Affiliate News- October 2014

[mike in kurtistown]

BRISBANE PALM AND CYCAD SOCIETY

September-October 2014

Above: Bentinckia nicobarica at New Farm Park

Brisbane Palm & Cycad Society

P O Box 376

Ashgrove, Qld Australia 4060

Ph: (07) 5524 8630 Mob: 0407 020 003

Aims of the Society

To promote an understanding and love for all types of palms and cycads which can be grown in the South East Queensland locality.

MEETINGS are held at Milton State School, Bayswater Street, Milton, on the 4th Tuesday of January, March, May, July, September and November at 7:30pm.

OUTINGS are held on the 4th Sunday of February, April, June, August and October , plus an end of year function in December.

OFFICE BEARERS 2012-2014

PRESIDENT……………………….Michael Green

SECRETARY………………………Carmen Forster

TREASURER………………………Carmen Forster

EDITOR……………………………. Daryl O'Connor

PATRON………………………… Mr. Ross McKinnon AM

LAST MEETING:

David Tanswell gave us a wonderful presentation on his Post Biennial trip to Cuba. As usual, it was an informative an interesting account of what appeared to be a great event. Thanks very much David.

LAST OUTING:

Unfortunately the weather turned against us and the day was cool and gloomy. A small group of die-hards ventured out and were treated to an informative tour of Roma street Parklands by Greg Smith, who supplied the design and plants for the palm section of the garden. The growth there has been phenomenal, and is a credit to the gardeners who maintain this public garden.

After touring the Parklands, we drove over to New Farm Park to look at the plantings of less common palm species there, as suggested by John Woodbridge. We were treated to quite a surprise, finding some healthy examples of some less commonly planted palms.

[mike in kurtistown]

Central Florida Palm & Cycad Society

September 2014

CFPACS Board PRESIDENT

Lucinda McCartney

4217 Marlin Ln.

Palmetto, FL 34221

president@cfpacs.com

EAST VICE-PRESIDENT

Janice Broda

12396 Hwy. A1A

Vero Beach, FL 32963

eastvp@cfpacs.com

CENTRAL VICE-PRESIDENT

Ron Hart

1008 Little Fawn Ct.

Apopka, FL 32712

centralvp@cfpacs.com

WEST VICE-PRESIDENT

Mike Evans

6015 - 100th Way N.

St. Petersburg FL 33708

westvp@cfpacs.com

IMMEDIATE PAST-PRESIDENT

David Reid

100 Hilliard Ln.

Merritt Island, FL 32952

pastpresident@cfpacs.com

SECRETARY

Chuck Grieneisen

PO Box 621689

Oviedo FL 32762

secretary@cfpacs.com

TREASURER

Maryann Krisovitch

1008 Little Fawn Ct.

Apopka, FL 32712

treasurer@cfpacs.com

MEMBERSHIP CHAIR

Karen Barrese

5942 Ehren Cutoff

Land O Lakes, FL 34639

cfpacsmembership@msn.com

PALMATEER EDITOR

John Kennedy

3225 - 13th St.

Vero Beach FL 32960

palmateer@cfpacs.com

CFPACS SEED BANK

Dorothy Kellogg

1807 Jiretz Rd.

Odessa, FL 33556

seedbank@cfpacs.com

MEETING COORDINATORS

Susan Dow & Rob Branch

1314 38th St.

Sarasota, FL 34234

meetings@cfpacs.com

The Central Florida Palm & Cycad Society service area includes the following counties: Alachua, Brevard, Citrus, DeSoto, Flagler,

Hardee, Hernando, Highlands, Hillsborough, Indian River, Lake, Levy, Manatee, Marion, Okeechobee, Orange, Osceola, Pasco, Pinellas, Polk, Putnam, Sarasota, Seminole, St. Lucie, Sumter, Suwannee, and Volusia.

June Meeting Report: CFPACS Goes to Leu

On a hot and sunny day in June, the Society returned to Leu Gardens in Orlando. It had been about six years since our last visit and there have been many changes. With over 50 CFPACS members in attendance, Palm Master Eric Schmidt began by telling us the history of the garden and the Leu family. Also joining us on our tour was Leu Gardens’ Executive Director, Robert Bowden. The Gardens have been a wonderful supported of CFPACS and we greatly appreciate their hospitality. Several times a year, Eric provides us with palms he has propagated to sell at our meeting auctions.

Although Leu Gardens has an extensive palm and cycad area, our tour wound through nearly the entire garden as Eric has inserted palms and cycads into various locations. Cameras were snapping all over! We noted a beautiful Rakum Palm, Salacca wallichiana (Fig 1) which is a spiny clustering palm reaching4-6 feet. It bears large scaly fruit that are sweet and edible. The Rakum prefers moist fertile soil and shade or partial sun. It is native to southeast Asia..

The Palm Garden contains over 250 species of palms. Many are cold hardy for the central Florida area. Some will be injured in a severe freeze but will recover. Many of the palms are being evaluated for cold-hardiness. This information is being shared with landscape professionals and homeowners alike in hopes of expanding the palette of palms used in the

Florida landscape.

Fig. 1. Salacca wallichiana. Ray Hernández

stands at a respectful distance from those impressive spines.

