First Palm planting of the year

[Chester B]

I went to Gardenpalooza this weekend in Aurora, OR, and happened upon a couple nice 5 gallon Chamerops humilis cerifera that I couldn't pass up for the price.  First one is planted out and both are just showing signs of flowering.   The trachys in the background look terrible, but I got them for a deal at the end of last summer due to their condition.  The winter and our east wind really yellowed them out but new growth is green and I've started hitting them with palm fertilizer so they should look decent my summer's end.

[Ben OK]

4 hours ago, Chester B said:

I went to Gardenpalooza this weekend in Aurora, OR, and happened upon a couple nice 5 gallon Chamerops humilis cerifera that I couldn't pass up for the price.  First one is planted out and both are just showing signs of flowering.   The trachys in the background look terrible, but I got them for a deal at the end of last summer due to their condition.  The winter and our east wind really yellowed them out but new growth is green and I've started hitting them with palm fertilizer so they should look decent my summer's end.

They look great! I hope they do well for you. I bought one about that size at a Lowe's or Home Depot about 5 years ago. It got snow and ice down in the crown one winter and the main trunk rotted and died. I had about 5 off shoots that survived though. I tried separating the trunks and potting them up individually...big mistake. All but one of the plants died. I have taken good care of it though and it is still doing well.

All that to say... don't be dumb like I was and I think you'll be very happy with them.

[Chester B]

13 hours ago, Ben OK said:

They look great! I hope they do well for you. I bought one about that size at a Lowe's or Home Depot about 5 years ago. It got snow and ice down in the crown one winter and the main trunk rotted and died. I had about 5 off shoots that survived though.

I did the exact same thing with the very first one I bought.  Due to my lack of knowledge I planted in clay in a low spot and it got drenched and we had one of the worst winters in history here.  I left the suckers and two years later its starting to look pretty decent again, much larger than the one above.  I've done a lot of work on my soil and have been mounding my gardens to improve drainage where required.