New Year 2016 Garden Photos - Cape Coral, FL

[PalmatierMeg]

Over the holidays I took "Moment in Time" photos of the various gardens I have created on our 0.61 acre property. My focus has been on palms while my husband is our flowering-tropical-tree man. As it is January, our trees are not in flower, except for African tulip which flowers much of the year.

I began with shots of our house and Caribbean Garden from the north. The Caribbean Garden features dozens of my favorite genus: Coccothrinax. These palms are native to most of the Caribbean, love heat and sun and grow happily in my alkaline soil. But the stand-out is our massive fruiting Cocos nucifera dwarf red spicata hybrid.

View of the Caribbean Garden from the east

on the east side of the house is a narrow palm garden. Than is screened by "Sabal Row", which is actually on the vacant lot next door. I germinated several species of Sabal in 2008-2009 and planted seedlings to block our view of the new but uninhabited (from 2004-2009) house beyond.

Garden of the Golden Canes. I planted individual Dypsis lutescens seedlings I germinated on the vacant lot's berm leading down to the canal to beautify and help prevent erosion.

[PalmatierMeg]

One of my great joys is my "World's Smallest Jungle". It is densely planted with dozens of species of Chamaedorea, Dypsis, Kentiopsis, Archnotophoenix, Howea, Rhapis, Veitchia as well as the occasional Burretiokentia, Neoveitchia and Ptychosperma. It is accessible via one path, otherwise you have to pick your way through.

First photos are views from the east

View from the NE

Views from the lanai looking south across the canal (screened by palms)

 

Two views from down on our dock looking up toward the northeast

 

[PalmatierMeg]

On the west side of the sidewalk leading down to the dock is the garden I call "Back Yard West." It has plenty of palms: Cocos, Chambeyronia macrocarpa and Houailou, Dypsis pembana, Beccariophoenix alfredii, Archonotophoenix maxima, Carpoxylon and more. But it is not as densely planted as the jungle.

Back Yard West from the dock

Chambeyronia macrocarpa grove from the walk. I have 7-8 of them planted together.

My one Chambeyronia Houailou

Back Yard West from the NE

From the back of the house looking south

From the corner of the house looking southeast

West side garden looking north

That's all for tonight. I'll post photos of our 125' x125' Garden Lot later. Thanks for looking.

 

[Palmaceae]

Meg, looking great as usual!

[Yunder Wækraus]

Beautiful!!!!!

[Mr. Coconut Palm]

Meg,

I love your tropical paradise, especially your coconut palm.  I am doing something similar with my yard here in Corpus Christi, but without as many exotics as you have.  I would be happy if my coconut palms could get to be 1/2 to 2/3 the size of yours and have even a few nuts on them.

[dmc]

Place looks great Meg thanks for the pics.

Dominic

[Kai]

Amazing! Thanks for the nice visuals!

[Palms4Steve]

Stunning garden.

[Keith N Tampa (ex SoJax)]

Fantastic Meg!  Things have grown a tremendous amount since we were there (late 2012 or early 2013).  And, by the way, how have things adapted to the loss of the queen palms?

[PalmatierMeg]

2 hours ago, Keith in SoJax said:

Fantastic Meg!  Things have grown a tremendous amount since we were there (late 2012 or early 2013).  And, by the way, how have things adapted to the loss of the queen palms?

Overall things have done well. Some palms in the jungle, i.e. Howeas, Rhapis, Chamaedoreas, have suffered sunburn from loss of canopy. But my bifid leaf oil palm is starting to provide some of that and I strategically planted some small Veitchias and Ptycho elegans. They grow very fast and should soon shield understory plants.

Thanks, all, for the kind words.

[redbeard917]

You definitely have a green thumb. Looks great.

[realarch]

Thanks for the tour, nice and lush planting. Lots of work and well maintained.

Tim

[IHB1979]

Looks amazing Meg! Can't wait to see the next set of photos.

[DoomsDave]

Magnificent!

