In the Beginning with Palms........

[PalmatierMeg 5,939]

I confess I haven't been tending to my garden duties as diligently as I should but that's for a good cause. Two weeks ago my son and daughter-in-law, who work in the local health system, asked if I would be willing to sew them masks and hats to wear at work. Homemade PPEs aren't certified against coronavirus but hospitals and medical staff around here are desperate for any protection. How could I refuse? So, I dusted off my mother's 70-year-old plus Singer Featherweight sewing machine and my 30-year-old serger, obtained patterns and fabric and went to work. Visual impairment doesn't make sewing easy but I've managed to churn out enough masks and hats to make my children ecstatic. But all that stitching meant I haven't been able to weed, repot or take new photos.

But being quarantined in the house means I have time to dig through all the photos I've taken in the 12+ years I've been with IPS and PalmTalk. That blast from the past goes all the way back to April 2008 after I joined PalmTalk (in Jan.) then attended my first Extravaganza at Jeff Searle's palm garden of Eden circa April. I had forgotten how bare my yard was back then. And that the palms I eagerly bought were destined to be wiped out in the winter(s) of 2010. Still, they live on in photos.

My Caribbean Garden in front of the house was most developed at that time. We received sewer service in 2006 but before that the holding tank prevented a lot of digging and planting.

View of Caribbean Garden looking west.

I had planted several Coccothrinax spissa and sp seedlings away from the holding tank around 2006.

My first success at seed germination: Sabal palmetto I found down the street.

I decided to turn my south-facing, waterfront back yard into a jungle (which would be mostly destroyed in the winters of 2010). I already had a ready-made canopy for tropical palm seedlings in the form of 7 large queen palms planted overlooking the Isabelle Canal by a local nursery in 1993 - queens were the landscape-palms-de-rigueur during the 90s). But they served their purpose until fusarium wilt wiped them out in 2014/2015.

Bench planter with Chamaedorea cataractarum

Dypsis crinita

Areca concinna - one of my all time favorite palms since I bought this one from Jeff Searle in 2008. I babied it for nearly two years until it met its Waterloo in the record freeze of Jan. 2010 even though we tried all means of protection to save it.

Areca concinna and queens

Areca concinna and me

Finally, a photo of the newbie me peppering Jeff Searle with palm questions in 2008. He will likely never forgive me.

[DoomsDave 8,774]

@PalmatierMeg! Great pictures and thank you for your service!

[Cindy Adair 2,811]

These are great Meg! I loved reading the story as well as seeing the photos. Thanks!

[RJ 453]

Thanks Meg, we have been helping as well even my daughter lis learning to sow them to help out. 

Edited April 12, 2020 by RJ

[PalmatierMeg 5,939]

27 minutes ago, RJ said:

Thanks Meg, we have been helping as well even my daughter lis learning to sow them to help out. 

That is truly awesome! Bless her and I hope she carries on with her sewing skills through life. And I see she is using a Featherweight, too. That black case looks the twin of mine. My mother bought one of the last manufactured "true" Featherweights before Singer started going cheap. That is a fantastic little machine and beloved by quilters. Tell your daughter that if she is lucky enough to inherit it to never let it go or believe it is old fashioned because it is vintage. I learned to sew on mine and I treasure it. I hope to pass it on to a seamstress or quilter in the family, but right now there is none.

[PalmatierMeg 5,939]

This is a photo of my daughter-in-law wearing matching mask and hat. She is a speech therapist at a local hospital & has to work with coronavirus patients coming off ventilators. I made her mask 10% larger because she wears it over her N-95 mask at work to protect it from dirt. She is issued only 2 N-95s per week so each must be treated with ultraviolet light after her shift, then reused.

 

My son in his first mask. He is an x-ray technician at an orthopedist practice.

[RJ 453]

13 hours ago, PalmatierMeg said:

That is truly awesome! Bless her and I hope she carries on with her sewing skills through life. And I see she is using a Featherweight, too. That black case looks the twin of mine. My mother bought one of the last manufactured "true" Featherweights before Singer started going cheap. That is a fantastic little machine and beloved by quilters. Tell your daughter that if she is lucky enough to inherit it to never let it go or believe it is old fashioned because it is vintage. I learned to sew on mine and I treasure it. I hope to pass it on to a seamstress or quilter in the family, but right now there is none.

That machine was my mothers who is 80 now. She gave it to my wife who likes to sow and quilt. I imagine my daughter will get it as my kids are All the youngest grandchildren out of 13. My daughter has been told what a special machine it is, and is quite respectful of it 
 

My wife loves he machine, certainly built much better then anything you can purchase today. 

[TomJ 425]

Great post.

Wish I had taken photos 10 and 15 years ago.

 

[Kim 3,468]

Nice work with the masks! I would be doing that but my new machine and I are temporarily in different states. And my flight back to California keeps getting cancelled. Not that I mind being stuck in Hawaii for an extra month...

So fun seeing the early beginnings of your garden, Meg! And I enjoyed seeing your bunny collection. Hope you had a pleasant Easter Sunday.

[mike in kurtistown 695]

Jeff Searle used to run and hide when he saw me coming at the Fairchild Garden sales. So I would go talk to his neighbor (at the sale) Ellis Brown who was more patient with my idiot beginner's questions.

[PalmatierMeg 5,939]

22 hours ago, mike in kurtistown said:

Jeff Searle used to run and hide when he saw me coming at the Fairchild Garden sales. So I would go talk to his neighbor (at the sale) Ellis Brown who was more patient with my idiot beginner's questions.

Oh yes, poor Ellis. He had to put up with a visit from me once.