Lakeside Palmetum, Oakland

[ExperimentalGrower]

I haven’t been working down at the Palmetum this past year due to shifts in priorities and work commitments. Will also stopped working there a while ago. Not sure when I’ll be able to return tbh.

[Palms1984]

On 1/11/2019 at 11:39 AM, Darold Petty said:

The Lakeside Palmetum is the result of one man's dream for a public palm garden in the San Francisco Bay Area.  Our founder of the Northern California affiliate of the IPS was the late Warren Dolby.  He was frustrated by the small number of species available at the retail nursery level.  He wanted to show the many species suitable for our very mild climate. Warren approached several cities but none were interested in his idea, including Golden Gate Park in San Francisco.  At that time, circa 1980, the management of GGP was hostile to palms in general.  The small number of palms at retail has always suffered the 'chicken or egg' problem.  People don't recognize rare and choice species, and thus don't purchase them.  The nurseries won't stock plant material that doesn't sell.  I once made the mistake of pressuring a nursery to offer some Rhopalostylis sapida palms I had grown.  They languished at the nursery for a very long time.  The rare palms may be more choice, but nurseries are in business to sell product.

  Warren eventually found the City of Oakland to be receptive to his idea, Lakeside Park at Lake Merritt in downtown Oakland is a city park dedicated to horticulture. Many plant groups have demonstration gardens there.  We were allotted a plot which was formerly a truck parking lot.  The City provides water and debris removal, the Palm Society is responsible for everything else.

Construction began in 1982 with soil imported for a small berm and installation of an irrigation system with three circuits covering the 0.6 acres of our plot.  We had the formal dedication in 1984, hosting the IPS Bienial, and then a post-bienial trip to Australia.  At last count there are approximately 60 palm species present.  One of my goals for 2019 is to do an accurate inventory of current species.  The first chairperson of the Palmetum was my palm mentor, the late Garrin Fullington.  I have been the chair since Garrin retired to Hawaii about 1992.  The garden has three defined areas, the northern shady area with ample irrigation, the middle section with some irrigation, and the full sun south section with minimal irrigation.  The middle section has very poor drainage and some some sort  of toxic condition in the soil, as easy growing palms have failed to thrive, including queen palms and sabals.

WEEDS

  The current problems of the Palmetum include this toxic mid-section, lack of maintenance and lack of labels.  Our NorCal group has suffered a profound lack of interest and enthusiasm since the passing of the original group. Warren Dolby, Dick Douglas, Inge & Hans Hoffmann, Herb Weber, and Garrin Fullington. They have all died, and their gardens are no longer available for meetings.  We now struggle to obtain one or two sites per year for meetings.  At these meetings I always exhort the members to help with the Palmetum maintenance, but no one ever shows up.  Our work party is the first Saturday of each month.  For several years now the only two participants are myself and our NorCal president, Richard Quiroz.  We struggle with weeds and previously used herbicide.  The City of Oakland banned herbicide use.  Then we started to use a weed mower and string trimmer. The City banned our use of these tools, arguing that they could launch a projectile with the potential of striking a person.  Now weed abatement is only by hand pulling or sheet mulching.  The sheet mulch looks good for a few months but afterward is the perfect substrate for a new generation of weeds.  The City gardeners do not have the labor resources to help us with weeds. 

LABELS

 We have purchase and installed labels for all the palms twice.  These have been destroyed by vandalism, usually in just a few months after installation.  I have also witnessed persons vandalizing the palms by twisting off the fronds. I grew five Juania palms and installed them as a grove.  These were destroyed also. There is no admission charge to these gardens, so the gardens are frequented by many persons of dubious character, not into gardening.

IRRIGATION

  The middle section has poor drainage and a high water table.  This has led to runoff onto an adjacent turfgrass area.  The City has repeatedly turned off our irrigation without informing me. We have tried to address this problem by using sprinklers with a lower delivery rate for the water.   Last year the City actually complained to me that the palms looked 'poorly'.  Upon investigation I found the irrigation turned off in August.  The previous City manager was palm positive but she recently retired.  The City of Oakland itself is extremely stressed financially, and has approximately half the gardeners assigned to this park now as it did in 1982.

CONCLUSIONS

  I live in the southwest corner of San Francisco.  It take me 45 minutes to drive to the Palmetum and 75 minutes to return home.  The period of Saturday early afternoon is often gridlocked westbound on the Bay Bridge.  I have been doing this since 1982.  I feel the responsibility to produce an accurate list of current palms, but my enthusiasm is waning. The palms that survive at the Palmetum are basically feral, and will never look as good as palms in someone's private garden. Please remember this in future comments about the unkempt nature of the Lakeside Palmetum.   Thanks to all who read all this venting by me !  

Darold, thank you 🙏 very much for maintaining the Palmetum these many years!  I know it hasn’t been easy these last few decades with so little help.😞

 

I do remember how few IPS member volunteers were there for the claen up day once a month.  I think you, Don and I and maybe a few others back in the late 90’s before I moved to San Diego.

I used to meet our beautiful, good friend, Garrin Fullington almost every Friday back in the mid-80’s to clean and maintain the palms for a few hours.  Back then it wasn’t easy to obtain rare palms, so they had to be maintained very well.  And Garrin was very dedicated to the Palmetum.  Unfortunately, when he moved to Hawaii in 1987,  I stopped going to Palmetum for the cleanup days.  

 

[Darold Petty]

Hi Andy;  I withdrew from participation at the Lakeside Palmetum after 38 years.  I haven't been there in a few years now.  However, a new group of locals has taken over and apparently is doing a good job.

 I miss Garrin a lot.  

 

[Palms1984]

5 hours ago, Darold Petty said:

Hi Andy;  I withdrew from participation at the Lakeside Palmetum after 38 years.  I haven't been there in a few years now.  However, a new group of locals has taken over and apparently is doing a good job.

 I miss Garrin a lot.  

 

Beautiful pics! He was one of my best friends, and the kindest, sweetest man I have ever met.  I miss him a lot, also.  

[Palms1984]

Darold, you definitely contributed a lot to maintaining the Oakland Palmetum over the 38 years.  That’s major dedication!  
 

I’m glad there’s new people maintaining it now!  
 

I visited the Palmetum in 2023, first time in probably about 20 years.  It looked very good.  
 

Thanks again for all your hard work and dedication over the last 38 years! 😎