Info for newbies

[Jason Baker Portugal]

I have been writing and visiting this website for 10 years now and would like to share some advice and my mistakes for newbies.

Step one: Look for a style and design your garden on paper (or equivalent). (Crowded gardens don´t really look all that nice but, if you go for the jungle look you can fit more in). Examples are meditaranian, tropical balinese, rainforest, desert, japanese. Stick to your theme! Let your plan be clear to you before you start gardening. Nice themes could be just palms of Brazil or Lord Howe Island Palms or Oceania Palms. Imagine a garden with groves of only one or two types of palms (LHI has only 4 species of palms but it is breathtakingly beutifull). What do you actually want to get from your garden? Peace? Style? Recreation? Oxygen? Nutrition?

Step two: Write everything down and decide what kind of palm you really like example: tall, thin pinnate or big, thick palms, mixtures, colour, structure. (If you don´t know your taste well enough you will end up buying this and that because other people have it (not mentioning any names)). Look at all species of palms and choose yours. It might take time to get them but believe me they will eventually pop up somewhere and you will buy them then even if your garden is allready perfect (this is the beginning of the end because you will have to move your house just because of these palms you always wanted but only bought now and have no room for them, those palms you always wanted!).

Step three: Which of the palms in step 2 fit into your step 1?

Step four: Mix your palms with other plants/structures. Palms also look fantastic when mixed with common trees (as opposed to palm trees) as a canopy or stone statues.

Step five: When you have the plans figured out and most of the palms have arrived plant out. If you are waiting for that special palm then leave the space empty for it. It should take less than a year to find it. Try to be patient.

Step six: Don´t forget your family´s and pet´s needs (how about a meditation pagoda between palms or a tropical style stilt house for the kids). Remember that your dogs have patroling paths and they don´t stop for palms that were planted in the way.

General indications:

- plant some larger palms that are really hardy in your zone (maybe even a zone lower). This way your garden will look like something in a short time and even after bad frosts it will continue looking good. When your garden looks bad or empty you will tend to buy too many more palms.

- ideally all of your palms should be adequate for your climate (cold, heat, drought hardiness) but lets say 80% hardy and 20% trying to be hardy (trying hard) would be good. I´d guess that most people here have about 20% hardy palms in their gardens. The rest die every few years and the garden looks bad again and the cycle starts over. You can achieve your look with hardy palms!

- to have a gourgeous garden you don´t have to have one of every palm that exists nor be the envy of most of us here at palmtalk. Most people that visit your garden don´t care if you have a coconut grove or a grove of howeas, archontos or even washingtonias. They just think the palms look nice.

Hope this helps. Any more suggestions from the veterans?

Edited April 3, 2010 by Jason Baker Portugal

[Miccles]

great advice Jason - well written and logical. (If only I had followed some of that advice......)

Regards

Michael

Edited April 3, 2010 by Miccles

[PalmGuyWC]

Excellent advise Jason. I live over 300 miles north of Los Angeles and about 95% of my palms will take the cold. My only palm showing some damage this winter was a Parajubaea TVT.

Dick

[Wanderanwills]

Excellent advice, I am in the process at the moment of redesigning my front yard. I am upto species selection and this does really take a long time to gather the correct information. Hopefully the end product will look good.

Thanks again for sharing the advice., quite timely for me, to reiterate what I need to do.

Regards

Stephen

[Walter John]

My advice regarding landscape design ? don't listen to advice.

In the words of the masters apprentices, do what you want to do, be what you want to be..................yeah.

[Rafael]

Jason, good work, these are very good advises, based on people's experiences (and frustrations). An excelent gift to this forum.

But anyhow they are quite like all kind of rules: we can observe them or, otherwise, ignore then, in a way, and just follow our instinct (growing palms is a "moment" of pleasure).

And in my personal experience i definitely choose the second, as a moment of freedom, not irresponsible and illogical, but freedom, as Wal suggests...

[Wanderanwills]

My advice regarding landscape design ? don't listen to advice.

In the words of the masters apprentices, do what you want to do, be what you want to be..................yeah.

Hi Wal,

You are out of control again. LOL

I bet you are planting madly in your new piece of paradise.

I am itching to see photos of your place

Regards

Stephen

[Jason Baker Portugal]

I know Rafael.

This is just some tips taken from my experience for anyone interested.

Cheers Jason

[peachy]

So Jason, why didn't you write this 10 years ago before I did all the things you just said not to do ?

Peachy

[Jason Baker Portugal]

Me? Why didn´t you write this ten years ago? My garden would be diferent too:). I certainly would have saved a lot of money, time and my garden would probably look better. I went for the jungle look and keep getting new palms and plant them in the most adequate spot for them (not for me) and they all just keep growing.

Hugs for you Peachy. I know where you are coming from Jason

So Jason, why didn't you write this 10 years ago before I did all the things you just said not to do ?

Peachy

[Afripalm]

Jason, these are sage words indeed - but like Peachy I needed you there ten years ago. Maybe easier to design the the world around your palm garden (lol). Anyway I am waiting to see what winter holds but I agree whatever doesn't make it will be replaced by something hardier! My wife just laughs when I say my garden is almost complete when days later I am scouring the nurseries for the ones I don't have have or have to replace. Great thread.

