Denial of Palm Tree Obsession...

[Sabal Steve]

I find myself constantly obsessing about palm trees... So much so, that I browse all things palm into the wee hours of the night so that the girlfriend won't notice. I take different routes to work hoping to find new, locally grown, species of palm trees. I constantly monitor my palms for growth/problems. I inundate my friends with palm tree facts/advice. Etc...

A show of hands (and stories!) for those complicit in palm overindulgence...

And remember, recognizing that you have a problem is the first step to recovery.

[bgl]

Please define "recovery". That word troubles me!

[buffy]

It's 3:03am. Obsession? I have no idea what you're talking about. I'm sure most normal people are checking PalmTalk at this hour.

[Kennybenjamin]

Welcome to the club... I work with palms, have hundreds of them in my garden, spend my days off work germinating and potting up seedlings (I do sneak some golf in there though), and probably worst of all went to Hawaii on my honeymoon last year and spent 4 days touring palm gardens and meeting some of the good Hawaiian folk from Palmtalk ( luckily my wife allows my obsession!!). When i'm not doing any of this I am on Palmtalk..... Phew..... Luckily I don't have dreams about palms and have a palm free zone when I sleep!!

[Kris]

iam glad to know that iam not alone.

thanks steve for speaking your mind.now I can have a peaceful sleep from now on.

wish you sweet dreams on palms.

love,

kris.

[Cindy Adair]

I just finished eating breakfast on a palm decorated plate and am now drinking tea out of a palm covered mug. I am bringing a few back issues of various palm magazines to peruse over any breaks at work. And of course I'm on Palmtalk now. I have already checked my palm seeds to see if any more have sprouted. That probably says it all.

[Stevetoad]

I I see no problem.

[NApalm]

Haha. I was just thinking the neighbours must think im nuts walking the front/back yards everyday. Sometimes more than once. Glad im not the only one

[Gtlevine]

No worry's, time will cure the sickness.

[Peter G]

I wish this obsession of mine started 15 years ago, imagine how big my Chamberyonia Lepidota would be now!

at least another 5cm bigger!

[IHB1979]

Totally obsessed. For me banana and ginger were the gateway plant that introduced me to palms. It's been lights out, plant crazy ever since. Wife thinks I'm crazy. A good litmus test is taking a family vacation. If your vacations include plant outings you've got a problem. I noticed a couple years ago I was making sure a botanical garden was near our vacation or weekend getaway. I took my wife to Leu Gardens for my birthday one year. Leu is in Orlando, it was July and she was 7 months preggers.

For me the cycle is constant. I'm always collecting and germinating seeds, potting up, moving to the garden, plant grows & seeds, collect seeds, germinate, pot up, etc.

[Mauna Kea Cloudforest]

I wish this obsession of mine started 15 years ago, imagine how big my Chamberyonia Lepidota would be now!

image.jpg

at least another 5cm bigger!

The fact that you have one of these is an indicator of a very advanced stage palm obsession. For you there is no cure.

Edit: I know because I was foolish enough to get one.

[Keith N Tampa (ex SoJax)]

I've cured myself of the "obsession" with positive thinking. "Obsession" has a bad connotation, so the proper phrase in our household is to "embrace our enthuiasm" by planting. 100 Palm trees later (since Aug, 2012), we're still enthused.

[Mauna Kea Cloudforest]

I've cured myself of the "obsession" with positive thinking. "Obsession" has a bad connotation, so the proper phrase in our household is to "embrace our enthuiasm" by planting. 100 Palm trees later (since Aug, 2012), we're still enthused.

My "enthousiasm" or "obsession" if you prefer calling it appears to be cyclical. In the last 15 years I seem to go on a palm planting spree every 3 years or so and it lasts about 2 years. It makes for a nice layered height garden. I was pleased this year that my towering parajubaea torrallyi and triple rhopie had cleared the ground enough to make room for a bunch of new stuff: cham. ernest augusti, some sweater-weather-friendly licuala and a nice brahea nitida.

[Central Floridave]

We all suffer from OCD Hoarding disease.

From mayoclinic.com:

Hoarding is the excessive collection of items, along with the inability to discard them. Hoarding often creates such cramped living conditions that homes may be filled to capacity, with only narrow pathways winding through stacks of clutter. Some people also collect animals, keeping dozens or hundreds of pets often in unsanitary conditions.

Hoarding, also called compulsive hoarding and compulsive hoarding syndrome, may be a symptom of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). But many people who hoard don't have other OCD-related symptoms.

