From Alpha to Omega (Beginning to End)

[DALION]

Well, this will be the thread that shows the birth of my palm and cycad garden from the day I bought the house in 2002 until now and into the coming weeks as plants go into the ground and beyond.

This is the day we bought the house in May 2002

Eastside wall facing south

Eastside wall facing north

Southside wall facing east

Westside wall facing south

View of original patio before container ranch

[DoomsDave]

more pant pant pant

[DALION]

I worked on the interior of the house first (wife made that decission). We did the kitchen, bath rooms, scraped the acoustic ceiling, tiled the floor, painted, and then we moved to... not the garden. We (more she than me) decided to replace the wood fence with a block wall, contruct a huge courtyard in the front, replace the garage doors, remove the wood siding in the front of the house and replace with stucco, remove old backyard patio cover and replace with a new patio cover and second floor deck.

Oh yes, this is supposed to be about my garden... so it's now 2009 and here we go.

East side

Southside

Westside

Sorry, still nothing mush other that making lines to see where I'd like to have a planter. The few palms you do see are the Big Orange Box stock.

[DALION]

Things are moving now for real this time. The wall is going up! Yeah!!!

Eastside

Southside

Westside

[DALION]

Now we are cooking with gas! This project is going to go fast now... unless...

...I break my finger

Maybe it's not broken. An X-ray should tell me.

YES IT IS BROKEN! In to pieces that is.

That big rock fell on to the smaller one and my finger stopped them from getting scratched.

[DoomsDave]

Oh gas

[DALION]

2011 was a bad year for gardens since I had a nursey to contruct... on to 2012.

I must have good drainage just in case it ever decides to rain here. With solid clay soil and a block wall on all sides.. a frech drain sounds good.

Drain goes in.

The nursery (baby not palm) did produce some help.

Now the drain pipe is filled with gravel and wrapped with landscape fabric

[DALION]

Now, this weekend I took a giant step foward into completing this project. Beep! Beep! Beep! Here come the truck!

If you have never had 40 CUBIC YARDS dumped in you drive way then you have never seen this before.

So now you wheel it back one wheelbarrow at a time until you get the bed to look like this.

Eastside

Southside

Remember the free help? Well, she is on a union break! Just my luck to hire a Teamster!

Westside

[DALION]

I will be back at this in a couple weeks since I need about 20 more yards of soil. Then come the true fun stuff.. planting palms.

[Lowey]

Now we are cooking with gas! This project is going to go fast now... unless...

...I break my finger

Maybe it's not broken. An X-ray should tell me.

YES IT IS BROKEN! In to pieces that is.

That big rock fell on to the smaller one and my finger stopped them from getting scratched.

Ouch, broken fingers are so much fun

[BS Man about Palms]

Looks really Good Leo..

And I just stick to severing my tendons... on the back of my right thumb... Makes a nice hitchhiking hand when in the cast though...

[Jastin]

I know how much work that is, and its all a labor of love. It's looking really good. What type of soil did you get? What's going to be your watering system? How high are you going with the fill dirt?

[Pedro 65]

Lots of progress Leo, what a great start to a mighty landscape project. Your palms and cycads will love the raised beds, i look fwd to seeing the after planting pics. All the best with the rest of your work. Great stuff Pete

[Tassie_Troy1971]

Great before and after pics

and "" If you have never had 40 CUBIC YARDS dumped in you drive way " is a great motivator to get it outta the way !

[palmislandRandy]

Excellent planning! Your palms & cycads are going to be lovin the raised bed with the extra drainage. Nice job. ( I mean the bed, not your finger..ouch)

[Tomw]

I love it!! A well thought out and beautifully executed garden plan, thinking about what type soil and conditions ahead of putting in the plants can only help in the end results. Good Job!!!

[Bill Austin]

Leo Great looking and well thought out plane I did landscaping in Kona for yrs. and know the sound of beep beep all to well, but we didn't have union help on the job Thanks for the up cate look forward to more.

[Mandrew968]

Everything is looking like "no expenses spared". I'm looking forward to seeing all the palms in place--hope the 'boss' likes it! It's got all of our approval

[Cindy Adair]

Really lovely curved walls and view and everything! Please add more photos as you continue to plant! Congratulations!

