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Since I became involved with palms and Palm Talk I have paid much more attention to all the palms around town. I have put quite a bit of information up about Manaus and Amazonia which is a pretty palmy place. I thought it would be interesting to do a thread on palms around town. After thinking about it I decided that this did not really fit into the Travel Logs, as I am not travelling. And, it is going to be mostly about palms. So I figured Discussing Palms was the best place. I drive around Manaus a lot during the day for work and have noticed a lot of nice palms growing around. Most of them are native to our area, but there are a few imports. I am going to start off with some shots I took on Thursday afternoon at the pool bar of the Tropical Business Hotel which is situation on the Ponta Negra (Black Point). Ths is one of the most beautiful spots in Manaus. Manaus is really a city on the Negro River more so than the Amazon River. To me the Negro is the most beautiful river in world. At this point the Negro is about 8 kms across and the water at the deepest point of the channel is about 90 to 100 meters deep. The river rises and falls about 30 meters during the year between low water point in the end of October to the high water point in the end of the June. The Tropical Business hotel was built on the grounds of the traditional Tropical Hotel Manaus. When the Tropical Hotel was built some 40 years ago it was out in the country. Today the city has grown up to it and the area is now where the most exclusive apartment complexs in town are. So here are some palms. The pool of the Tropical Business has Bactris gasipaes used all around it. This palm which is very common here is used more and more of landscaping now. To give a good tropical look there are some cocos mixed in with the Bactris. Looking up the Negro River. On the far left side is where our country lot in Paricatuba is located. A rain squal moving across the river. This is rainy season and this year it has rained a lot.

The Attalea marip is native to our forests and the area where the hotel is located. They have left them in the landscape to a large degree. The one in this pictures shows how tall they get. There is a real nice old Arcocomia aculeata growing near the hotel tower. This one must have been in the ground a long time judging by it's height.

There are a few Astrocaryum tucuma trees growing on the grounds. These pop up all over town but are never planted purposely from what I can tell.

This little Bactris grows commonly in the forest around here. But, it is never used as a landscape plant that I know of. Here it looks very attractive. A clump of Euterpe olearcea with a Oenocarpus bacaba behind. The bacaba is also a common forest tree that is not used in landscaping locally.

These pictures of some palms on the Tropical Hotel grounds I took a few months ago. There are some nice plantings of Leopoldina pulchra on the grounds. This palm is very common along the Negro River. Like many native plants it gets no attention as a landscape tree, but it is very handsome in my opinion. In spite of the fact that it grows in flooded forest, igapoo, it does ok on dry land if it is keep well watered. I think that it probably does better in sandy soils as well.

Day turned into night. We had been enjoying some refreshments and soon afterwards went out for some Sushi. The nights in Manaus are always great. The evening air envelops you with its moist tropical feel. Life in the tropics can be real tough.

Boats crusing the river always add to the scene. The sun setting over the Negro is always a joy to experience. This day did not have a brilliant sunset. But, it was very beautiful.

It was a great afternoon. Sort of a tough day at work. A lone Bactris agains the sky as evening comes.

Euterpe olearcea fit well into the landscape. This is a very common palm around town. The bactris look great and could be used a lot more in landscaping. Here they grow real fast as well.

A lone Leopoldina looking back at the Ponta Negra Avenue and toward town. The pool was done in a way to mix into the landscape and feel like you are part of the river.