People who hoard often don't see it as a problem, making treatment challenging. But intensive treatment can help people who hoard understand their compulsions and live safer, more enjoyable lives.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/hoarding/DS00966

[doranakandawatta]

..... Luckily I don't have dreams about palms and have a palm free zone when I sleep!!.....

Not me! I dream about palms when I sleep, so no need to visit Palmtallk in the night.

And I can visit Dorankanda garden in my mind when I don't sleep in the night (in Switzerland) and in this situation I can see every palm of the garden and ever y detail,

Is it serious, Doctor?

[Mauna Kea Cloudforest]

We all suffer from OCD Hoarding disease.

From mayoclinic.com:

Hoarding is the excessive collection of items, along with the inability to discard them. Hoarding often creates such cramped living conditions that homes may be filled to capacity, with only narrow pathways winding through stacks of clutter. Some people also collect animals, keeping dozens or hundreds of pets often in unsanitary conditions.

Hoarding, also called compulsive hoarding and compulsive hoarding syndrome, may be a symptom of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). But many people who hoard don't have other OCD-related symptoms.

People who hoard often don't see it as a problem, making treatment challenging. But intensive treatment can help people who hoard understand their compulsions and live safer, more enjoyable lives.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/hoarding/DS00966

Not to turn this thread into being too serious, but I would have to concur with this post, the dark side of this hobby is hoarding. About 5 years ago, I took it upon myself to get rid of every last potted plant I had because I got sick of taking care of them. It was truly a liberating experience.

The other part is compulsive shopping. There is a rush in buying a bunch of palms, and it's easy to buy way more than you will ever need. I certainly have been guilty of that.

The turning point is usually when you notice that the palms own you. That's when "enthusiasm" gives way to "obsession".

[Sabal Steve]

I noticed it when I continued to buy seedlings and germinate palms knowing full well that I have nowhere to put them on my .05 acre lot (that's not including the house guys...)

[Sabal Steve]

Perhaps obsession is a strong term, but, there are many things far worse to obsess about.

[Sabal Steve]

For me it all started with the Bismarck...

What was the palm that started it all for you (to all the readers)?

[MattyB]

Just one more palm man.....just to help me get back on my feet....come on slap ath man!!!!!!

[O'o Bar Master]

Let me approach this from a slightly different perspective . . . the spouse of the obsessed. I need to point out that I am only slightly afflicted (sort of like a contact palm high). But there are "issues" with the obsessed member. An example may provide some insight. I came home late last evening after running some errands and find the house dark and deserted. My wife (Lilikoilee) is nowhere to be found so I start searching through the garden. Eventually I find her kneeling in the dark planting a couple of palms. I point out what seems to me to be an obvious observation about the lack of daylight but she just kept planting. Are there treatment centers?

Mike

[Palm crazy]

Let me approach this from a slightly different perspective . . . the spouse of the obsessed. I need to point out that I am only slightly afflicted (sort of like a contact palm high). But there are "issues" with the obsessed member. An example may provide some insight. I came home late last evening after running some errands and find the house dark and deserted. My wife (Lilikoilee) is nowhere to be found so I start searching through the garden. Eventually I find her kneeling in the dark planting a couple of palms. I point out what seems to me to be an obvious observation about the lack of daylight but she just kept planting. Are there treatment centers?

Planting in the dark.jpg

Mike

The only treatment is to get your wife a Head Lamp…they work wonders for nighttime gardening. I use them all the time when I can’t stop gardening after the sun goes down.

Edited October 25, 2013 by Palm crazy

[Jastin]

Let me approach this from a slightly different perspective . . . the spouse of the obsessed. I need to point out that I am only slightly afflicted (sort of like a contact palm high). But there are "issues" with the obsessed member. An example may provide some insight. I came home late last evening after running some errands and find the house dark and deserted. My wife (Lilikoilee) is nowhere to be found so I start searching through the garden. Eventually I find her kneeling in the dark planting a couple of palms. I point out what seems to me to be an obvious observation about the lack of daylight but she just kept planting. Are there treatment centers?

Planting in the dark.jpg

Mike

Thats too funny!

[Mauna Kea Cloudforest]

Let me approach this from a slightly different perspective . . . the spouse of the obsessed. I need to point out that I am only slightly afflicted (sort of like a contact palm high). But there are "issues" with the obsessed member. An example may provide some insight. I came home late last evening after running some errands and find the house dark and deserted. My wife (Lilikoilee) is nowhere to be found so I start searching through the garden. Eventually I find her kneeling in the dark planting a couple of palms. I point out what seems to me to be an obvious observation about the lack of daylight but she just kept planting. Are there treatment centers?

