In Hawaii sometimes it’s about digging a hole and sometimes it’s about getting the palm to the hole.

At last year’s annual HIPS dinner a large (50 gal size) Chamaerops was put up for auction. The root ball of the palm was
so big that only one person was bidding on it. I thought what a joke on whoever that is, because he’s going to have to
dig one monster hole in Hawaii’s brutal lava.

Just then I heard my wife offer a counterbid. When Lee won the bid all I could think of was how we would get it lifted into our truck; how we would get it off our truck; and then how in the heck I would find a big enough hole to get it in the ground. I got the palm on the truck with the help of the seller. I got the palm off the truck by shoving it down a ramp off the back of the truck. I was able to dig a very large hole at the bottom of an 18’ cliff on the sunny west side of our property.

Then the problem was how to get the Chamaerops down the cliff and into the hole.

Here’s the process in pictures:

Looking up the cliff.

Rolling the palm to the edge of the cliff.

Prepping the ramp.

The palm secured by rope and ready to go,

Lee bracing her foot and preparing to belay the palm.

Starting the descent. At this point we couldn‘t see each other so I would call out “Lower six
inches” and Lee would let the rope out another six inches.

Guiding the palm with my left hand and taking a picture with my right.

Ran out of plywood so lowered the final six feet on a pair of O’o bars.

Down at last.

In the ground!

Mike your my new hero.

O'o and Lee, that's crazy spectacular!! And you've proven the slippery slope argument can be won! Bravo!!!

O'o and Lee, that's crazy spectacular!! And you've proven the slippery slope argument can be won! Bravo!!!

What are you still doing up??? Mike

Mike your my new hero.

Thanks Bill. Next time I'll borrow your bobcat! Mike

wow you guys make my gardening seem so easy !

Mike, I woke up! lol.

Good exercice and success !

But for a Chamaerops ! From here (Europe), Hawaiian gardens make us dream about Clinostigma or rarest tropical palms like Areca vestiaria, Pritchardia or Loxococcus,

But you like Chamaerops! Why not.... best wishes for nice growth. (You have nice Monstera in your garden)

I hope you'll not remove the palm from his place or will you post a new topic "How to lift up a Chamaerops form down the slope"?

Kindest regards

Philippe

Inspirational, entertaining, informative AND palms! What's not to like? You've enhanced my before I leave for work Palmtalk interlude! Thanks!

Good exercice and success !

But for a Chamaerops ! From here (Europe), Hawaiian gardens make us dream about Clinostigma or rarest tropical palms like Areca vestiaria, Pritchardia or Loxococcus,

But you like Chamaerops! Why not.... best wishes for nice growth. (You have nice Monstera in your garden)

I hope you'll not remove the palm from his place or will you post a new topic "How to lift up a Chamaerops form down the slope"?

Kindest regards

Philippe

Looks like an everglades palm, not a Mediterranean fan palm.

thats amazing,but now i kinda think it looks better at the top...

Great story with great pictures to accompany. Thanks so much for sharing. I loved it.

I remember the night you two got that palm and we loaded it into your SUV. That mutha was heavy and there was more than a few drops of blood from those damn spines. I'm still having nightmares and back problems.

You two are nuts and the pictures made me laugh. Your relating to me the story of the planting somehow lost some translation over the phone,so I'm glad you documented every amazing, agonizing moment. There's no emoticon to do it justice.

Tim

That palm went for an E-ticket ride! (you have to be a certain age to know what that means) Yay for teamwork! And as they say, necessity is the mother of invention. Great job, Mike and Lee!

I think Mike deserves a medal for this one! And I remember E-tickets quite well (and not what an E-ticket means today). I was curious when Disneyland discontinued them so I googled for an answer, which is: 1982. Seems like yesterday!

As an e-ticket baby I have to agree - quite a ride.

Have a couple of things we are going to plant at the bottom of a slope, but I think we are going to go with the smaller size and a walk around approach.

gmp

I remember the night you two got that palm and we loaded it into your SUV. That mutha was heavy and there was more than a few drops of blood from those damn spines. I'm still having nightmares and back problems.

You two are nuts and the pictures made me laugh. Your relating to me the story of the planting somehow lost some translation over the phone,so I'm glad you documented every amazing, agonizing moment. There's no emoticon to do it justice.

Tim

We'd never deny being nuts. I was very serious before I met Mike - believe me its a lot more fun being nuts!

Incidentally I found the Obi Island that you gave us. It had moved over to be among our Licuala's. So glad we found it. We now have a backup for the sick one - if it doesn't survive. Right now we're looking at it as a learning experience; trying different options to see if we can figure out what's the matter with it. Mike took pictures and will be posting them as soon as he comes out of his silly phase.

Lee

Bravo, Lil and O'O!

You sure have the hang of dealing with large palms.

When I moved into my place, I had about 100 palms in 32 gallon garbage cans.

Helpers usually chickened out, so I learned how to handle them all by myself. Boards, levers, ropes. Real gardeners don't need no power ee-queep-ment! Archimedes is my hero!

This was just a few of 32's I had. These all went into the ground.

Hey O`O BAR MASTER, thanks for sharing your palm placement experience down that steep embankment. There are advantages of having a sloping garden but I guess that's not one of them! While our property slopes similar to yours I don't think I've had such a challenging spot as that one. And all that work for a Chamaerops. why didn't you instead put one of your Lodoicea palms down there!

Bravo, Lil and O'O!

You sure have the hang of dealing with large palms.

When I moved into my place, I had about 100 palms in 32 gallon garbage cans.

Helpers usually chickened out, so I learned how to handle them all by myself. Boards, levers, ropes. Real gardeners don't need no power ee-queep-ment! Archimedes is my hero!

This was just a few of 32's I had. These all went into the ground.

07-06-03 palms 003.jpg

Dave,

My wife (Lilikoilee) was recently explaining our decision to hand-clear our acre as opposed to having it bulldozed. She extolled the virtues of maintaining the "natural flow" of the land, etc. Personally, after lowering that beast down the cliff I think it's because there is clearlyinsanity running in both sides of our families.

Lee

Hey O`O BAR MASTER, thanks for sharing your palm placement experience down that steep embankment. There are advantages of having a sloping garden but I guess that's not one of them! While our property slopes similar to yours I don't think I've had such a challenging spot as that one. And all that work for a Chamaerops. why didn't you instead put one of your Lodoicea palms down there!

You know Al, we have a dozen of the Lodoicea in 4" pots (seeds really stretching those pots out) and hesitate to put them in the ground until they're more mature, so if you could give us one of your big ones, I'll trade you for several of our small ones.

Mike

....why didn't you instead put one of your Lodoicea palms down there....

we have a dozen of the Lodoicea in 4" pots

YOU have Lodoicea!!!!! happy you!

Gladly Kona is not so close to Doranakanda, otherwise, ... in the night...

When will we be able to get Lodoicea seeds or seedlings????

give us one of your big ones,.... yes please!

regards

Philippe