Cheers Jeff

[Gileno Machado]

Hi Jason,

Your insights make a lot of sense, although I'm not exactly in favour of these clean "thematic" gardens you've been dreaming of lately...

When I first reached this forum, in 2003, I remember you were one of the first members to welcome this coco-nut newbie who was eager to learn about other palms and their culture, in order to break the nucifera monoculture here and introduce in my garden the most amazing palms shown on this board. After seven years, I guess I'm still fascinated for the diversity, interested in learning about new species and trying to cultivate them at home. I've heard some opinions here mentioning that some experienced growers are satisfied with what they're growing now and therefore are not very interested in trying anything else in terms of new palms, even though they have lots of extra space available. I'm glad I haven't reached this stage yet otherwise I'd be bored and lose the best part of the joy. The most interesting palm for me is always the next one and I'm not ambitious of claiming to have the largest collection, by any means...but to discover the individual beauty of each new palm and help each one to develop and overcome the adversities of the climate and location, regardless if they're going to form homogeneous groups and harmonious landscapes for our own contemplation and the visitor's delight.

Of course we must have a general plan for the future development of a garden, in order to avoid the randomic introductions in terms of additional plantings in the future. "Bom senso é fundamental"..I like the different species of palms dialoging with each others and also with other companion plants...but...

Some purist modern landscape designers seem to have stopped in time...one of them locals has just found the original sketches of Burle Marx for one of our public parks in 1950 and decided it was better to eliminate all the subsequent plantings introduced there ever since...oooouch, I guess Burle Marx himself would have laughed and be ashamed at the ridiculous results...Not that a work of art needs to be re-done as time passes by...but I don't see gardens as frozen post card pictures anyway...Versailles gardens are beautiful...but what if we could plant a few Trachycarpus wagnerianus here and there...

By the way, your Lusitan gardens delights (and also the mistakes you think you've made in the past) are still a mystery for most us after all these years...how about getting the camera to work a bit?

[Jason Baker Portugal]

Gileno,

thanks for your kind words. Yeah I´ve been here for about ten years now. In the "olden days" we would celebrate new years etc. with all of us online at the same time. We used the forum as a messenger and chatted away. I can remember how many people we got online at once.Blah, blah, blah.

I´ve been cutting down lots of the weeds and canopy so things look a tad bare at the moment. I decided to make over some parts of my garden and go more into the tropical, balinese style (been reading Wade Wijaya again). Things are getting very crowded and I´ve been transplanting large trees to make more jungle and cutting out alocasias, colocasias and hedychiums.

I would prefer to take pictures in the summer when the jungle is in its full splendor. But then again when I take pictures in the summer everything is so green you only see a mass of green leaves. I´ll try taking some tomorrow but I only have my cellphone at the moment.

Abraços

Jason

[Kathryn]

Great advise Jason. One thing I can add is to watch planting space - both structures and other palms. I've had to move so many palms after a few years when I realized how big they were getting.

[Gileno Machado]

Gileno,

thanks for your kind words. Yeah I´ve been here for about ten years now. In the "olden days" we would celebrate new years etc. with all of us online at the same time. We used the forum as a messenger and chatted away. I can remember how many people we got online at once.Blah, blah, blah.

I´ve been cutting down lots of the weeds and canopy so things look a tad bare at the moment. I decided to make over some parts of my garden and go more into the tropical, balinese style (been reading Wade Wijaya again). Things are getting very crowded and I´ve been transplanting large trees to make more jungle and cutting out alocasias, colocasias and hedychiums.

I would prefer to take pictures in the summer when the jungle is in its full splendor. But then again when I take pictures in the summer everything is so green you only see a mass of green leaves. I´ll try taking some tomorrow but I only have my cellphone at the moment.

Abraços

Jason

Yeah, Jason, those were good times for us newbies in Pamtalk...New Year's with chatting worldwide on line...I sure remember this missing tradition. A lot more European and Australian participation at the time too...

I bought Wade Wijaya's "Tropical Garden Design" a few months ago but didn't have much time to read it carefully yet. The pictures are just amazing...

Your garden photos are welcome, anytime...take care.

[Jason Baker Portugal]

Yes, Palmtalk was a little different back then. I took some photos with my cellphone but all you see is green.

When my daughter comes home this sumer I´ll get her to take some pics.

Abraço

Jason

[Jason Baker Portugal]

The first 2 photos were taken in the winter. The next one was taken this week. I had the grapes and kiwi vines cut. This is the view from my toilet seat. I didn´t realize that my cellphone took such good pictures. I´ll take some more later. Jason

[Gileno Machado]

I see what you mean, Jason.

Well, cutting grapes in Portugal sounds like a national crime... but I agree your garden needed some more sunshine...keep the photos coming...

[Jason Baker Portugal]

Here are some random shots from around the garden. I call it the tropical rainforest barnyard look. hope you like it. In amonth or so it will be a lot darker when the chorisia gets its leaves. Jason