This area in plain view of my living room window had been taunting me for a long time. What to do, what to do? Bordering the neighbor's lot and my drive to the carport, and jammed with the logs from dead trees pushed "out of the way" years ago, it has been a design challenge. It's amazing that I found a "before" photo, because there was nothing worth photographing. This is the area in March 2012:

I had a group of 14 Chambeyronia macrocarpa, half of them 'hookeri' that were bought with another area in mind. Plans can change. I spent a day weeding the area.

The next day, Bo and I planted seven of the palms, a group of 3 and a group of 4.

View through the living room window in the early morning light, the remaining palms anticipating liberation from their pots.

By the end of the second planting day, the remaining 7 have been situated.

All done? Not quite. Waiting in the wings were some Calyptrocalyx altbertisianus and Calyptrocalyx pachystachys, which also have red emergent leaves. Hmmm, the stars were aligning... After some discussion, it was decided that the taller of the two species would be the better fit in combination with the Chambeyronia macrocarpa. Since these were mere 1-gallon plants, we popped them in quite easily. And now that this had morphed into The Red Garden, a few red bromeliads seemed to be appropriate, so in went an Alcantarea imperialis, and a Vriesea sanguinolenta, along with a couple of contrasting green Vriesea fenestralis. Off to a good start!

While it looks quite rough now, as the palms grow, this area will continue to be refined and underplanted, keeping to the red theme, until it feels lush and full.

Beautiful work Kim, the strappy wide leaved Broms are great companions with the Chambys . The 2nd pic post 2 is fantastic viewed large to see in the background the explosive growth of some earlier plantings..the last pic is beautiful too Hawaii is keeping you "fit n healthy', it must be very hard to leave ? but peace of mind to know Bo is right there and whenever he feeds his palms he feeds yours? Pete

Kim,

That area looks great now, but it'll be absolutely spectacular when the palms get just a bit taller and are opening up red new fronds left and right. And I'm guessing there may be a few more colorful bromeliads as well at that time! And it was fun getting 19 palms in the ground!

Bo-Göran

PS. With close to five inches of rain since yesterday they are not about to dry out!

Hi Pete, thanks! Yes, 2nd pic in post 2 you can see my original Dypsis planting from exactly 3 years ago in the upper right corner. From the right margin moving left, you see a thriving D. canaliculata, slender Dypsis paludosa now tripled in height (and being renamed, I hear), the curly leaflets of my big D. prestoniana, and the fine leaves of D. saiintelucei.

In the very last photo, you can see some Dypsis procera along the fence and beyond them the larger palms are Cyrtostachys renda. The hedge of D. lutescens along the property line is the work of my neighbors, which makes a nice background.

Hey Bo, thanks for all your help! It would have taken me four days on my own to plant all those palms! Two days with teamwork is a great advantage. I'm glad to hear the palms are getting lots of rain! Nearly 5 inches in two days?

Very nice Kim - and I think having those logs left in place will make a great visual for understory planting. - gmp

I can see the 'red' garden expanding and flowing into the 'purple' garden. The new red leaf on Calyptrocalyx altbertisianus is every bit as spectacular as C. macrocarpa, good choice.

Doink!

New pictures, @Kim?

 

Let's see...  I found a couple of photos from November 2014:

Very nice @Kim!

Those look wonderful Kim!

Such an eye for design! 

Nice Kim! I planted a red garden here too...mostly New Caledonian species that have red new growth...I will be building a small timber viewing platform to admire them all once they get a bit larger. Mine will take several more years until it is anywhere near as good as yours though!

 

Daryl

 

Gorgeous Kim.

Any pics Daryl?

11 hours ago, Tracy S said:

Gorgeous Kim.

Any pics Daryl?

It's all too small to make much of an impact now, so no photos would do it justice...

At risk of hijacking this thread, here is one of the palms I planted...

Burretiokentia dumassii

 

Dear Kim & Daryl,

Lovely visuals and it was a treat for the eyes.

Love,

Kris.

 

Really pretty.

A more recent photo, May 2016, but prior to weeding and cleanup.