Growth rates of my various recently planted palms in South Florida

[The Doctor]

I have had an unhealthy obsession with growing palms since 2007, and when I moved to the midwest in 2018 for job purposes to take a position in an emergency department up north, I had to leave all my babies that I had nurtured for years. To my utmost chagrin, the new owner in my former Fort Lauderdale home has now chopped down every single mature Areca, foxtail, Spindle, Royal, Veitchia, Carpentaria, Hyophorbe, Coconut, Phoenix Roebellini, Dictyosperma alba which was the extent of the collection I was able to accumulate at the small villa that I lived at back then. I spent years nurturing my babies and I was furious to drive past recently and see straight up lava rocks where palm oasis used to be. 

As an ER physician with a terrible work life balance and suffering from severe palm-tree withdrawal, I impulse purchased a house in June 2021 in south Florida for the sole purpose of planting my palms and other tropicals. My wife is furious about that decision to this day, but she understands just how much this means to me. 

I have accumulated a decently large collection of palms at the property at this point, but I will focus this post on the palms that were present when the house was purchased as well as the ones I planted immediately thereafter, to demonstrate the growth over the last 10 months with no supplemental irrigation, with no sprinkler system, these were purely grown on rainwater (with balanced palm fertilizer added 3 times over the last year). Below is the Queen palm that appears to be about as old as the house itself, maybe 30 years. First pic is July 2021, second pic May 2022

july 2021, and below, May 2022, was not expecting anything dramatic, honestly I think it's a poor choice for South FL but will keep it for now

 

 

Edited May 14, 2022 by The Doctor

[The Doctor]

Here is the mature Adonidia already present on the property,  July 2021 vs May 2022 in second image. Again, looks like both are relatively mature and at the slower stages of growth

[The Doctor]

And now, most importantly as one of my top 10 favorite palms, the Bizzie is doing great! Tons of new fronds, impressive as it is totally rainwater dependent. 

[The Doctor]

Backyard is full of random tropicals I put in to develop a green privacy screen. I'll include just two of the areca palms I planted last year and their progress. As you can see they were well

below the fence line, now they are about a foot over the fence. Ignore the little guy on the right I put him in 2 weeks ago 

below  

[kinzyjr]

@The Doctor Welcome to PalmTalk!  Nice additions so far!

[bubba]

It is great to see another doctor with a fantastic interest in palms. Your story from the Midwest to Lauderdale is even more compelling. Welcome to Palm talk and congratulations on your quick work!

[aabell]

3 hours ago, The Doctor said:

I have had an unhealthy obsession with growing palms since 2007, and when I moved to the midwest in 2018 for job purposes to take a position in an emergency department up north, I had to leave all my babies that I had nurtured for years. To my utmost chagrin, the new owner in my former Fort Lauderdale home has now chopped down every single mature Areca, foxtail, Spindle, Royal, Veitchia, Carpentaria, Hyophorbe, Coconut, Phoenix Roebellini, Dictyosperma alba which was the extent of the collection I was able to accumulate at the small villa that I lived at back then. I spent years nurturing my babies and I was furious to drive past recently and see straight up lava rocks where palm oasis used to be. 

If I ever move from my current house this is my nightmare, my sympathies to you! Congrats on having space to plant palms again, keep us updated. Always fun to see before and after photos.

[Looking Glass]

3 hours ago, aabell said:

If I ever move from my current house this is my nightmare, my sympathies to you! Congrats on having space to plant palms again, keep us updated. Always fun to see before and after photos.

I’ve come to the realization that this is likely to happen in the vast majority of cases.  Most people would be happy with a lawn, or rocks or artificial turf, over a bunch of palms, sadly.   
 

7 hours ago, The Doctor said:

I have accumulated a decently large collection of palms at the property at this point, but I will focus this post on the palms that were present when the house was purchased as well as the ones I planted immediately thereafter, to demonstrate the growth over the last 10 months with no supplemental irrigation, with no sprinkler system, these were purely grown on rainwater (with balanced palm fertilizer added 3 times over the last year). 

Welcome to the forum.   Look forward to seeing the rest.  There are all kinds of folks on here….

