HIPS meeting 10 Dec 2006

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Hawaii Island Palm Society had a garden tour today at UHH (University of Hawaii Hilo). Dr. Don Hemmes, who retired earlier this year after 34 years at UHH, was our guide, and when it comes to cycad and palm expertise Don is a real pro. Don has been the driving force at UHH, planting all sorts of exotic cycads and palms, and today's garden tour included both.

At first I was thinking of putting the cycad photos in the "Non palm section" of the Forum, but at second thought that seemed silly. This was an "integrated" tour that included both, so I'm going to sneak in some cycad photos here. We started out in the cycad garden, but Don had planted a bunch of Syagrus amara for shade, and here's one of them. The tall guy just to the left of the palm (San Clemente t-shirt!) is Jerry Andersen ("jdapalms").

BTW, in case anyone pulls up this thread please wait until the end to make any comments. I will make a special note when I'm posting the last photo.

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Ceratozamia robusta

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Macrozamia lucida

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And here's a shot of Don Hemmes (with microphone) in the UHH cycad garden.

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Microcycas calocoma

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And here's a view of the UHH cycad garden, which for the most part is on this 45 degree slope.

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And after a short walk we were at the main UHH palm collection. Here's Don Hemmes (center, with microphone) and a couple of Elaeis guineensis. The palms have been planted parallel to a dry river bed. Well, it's dry most of the time. If we have heavy rains, there's going to be plenty of water coming down from Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa (behind the palms in this photo).

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Fruiting Hyphaene coriacea. Grows extremely well despite Hilo's 130 inches of rain perf year!

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Fruiting Heterospathe intermedia. There were three of these little beauties, side by side.

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About 60 people showed up, and here's part of the group with a couple of Pigafetta elata in the background. Palm to the right is a Veitchia joannies.

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And here the group is passing by a group of Neoveitchia storckii that just started fruiting recently.

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A real elegant palm: Actinorhytis calapparia. Three of them to be exact!

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And taking a few steps back, the three Actinorhytis calapparia are still very much visible, and the big palm on the right is a Metroxylon vitiense.

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Heterospathe longipes, formerly known as Alsmithia longipes.

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A young, but still impressive, Mauritia flexuosa. And that's Garrin Fullington ("Garrin" here on the IPS Forum) just to the left of it.

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And this is my last photo. This is looking back where we just came from with the UHH campus to our right and the dry river bed on the extreme left and the palm garden running parallel in between.

[Dypsisdean]

Thanks for the shots Bo,

Sorry I missed it, but looks like there was a great turnout.

I sure do like those Actinorhytis. It's hard to believe my plants with the 6 foot super straight fronds will develop into such a curved frond. And so quickly too.

[Zac in NC]

Very nice pics Bo. Those palms and cycads sure look nice.

Zac

[paulgila]

sweet pics!#13 is my personal favorite!

[Kris]

Dear Bo Goran  

All the stills did steal my heart_Simply Lovely.

And cycas seen in post no_3 & 5 JUST ROCKS.

Thanks for sharing those lovely moments of your

HIPS Meeting

Love,

Kris.

[STEVE IN SO CAL]

Thx for the effort, Bo. Aside from the palms...interesting to see the overcast sky, and people in shorts. If the skies looked as ominous here in socal, it'd be cold and windy.

[bgl]

Thanks for the comments, everyone! And Steve, that's a very typical "Hilo sky" and it was actually a very sunny day yesterday. Most of the time the sky is even more "interesting". Which is great. More clouds also mean somewhat cooler temperatures, and hopefully a chance for rain! Which is good news if you grow palms!

[Jeff Searle]

Bo,

    Thanks for the shots. I really enjoyed going there while attending the biennial in Hawaii. I considered it a treat.

Jeff

[Al in Kona]

Nice pics Bo.  Sorry I missed the meeting.  I plan to be at the next one tho' - the Annual HIPS Dinner & Palm Auction - Feb 2, right?

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Al,

Yep, we had a great day at UHH! And yes, the next event is the BBQ in Wailoa River State Park in Hilo Friday evening Feb. 2nd. A notice will obviously be mailed out well in advance.

For those of you who're not familiar with HIPS, this is the big event of the year. At the BBQ in Jan 2006 I believe we had something like 147 people attending. Considering that HIPS only had about 160 members or so at the time, that's pretty remarkable. I believe we're up to about 200 members now.

So, for those of you who want to join the fun and grow palms in an ideal location, ready, set, go...

Bo-Göran

[SubTropicRay]

Beautiful photos Bo.  Thanks for another glimpse of paradise.