min. on one side of the property while the other side was dry. Strange indeed .

Take care,

Stevo

[Walter John]

Great growth, only in Hawaii, wowza, thanks for posting..

[BS Man about Palms]

Its almost worth buying property there just to get big Lemur's that grow unattended....

[Urban Rainforest]

Great growth, only in Hawaii, wowza, thanks for posting..

Thanks Wal, I'll post more later.

Stevo

[Urban Rainforest]

Its almost worth buying property there just to get big Lemur's that grow unattended....

Yeah, Lemurs and all the free water you could ever want... it's so worth it! After 3 of us being there for 2 weeks using the water for everything I checked our water catchment before we left and it was right at the overflow point!

Stevo

[Kim]

Hey Steve, thanks for the photos illustrating the rapid growth of your palms, I'm eating it up!! It's very exciting to see the strap-leaved Mad Fox morph into something completely different! Plus all the colorful bling planted around it, and the deep emerald green of the palm itself give me chills and make my heart race. I don't know if it's the pure rain, the sunshine, or what, but garden colors in Hawaii just flat out bowl me over.

[Urban Rainforest]

Hey Steve, thanks for the photos illustrating the rapid growth of your palms, I'm eating it up!! It's very exciting to see the strap-leaved Mad Fox morph into something completely different! Plus all the colorful bling planted around it, and the deep emerald green of the palm itself give me chills and make my heart race. I don't know if it's the pure rain, the sunshine, or what, but garden colors in Hawaii just flat out bowl me over.

Kim, I'm glad your enjoying the pics. The Mad Fox was the stunner for me too. It was like a butterfly coming out of it's coccoon . I can't take credit for all the bling as some of it was inherited but I did plant alot more this time to eat up some of the dirt so the weeds have less room to germinate. As far as the pics and vibrant colors the conditions change all the time over there so you almost have to be ready with your camera when the conditions are best. I'll post some more for ya.

Stevo

[Urban Rainforest]

This is one I was told was fast but initially it was a little slow. This last year it shot up like a rocket! Pinanga Speciosa.

[Urban Rainforest]

And here is the reason I planted it. Deep purple crownshaft!

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Several of the palms that I planted first 2 years ago are near to trunking. The 3 Neoveitchia Storkii's I planted fall into this category. Here is one of my Neo's.

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Here is another.

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And here is one of the emerging crownshaft starting to show the black coloration that this species is so famous for .

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Another one of my favorites is Dypsis Saintlucei. This one planted last year has just about doubled in size.

[Urban Rainforest]

Beautifull white crownshaft.

[osideterry]

Whether in California or Hawaii, you seem to have knack for getting palms to crank out insane colorful glauscicity.

Edited September 3, 2009 by osideterry

[Peter]

Great shots Steve-any photos of your oropedionis?

[Urban Rainforest]

Whether in California or Hawaii, you seem to have knack for getting palms to crank out insane colorful glauscicity.

Terry, Thanks, but I don't believe it's anything magical that I do as much as these colorfull palms are the ones I seek. Especially the white Dypsis!

Stevo