Yard/Landscaping Progress

[DAVEinMB]

1 hour ago, Jtee said:

My robusta had more burn than green and we had mid to high 20’s probably around 25 or more nights

Always thought they were more leaf hardy but I guess not

[DAVEinMB]

Getting big...

Here's one of my mules at roughly 2 years in this spot. It's really becoming a commanding presence and I'm starting to think I should've given it more room. Eh, it is what it is right 

[Manalto]

Oh, I like the fine texture of your mule palm. It's pretty in-your-face right now (not a bad thing) because of its height; when it gets a little taller, you'll be lolling under it on summer afternoons.

[EJ;)]

On 9/12/2019 at 6:09 AM, DAVEinMB said:

Well I've caught the palm bug and lemme tell ya,  it's been taking me on quite the ride. 

My property didn't have much in the way of landscaping when I purchased it, just a few small flowering bushes, etc. Nothing exciting, nothing tropical looking. Although the lot wasn't eye catching, it did give me a blank canvas to work with. As a brief overview, I've added some trees to the front yard but didn't do any structural changes. The back however, has received a retaining wall with 3 large planters built into it. This area extends from my concrete patio and serves as both additional patio square footage as well as an area to add some palms and whatnot. Here's what I've added so far:

- Front Yard

   - 3 trachycarpus fortunei (15' oah)

   - 3 mule (two 65g, one 7g)

   - 1 chamaerops humilis (15g iirc)

   - 1 phoenix theophrasti (5g)

- Back Yard

   - 3 trachycarpus fortunei  (7' - 15' oah)

   - 2 mule (7g)

   - 3 chamaedorea microspadix (24" oah)

   - 1 sabal (17' oah)

   - 1 phoenix sylvestris (12' oah)

   - 1 washingtonia robusta (10' oah)

   - 1 livistona chinensis (15g)

In addition to the palms listed above I've added some yuccas, spike plants, decorative grass, elephant ears, fatsia, and a couple small flowering bushes. 

Below are a couple pics showing the mules and sylvester in the planters and the solo washingtonia. I gotta get some better pics of everything else, it's a work in progress so the area is a bit of a mess right now. 

Beautiful!

[EJ;)]

I too purchased a home with little to no plants on the property. How sad and depressing the landscape was. 

The only thing alive was 3 30ft tall mature Mexican fan palms! This inspired me to go tropical. and tropical I went!

In the 4 short years i have lived on the property I have added...

5 Queens

5 Sagos

3 clusters of King palms

3 Pygmy Dates

3 Pony Tail 

3 Majesty

2 Pindo 

2 Mediterranean Fans

2 Cardboard palms

2 Chinese Windmill 

1 European fan

1 fishtail 

1 Bolivian Mountain Coconut

1 Parrot palm

1 Bamboo Palm

1 Dypsis Onilahensis

1 Dypsis Baronii

1 Canary Island Date

1 Pheonix Dactylifera

1 Dreamlock Palm

1 Dypsis Psammophilia

1 Arengi Englari

Along with a few types of Bananas and Canas !!!!!

I still have plenty of room! 

 

[EJ;)]

On 4/1/2018 at 8:58 PM, DoomsDave said:

Wow, it's Easter evening, and I sit, gazing at a HUGE amount of Brahea hybrid seeds, needing a home, and love.

Below is a picture of the parent. GORGEOUS, I think.(Pic below.) 10 M (30 feet) tall, 3.33 M (10 feet) across crown, about 2 - 3 feet (.6 - 1 M) across base of trunk (without leaf bases). This plant is awesome.

I've sent many seed before, and I'll send many more again. These will take heat, cold, and more water than most Braheas. What is not to love?

If you want seeds, FREE OF CHARGE send me a Private Message ("PM") with "Brahea seeds" in the topic, and your mailing address, and some seeds will be yours!

Happy (no, ECSTATIC) palm growing!

 

On 5/12/2021 at 7:52 PM, Briank said:

I have about prob 5-6 runners growing up from Ground.   Very invasive plant and I didn’t plant it in a spot where I want it to take over. 
 

Free to anyone that wants to come by and Grab one in ground by the Root and re plant. If not I’m just gonna pull em and into mulch pile.   Gonna keep the Tallest 2 and the rest gone.   
 

love this plant great addition to garden to Offset palms and Tropical stuff.  Very low maintenance plant. Goes dormant in winter then pops in spring. 
 

