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South Florida Palm Society Spring Garden Tour Miami, Florida Saturday, March 27th, 2010 The South Florida Palm Society will organize and present a garden tour about twice a year. These tours will often include visits to private collections, residences and properties not often seen by outside eyes. The tours offer unique opportunities to see what palms and exotic plants certain veteran collectors have stashed away in behind their gates and walls. The four collections we were visiting today are located in the greater Miami area and included two that I had not seen before. In these instances, the yards you will see represent many years, if not, decades of hard work; growing plants, fertilizing, designing, and simply getting them to thrive to this day, where we had the opportunity to see and enjoy them... This was a four Garden Tour, and the different stops were arranged so it made for an easy drive between the locations; with the longest drive about 20 minutes. A full lunch was provided with the cost of the tour, and the entire day was free for members of the society. The different gardens featured the collections of: - Dr. Jeff Block - John Greenleaf - Tim Blake - Dr. Jeff Chait Garden #1: The Hidden Residence of Dr. Jeff Block For years of being involved in the South Florida palm world, I had been privy to stories about Dr. Jeff Block's amazing yard and rumors of what exactly he could be growing inside. But, for many others including myself, I was never able to visit the garden, let alone know its location. I had heard of a scant few individuals fortunate enough to know where his place was located, only to be rejected entry inside, being resolved to the fact they had 'at least' had seen the outside. - 8:50AM: For the tour today, I was carpooling with Jeff and Andrea Searle, and with Jeff at the helm we made it down to Miami quickly and navigated the labyrinth of roads to find Dr. Blocks estate. The tour was scheduled to start at "9:00AM sharp" so we didn't want to be late, or be the last one scrambling to find a parking spot on this narrow street. As we came down the road, it quickly became obvious that a plant collector lived here. As we got out to walk around, it was a great feeling to be finally here and to put an end to the mystery surrounding this place. The first palms to stand out were a strand of Sabal mauritiiformis planted in rows along the edge of the street. A very old Christmas Palm, Adonidia merrillii, trio was immediately apparent to the right of the red brick mailbox. - The Sabal mauritiiformis varied in size, including some as young as this specimen, and others with many feet of trunk. The persistent green leaf bases are the tell-tale feature of the species and a desired one as well. - The early birds began to gather near the gate and around the car belonging to SFPS Board Member Lou Squros [center, behind car in blue]. He set up the trunk as a desk, while checking people in and handing out name badges. - 8:51AM: The gate was opened just a bit, and it felt like the movie 'Charley and the Chocolate Factory' at the point where the kids and parents were waiting outside the factory entrance. I half expected to see Jeff Block walk outside dressed as Willy Wonka. Ryan

- 11:09AM: John Greenleaf's vast collection of palms began right along the street, out in front of his house. We started right here with an over-sized oval bed that was full of palm species and few other plant types. A definite palm nut if I ever saw one. - John is in the back of that group and hard to see at this moment as he gave a short talk introducing himself and his garden. People continued to arrive as we began the tour, as we figured a few tour goers got lost on the way here. - 11:10AM: The oval planting bed had many mature, large and understory palms all mixed together but one palm that immediately stood out was this very tall Buccaneer Palm, Pseudophoenix sargentii. It seemed to throw caution to the wind and grow as tall as it could with long internode rings and a lack of the typical bulge. - On the right side of the front yard, or the north-east corner, there was a palm laden island surrounded on all sides by driveways and the street. It had a few cycads and other plants, but again the huge majority of trees were palms. Palms that can be clearly seen in this photo from left to right: Teddy Bear Palm, Dypsis leptocheilos with decent trunk, A rosette Bailey Palm, Copernicia baileyana (with a larger one in behind and towards the right) and the bed ends with a grouping of Bottle Palms, Hyophorbe lagenicaulis, in different sizes. Ryan