[Funkthulhu]

I love this whole thread! You really are making something great for you and your family to experience for decades to come!

What was the composition of your dump-truck contents? Was that fill dirt or gravel? If gravel, did you fill in at all behind the wall before topping with gravel?

[DALION]

I know how much work that is, and its all a labor of love. It's looking really good. What type of soil did you get? What's going to be your watering system? How high are you going with the fill dirt?

The soil is a mix specially mixed for my cycads. I think it is easier to amend with extra organics around the palms and other plants that like that than to make the soil faster draining for the cycads that don't. The mix is a combo of pumice (45%), decomposed granite, sand, mini bark, and composted fir bark. The organics are about 30% of the mix and hopefully are enough for the majority of the plants. I asked many cycad people in the past about what their mix was and everyone had a different mix and swore it was better than the others' mixes. I decided to make up a variant of what everyone else had but leaning more to that of people in hotter, more inland areas like mine.

The watering system will be a work in progress for some time. I currently have it set up with a line for pop-up sprinklers. I like the idea of the overhead spinklers because it mirrors nature (sort of but not really) and getting the whole area watered seems like a good idea since that way the roots can run everywhere. The downside is that as the plants get bigger and block the path of the sprinklers I then either have to add more pop-ups or face many dry spots.

I don't believe it is visible in the pictures but I tapped into the plumbing of the house and ran copper pipes to the planter. There are three hose spigots so I can hand water when needed but I don't want "when needed" to be every week.

The only choice will then be to spend some money (like I haven't already done that) on a drip system but I need to see someone's set up first (PRA this weekend for the PSSC) to get an idea of what the hell I'm getting myself into.

I did say from Alpha to OMEGA... I just hope that the END of this thread will be an invitation for people to see my garden and not the END of my life.

Leo

[Ice Blue]

Great thread Leo. I can't wait to see the after pics too. Looks like your palms and cycads will grow up along with your daughter. Very cool.

[Harry]

Nice work!

From the pictures it looks as if you mixed in perlite (?) with the new soil.

[Harry]

I was under the impression that watering using overhead sprinklers could cause serious fungal problems at the crowns of palms/cycads. Are you sure?

[NApalm]

Great thread! The best thing about starting with a blank canvas is you get to design the yard your own way. I'm loving the raised beds and drainage! Great job. Can't wait for the palm and cycads going in!

[DALION]

Nice work!

From the pictures it looks as if you mixed in perlite (?) with the new soil.

It's not perlite it's pumice. I don't like perlite since it floats and is not a very healthy material.

[DALION]

I was under the impression that watering using overhead sprinklers could cause serious fungal problems at the crowns of palms/cycads. Are you sure?

I think overhead sprinklers get a bad reputation. Rain does come from the sky which is overhead (unless you are in Australia) so I thing it's more about time of day and temperatures than just overhead. I could be wrong and might start a new thread in a few years to tell everyone that my garden died from overhead sprinklers.

[DALION]

I like to thank everyone for their encouraging words. It is a LABOR of love. I just wish it was more love than labor.

[DALION]

So what does attending a PSSC meeting get you to want todo? PLANT PALMS! Even though I still have more soil coming this weekend I do have some areas with almost the right level to plant out some palms. So here goes the first palm planting in the garden in almost 6 years.

I had this poor looking C. gigas or obtusa or whatever it's called sitting in the most sunny, hot, windy, least watered area in my yard and it looks like it was in that environment. But, the spike is growing and I'm sure I'll regret planting such a giant in the yard but I did it anyway.

This was a freebie palm that was headed for the mulch pile but I think that this E. edulis will survive.

I picked up this D. plumosa a couple years ago from Kevin Weaver.

I don't know much about palms. But that is a good thing since I have been told D. pembana won't do will here yet it has grown from a 1 gallon plant into the palm you see here. It has never been protected from the sun, heat, wind or the cold.

Another palm, R. sapida, that is suppose to be marginal here has done quiet well over the last 5 years.