 

 

Reach me on here.  I’m located in Heart of San Diego near Mission Bay. 
 

 

 

Brian 

 

On 9/4/2016 at 6:41 PM, Darold Petty said:

Anyone else ?  I have more seeds now, although not as many as the first offer. PM me by Friday, Sept. 9th for free seeds.

  Please share your thoughts about the best technique for germination, thanks ! 

 

On 6/4/2021 at 6:56 AM, redant said:

This is what you buy for yourself for your birthday. My wife shaking her head in disbelief that I'd buy more palms.

 

On 6/4/2021 at 11:24 AM, Palmarum said:

"You know you are a palm nut when..."

- ... you have palm seeds germinating in your car's cup holder.

- ... there are coconuts rolling around in the bed of your truck and you don't remember where you got them.

- ... you take a palm book with you on a long flight.

- ... you have a bucket of common palm seed in the back of your car, along with all the groceries.

- ... you bring a wagon, wheel barrow, cart with you to a palm sale, along with a cooler loaded with a day's worth of drinks.

- ... you take 75 photos of the same palm.

- ... your pocket list of the species you have is replaced by a list of the species you want.

- ... your pocket list of the species you want is replaced by nothing, because you have it memorized.

- ... you've knocked on a stranger's door asking to collect seed from their yard.

- ... you have given a palm as a birthday gift.

- ... you have received a palm as a birthday gift.

- ... you stop to identify a palm while riding your bike.

- ... you bought a palm because it looked cool, only to find you have four more like it at home.

- ... you have created your own style of hieroglyphic writing to identify the origins of all your palm seed via their tags.

- ... you have a 1-gallon palm sitting within the rim of a 7-gallon palm which is sitting within the rim of a 25-gallon palm.

- ... you need to use a flashlight to give a tour of your yard, at two o'clock in the afternoon.

- ... the utility meter reader is scared to death of entering your property.

- ... you've had to pull a dead animal from the spines of your heavily armed palm.

- ... you've had to pull yourself from the spines of your heavily armed palm.

- ... you have forgotten where you have planted a certain specimen.

- ... you find a palm in your yard you do not remember planting.

- ... you clean out the marginal area between your yard and your neighbor's only to find seedlings of ten different species.

- ... after the garden tour, you need to draw a map to get the attendees to the exit.

- ... the space between your potted palms has shrunk to zero.

- ... the seedlings popping up in the yard, belong to a mature tree above, which was once a seedling itself, belonging to an even taller palm higher up.

- ... you dream of palms, awake and while sleeping.

- ... you can see the crown of your climbing palm and have no idea where it is planted.

- ... you have generations of hybrid palms creating themselves in your yard.

- ... you can't find the tags you used to label your palms, because they were replaced by another system of tags which you cannot find either.

- ... your cold sensitive palms are better protected than your pets.

- ... you have created a custom moving system to transport your oversized Red Sealing Wax Palm indoors and away from the cold.

- ... you have no hot water because it's been diverted outside to heat your yard.

- ... you have Christmas lights around your palms, weeks after December.

- ... you talk to your palms and hope they don't talk back.

 

I could keep going, but I gotta eat.

Ryan

 

On 6/5/2021 at 5:33 AM, chad2468emr said:

Thank you all for reminding me that I’m not alone in this! I’ll add:

-When you have a list of coloquial names for palms that your spouse will actually remember because they never have any idea what you’re droning on about: “The fuzzy one. The blue fan one. The round leafed one. The one I have to bring inside constantly.”
-When you don’t even have to justify the fact you brought another one home to your spouse because they couldn’t possibly even notice a single new addition given how many there already are. 
-When delivery drivers stop and look at your palms as they drop off your parcels. 
-There are stretches of days in December + January when your home looks like a plant nursery moved into your living room.

 

[DAVEinMB]

20 hours ago, Manalto said:

Oh, I like the fine texture of your mule palm. It's pretty in-your-face right now (not a bad thing) because of its height; when it gets a little taller, you'll be lolling under it on summer afternoons.

Thanks James! It's definitely becoming the prettiest mule of the bunch. I spend a lot of time sitting under and around it now, can't wait for it to get real big 

[DAVEinMB]

19 hours ago, EJ;) said:

Beautiful!