- 10:45AM: We headed down the driveway and out the gate as the next garden beckoned. I stopped for a second for capture a shot of this grouping of Cycas circinalis and the surrounding bed. The smaller shadehouse can be seen beyond that wall. After a short walk to Jeff's truck, we were off to the next garden, after bidding farewell to Jeff Block's amazing yard... Garden #2: The John Greenleaf Estate - 11:07AM: "Wow, this must be the place." The palm collection stood out from a distance as the taller specimens could be seen from almost a block away. After a short drive through the posh areas of Miami, we arrived to find the yard full of palms and palm crazy people. I was instantly impressed by the large amount of mature palms. - 11:08AM: Right on the corner of the property lived a giant. A nice giant that allowed us to walk around and worship palms in peace. This behemoth is non-other than Corypha utan, the Gebang Palm. FM. Ron Kiefert (moose knuckle) had the honor to pose with it, before it reached down and ate him. - I had to step back a good distance to get all of the palm to fit into the frame. I got a little closer to get a shot of the colorful, spirally arranged leaf bases. The petioles were heavily armed with some serious, black serrated teeth. Ryan

- 10:42AM: Standing by itself on a bench, this ready-to-plant sized Silver Joey, Johannesteijsmannia magnifica drew palm people into the shadehouse like moths to a flame. - This individual might be a future garden member or be serving as a potential backup to the larger one in the Conservatory. Either way, it was great eye candy. I heard the conversations outside dying down so I knew it was almost time to go. - 10:43AM: The remaining stragglers began to thank Jeff Block for his time, information and hospitality as he graciously allowed us into his garden to ogle his great plant collection. We made our way out towards the gate one last question at a time. - 10:44AM: I take portraits and poses when I can get them, especially when people volunteer. In the last photo of the series with Jeff & Andrea Searle, Jeff had asked Andrea if they could stop for ice cream on the way to the next garden and she said no, so he started to pout. Ryan

- 10:40AM: The head nodding was contagious as everyone silently agreed to what Jeff Block was saying about plant requirements and fertilizer. They were getting hypnotized by his conversations as the 10:30 mark came and went. - 10:41AM: The smaller crowd drew more die-hard growers and enthusiasts over to the pump shed as the remainder of the tour goers had left to go onto the next garden. - I took advantage of the patio recently made devoid of foot traffic to photograph the larger shadehouse. - It mostly contained Bromeliads of many different varieties and species. This is what happens when a gardening hobby explodes. In addition to the assortment of Bromeliads, I did see one palm... Ryan

- 10:28AM: The scheduled time to move onto the next garden was a couple minutes away and a few tour goers made their way out, while most of us stayed a little longer. The trunk of that giant Cuban Royal Palm, Roystonea regia, that we saw at the beginning of the tour can be seen straight ahead between the house on the left and the pump shed on the right; as we were not far from the gate. We had reached the end of the 'loop'. Speaking of the pump shed, people began to gravitate over in that direction as people wanted a closer look at Jeff Block's operation... - 10:31AM: The pump shed housed the bulk of Jeff's irrigation equipment, including a Reverse Osmosis (R.O.) filtration and purification setup, a few different Dosmatic proportional chemical injectors for delivering water soluble fertilizers and fungicides, a network of pipes, valves and nearby storage tanks, and the all essential battery of electric pumps. It was all religiously maintained and everything had to be either heavy duty aluminum or stainless steel, as the R.O. water would corrode normal steel quite efficiently. - 10:32AM: As we gathered around the pump shed, Jeff Block came over to describe and explain how everything worked. He started with the Reverse Osmosis (R.O.) system and mentioned how it was the basic element to how he keeps everything looking so well. To get the needed amount of R.O. water ready for each irrigation cycle, he uses a 1,000 gallon (3785 liter) storage tank to hold ready-to-use R.O. water after it had been processed. SFPS Director Lenny Goldstein happened to be standing in front of the tank when we turned around to look at it. - 10:38AM: "Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain." Listening to Jeff Block describe everything about his irrigation, was like finding the Wizard of Oz at his controls and forcing him to tell how it all worked. The different processes were electronically controlled so much of it went on automatically. Ryan

