By
PalmatierMeg
This afternoon I took photos of my largest garden area, which I call, no kidding, "Garden Lot". We bought this 125' x 125' 3-lot site in 2011 before Cape Coral began to emerge from the Housing Bust, during which the Cape had the 2nd most foreclosed real estate market in the US. Houses remained vacant for years, residents fled the state and no one would spring for vacant land at any price. We bought this barren patch of weeds and fire ants with the intention of creating a garden that would block the view of the newly built LCEC electrical substation, also known as "Osama bin Laden's FL Vacation Compound" for its sandy pink stuccoed concrete block walls. The erector set is installed but to this day the substation remains unfinished and inoperable. Par for the course in Cape Coral.
The first palms we planted were 5 Bizzies in 3-5g pots. We later added another Bizzie as point because it was so purple. Now it is silver and huge. Juxtaposed with and behind the Bizzies we planted Livistonas. We wanted all decoras but ended up with 2 decora, 2 australis and 1 mariae courtesy of a nursery with suspect expertise that shall remain unnamed. Fast forward 9 years and what you will see in the following photos is what you get.
Vacant End Lot: Sabal sp and flowering bottlebrush & Cocos trunk, bananas, bottlebrush
Garden Lot Views: south side
Leaning Coconut of Irma
Livistona mariae
Sabal palmetto of unknown age. Lot mowers had hacked it to the ground 6x per year for possibly decades. It just barely fits inside our property line so we decided to give it a chance to grow. This is what we have after 9 years.
Copenicia prunifera
Livistona saribus w/black teeth
Borassus flabellifer
Cocos nucifera Dwarf Red Spicata Twins
Copernicia alba, Chamaerops humilis & Agave americana mediopicta
Dypsis decaryi
Roystonea violacea (f) & Cocos nucifera Dwarf Red Spicata single