 

Edited May 14, 2022 by Looking Glass

[PalmatierMeg]

You are my kind of palm lover. Keep up the good work and post here often. I, too, fear what will happen to our 0.61 acre palm gardens when my husband and I are no longer here. My two sons will inherit our property and neither has any interests in palms or the work to maintain them. My dream is that another palm lover will buy and take over Cape Coral’s most diverse palm garden and maintain it. Not bloody likely. What is likely is that some philistine  will buy the property, hack down the palms, subdivide the land and build a rental house next to our current home. A pox on him.

[The Doctor]

8 hours ago, kinzyjr said:

@The Doctor Welcome to PalmTalk!  Nice additions so far!

Thanks! I've been signed up for years and the posts have been a tremendous help during my planting journeys, and I'm proud to officially be a contributing part of the team!

[The Doctor]

58 minutes ago, PalmatierMeg said:

You are my kind of palm lover. Keep up the good work and post here often. I, too, fear what will happen to our 0.61 acre palm gardens when my husband and I are no longer here. My two sons will inherit our property and neither has any interests in palms or the work to maintain them. My dream is that another palm lover will buy and take over Cape Coral’s most diverse palm garden and maintain it. Not bloody likely. What is likely is that some philistine  will buy the property, hack down the palms, subdivide the land and build a rental house next to our current home. A pox on him.

Thanks Meg! These palms are our family members and while I'm in FL it just amazes me to see all these bare lots of grass, no palms, it's an absolute disgrace and I truly feel sorry for those unfortunate people because plants are are incredibly fulfilling not just individually, but also provides such beauty and peacefulness to the entire neighborhood and society as a whole.  And yes to this day I'm salty about those unappreciative couple that tore down my babies the moment I sold them the house!

[The Doctor]

8 hours ago, kinzyjr said:

@The Doctor Welcome to PalmTalk!  Nice additions so far!

Thanks so much! I truly appreciate the warm welcomes! 

[The Doctor]

8 hours ago, kinzyjr said:

@The Doctor Welcome to PalmTalk!  Nice additions so far!

Thanks so much! I feel so honored to get such a warm welcome from my fellow palm lovers!!!!

[The Doctor]

2 hours ago, Looking Glass said:

I’ve come to the realization that this is likely to happen in the vast majority of cases.  Most people would be happy with a lawn, or rocks or artificial turf, over a bunch of palms, sadly.   
 

Welcome to the forum.   Look forward to seeing the rest.  There are all kinds of folks on here….

 

Thanks for the welcome. I'm so glad there are so many people who can relate to my palm obsessions. No one around me understands in any way and I'm grateful to join you guys!

[The Doctor]

8 hours ago, bubba said:

It is great to see another doctor with a fantastic interest in palms. Your story from the Midwest to Lauderdale is even more compelling. Welcome to Palm talk and congratulations on your quick work!

Thanks Bubba, I appreciate the warm welcome and I'll keep the posts coming!

[palmfriend]

Welcome to palmtalk!

First of all I felt sad, too and shared your feelings when you described the moment you went back to your first home and saw that the most/or even all of the palms

you have cared for such a long time were gone. What a pain...!!

But when you started to describe the next steps you have taken - buying a new house to create another garden - for the love of the palms(!), I got to 

admit that I was definitely impressed! So, I am wishing you honestly all the best and the luck you sometimes need for this great project - please 

let us know how it goes!

 

best regards

Lars

 

 

 

[The Doctor]

On 5/15/2022 at 1:45 AM, palmfriend said:

Welcome to palmtalk!

First of all I felt sad, too and shared your feelings when you described the moment you went back to your first home and saw that the most/or even all of the palms

you have cared for such a long time were gone. What a pain...!!

But when you started to describe the next steps you have taken - buying a new house to create another garden - for the love of the palms(!), I got to 

admit that I was definitely impressed! So, I am wishing you honestly all the best and the luck you sometimes need for this great project - please 

let us know how it goes!

 

best regards

Lars

 

 

 

Thanks Lars, I appreciate the support and will keep you posted on updates! Thank you for the warm welcome, I am so honored to be part of this community. More to come soon!

[Jeff Searle]

Welcome back to this crazy addiction!

Jeff