Azores minuvida orchard lodge garden

[Shoowow]

Last year I moved from Boston the S. Miguel, Azores, to open a lodging establishment with my wife. The one-acre property is already a working orchard with citrus, bananas, guavas, etc. and I'm adding new things, such as a mango tree and Suriname cherries, to name a few... and a palm garden! I started with the obvious Kentias, first is vases and recently on the ground and featuring new leaves after getting leaf damage during hurricane Alex in January! We also added Phoenix Roebelenii, doing great. Then I managed to sprout the two Livistonias in the pic and bought a rare for the Azores Royestonea – sporting a new leaf three weeks after planting in ground. Ah, and then there's the coconut I found on the beach in October while walking my dog. I'm still waiting to see if that one will germinate. With all the recent humidity and heat I hope it does. I'll be posting new plantings as I get them and thanks for all the suggestions I've received so far. I'm placing the photos I'll be taken in this gallery https://goo.gl/photos/jyKGKjR3vL3KbB8M6. I've posted some below but size limitation make uploads a pain.

[Ben in Norcal]

Great start!

[Shoowow]

The collection is growing! After planting 2m tall Kentias, plus picking up 10 young ones from an abandoned property with hundreds of them, I finally got my hands on this B. Alfredii, now officially in the ground! Maybe the first isn’t he Azores... Meanwhile, the Royal keeps growing fine, but the beach coconut seed hasn’t sprouted. It still looks fine, so I’m still holding the hope.

[5150cycad]

  On 5/23/2018 at 4:14 PM, Shoowow said:

The collection is growing! After planting 2m tall Kentias, plus picking up 10 young ones from an abandoned property with hundreds of them, I finally got my hands on this B. Alfredii, now officially in the ground! Maybe the first isn’t he Azores... Meanwhile, the Royal keeps growing fine, but the beach coconut seed hasn’t sprouted. It still looks fine, so I’m still holding the hope.

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Great choice with the B. Alfredii. A bulletproof palm for me so far and can handle full sun and even some frost: Looks like you gave it plenty of space to grow. Look forward to seeing updates of your garden as it grows

[Shoowow]

Thanks, you can see some of the gardens photos here https://goo.gl/photos/jyKGKjR3vL3KbB8M6. I'll be posting there as it evolves.

[Cluster]

Hello João,

Your garden is looking amazing, congratulations!

If you need a way to get a viable coconut there PM me, one day I hope to get a Madeiran one and send it to you.

Keep us up to date on the progress of that garden:)

Regards,

Pedro

 

[Shoowow]

Hello all. Here's a quick update on the minuvida orchard garden: While the business has kept me more than busy, I've been able to spare some time to increase our palm collection, as well as add new fruit trees and vegetation endemic to the Azores.

I'm posting photos below of the Royal, the Kentias and the Alfie. You can see a full collection of what's growing at  https://goo.gl/photos/jyKGKjR3vL3KbB8M6.

The Royal has been on the ground over two years. It now stands at about 6 ft or almost 2m and stared at only a couple of feet tall or so when I transplanted. It's been growing pretty well with up to 6 to 8 leaves a year but a little exposed to strong winds sometimes.

The Kentias are the oldest palms I planted in early 2016. They are looking stunning, to say the least, but the climate here is just right for them.

The Alfie was planted in April 2017 and is growing like crazy right now: I'd say a leaf a month.

All these palms are only being lightly fertilized with organic horse manure and only watered during dry spells as the Azores is pretty wet in general. 

I have learned so far that pretty much everything is surviving and thriving, including what some may have thought were marginal palms here. Weather patterns in winter (the critical time for palm survival) are of mild days, with thems ranging from 55 (13) at night to 63 (18) during the day most of the time, with some very short periods of cooler days 50 (10) or so to 58 (14) or so. These happen once or twice from Jan. through April for a couple of days. 

It's now ranging from 62F (16) at night to 72F (22) during the day most days but temps keep creeping up slowly. Humidity remains in 70s to 80s most of the time.

I have other things in store, including a very special palm on the ground for a couple of months now, but I'll keep that for a future update.

 

[AndrewPiatra]

How is mango tree doing? Any success there?

[Shoowow]

Hello Andrew, the mango is growing fine and produced quite a lot of flower this year, but not fruit yet. I'm told this is normal in the first year or so they produce flower, especially since I don't use chemicals. It's had some insect plagues and signs of other diseases, a very common thing here in the Azores these days. I'm attaching a few photos, including the mango, a 2-year-old papaya with some fruit already, the Alfie and a view near the pool of the house. I also have two coconuts that grew well during the summer but will protect from wind and rain over the winter. See how they do and they I will update here.