First palm plantings at my new home

[Ben OK]

I finished building a house around the first week of July last year. I was so busy sodding and seeding a lawn and wrapping up loose ends home projects that I didn't get any of my potted plants in the ground last year. I have enough of my lawn well established now that I was able to plant one small bed on the south side of my home as well as make a bed around one of my septic sprinklers.

The bed near the house:

In the corner by the back porch is a sabal minor or possibly a palmetto (I've mixed up some small sabals) :

 

 

Edited June 10, 2018 by Ben OK
Typo

[Ben OK]

Next is a Birmingham sabal: 

And a small pomegranate bush:

[TexasColdHardyPalms]

Get some mulch on there and that will help keep them cool and moist.

[Ben OK]

5 minutes ago, TexasColdHardyPalms said:

Get some mulch on there and that will help keep them cool and moist.

I definitely will. I didn't get it done until Saturday afternoon and I had been working out in the heat for about 6 hours already, so I called it quits. I try not to do yard work on Sundays, so I'm going to grab some mulch on my lunch break tomorrow.

[Ben OK]

Not palms but I planted a few other things this weekend as well. Trifoliate orange (flying dragon) : 

I also created a bed around one of my septic sprinklers that I planted with musa basjoo, cannas, and cyperus involucratus:

Although it needs some mulch still as well, this spot gets watered every day with water from our aerobic septic system. The soil here stays fairly wet all of the time.

[kinzyjr]

Nice work, Ben!

[Palm crazy]

Looks great, cool-looking rocks.    Trifoliate orange (flying dragon) I need to get one of those someday. 

Edited June 11, 2018 by Palm crazy

[Las Palmas Norte]

4 hours ago, Palm crazy said:

Trifoliate orange (flying dragon) I need to get one of those someday. 

Hardy to zone 6 I believe so no problem out our way. 100% deer proof with those wicked thorns. Mine's about 4' tall but has never flowered, mind you I never give it any attention either.

Nice start on your garden Ben. Wonder how those M. basjoo hold up in the intense OK summer heat? Cheers, Barrie.

 

[Ben OK]

13 hours ago, Palm crazy said:

Looks great, cool-looking rocks.    Trifoliate orange (flying dragon) I need to get one of those someday. 

Thank you. The soil here is a heavy clay that is more rock than clay. I don't actually use a shovel much in digging. I use a 16 pound steel bar to break/pry rocks out of the ground, then I plant in the holes that are left by the rocks. It is a good thing I am still fairly young and in good health, because it is very labor intensive.

14 hours ago, kinzyjr said:

Nice work, Ben!

Thank you. I have a long way to go, but I've got a lot of potted palms that have been waiting a long time to get in the ground. I am happy to be settled in a place where I hope to stay long term.

8 hours ago, Las Palmas Norte said:

Hardy to zone 6 I believe so no problem out our way. 100% deer proof with those wicked thorns. Mine's about 4' tall but has never flowered, mind you I never give it any attention either.

Nice start on your garden Ben. Wonder how those M. basjoo hold up in the intense OK summer heat? Cheers, Barrie.

 

I've only ever seen one mature trifoliate orange in person before at the Oklahoma City Zoo. It was about 15ft tall and wide. It was an interesting plant for sure. I wish there were an edible citrus variety hardy in my zone, but since there is not I will grow what I can.

Musa basjoo grows really well in Oklahoma provided that they get regular water and or good siting. I have seen them grown just about anywhere, but they tend to stay shorter (3 to 6 feet) when they aren't irrigated. When I lived in Oklahoma City, I planted some on the SSE side of my home in a flower bed. I mulched them well and irrigated them regularly, and they grew to about 15 ft tall each season and produced many off-shoots.

[Anthony_B]

11 hours ago, Ben OK said:

I wish there were an edible citrus variety hardy in my zone, but since there is not I will grow what I can.

There very well may be.  I am just starting the permitting process of building a new home.  I am about 2.5 hours away from the most northern citrus farm on the east coast.  These folks grow citrus in-ground in Scranton, South Carolina.  He has lots of mega cold-hardy citrus you may be able to grow up against the southern wall of your house, especially if you give the plants winter protection (keep them pruned and wrap them in burlap, for example).  Check out some of them.

 

http://mckenzie-farms.com/photo.htm

 

A standout for you may be the Thomasville Citrangequat, which is hardy to 5 degrees F.  I plan on getting a satsuma for him and planting it directly in-ground myself.

[jwitt]

Looking good Ben. Good luck. Looks like live oak territory with the rock and clay!

[mdsonofthesouth]

On 6/11/2018, 9:20:17, Anthony_B said:

There very well may be.  I am just starting the permitting process of building a new home.  I am about 2.5 hours away from the most northern citrus farm on the east coast.  These folks grow citrus in-ground in Scranton, South Carolina.  He has lots of mega cold-hardy citrus you may be able to grow up against the southern wall of your house, especially if you give the plants winter protection (keep them pruned and wrap them in burlap, for example).  Check out some of them.

 

http://mckenzie-farms.com/photo.htm

 

A standout for you may be the Thomasville Citrangequat, which is hardy to 5 degrees F.  I plan on getting a satsuma for him and planting it directly in-ground myself.

 

Ill be doing an Owari Satsuma and Nagami kumquat next spring will be greenhoused for 1-3 months depending on the winter...or not at all if its super mild. I LOVE citrus, so might as well try and push some here!

 

@Ben OK Nice start! Exciting seeing everything come together.