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In a previous post Philippe asked to see pics of Rhopaloblaste augusta, and occasionally folks will mention a small stand of these on the Big Island next to Hilo Hatties in Hilo. Was by that way last week and snapped a few pics. Hope they are of interest. - gmp

Yesterday The Palm Society of SoCal met at the famous and very established garden of Ralph Velez. Here are a few pictures. Ralph's place kinda sticks out. I think this is the way to the front door. Or maybe this is...

I was talking with Jeff Marcus about marojejya flowering and he said his has been flowering for sometime and no female flower yet. So when I saw this today I told Jeff that they do make both flowers, that is a female flower the one on the left side of pic. Mine have only made male flowers untill today anybody down under have any that are flowering any pic.

Best wishes for a beautiful day full of palms (I know the day is already done in Australia now, but we just start here in Europe) Kindest regards Philippe

With all the talk that Robert and Keith have stimulated around designing gardens, I wanted to bring up my favorite architect: Christopher Alexander, a great architect from Berkeley that pioneered the pattern language for architecture, a set of principles that help design beautiful living spaces. The principles are based in basic psychology and ecology and aim to create spaces that people not only enjoy living in, but also make them happy and healthy. A landscape designed according to Alexander's patterns is going to be one of the most wonderful and beautiful garden spaces where people are going to want to spend time. The links to psychology are discussed in more details here http://www.gardenvisit.com/history_theory/library_online_ebooks/architecture_city_as_landscape/psychological_patterns. There are several patterns that I use in my landscaping: 1) People like to start with an empty canvas and add islands of palms. I like to start in the opposite way. The garden needs to look like a large tropical jungle in which living spaces and paths are carved out of it. The tropical jungle evokes mystery and provides weary souls with an invitation to dream of travel and explore. 2) A garden needs spaces where people can be drawn in to enjoy the garden. These act like rooms in a house, where you want multiple sources of light, but you also want to have a focal point so as to not create tension. So for example a bench with a fountain, or a picnic table under a tropical gazebo or a little deck next to a waterfall all provide spaces. The entire garden can very well be a jungle of palms and tropical plants, but it needs to be broken up to include such spaces, otherwise it just looks like un-tamed jungle. 3) Transition: gardens need transitions from one section of the garden to another. Gates, arches and paths make that happen. 4) Bold architectural statements: especially when landscaping with palms, you want to select places where you are willing to make a statement, where a large palm is going to create a "frame" for other palms and plants. For example, a towering parajubea torrallyi can be the center piece around which you plant palms that make a more modest but also more refined statement, such as New Caledonia palms under which you can plant yet another layer of palms - licuala and chamadorea. 5) Framing: paths and fence lines are the first places that I line with palms and bamboo. These need to be large and bold plants like oldhamii bamboo, parajubaea or livistona, large sabals, ceroxylon in cool temperate gardens and coconuts or veichia in tropical gardens. These palms provide a beautiful tropical backdrop, a stage that frames the garden. 6) The front of the garden is a psychological statement: evaluate your own psyche and look at the statement your house makes. Do you live in a small neighborhood with porches? The porches are a symbol of hospitality, if you have one, don't hide it behind palms. Is your house a giant towering bank building with giant columns? If you like to flaunt it, don't hide it with palms. On the other hand, if you're modest, then grow some giant palms in front of it to soften it and make it look more modest. My family values modesty, if we have it, we don't want to flaunt it. I don't care much for the large homes that tower over the street, but that's my own preference. My house is hidden from the street on purpose. The garage and the driveway remain open for obvious reasons. But a wall of palms and trees without a gate is not welcoming. A nice garden gate with a well defined passage makes a statement of hospitality and invites people in. 7) Entry transition: it's good to provide a nice transition space from the street to the house. This is the entry garden, and it makes a difference. It can set the mood for you and your visitors. My entry garden is ultra-tropical, it sets the vibe and provides a nice pleasant buffer, offering a sense of refuge. 8) Shapes of plants set the mood. One reason people are drawn to super tropical palms is that such palms have droopy, undulating fronds and trunks that aren't stiff and upright. That's why coconuts give such an intense tropical vibe. Palms that point upright are stiffer and more rigid, not as inviting to relax. In cool temperate climates, kentias are the best emulator of that tropical vibe, and in cold 9a zones, the more graceful strain of mule palms also do a fair job at emulating the tropical coconut. Parajubaea do the same. Dypsis palms make a statement of elegance with the recurving fronds at the end. Licualas invoke mystery and a sense of adventure. 9) Keep ecology in mind: desert and tropical Savannah palms don't like to mingle with rainforest palms and need to be planted further apart for more light and air. They also like more heat and scorching hot sun. Bismarckias especially don't like to co-mingle, and they don't look good co-mingled. 10) Rocks, rocks and more rocks: if you wonder through most native palm habitat, it's littered with rocks. Rocks go well with palms, but in a forest setting as well as in a Savannah setting. I haul in rocks year around and my wife keeps asking me when it will be finished. Like a painting, a garden is never done. 11) Which brings me to impermanence: no garden is permanent, no matter what you do, nature has other plans, so it's best to work with that. This gives you freedom to experiment and try things out. Violate all the rules and see what happens. I've created many wonderful spaces by mistake. But impermanence means that often, spaces are only great while palms are a certain size. So be prepared that things shift. A brahea nitida or a pritchardia looks fantastic as a young plant; once it takes off for the sky, it looks like a washingtonia, and then it's time to plant something else underneath it. 12) Symphony pattern: a garden with nothing but single specimens that are all different looks strange and un-natural. Repetition is nice. If you want to balance repetition with species diversity, plant look alikes. For example, dypsis baronii, onilahensis, droopy onilahensis look similar enough to the non-botanist that they work well as a repetitive pattern. Same with various brahea species that can be intermixed to provide the repetitive element. Different species of sabal also work, especially the ability to work with trunkless sabals combined with trunking ones. Kings can be grouped with euterpe, kentiopis and burretokentia.