- 10:26AM: We left the Conservatory and entered a small patio filled with various planted and mounted Orchids. A few were grown as terrestrials while some were mounted on cork logs. The majority were in bloom and even the few plants we could see added up to a nice collection. I figured this might have been a staging area for plants before they got mounted or planted out into the yard somewhere. - 10:27AM: One of several Vanda orchids in bloom. There was no tag I could see for ID purposes. Try to guess which tour goer those fingers belong to. - With the Conservatory on the left and the larger of two shadehouses on the right, we had plenty to look at while we walked back and forth over the patio. There was one utility/work area behind me and I will spare you the view of the one 'dirty' area. - 10:28AM: "It's just sticks and flowers." A brief but accurate description by one tour goer of this unique type of Orchid growing inside and outside of a circular mesh trellis. Ryan

- 10:22AM: A few moments were taken while at the corner of the Conservatory for questions and answers before we moved on to the next area. To the left of center, Jeff Chait checks the time as were getting close to garden transition... - 10:23AM: I took a quick run through to search for any details I had overlooked. There were many beds of planted Begonia varieties mixed in throughout the Conservatory, this was just one. - Here is an upfront shot of the waterfall I kept mentioning. It was working, as the flow was low and quiet and even with the flash it was hard to make out the moving water. - 10:24AM: Time to move on, literally. I followed Jeff Block through the door and he asked me to hold it open. While serving as a door stop, I took this photo of people wondering why I was holding the door open... Jeff was trying to ferry people through to try and keep to the schedule. Ryan

- 10:19AM: In behind the Pelagodoxa henryana, a trimmed Kerriodoxa elegans was putting out a brand new leaf. This palm would have to be trimmed heavily if Jeff doesn't want it to take over with a huge footprint. The contrast between the glaucous leaf undersides and nearly black petioles are but one key feature of this grand palm. - I followed those stepping stones under the palms in the above photo and they led to a concealed pathway that went between the waterfall and the back wall of the Conservatory. Neato. That crownshaft on the right belonged to a Chambeyronia macrocarpa var. hookeri. - 10:20AM: The tour continued, and Jeff Block reached the end of the Conservatory, stopping only to identify a plant or two. That leafy plant on the right, in the center of the bed is another type of giant tree fern, different than the other ones we had seen. - 10:22AM: Not every palm or plant in a 'rare plant house' needs to be rare, all that matters is that it is wanted. This Licuala spinosa was growing very well and the shaded environment gave it a more spread out and delicate look. Ryan

Thank you for posting your photos Randy, as I see a few palms and plants I missed on my way through the garden, including that Coccothrinax, which I can't seem to remember where that was. Too many plants, so little time. I am glad this tour was limited to four gardens, as the last SFPS tour I went on two years ago included seven properties with even less time per stop. You reminded me of the 'property size' challenge Jeff Block gave us while we were standing at the gate. He asked us to guess the size of his property and to give him our guesses before heading to the next garden. It turned out to be 0.98 acre (0.40 hectare) in size and deeply rectangular in shape, what we call here in South Florida a "band-aid" lot. He has done an excellent job in maintaining the collection and adding to it. If you were thinking about finding Jeff Block's place on your own, you can forget about it, as it periodically moves to a new location; just like how the island does on the TV show LOST. Ryan

- 10:16AM: This bromeliad had a beautiful bloom, but I did not get the name on it. The bloom itself was very long and that red and white contrast was amazing to look at, almost reminded me of peppermint candy. - This large leaf tropical had some very thick leaves and a purple underside. It made me think of some sort of Medinilla sp. - 10:18AM: This shrub was planted just underneath the plant pictured above and seemed to be a colorful Clerodendron relative. Jeff Block had mentioned the genus, but what I wrote down didn't seem to match up with anything. It began with the letter "H" if anyone knows this plant. - Randy got in a staring contest with the Pelagodoxa... "You will be mine, surrender!" Ryan