Thanks Erika! It's really coming along . I owe a lot of my overall success to the knowledge base and helpfulness of the members of this forum. Awesome forum and community 

[EJ;)]

17 minutes ago, DAVEinMB said:

Thanks Erika! It's really coming along . I owe a lot of my overall success to the knowledge base and helpfulness of the members of this forum. Awesome forum and community 

If you have Facebook, there are many great groups there with Palm tree experts. Some of them I see are also members here! I love the palm community! Everyone is nice and willing to share their wisdom and help, even when not asked  . 

[DAVEinMB]

Welp... it was bound to happen

[DAVEinMB]

And it's in. Pine tree canopy, wind protection on all sides, south/ southeastern siting, fingers crossed haha

[Paradise Found]

I like what you done with the garden even looks more tropical than your growing zone, good job! And thanks for all the pics really enjoyed them. 

[DAVEinMB]

13 hours ago, Paradise Found said:

I like what you done with the garden even looks more tropical than your growing zone, good job! And thanks for all the pics really enjoyed them. 

Thanks man! I have a number of "foolproof" trees and plants for my area but will continue to zone push as long as I can. Pretty much all of my tender stuff falls into the 9a category so not much of a stretch. I like pics and progression photos as much as anyone so stay tuned 

[EJ;)]

14 hours ago, DAVEinMB said:

And it's in. Pine tree canopy, wind protection on all sides, south/ southeastern siting, fingers crossed haha

Looks beautiful! Queens get a bad wrap for being weeds in my neck of the woods. But I think they are highly underrated! keep it warm n watered it should be fine!

[DAVEinMB]

1 hour ago, EJ;) said:

Looks beautiful! Queens get a bad wrap for being weeds in my neck of the woods. But I think they are highly underrated! keep it warm n watered it should be fine!

Thanks! They aren't utilized here for good reason... it gets too cold haha. I'm remaining optimistic with the microclimate I believe I'm developing in that part of my yard tho. Either way i tend to carry a certain degree of stress with any of my hobbies, keeps things interesting ya know 

Edited June 10, 2021 by DAVEinMB

[EJ;)]

I dont have that problem here in california!!!! zone 9b

They practically give queens and mexican fan palms away! every crack in my concrete has seedlings popping up!  

What zone are you in?

[DAVEinMB]

51 minutes ago, EJ;) said:

I dont have that problem here in california!!!! zone 9b

They practically give queens and mexican fan palms away! every crack in my concrete has seedlings popping up!  

What zone are you in?

Zone 8b on the southeastern coast. All in all it's a pretty decent growing climate but we tend to get hit with "arctic blasts" that'll have us in the teens out of nowhere

[EJ;)]

quite the opposite here. 

what a different in 1 zone difference. 

We never get artic blast down that low. 

Maybe 29 degrees for an hour or so just before sun rise! 3 days a year. 

otherwise we stay in the upper 30's to 40's at night. but can reach a blazing 100 degrees!

imagine the difference from 40 to 100 in one day! It happens. I work to keep the humidity in the air for my palms. 

thats my biggest battle. and the blazing full sun!

[DAVEinMB]

@EJ;) man I could imagine what my garden would look like with that climate. Jeaous to say the least!

Edited June 11, 2021 by DAVEinMB

[DAVEinMB]

Ok so I went to Lowe's for a lawn mower, what the hell is wrong with me

[EJ;)]

lol thanks

another queen! I hope they work for you. I love mine. they grow so fast here.

With 5 on my property they provide that canopy I need for the more sensitive palms. 

I need to upload some photos of my yard!

[DAVEinMB]

Happy Thursday

[EJ;)]

Beautiful

I have quite a few Washingtonian robusta seedlings if you ever want them. I think they might grow well in your yard!

[DAVEinMB]

1 hour ago, EJ;) said:

Beautiful

I have quite a few Washingtonian robusta seedlings if you ever want them. I think they might grow well in your yard!

Thanks!

I will always welcome new plants to the garden 

[DAVEinMB]

Added some liriopes to the chamaedorea clump outside the front door. I think in time I'm going to remove all (or most) of the bricks and continue the plantings down the sidewalk

[EJ;)]

I agree! Remove the bricks.....its just space that could be more palms!

[EJ;)]

13 minutes ago, DAVEinMB said:

Thanks!

