Ode to Sparkman

[tinman10101]

I know many have palms from George Sparkman.  I thought I would start a thread on your favorite Sparkman Palm.  He was truly a great friend and that was further exemplified for the things he did for my family after my brother, Tri passed. 

My brother was close to George back in the days when he became a palm fanatic.  Not a lot of people know this but after my brother passed, George was in Florida and he helped dig up some of Tri's rarest palms to repot and sell.  A year later he showed up at my parent's house and handed them all the proceeds.  It was a remarkable gesture to their friendship and one that neither I or my parents will never forget.  So here's to you George ... hope you and Tri are chillin somewhere under a great canopy of palms. 

I have two that I treasure .... 

Ravenea Xerophylla that I got as a squat 5 gallon and a Foxy Lady in a 10 gallon.  Both were planted in 2009 and here they are today ...
 

[Dypsisdean]

Thanks for those memories of two great palm pioneers.

[KrisKupsch]

I met George in 2017 and instantly had a friendship but both realised we had chatted on messenger for years prior ! Sad he left us, he wasn’t that old. 

[Billeb]

Actually never had the pleasure to meet George but his passion for cycads and palms are surely in a large majority of gardens whether people realize it or not. I’d be curious to know the percentage of cycads out there that have lineage to George? The number is large I’m sure. 
 

My two plants that I know 100% came from George 2nd hand are my Encephalartos Princeps and Ravenea Julietiae. I’m confident quite a few of my other Encephalartos are from George considering whom I got them from but I’ll stick to these two as a guarantee. It’s good to hear stories of George, musta been a cool dude. 
 

-dale 

[JubaeaMan138]

Never had the honor to meet george in person either . But spoke over the phone several times . My wife and my brother in law went out to see him about 5 years ago to pick up a Copernicia Baileyana from him for me for Father’s Day . Memorable moment on that trip for them was his colony of Encephalartos princeps on a hillside . I can only imagine . Anyways here’s his Baileyana thriving now 

[Tracy]

On 9/7/2023 at 10:48 AM, tinman10101 said:

I know many have palms from George Sparkman.  I thought I would start a thread on your favorite Sparkman Palm.  He was truly a great friend and that was further exemplified for the things he did for my family after my brother, Tri passed. 

Tin, a very nice homage to George.  Thank you for sharing the background story about what George did after your brother passed.  I never had a chance to meet your brother but hopefully will get to meet you in person someday.  I get daily reminders of my time with George whenever I look out a window of my home.   Whether I was there visiting to pick up a plant, window shop, or just stopping by on my way back to San Diego from a trip into Riverside County, George was always willing to share some knowledge and show me something interesting that he had acquired or was cultivating.  To be fair to the thread, I have far more cycads from George than palms, but there are plenty of memorable palms in the mix.  Two standouts that I got shortly after finally finishing my remodel in Leucadia were a pair of then named Dypsis prestoniana, which we obviously now know have been reassigned to Chrysalidocarpus prestonianus.  One towers in height in my still relatively young garden and the other shorter specimen still is a dominant force with its spreading leaves and massive inflorescence during late summer.

George liked to lay things out in simple terms.  Getting the 15 gallon for this species would likely buy me time, since getting them to the 15 gallon size here in Southern California can take many years.  So I got both in 15 gallons, although I hesitate to call them that, with the roots coming out the bottom and containers on the verge of breaking.  Here is the visual that reminds me of my many visits over the years.  I'm trying to recall how I met George, but know it dates back to about 2008 or 2009.  He was a bit more guarded those first couple of visits, but as I bought more from him, the guard came down.  I always like to mention that I didn't notice any German accent, although we would be periodically in a conversation and he would be struggling for a word so I would suggest he just say it in German and I would try to get in my limited German vocabulary.  If you ever heard him speaking to one of his workers in Spanish though, things changed.  I would always laugh to myself because I was hearing Spanish words and vocabulary which should have been coming out in German based on the vocalizations.  I never stopped teasing him when I heard him speak Spanish with that accent but he never faulted my poor German.  My thoughts are with Gisela.