hi all, a friend dropped by a few seeds yesterday and then sent some photos today. he doesnt remember the name but looks like some sort of Oncosperma. Would i be right in assuming it to be Oncosperma tigillium as it seems more common or could it be horridum?? either way it looks nice and i love the delecate looking leaflets but not so delicate thorns on with the pics... cheers Harry

Dear Kris, you have planted a tropical plant in a place with tropical climate. I do not think that you will face any kind of problems. Brahea armata is another story because its is a warm temperate palm. I used to grow my own Medemia before outplanting in a cold frame with overhead irrigation every day during summer. Nevertheless it survived. If however you wanted a state of the art raised bed planting, I think you would have to provide the plant with twice its root zone space filled with free draining material. But I am very optimist that you will face no problems. In a similiar case with my Medemia (http://www.palmtalk.org/forum/index.php?/topic/38360-fall-is-near-and-winter-not-far-away-prep-thoughts/#entry596801) I have provided my Medemia with a pipe in to the hole enabling underground watering and fertilizing.

Kris, Such a big work! and a nice rare palm! Best wishes for nice growth in the new place! I am sure there is the only Medemia argun in Chennai area! BTW , watching your video I noticed we have the same weeds! We are kind of neighbors! Kindest regards Philippe

Here we have the video of that Argun Palm planting work... Any comment & suggestions in this regard is highly welcome.And also believe that you liked visiting this thread as much as we loved doing this planting work.And also hope this palm makes through.And i will keep you all posted with its progress... Thanks & Love, kris.

Now lets see some stills.. Since the visuals are self explanatory,I need not speak here. And the top soil dressing was done using coarse grade washed river sand.And in the following post you will find video of this entire operation.Hope you like it.And stills were included in this thread since most of my forum friends had difficulty in seeing videos through their smart phones.So i made it a point that future threads,posts & updates would have both stills & videos in them. .

Thank you. I appreciate that. I've planted 300 palms on my small lot and no one's ever complained. My neighbors love it but the important thing is that you love your own garden. I plant for me, not my neighbors and I plan on being here 'til I die so some things that might not be for the best in general for home sale don't matter. For instance, I've turned my swimming pool into a lagoon-like koi pond. Some people would rather have the pool. Doesn't matter. I like the fish, plants, and nature that it attracts much more. Do what makes you happy! Well Said,I plant my palms where there is space to accommodate it.And i don't have the luxury to do land scape gardening or theme park kind of gardening due to lack of space.And when iam gone who knows that they are going to do to my garden.I meant the the next generation which lives or the new landlord.And in the place where i live only utility dicot trees are planted and grown.Other than coconut trees people do not show any interest in growing ornamental plants especially palms. So i would say hard & fast rules don't work.But our garden should not become dangerous for kids & elderly.Since my favorite palms are all phoenix palms.So i do take some extra care so that no one gets injured while walking close to it. Love, kris.

Wow, nice subject. Reading all this on a saturday night too. I'm starting to wonder if I need my head examined!

PLANT HECK OUT OF IT WITH PALMS ! PALMS IN THE FRONT, SIDES AND BACK - AS MANY AS YOU CAN AFFORD.