I will always welcome new plants to the garden 

PM me you address 

[teddytn]

On 6/7/2021 at 5:01 PM, EJ;) said:

I too purchased a home with little to no plants on the property. How sad and depressing the landscape was. 

The only thing alive was 3 30ft tall mature Mexican fan palms! This inspired me to go tropical. and tropical I went!

In the 4 short years i have lived on the property I have added...

5 Queens

5 Sagos

3 clusters of King palms

3 Pygmy Dates

3 Pony Tail 

3 Majesty

2 Pindo 

2 Mediterranean Fans

2 Cardboard palms

2 Chinese Windmill 

1 European fan

1 fishtail 

1 Bolivian Mountain Coconut

1 Parrot palm

1 Bamboo Palm

1 Dypsis Onilahensis

1 Dypsis Baronii

1 Canary Island Date

1 Pheonix Dactylifera

1 Dreamlock Palm

1 Dypsis Psammophilia

1 Arengi Englari

Along with a few types of Bananas and Canas !!!!!

I still have plenty of room! 

 

No sabals?! Smh…..lol. Just kidding, if I had your climate I’d be broke and divorced most likely lol

[EJ;)]

14 minutes ago, teddytn said:

No sabals?! Smh…..lol. Just kidding, if I had your climate I’d be broke and divorced most likely lol

Lol I forgot my sabal minor! Thought it was dead but I saw a green spear immerge just yesterday. 

Whose to say I'm not broke and divorced;)

[teddytn]

32 minutes ago, EJ;) said:

Lol I forgot my sabal minor! Thought it was dead but I saw a green spear immerge just yesterday. 

Whose to say I'm not broke and divorced;)

Good to hear you have a sabal! You’re hilarious by the way!!

[ZPalms]

On 4/22/2020 at 5:34 PM, DAVEinMB said:

June 2019 vs. today, happy spring everyone

I've never seen a trachy with a clean trunk, It looks so smooth

[DAVEinMB]

@ZPalms the one in the pic I left the old boots on it but removed all the fibers. It looked super cool for like a month or so then lost all that yellow and orange coloring. I completely stripped the trunks of 2 larger ones and they almost don't look like trachies. The practice has mixed reviews regarding whether or not it adversely affects the health of the palm. Mine have had clean trunks for a couple years and they continue to grow and flower

[EJ;)]

16 hours ago, teddytn said:

Good to hear you have a sabal! You’re hilarious by the way!!

Thanks Teddy, 

Life is to short to be boring...

Hence the Divorce! 

Sabals are not easily found here in Cali. I was lucky to find the minor at a big box store non the less. 

[DAVEinMB]

Ok got a couple small updates. 

First, I stumbled upon some dwarf egyptian papyrus (cyperus papyrus I believe) at Lowe's for 10 bucks each so snagged a couple. A quick Google search listed them as a zone 9 plant so close enough to give it a shot. 

Anybody have experience with this species?

[DAVEinMB]

Lowe's also got some more chamaedorea cataractum in so I grabbed one of them. Have them in the same corner as the strelitzia Nikolai that I planted last year. This is the most protected area of the property so I have a good bit of optimism for these two. 

[DAVEinMB]

For ground cover I picked up a few different colors of sweet potato vine, not sure what to expect from these but I guess we'll see. 

[DAVEinMB]

And last but not least, a couple stromanthe tricolor. Not sure how these are going to do either but in my attempt to add colors to the garden here we are. 

Anybody have 8b success with these?

[palmbrad]

2 hours ago, DAVEinMB said:

And last but not least, a couple stromanthe tricolor. Not sure how these are going to do either but in my attempt to add colors to the garden here we are. 

Anybody have 8b success with these?

 

I planted one last summer that was heavily damaged this past winter and been slow to grow this year.

[ahosey01]

@DAVEinMB you need more palms.

[Buggle]

3 hours ago, DAVEinMB said:

And last but not least, a couple stromanthe tricolor. Not sure how these are going to do either but in my attempt to add colors to the garden here we are. 

Anybody have 8b success with these?

Same here, mine died back significantly and then grew back slow and then lost it the next season. Do you have Thai variegated gingers? Those come back for me well and they have large ones in my Lowes. Curcumas are great and they flower. Also crinum lillies. I've been trying to find a large "Queen Emma". I also recommend this large costus that comes back and grows fast:  https://urbantropicals.com/product/lg-speciosus-crepe-ginger-plant-costus-sp/