(Photos by Maryann Krisovitch)

Fig. 2. Jucara Palm, Euterpe edulis.

Another interesting palm was the Jucara (Euterpe edulis) (Fig 2) which can reach 20-30 feet. The palm prefers full to partial shade and moist soil. It is native from eastern Brazil to Paraguay and northeastern Argentina. The Black Palm (Normanbya normanbyi) (Fig 3), is found growing in rain forests up to 30-40 feet tall. It is cold sensitive and grows best in full shade with moist soil. It is native to Queensland, Australia. Native to northeastern Australia, the Cooktown Fan Palm (Livistona concinna) (Fig 4) grows 30-50 feet tall in partial shade and moist soil.

Following a quick lunch off property, members enjoyed a lively plant auction and sale. Many thanks to all who donated items for the auction! Our tour ended at the famous four-trunk Phoenix sylvestris.

Fig. 3, the Black Palm, Normanbya normanbyi,

with President Lucinda McCartney for scale.

Fig. 4, the Cooktown Fan Palm,

Livistona concinna.

Fig 5 – Sabal palmetto “Lisa”, a CFPACS favorite of the day.

Young Collection Planted at Kopsick & Sunken Gardens, St. Pete

By Phil Stager

In late January 2014, the St. Petersburg City Council authorized the expenditure of $300,000 to purchase and relocate the Dr. U.A.Young cycad collection. Funding was from the Weeki Wachi Fund, established upon the sale of Weeki Wachi springs as part of the water wars settlement several years ago. Weeki Wachi funds can only be spent on waterfront and parks and recreation type projects. Since the City purchased the entire cycad collection, the Young estate also granted the City “salvage” rights to the palms, landscape boulders, and other plant material on the property.

Morelli Landscaping was chosen to relocate the cycads and palms. The work was accomplished under the direct supervision of CFPACS member Tom Broome. Over the next several months approximately 250 large cycads and ten large and twenty smaller or clumping palms were relocated to the Kopsick Palm Arboretum except for some of the crown jewels in the collection which were planted at Sunken Gardens, e.g.:

Cycas scratchleyana – the only one in North America and from wild collected seed.

Encephalartos manikensis

Microcycas calocoma

Cycas scratchleyana (Screw Pine fruit at top)

By mid August 2014, many of the cycads planted at Kopsick were flushing.

General views of the Young cycads at their new home in St. Petersburg.

Although not all transplanted cycads have flushed yet, a 99%+ survival rate is expected. Work remaining to be accomplished includes the following:

1. install concrete curbing around the new planting beds. (The first curbing contractor was terminated for lack of performance.)

2. install approximately 20 more cycads now in storage at Kopsick;

3. install mulch on all new and old planting beds. We will use pine bark mulch for most beds since it will last several years longer than the City’s recycled mulch. The use of a stone mulch in select areas is still under consideration.

4. install approximately 275 new cycad and palm ID signs. The new cycad ID signs will be quite different from the existing palm ID signs which have been a maintenance headache. A dedication ceremony is planned for early 2015.

I wish to express my personal thanks to the following groups and individuals for their help and support in this major project:

CFPACS for a $5k commitment to the project. Fortunately, we will not require the funds since the project is coming in right on budget.

My two main volunteers, Tom St. Peter and Nate Bowden, for the hundreds of hours of work.

Linda Seuffert of the City Parks & Recreation Department for her patience and support throughout the project.

[mike in kurtistown]

Message to IPS Members and Affiliates Concerning the Affiliate News

I have been tasked by the IPS President to develop an electronic version of the news of IPS Affiliates similar to the printed version presented by the late Jim Cain. Reviewing Jim's work, it is clear that Jim reported on past events (that had already occurred), but rarely included upcoming meeting announcements. Jim also usually included some general information about the Affiliate and a list of officers with their contact information.

Many Affiliates are quite diligent at posting announcements about upcoming meetings or events in the Affiliate News Section of Palmtalk, but reports of past events and activities are a lot harder to come by, even when one is a member of four societies, as I am, and receive electronic newsletters from all of them. I have received only a few reports from other groups.

So, I am flagging a need here for reports in electronic form from more Affiliates. Like Jim, I believe that it is important that Affiliate groups receive some international exposure for their efforts. Contact information is also important so that communications can be established when needed.

Please note that use of Palmtalk for Affiliate reports permits the use of photos, as is amply illustrated in this month's selection of reports. Although I haven't actually tried it yet, it should be possible to include Spanish or French versions to accompany English versions. Perhaps even Chinese, Japanese, or Hindi versions could be done. It would be fun to try.

Presently, it is something of a chore to upload reports within the present Palmtalk engine . The basic problem is the lack of capability for directly uploading Word or Acrobat files. A lot of cutting and pasting needs to be done (although I am happy to do it). Text and pictures can be uploaded, albeit somewhat indirectly, and text usually needs to be reformatted. However, it it is hoped that the new Website engine under construction will make the addition of reports much easier. Perhaps it could even be done directly from the Affiliate without having to go through an intermediary.

Nevertheless, the need for a process of receiving and organizing reports will remain. For the present, please send reports to Mike Merritt, merritt4154@gmail.com, and I will do my best to assist.