[tinman10101]

5 hours ago, Tracy said:

Tin, a very nice homage to George.  Thank you for sharing the background story about what George did after your brother passed.  I never had a chance to meet your brother but hopefully will get to meet you in person someday.  I get daily reminders of my time with George whenever I look out a window of my home.   Whether I was there visiting to pick up a plant, window shop, or just stopping by on my way back to San Diego from a trip into Riverside County, George was always willing to share some knowledge and show me something interesting that he had acquired or was cultivating.  To be fair to the thread, I have far more cycads from George than palms, but there are plenty of memorable palms in the mix.  Two standouts that I got shortly after finally finishing my remodel in Leucadia were a pair of then named Dypsis prestoniana, which we obviously now know have been reassigned to Chrysalidocarpus prestonianus.  One towers in height in my still relatively young garden and the other shorter specimen still is a dominant force with its spreading leaves and massive inflorescence during late summer.

George liked to lay things out in simple terms.  Getting the 15 gallon for this species would likely buy me time, since getting them to the 15 gallon size here in Southern California can take many years.  So I got both in 15 gallons, although I hesitate to call them that, with the roots coming out the bottom and containers on the verge of breaking.  Here is the visual that reminds me of my many visits over the years.  I'm trying to recall how I met George, but know it dates back to about 2008 or 2009.  He was a bit more guarded those first couple of visits, but as I bought more from him, the guard came down.  I always like to mention that I didn't notice any German accent, although we would be periodically in a conversation and he would be struggling for a word so I would suggest he just say it in German and I would try to get in my limited German vocabulary.  If you ever heard him speaking to one of his workers in Spanish though, things changed.  I would always laugh to myself because I was hearing Spanish words and vocabulary which should have been coming out in German based on the vocalizations.  I never stopped teasing him when I heard him speak Spanish with that accent but he never faulted my poor German.  My thoughts are with Gisela.

Great post Tracy.  Thanks for sharing and as always, beautifully grown palms in your garden. 

[Palmiz]

Thanks @tinman10101for sharing that great story! I never had the honor to meet George but have a few plants from him or that someone got from him.  I was just told by a friend that everytime they talk to George, everything that comes from his mouth educating. I'm sure he was really knowledgeable for growing all that he has grown.  Thanks also Tin for the tour of your garden! All the palms and cycads I collect have background of who I get them from and most of where they got them from. 

Ravenea Julietiae

Some weird leaf Zamia Furfuracea. Does anyone know what causes this?

Ravenea Lakatra

Edited September 11, 2023 by Palmiz

[Tracy]

I wanted to come back to the thread to a couple of the plants George was best known for, his cycads.  Two of my often favorites are the Encephalartos horridus woodii I got from him and one of the Encephalartos (arenarius x latifrons) x latifrons.  Both are somewhat unusual in that they are hybrids.  Both have a lot of hybrid vigor going from them.  There are many other cycads in my gardens from George, but these are two that generate questions from others whenever they visit.  The horridus woodii   was not something George created, but I did get it from him while I believe he back crossed a female (arenarius x latifrons) with  latifrons  pollen to get the batch of the second one I'm showing.  He would often comment that when one hybridizes these, one never knows quite where the offspring will turn out and there can be a fair amount of diversity within the same seed batch.  Also due to their slow growth and the fact that they change as they mature, one has to be pretty patient to get an idea of what the adult plant may look like.  With these two adolescent hybrids I'm pretty darn happy.  They bring good memories of Herr Sparkman. 

[Billeb]

@Tracy Horwood is an amazing Encephalartos if you have the room. Yours is a testament to how huge they get!! But the leaf stacking and structure on the Latifrons hybrid is unbelievable. Going out on a limb to say it may be my favorite cycad you have. I remember staring at it for awhile. 😳

-dale