starting a palm garden from scratch ...how would you do it ?

[RJ]

Anymore words of advise? I'm currently in the brain storming phase, collecting palms but mostly just trying to read,read, and read more. 

Some great looking gardens posted above.

 

 

[kinzyjr]

37 minutes ago, RJ said:

Anymore words of advise? I'm currently in the brain storming phase, collecting palms but mostly just trying to read,read, and read more. 

Some great looking gardens posted above.

Follow the advice above regarding planning your garden, knowing the max. diameter of the plants you are using, etc.  But more importantly, have fun and make the garden "yours".  Similar sentiments to what _Keith mentioned.

[RJ]

I must say Joe's garden in Augusta is an inspiration. I sit here wishing I was just a zone 9, so many doors would open up in terms of palms and tropical plants. Seeing his certainly lessons that sentiment. Simply great looking garden.

I don't have any canopy trees in the winter, can bamboo be used to grow a relatively quick canopy? I know nothing about bamboo but it certainly has a nice tropical look to it and might fit the bill. Only issue is it pretty much grows vertically hardly any horizontally. 

 

 

[JLeVert]

Don't crowd things.  All the palms get a lot bigger than you think.  As kinzyjr said, check the maximum diameter of the crown:  e.g. 15' or so for a Sabal palmetto.  

Also, have fun!

Here's my back yard: I might have overdone it! 

[JLeVert]

18 hours ago, RJ said:

I must say Joe's garden in Augusta is an inspiration. I sit here wishing I was just a zone 9, so many doors would open up in terms of palms and tropical plants. Seeing his certainly lessons that sentiment. Simply great looking garden.

I don't have any canopy trees in the winter, can bamboo be used to grow a relatively quick canopy? I know nothing about bamboo but it certainly has a nice tropical look to it and might fit the bill. Only issue is it pretty much grows vertically hardly any horizontally. 

 

 

Unless you have a big piece of property, I wouldn't use bamboo.  The best ones for zone 8 are all runners:  they creep all over the place underground and then pop up in places that you don't want them, like 30' away.  

The palms can be your canopy.  You can (depending on your budget) buy full sized palmettos and bypass the 15 year wait for them to get a little height on them.  Same thing with Butias although they will be much more expensive for large plants.

You can do more in zone 9, but you can do lots in zone 8!  Besides, Augusta and Columbia are mostly and usually above the gnat line.

Joe

[kinzyjr]

@RJ

If you want a "wind shield" in a warm zone 8, I might suggest podocarpus.  I have mature poducarpus hedges on the north side of my property and it works wonderfully.  For canopy, I use live oak on my 0.35 acre lot.  On the south side of the property, I have avocado canopy, but I don't think that would be appropriate for zone 8.  My neighbors use southern magnolia for a little bit lower canopy.  Purely suggestions for you to consider as there are tons of other options.

[RJ]

1 hour ago, JLeVert said:

Unless you have a big piece of property, I wouldn't use bamboo.  The best ones for zone 8 are all runners:  they creep all over the place underground and then pop up in places that you don't want them, like 30' away.  

The palms can be your canopy.  You can (depending on your budget) buy full sized palmettos and bypass the 15 year wait for them to get a little height on them.  Same thing with Butias although they will be much more expensive for large plants.

You can do more in zone 9, but you can do lots in zone 8!  Besides, Augusta and Columbia are mostly and usually above the gnat line.

Joe

I certainly don't mind purchasing some big palmettos. They are quite cheap if you think about it. Around here they're $400 installed. I wold guess 15ft OAH. I can't imagine what large trunking butia cost. It's a pretty hard palm to keep "clean looking", especially when large. 

I recently purchased 4.25 acres not far from Lake Murray, so I have a fair amount of room to play with. Although I'm certainly not looking to fill all that with palms. I can plant some live oak as I've ready it pretty fast growing. So that's an option. 

Joe, I'm not familiar with the "gnat" line? Sorry 

[RJ]

1 hour ago, kinzyjr said:

@RJ

If you want a "wind shield" in a warm zone 8, I might suggest podocarpus.  I have mature poducarpus hedges on the north side of my property and it works wonderfully.  For canopy, I use live oak on my 0.35 acre lot.  On the south side of the property, I have avocado canopy, but I don't think that would be appropriate for zone 8.  My neighbors use southern magnolia for a little bit lower canopy.  Purely suggestions for you to consider as there are tons of other options.

Interesting I just googled podocarpus, it looks like a Yew and a Hemlock all in one. At least the needles do. It appears it would be hardy for me:

https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/all/podocarpus-macrophyllus-podocarpus-spp/

Not sure how long it take to put on some vertical height though. Most Yews are pretty slow growing from my experience. 

[Silas_Sancona]

22 minutes ago, RJ said:

Interesting I just googled podocarpus, it looks like a Yew and a Hemlock all in one. At least the needles do. It appears it would be hardy for me:

https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/all/podocarpus-macrophyllus-podocarpus-spp/

Not sure how long it take to put on some vertical height though. Most Yews are pretty slow growing from my experience. 

Would second the suggestion of utilizing Podocarpus as a screen.. Unlike Yews or Hemlock, they are normally quick growing.. A nursery i worked for back in FL. stocked them by the 100's and i'd be out in the field trimming them every 2 weeks during the spring-fall to keep growth in check, especially those over 7gal in size. Nice and dense when correctly trimmed and not messy or invasive at all. If left to grow naturally, they can become nice trees.  

[JLeVert]

On 7/24/2018, 3:25:33, RJ said:

I certainly don't mind purchasing some big palmettos. They are quite cheap if you think about it. Around here they're $400 installed. I wold guess 15ft OAH. I can't imagine what large trunking butia cost. It's a pretty hard palm to keep "clean looking", especially when large. 

I recently purchased 4.25 acres not far from Lake Murray, so I have a fair amount of room to play with. Although I'm certainly not looking to fill all that with palms. I can plant some live oak as I've ready it pretty fast growing. So that's an option. 

Joe, I'm not familiar with the "gnat" line? Sorry 

The gnat line is the northernmost limit of the swarms of irritating gnats that plague South Georgia, Lowcountry South Carolina, all of Florida, etc.  The gnats usually limit themselves to the lower elevations so that by the time you get to the Piedmont (500'+), the gnats just aren't there.  They are definitely in Augusta, GA right now and a friend in Greene County, GA (Lake Oconee area) reported lots of gnats the other day!

 

[Moose]

On ‎11‎/‎17‎/‎2015‎ ‎2‎:‎53‎:‎54‎, trioderob said:

knowing what you know now - starting from clean slate - what would you do ?

so in other words - buy seedlings ?  - 5 /10 / 20 pots  ? - watering system - soil prep - zone push or go conservative - build a greenhouse ? - remove existing plants- plant fast growing tropical trees for dappled light understory palms - mix with succulents or cacti  ? - go crazy or plant moderate amount- one of everything or multiples - water loving or drought hardy ? - ferigation system - composting - buy sun hardened or put up shade cloth......

Acquire property in Hawaii.