[Jastin]

NICE!

[edric]

Wow Leo, I don't know who's moved more big rocks around, you or Matty, Ed

[Mats]

The mix is a combo of pumice (45%), decomposed granite, sand, mini bark, and composted fir bark. The organics are about 30% of the mix ...

How deep is the planting mix in your beds, 18 to 20"?

So pumice constitutes 45%, what are the percentages of the DG, sand, mini and fir bark?

I'll be interested in hearing how often you're watering in Aug. and Sept.

[DALION]

The mix is a combo of pumice (45%), decomposed granite, sand, mini bark, and composted fir bark. The organics are about 30% of the mix ...

How deep is the planting mix in your beds, 18 to 20"?

So pumice constitutes 45%, what are the percentages of the DG, sand, mini and fir bark?

I'll be interested in hearing how often you're watering in Aug. and Sept.

The planter is from 16" to 22" high and the native soil was tilled 6" and then 14" - 20" of soil was added.

The mix is:

45% pumice

15% cement sand

10% decomposed granite

15% mini bark

15% composted fir bark

The formula for the mix is not a fair description of the soil where the palms are planted because once it dig the whole I ammend to what is being planted. For the palms I just planted I added about 50% compost to the hole. I have too many cycads and succulents to not try to have a mix they can live in. It's easier to add organics when needed than it is to remove/ammend it down to the level of my mix.

As for watering in August and September, I'm sure the watering will be less than it was when all those palms were in black nursery pots in full sun.

Leo

[DALION]

Ok, so I had 12 more yards delivered and the bed is now full of soil. Now the planting begins. Here are a couple pics of what went in today and other a couple pics of palms being set up for tomorrows plantings.

Ravenea glauca from a 24" box

I'm a cycad guy so I have to start planting those too. Here is a E. caffer 'Humansdorf' form from Loren Whitelock himself.

E. humilis is another small cycad.

I think this palm is the only reason anyone would like to visit my young garden. Ravenea xerophylla tied up to go over the wall.

Not positive on the ID for the next two palms but they are going in the ground nonetheless.

Dypsis madagascariensis

Dypsis lucubensis

[DALION]

Today I planted a few more palms, cycads and succulents. Here are some pictures.

First a few plants to accompany the palms and cycads.

Agave victoriae reginae dwarf

Agave vicoriae reginae

Cyphostemma juttae

Echeveria sp. (not sure of the species since there are multiple variations of similar crosses)

One of my favorite cycads. E. dyerianus

This cycad is the tallest one I have (32" of trunk/caudex) and since most of the plants in this corner are from Madagascar it is very appropriate to have a Cycas thouarsii in this area.

And here are the two Dypsis palms I showed above.

D. lucubensis

D. madagascariensis

This last pic is a palm I am testing in the ground. I"ve had 3 Coccothrinax crinitas in the yard for several years and I never protect them so they just might live in the ground (I hope!)

[DALION]

Here is the R. zerophylla finally in the ground.

I also put my K. oliviformis in a semi-protected area.

...and a few more plants to complete the section (for now that is)

Kalanchoe beharensis

A heavily branched Pachypodium lamerei. (It had two more large branches but it fell over and they broke off.)

And lastly, this Pachypodium is either a mutated lamerei or a hybrid. I got this a few years ago from a friend. Anyone here have any ideas?

[Hammer]

Was that pachypodium in a less than full sun location? I have one in a pot that gets funky leaves if it doesn't get full sun all day.

These are probably my very favorite plant. Love 'em.

Edited May 28, 2012 by Hammer

[DALION]

Was that pachypodium in a less than full sun location? I have one in a pot that gets funky leaves if it doesn't get full sun all day.

These are probably my very favorite plant. Love 'em.

Its been in the sun for years. The leaves have always looked that way. Its a pup from a larger plant a friend has with the same leaves. He thought it was a mutation or a cross so he bought it or took it in trade don't remember.

Leo

[BS Man about Palms]

Cool!

[palmcurry]

Great work Dalion. Looks like fun with so much canvas to start with. I think your choice of palms is smart too. Raveneas are unsung heroes IMO