[PalmatierMeg]

Some photos of our Garden Lot. I will be doing a companion "Then and Now" topic showing its progress.

Allagoptera arenaria

Allagoptera brevicalyx

Allagoptera leucocalyx

Attalea cohune

Borassus flabellifer from seeds I received from Kris in India

Butia purpurascens settling in on the west edge

16' x16' Coccothrinax planter bed

Coccothrinax borhidiana

[PalmatierMeg]

Copernicia baileyana

Copernicia prunifera

My Dyckia Patio - I sell plants and seeds to pay for palm purchases.

Container palms for planting or sale

Bismarckias on the west side to block view of LCEC substation

16' x16' planter bed with Gaussia maya, Pseudophoenix sargentii & vinifera, Coccothrinax spissa, Syagrus kellyana & flexuosa

In late 2013 we installed a 10x16' hurricane-code-compliant Garden Shed. My husband built a shadecloth covered 8x8' wood patio where I do most of my  potting.

Garden shed from the north

View from the Garden Shed looking north down the access drive where we sometimes park our truck.

My husband Tim sits next to the shed with our blind orange tabby Tommy. We take him for daily walks around the property. Can we herd cats? Yes, at least sightless ones

.

[PalmatierMeg]

Sabal minor Wakulla Dwarf - gets only 18" tall x 36" wide.

Syagrus flexuosa - puts out only a handful of seeds at a time. I'm trying to germinate 2014 crop

Syagrus kellyana - one of two I germinated.

Livistona saribus green form

Our favorite agave, Agave ovatifolia. It shrugs off our hot, humid, rainy summers, always looks great

 

[Daryl]

Your garden looks great Meg!

 

[Doug G]

Awesome garden! Thanks for sharing!

[Cindy Adair]

Meg and Tim,

You have done a fantastic job! My jungle will never be that neat and organized. You have so many beautiful specimens. Thanks so much for sharing.

[edric]

Looking real good Meg, Ed

[Walt]

Very nice, impressive, and highly diversified garden -- especially on .61 acres.

[Jose Maria]

Incredible collection of palms from all over. I hope one day to have that many,

Congratulations Meg. 

[Silas_Sancona]

On 1/7/2016, 5:40:45, PalmatierMeg said:

Sabal minor Wakulla Dwarf - gets only 18" tall x 36" wide.

Syagrus flexuosa - puts out only a handful of seeds at a time. I'm trying to germinate 2014 crop

Syagrus kellyana - one of two I germinated.

Livistona saribus green form

Our favorite agave, Agave ovatifolia. It shrugs off our hot, humid, rainy summers, always looks great

 

Garden looks GREAT Meg.. Awesome  Agave. ovatifolia!!.. First time i have seen this species in a garden anywhere here in FL. Pictures of  more mature specimens of this species in habitat on another forum are stunning. Wonder how well Agave parryii var. truncata would handle the summer conditions. "Huntington Form" is spectacular.

Edited January 9, 2016 by Silas_Sancona

[PalmatierMeg]

I've tried parryi. They couldn't take my summers.

[Palmcycasnut]

Awesome pictures and garden! Nice to see where all my seeds came from 

[Danilopez89]

NICE! VERY NICE!

 

[foxtail]

Wow, I almost lost this topic.

Good job Meg, extremely beautiful.

[RedRabbit]

What a garden, thanks a lot for sharing all the pictures! I really like all the Chambeyronia. I initially wasn't planning on getting one since I'm not too confident in how they'll fare here, but after seeing Mike Evans' big Chambeyronia I had to have one. They're really gorgeous palms...

I didn't see any Satakentia liukiuensis in your garden, if I lived in Cape Coral I'd definitely get a few.  

Btw, if I recall correctly from my business law courses back in college, if you occupy that vacant lot for more than 7yrs you should be able to legally claim it as yours. Not sure if that is something you'd be interested in, but I think everyone here would like to see your garden keep expanding. 

 

Edited March 15, 2016 by RedRabbit