- 10:13AM: "That's interesting..." Jeff Searle and grower Bill Olson, Sr. examine something behind me while SFPS Director Sandra Farwell couldn't help but smile when she saw the camera. - 10:15AM: Guess who. A small corner of one bed was reserved for this Licuala mattanensis var. mapu. He looked quite happy planted with all that mulch. - A common sight not only on the tour but throughout South Florida, were cold damaged Licuala grandis. The topic of the past January freeze was one of the hot conversations today. We will have to wait to see how many of these palms make a recovery. - Nice Bromeliad. I was pretty sure the bloom was the reason this plant was on display in this prime spot. Ryan

- 10:11AM: During the tour of his yard, you had to get in line to ask Jeff Block a question. I would say half of his time was spent with identification, the other half with describing the aspects of his collection, so he was quite busy. On the right in light blue, Tour Host & SFPS Director Tim Blake was thinking ahead to the stop at his place, which was the third garden on the tour today. That kid on the left was the only one who was bored. Even the non-plant enthused spouses and friends were getting a kick out of the tour. - "Harr Harr... this palm is mine!" Jeff Block holds up a leaf on his Silver Joey, Johannesteijsmannia magnifica to show everyone its private part, the namesake silver underside. - 10:12AM: One Jeff, two Jeff's, three Jeff's galore... A shot full of plant people named Jeff, which turns out to be a common trend for some reason. FM. Jeff Searle poses with Tour Hosts Dr. Jeff Block and SFPS Director Dr. Jeff Chait. Jeff Chait's flowering paradise is the fourth and final stop on the tour today. - 10:13AM: When I got surrounded by people, I would often hold the camera up to get a low aerial view of the tour. And, to look for an escape route... Ryan

Happy belated E-Day!!!

One from near my place

Bruce, I've only ever caught them on sight. They're very slow movers. When it's more than one, I flick them off the tree into a jar containing a half inch of undiluted insecticide. Lid on, shake the jar and they're dead within a minute or two. On a larger scale, food-baited pheromone traps are said to be the most effective. Kris, I since found out that RPW is very much active in India, so be vigilant: "The red palm weevil (RPW), Rhynchophorus ferrugineus Oliv., (RPW) (Curculionidae: Coleoptera), is an economically important, tissueboring pest of date palm in many parts of the world. The insect was first described in India as a serious pest of coconut palm (Lefroy, 1906) and later on date palm (Madan Mohan Lal, 1917; Buxton, 1918). The weevil was recorder later in Seri Lanka, Indonesia, Burma, Punjab, and Pakistan (Laskshmanan, 1972). Currently, the insect is a major pest of date palm in some of the Arabian Gulf States including Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Sultanate of Oman, and Egypt (Cox, 1993; Abraham et al. 1998)."

Kris, The Rhynchophorus ferrugineus weevil originates from North Africa; notably Tunisia, Egypt and Saudi Arabia. It is not a migratory insect as far as I know. It was first detected in my town, Motril and neighbouring towns, thanks mainly to the ignorance of town hall officials who imported large numbers of CIDP at the start of the 1990's without conducting phytosanitary inspections. (The mayor of one town along our coast is well-known for his corrupt dealings, which eventually saw him land in jail.) How the RPW travelled around Europe, I don't know. Perhaps through the subsequent shipment of palms by road? You can move healthy trees, but like illegal immigrants, the weevils can easily hitch a ride on the back of a lorry. Because of these imported palms, Europe now hosts RPW. I don't think you will have problems in India. At least, I hope not.

charcoal is used as an absorbent for many materials and may also absorb nutrients from fertilizer. It would not be good if those nutrients that were absorbed were critical traces that were withheld from the palm. I think urea and ammonia will also be absorbed, not sure if that means they will then not be available to the roots. A second reference from a reputable source might be a good idea.

I heard that a piece of charcoal the size of a baseball has the surface area of a football field. Or something like that.