Hi Ben,

Good to see another Aussie in the forum. Did you just move to Cairns? Or you just bought the place? Anyway... good work... I can see that the property won't be big enough for you soon

Regards, Ari

Looking very good, great work........... I have been in my new house and garden not much longer than you.....it is always daunting but exciting starting over again!

Thanks for all the positive feed back guys.

To answer your question Kurt, no I dont have any of the 'blue' encephalartos, but I do know of a nice big E. horridus growing here in Cairns really well. Looks awesome. If he ever gets sick of it its been promised to me

Out the front in the dry garden is mostly, like you noticed Dioon sp, and a range of different C. thourasii, growing in different forms. Eg curly leaf, variegated etc.

And for Ari, I've been here for years now just bought this place recently. For a suburban block its reasonably large, but your right about it not being big enough for me soon. Will just have to make do till my neighbors sell their place to me! Yeah, that could work

Well on your way to a great tropical paradise.

Nice job!

So Ben it's a new year where is our new years treat of your yearly garden update you have an absolutely incredible garden .

I didnt see this thread when it was fresh sorry Ben..Beautiful gardens, choice palms and a pool to boot. Ahhhh Tropical Nth Qld, love it.. Pete edit... Only just saw the thread date of 2011..Ben...its time for an "Update Mate... this is 14 mths old..

wow! i too didnt see this thread last year, some really cool palms and nice layout! hows your browneopsis going? i planted one a couple of weeks ago and cant wait for it to put on some size... thanks again for the pics

harry

I agree, update time! Great yard there

Great collection. Some real odd balls, which i love, like the forest bismark. I also really enjoyed seeing your hovomantsinas in so much light exposure. Now I wanna go trim some branches off of mine!

So Ben it's a new year where is our new years treat of your yearly garden update you have an absolutely incredible garden .

Thanx Bill, and the rest of you for your kind words recently and your eagerness to see the garden update for the past 12 months

My partner and I are getting married at the end of this month and have had a bit on our plates as you can imagine, so I was actually going to skip it this year.

But you guys have prompted me to get out and do it! So this weekend if not before I will aim to post the garden update for the past yr!

I was looking over last yrs photos and I recon you'll see a few changes

Cheers again guys

Yep, time for an update.

Do you have a good fence? So many lovely palms I dream about!

Thank you for showing your collection; I hope to see the growth in 6 months!

Regards

Philippe

Do you have a good fence? So many lovely palms I dream about!

Thank you for showing your collection; I hope to see the growth in 6 months!

Regards

Philippe

Nice one Philipe.

If your implying that you wanna jump the fence and do a palm raid, let me just give you a heads up. Its not the integrity of the fence you need to worry about.

Its whats lurking in amongst the palms on the other side of it. It's weighs over 75kg (165lbs) and doesn't much like palm thieves. But if you wanna give it a shot knock yourself out.

Don't say I haven't been a good sport about it!

Now, on with the 2013 garden update!

Like I mentioned earlier I'm a bit short on time this year.

So rather than posting heaps of individual pics of different palms, I'm just going to post some updated garden shots and for anyone interested in seeing individual pics of certain plants, you're more that welcome to let me know and I will put them up.

This is the view from our outdoor area looking across a small lawn toward the pool.

In the front you can see the silhouette of my little Chamaedorea tenella grove which is again setting seed for me.

Behind garden has a pair of Dypsis sp. Dark Mealybug, Loxococcus rupicola and a few small dwarf Raphis sp.

Looking back across same small lawn toward my container ranch and germination area.

Part of my germination area with numerous Neoveitchia, Satranala decussilvae, a few green Joeys that are coming along nicely, and various species of variegated Raphis among other things.

Well... I'll give you a call before coming!

Sadly Far North Queensland is FAR!

Do your Pelagadoxa come fro RPS seeds?

How old is your Loxococcus? (Our endemic in Sri Lanka)

Here the Loxococcus at Samarakoon in Peradeniya last august (Samarakoon moved it last december, I am surprised by the transplanting but it worked)

Here the Loxococcus in Brief Garden

Thanks for showing the pictures, looking forward to seeing next.

Regards

This narrow lawn leads down toward the orchard away from the house.

On either side of the 'path' are a few Dypsis pilulifera, on the right are a few fronds of Carpoxylon.

Roughly in the middle of this pic is a small tree that you would hardly have been able to see last year. I got it from a friend who got a few seed labeled Syzigium malaccense cv. Mega.This is an tree, that has an even more awesome growth rate. Just to give you an idea of scale, this small tree is roughly 4 meters tall. At least three of those meters were put on since last post!

At any rate, in around under that are a few Euterpe espiratosantanensis, a Euterpe sp. Orange crownshaft and a few little Iguanura sp. and Pelagodoxa further along.

On the other (left hand) side behind the huge Pandanus that is also tearing away at an awesome pace, is a nice Sabal mauritiformis, and numerous Areca macrocalyx var. Marie.

This is the garden on the left of the pool gate with my biggest Bottle, and a few Chambey macrocarpa behind it that you can hardly see now. In amongst all that is a full sun Licuala peltata that up untill a few months ago was looking great till we had some really high temps and low humidity.

Thanks Ben for taking the time to post, is thats a pentagonia grandiflora rubra #54 third pic.? Looks like thing are moving along very nicely .

Thanks Ben for taking the time to post, is thats a pentagonia grandiflora rubra #54 third pic.? Looks like thing are moving along very nicely .

Sure is. Likes more water than it's had this year though cos its been so dry.

Keen eye you have there

Hey Ben, looking awesome. You will have a jungle in no time! How's your hovomantsina and browneopsis travelling?

This pic is taken from just inside the pool gate looking towards the waterfall and back right corner of the block.

In the garden to the left you can see a bit of my variegated Pritchardia pacifica and a few nice fronds of Chambey houailou sticking out. its starting to pick up pace now too. Further back under a big Pandanus brassilag is a smaller growing understory Attelea, Attelea allenii, a dwarf betelnut thats now trunking, a pair of Areca ipot, and other various small clumping/screening palms such as Arenga caudata and variegated Raphis.

Here is a better shot of that garden taken from nearer the pool. To the left of the gate you can sort of make out a nice Dypsis albofarinosa that has been constantly setting viable seed all year.

Hey Ben, looking awesome. You will have a jungle in no time! How's your hovomantsina and browneopsis travelling?

G'day mate. The hovo is starting to grow into its dry garden setting well with each new leaf emerging larger and more sun tolerable.

The Browneopsis on the other hand is probably smaller than last year cos I tip pruned it all back at the start of summer, but has new growth tips emerging all over and will post a pic for you when the new flush kicks out.

Good stuff!

Wow! great growth there. loving the layout

Quite an elaborate garden! In Florida, sand soil is rarely an impediment to having happy plants, unless there's parasitic nematode problems (a Florida specialty). I'm far enough north to have occasional freezes, and we will be within a few degrees of freezing tonight. Cydads do well, as I expect they do in Cairns. Is Zamia integrifolia grown much in Australia? Growth habit is variable, but they tend to make pretty thick masses of leaves around 2-3 feet high and about as far across. They grow faster than their reputation would allow. The purple Alcantarea imperialis was looking fine last year and even bigger in the February 2013 photo--it's become a fairly common landscape plant in southern Florida. I've had no problems, despite cold, with two big ones.

In the Australian department, I've got 3 species of Archontophoenix, Carpentaria, and am looking for a spot for a Livistona rigida. Also have a young Lepidozamia peroffskyana. It's looking happy after a year in the ground. I haven't got Chambeyronia macrocarpa, but it seems to do nicely in our area--another case of sand not being a problem.