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I was asked for an updated photo of my Jubaea x Syagrus. Here it is next to a 5 gallon bucket for scale, the palm is way over my head now, maybe 9 feet.

Hi folks, After only recently discovering your fantastic forum I now find myself on here daily checking out all your awesome palms and gardens, hence I thought I would post some photos of my garden here in Brisbane (QLD, Australia).... I hope you like them!?!? First a bit about me and my garden.....I have been pretty heavily invlolved with palms for around 13 years now but have only recently had an opportunity to create my very own garden. This block was purchased just over 3 years ago now and the garden commenced about 2.5 years ago (after waiting out the first winter and planning). This particular house was purchased due the potential I saw in the garden and all I have really done is remove all existing vegetation and revegetate with palms etc. This block is approx 750 sq m and as you will see I have other plant interests in addition to palms but they certainly feature heavily with over 100 different species currently in the ground and most growng well. As with a lot of you I have possibly planted some a little to close to each other but I cannot resist planting as many as possible! First up will be a few general shots then I will do a close up "tour" of all the gardens and inlcude names and notes as we go(hopefully it all goes ok but please forgive any errors as I am still learning how to upload etc) "Driveway" garden featuring D. cabadae x 2 plus cabadae hybrids as background / screening plants then 2 x D. carlsmithii and 2 x K. oliviformis as the main feature plants (2 x trees are slowly being removed as the palms mature). Next photo shows a small pathway that meanders through a section of my back yard.

Nong had never seen snow before so I was telling her about the ice age here on the big island many years ago. She said bull ? no way ,so the next day early we loaded up the truck and off we went.We were off to what I refer to as the top of the would Mauna kea 14280 ft.some where around there . starting to look down on the clouds instead of up This is the view along the road at about 10000 ft And at 12700 ft we find What did I tell you about the ice age So now where talking a little white out in hawaii This is a view looking over at Mauna loa Nong taking her first pic. of snow at 14280 ft. The rest are some random shots Hope you enjoyed this little adventure. That didn't turn out anything like what I wanted must still be suffering from lack of oxygen

Now over to my "Bismark" garden, This was the one and only garden that I have created from nothing. This area started out as grass but was begging for a feature plant to provide that spectacular look. This garden is close to our front entry and is one of my favourites (although I have many!!) This photo shows a portion of my Bromeliad collection (sorry have to mention them) and the B. nobilis provides the perfect cover and contrast to my vriesia's.

On the right hand side of this photo you will see the top half of my super fast growing D. baronii, this plant has shot up and opens new leaves about every 4 - 5 weeks currently and is some sun / some shade. To the left you will see my D. cabadae x D. leptocheilos... This is going to be a GREAT palm, it has been in the ground for only around 2 months now but i expect it also to be one of my faster growers, particularly once the tree over the top is removed and it is allowed to bask in full sun. Next is a slightly closer photo to one shown earlier, here you should find one of my D. carlsmithii (leftish), one of my K. oliviformis (rightish) and my one and only D. cabadae x D. madagascariensis... I orginally had two of these but sacrificed one to allow for a more comprehensive collection.

This is the rest of the main section of the backyard. This is all best viewed and photos taken from our slightly raised back deck, great to sit with a beer of coffee or whatever your vice might be? Now onto the more in depth photos of each garden and I will start back with the "driveway" garden. Although not a palm this China gold bamboo has provided me with some much needed fast growth and provides great colour and contrast to my palms.

Next is a few photos of the main section of my back yard, these are the views from our slightly raised deck which provides a great viewing platform. Here we have a multi planted H. fosteriana, I realise this could be a strange choice but I needed something to fill a hole in the canopy and back privacy screen and this palm seemed to do the job perfectly. Maybe in the future I might have to remove a stem or two but that remains to be seen?

Bill, Great pictures! And yes, that is indeed a surreal experience - being able to drive from the tropics to the arctic in just a couple of hours! Thanks for posting! Bo-Göran

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