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So many palms, so little time. Steve and I spent last week on the big island of Hawaii -- some of you may have seen our Napau Crater Hike posted by Bo in the Travel Logs section. Everything in Hawaii is quite dramatic: giant crashing waves, big erupting volcanoes, huge craters, long hikes, lots of mosquitos!!! I met a woman last week who said, "Oh, yeah, Cindy Anderson calls it mega-gardening!" I got my first taste of that over the last few days. We had simple plans: --select a few boulders for the garden --get some more cinder-soil delivered --move the stump of the tree that blew over --clear out the front planting area better --plant some screening palms around the water tank --plant some screening palms along the neighbor's new fence --do something fun!! Phase one: boulders. We went early one rainy morning to Sanford's quarry, just up the road past a couple of steam vents (yes, we are definitely on a volcano!). No camera, which I dearly regret, it was so incredibly exciting!! I am awed by the huge earth-moving, rock-sorting, and crushing machinery! Wow, talk about men and boys and the size of their toys, it was incredible to see these big machines poke and prod these massive boulders, then pick then up and gently lay them down in the bed of an enormous truck! (Okay, so, maybe I'm easily impressed...) Here are the boulders being delivered -- not so easy to shake them out of the truck: Kind of like waiting for a chicken to lay an egg...

What is an easy to germinate palm for Zone 9a or lower b (never germinated palm seeds before)? No Washingtonia, Sabal, or Phoenix please. -Jonathan

- 11:18AM: Like a deer caught in the headlights. Being the ultimate car guy that he is, Bill parks the golf cart smack dab in the middle of the intersection. - 11:26AM: Almost ran out of room for both the kids and the plants... Between the Wart Ferns, Microsorum scolopendria, and the various Bromeliads the kids almost lost their seats. - 11:30AM: The foot traffic began to increase as noon approached. The grills were being cleaned and the food was being prepared for another hectic Extravaganza BBQ lunch. The cart on the left was filled with different unusual palms, including a 7 gallon Red Sealing Wax Palm, Cyrtostachys renda. - 11:36AM: Due to the run on wart ferns, Jeff and Bill go out and retrieve more for the sales area along the side road. Shane assisted. Ryan

I often shake my head and smile when I hear the Hawaii people refer to planting palms in the "full sun", ( not so much reffering to coastal areas).This was again evident on a recent visit to Jeff's place @ Floribunda Palms.Palms might be placed out in an open area, but the cloud cover is there more frequently than areas compared to here in south Florida. As you know, with lots of rainy days, comes lots of clouds. This is certainly not a "knock" on the Hawaii collectors and growers, just my personal views and opinions. The bottom line is, this part of Hawaii has some of the best climates in the world for growing palms! And if I wasn't so deeply rooted here in south Florida, I would also own a small piece of growing paradise too! Jeff

For the front area, I had expressed an interest in BIG beefy Dypsis. We first took a look at some monsters in the garden, Next thing you know, there's a Dypsis prestoniana waiting to be planted.

- 6:34PM: As soon as Jeff Cramer and Bill Sanford arrived back at Jeff's house, the tour quickly started to make use of the remaining daylight. As we made our way around, we came across one of the Dypsis lanceolata planted in the yard and this one was sporting two red-emergent fronds at the same time; not something we commonly see on this species. That is cold damage on the leaflets and the species did very well in the freeze. - 6:35PM: Jeff Searle was in position to smack Bill an enumerable amount of times during the weekend, but certain occasions stood out more than most. The main topic of the tour concentrated on, you guessed it, Dypsis species as Bill made sure of that. Jeff Cramer and his son, Ty look on as the group examines one of Bill's favorite specimens, Dypsis tsaratananensis. I forgot what they were laughing at and I am not sure how that chicken thigh ended up in the upper-right hand corner of the photo. - 6:37PM: "zzz...zzz..." Jeff Cramer and his son were being put to sleep by Bill. Literally not figuratively. We had to tell Bill what those points of light were in the sky as he was transfixed on them. Apparently, there are not many nights of clear skies in So Cal... - 6:39PM: "Touch me, I dare ya." A newly shed leaf base unveiled the fresh trunk spines on this Astrocaryum sp. wirima. It made for an interesting texture photo. Ryan

- 3:01PM: The unusual cold weather made the ice last much longer than usual for a large outdoor cooler. Volunteer Chris and Larry Searle tip the cooler over to dispense the excess ice, in preparation for Sunday's load of sodas. It was expected to be warmer on Sunday, by a few degrees at least. - 3:12PM: Armed with a long wish list of palm species, Cathy Burger asks Jeff what he happens to have for sale from the list. Lew & Cathy Burger have been long time collectors, IPS members and have traveled extensively throughout the world admiring palms in their native habitats. Volunteer and FM. Jim Glock (jglock1) has a nearly unlimited supply of stories from many of the biennials and some of them include the Burgers in palm-related endeavors. - 4:43PM: Dogs on parade. With a few minutes remaining in the second day of the Extravaganza, Andrea Searle takes her two dogs, Kona and Kane, for a first time walk around the sales area. - 4:44PM: The dogs were a little unaccustomed to being walked on a leash, but they were great around groups of people. Many of the volunteers and people walking around, such as Missy, Judy Glock, and the kids, Gabby and Julian, they already knew very well. Ryan

Bo, It looks like it could be a little kid's miniatures collection, laid out in the backyard sandbox. Are you sure you didn't come across some old toys while cleaning the closet?

All in good time, Wal, all in good time. So, after Mr. Doyle Backhoe left, had to go pick up some pre-arranged palms. Beauties. Seven of a single species. Cyrtostachys renda, feast your eyes: I don't know about you, but that's a color that stops my heart:

But Doyle is not done yet, more tidying up required. Take down some dead trees, spread the soil, place the boulders just so... Very productive day!

Let's pick up that honkin' log and move it to the back for a future orchid/bromeliad focal point...

Day two, rearrange everything... It's about the stump of that big ohi'a tree that blew over. The neighbors were kind enough to saw up the logs and cart them away, and also get the electrical wires re-attached, but we still had the big stump and a big hole where the roots used to be. This guy is very good with the backhoe, fun to watch! Ari--- hope to get there several times a year. I have the ability to telecommute, makes life easier, work and play in paradise.

Aaaaah! Now we're talkin'! Black gold... Nice progress for day 1 of mega-gardening.

Boulders in driveway... Step two, cinder soil delivery Here comes that big truck again:

The fourth and fifth took a lot of maneuvering to jostle free... The last boulder was dumped in the middle of the drive, but only temporarily. Hey, it's raining! Again! Downpour about every 20 minutes or so...