Planting in the dark.jpg

Mike

The only treatment is to get your wife a Head Lamp…they work wonders for nighttime gardening. I use them all the time when I can’t stop gardening after the sun goes down.

Must have headlamp, it's standard issue equipment for obsessed palm nuts.

[palmislandRandy]

Palmpedia from A-Z & I'm up to the R's........again

[Bismark]

For me it all started with the Bismarck...

What was the palm that started it all for you (to all the readers)?

For me it all started with the Bismarck too. I moved to Brisbane in 2005 and decided I was going to create a native garden with Eucalypts and Banksias etc. Two years later I was invited to my bosses house who was five years into a tropical garden with a Bismarck as its centrepiece. I was hooked. When I returned home I immediately started digging up my native garden and in April 2008 I planted my Bismarck. I also had a couple of palms in the ground(Archontophoenix alexandrae) to work with which had survived my native cull and I was away. 98 palms later and I have just put two Basselinia gracilis in the ground this morning. If all this is an obsession then I'm obsessed..

[Dr. George]

...Are there treatment centers?....

Let's hope not - gmp

[Alicehunter2000]

Mine kind of goes in cycles as well. With a new yard comes a new palate to work with. I have yet to hang a single picture in the new house.....but I picked up a truck load of good soil for the front flower bed today.......no problem here.

[Stevetoad]

Haha and you asked me for my sabal minor seeds!...........I got lots come get em! Think of it as giving each seed a chance for a long life rather than just getting tossed into the green trash. You got a palm tree orphanage over there.

[Sabal Steve]

I prefer the term "palm sanctuary". I also have a refugee or two from depot. They're getting a second chance at life.

[Sabal Steve]

I don't think corralling the minors will be an issue. The jubs, dates, and braheas on the other hand...

Edited October 26, 2013 by Sabal Steve

[Stevetoad]

I would be honored to add to your sickness

[SanDimas]

I guess Im guilty by association as well.

Yes, I am guilty of pacing my yard and checking on the plants for growth

and occasionally stopping/braking not for yard sales but to pick up seeds

from public plantings and over the fence palms.

I think Im resolved not to buy anymore seedlings for lack of yard space.

Im branching into seed germination as a mean of slowing down my impulses

and waiting for these critters to germinate.

BTW Ive read somewhere that theres a distinction between an

obsession and just being passionate about a hobby.

I never really considered it as hoarding because theres

an artistic and educational aspect to our passions?

In my younger days it was sailing and kayaking and even tennis.

Cheers.

[LilikoiLee]

My husband Mike (O'o Bar Master) has enrolled me in a twelve step program:

Day 1 - I am allowed to buy 12 palms

Day 2 - I am allowed to buy 11 palms

Day 3 - I am allowed to buy 10 pams

etc

The program also includes a buddy system. Mike will go with me on every palm purchasing trip to hang on to my purse.

Lee

[Kennybenjamin]

My husband Mike (O'o Bar Master) has enrolled me in a twelve step program:

Day 1 - I am allowed to buy 12 palms

Day 2 - I am allowed to buy 11 palms

Day 3 - I am allowed to buy 10 pams

etc

The program also includes a buddy system. Mike will go with me on every palm purchasing trip to hang on to my purse.

Lee

Day 1 sounds good, don't know about day 12 though? What happens on day 13? Hopefully the cycle starts all over again? It's either that or withdrawal starts to set in!!

[doranakandawatta]

Lee,

I wish you never have bad days! Day 1 to 365! All palmy days!

Kindest regards

Philippe

[Mauna Kea Cloudforest]

On the first day of Christmas,
my true love sent to me
A beccariophoenix alfredii.

On the second day of Christmas,
my true love sent to me
Two lemurophoenix halleuxii,
And a beccariophoenix alfredii.

On the third day of Christmas,
my true love sent to me
Three dypsis carlsmithii,
Two lemurophoenix halleuxii,
And a beccariophoenix alfredii.

<Other PalmTalkers to fill in the rest of the 12 days>

[Central Floridave]

"The turning point is usually when you notice that the palms own you."

Yup, its when every weekend you are pushing multiple wheelbarrows full of palm fronds to the end of the road when you say to yourself...what was I thinking ten years ago?!?

[Darold Petty]

Steve, I drove 800 miles by myself in one day to obtain a better form of a palm I already had in the ground.

(San Francisco to Rancho Soledad, and halfway back home, for Howea belmoreana.

Remain calm, and carry on !