Good luck with it Kris, I hope one day I get seeds from your plant, isn't it though dioecious?

do not block the view of the front door or the path leading to the door Yes. do not block the access to the garage!!! it can be disturbing for drivers!

Is the school open? Being a landscape designer since 30 years and reading this thread and trying to plant a tropical garden (the first one was behind walls !!!!) I think I have to start to learn as soon as I can in order to avoid making more mistakes... Is it a nice hotel close to school where I can have nice food and drinks too? My favorite hotel is Intercontinental in GENEVA, of which I did the landscaping, inspired by G.Bawa's work. So I have to start to learn the proper placement of palms and trees!

Thank you. I appreciate that. I've planted 300 palms on my small lot and no one's ever complained. My neighbors love it but the important thing is that you love your own garden. I plant for me, not my neighbors and I plan on being here 'til I die so some things that might not be for the best in general for home sale don't matter. For instance, I've turned my swimming pool into a lagoon-like koi pond. Some people would rather have the pool. Doesn't matter. I like the fish, plants, and nature that it attracts much more. Do what makes you happy!

Dear David Curtis, I have planted mine Argun palm in the ground,this is how it looks as of now. And here is a photo link for you to see,what harsh growing conditions these palms are in. http://www.arkive.org/argun-palm/medemia-argun/ Love, kris.

"The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposing ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function." - someone famous said that F. Scott Fitzgerald Thanks. BTW, Keith, didn't you recently post this, http://www.palmtalk.org/forum/index.php?/topic/38001-post-your-ugliest-cool-palm-garden-view/?hl=%2Bhorticulture+%2Bgarden#entry590666, which seems like the exact opposite of this point of view:

I am so happy that I didn't know the "rules" until now. My garden is much better for it!

Home landscape design rules for palm nuts are: 1. Plant palms 2. There are no other rules.

No rules

Ti

This year I have outplanted a juvenile Jubaeopsis caffra and a Medemia argun, which I plan to protect through building of individual removable cold frames made of rabbit cage-wire and hard plastic. There is however a small technical problem, which is, how shelters remain stable by strong wind (which is rather the norm here). I think that stabilizing the shelters through wires with the help of 4 preinstalled poles might be the answer. This winter no palm dies !(hopefully)

Here's a flock of photos on a single rainbow lorrikeet that has been feeding from my home made feeder. Usually I get pale faced rosellas and the odd king parrot. This guy pops in quietly by himself and doesn't call to his brothers and sisters. He approaches from a gum tree and/or bamboo nearby, then from a Chambeyronia leaf. Nearly same pattern of entry every time. From the Chamby Lots of colour under wing as well. He eats.

If you're small and fluffy, watch out! These guys were a long way up...just specks to the human eye... Neighbour's Peacock decides he likes a palm garden... And wants to come inside...

thanks for the replies and pics everyone! Tim those clinos look unreal! sooo can this fella go into an exposed spot or should i give it a bit of shade? its about 4.5 foot high, i have no experience with this palm. heres a close up of the leaves. cheers

Great to finally see this garden I've heard so much about. Got lucky with the weather too. Cheers.

Pinanga coronata(khuhili?)

This Dypsis leptocheilos caught the afternoon light and my eye with its red colouring. Daryl

Here is a shot this morning of my H. begunii Obi Island, about 2yrs old the last survivor of a handful of seedlings. Colin

Looking out of a marojejya

Hydriastele beguinii this has been in the grown 10 yrs. there seem to be may forms. This doe's not appear to be Obi Is. form which the leaf is more compact and wavy .

Normanbya (Blackpalms) and butress roots of Eleocarpus Grandis...Crowns of Normanbya in group rainforest planting....Archontophoenix Maxima Flowering....Beccariophoenix Mad and Thundestorm approaching

Pete, Thanks for trying to keep this thread on topic. The only thing that caught my eye today was this Elaeis guineensis which needs to be dug out. There must be a dozen that have popped up along our driveway and they all need to be removed. When I lived in Florida, this used to be one of my top 10 favorite palms, now they just irritate me. In this area of Costa Rica, they pop up everywhere like weeds and will dominate this entire property if we don't remove them. Very True Jeff, great to get rid of any weeds before they get a foothold, heres a few that caught my eye. Cyphokentia Cerifera and Macro and a tripple planting in the shade of Dypsis Lepto

Busy Baby !

Dear Folks Some of my babies for display ! & thanks Bo,but need time to get down to fault identification. Love, Kris.