A Palm Garden I found Today!

[plantapalm]

Today while I was at a friends house in a little private community, he mentioned that the man that built the community was a plant guy. He said there were a lot of palms at the club house so on my way out I pulled through and my jaw dropped. What a collection! Here are some of the pictures from today. I know what some of them are but I am hoping that some of you guys can name the 1's that I could not. Here is the first set, I know the easy 1 The Washingtonia, but the other 2 I am not sure.

Then this guy also. I have a bunch!

[plantapalm]

Here are a few more

And another, maybe A Mule?

I will get to some I know, shortly!

Edited August 22, 2008 by plantapalm

[plantapalm]

This is a Hyphaene crinita, this had a tag.

and

[plantapalm]

Copernicia macroglossa's I did find a few seeds from these guys on the ground a couple had already started to germinate Score!

Are there to many pics or should I post more?

[LJG]

Post more. This is a very old garden!

[plantapalm]

Alright here come some more!

I think maybe Licuala spinosa. Wind blown from TS Fay

This 1 was tagged as a Gru Gru , I am not to sure about that but I don't know that much yet.

[plantapalm]

And some Phoenix reclinata's and a special 1.

I have seen CIDP w/red fruit but this was the 1st reclinata I have seen w/it.

[plantapalm]

A pretty large Biz!

This is the trunk visible in the reclinata pic2. Not sure about this 1

[calyptrocalyx&licuala freck]

Post more. This is a very old garden!

Hi Guys,

Your right there Len, It a Very

Old Garden, and a Beauty thats

For sure, Excellent Pic's.

Regards Mikey....

[plantapalm]

and some of the bigger Acoelorraphe wrightii

[plantapalm]

And 2 random noid's on my part

I will take some more pictures next time I go but the rain chased me off today, I had a little break in the rain clouds when I took these.

[Jeff in St Pete]

Awesome collection of mature palms!

[TikiRick]

Where is this garden? Ft. Pierce? Wow...if so, it really has survived a lot...hurricanes, freezes, fires, floods!

Nice collection....is the original owner still living on the property?

I believe the Gru Gru is actually a Zombia. Nice old specimen!

[Jeff Searle]

What a beautiful collection of some very mature palms. It would be nice if you could find out some history of maybe who was responsible for planting these palms, when were they planted, and how many different species are planted there. But thanks for sharing.

Jeff

[Bob Johnson]

Wow! Thanks for sharing. What a find.

Yes - please tell us more - location, history, etc. It is great to see that many mature specimens. Those are some really tall Paurotis, and it is nice to see Copernicias that large outside of a botanical garden.

[BS Man about Palms]

Great find! Its interesting to see some of those species with a trunk underneath!!!

[bubba]

Bob,What a Palm garden! That Copernicia macroglossa has to be in the 40 year range.Look's like you got a little Fay!

[plantapalm]

This place is located in south Vero Beach, from what my friend told me the same man that started Mckee Jungle Gardens, lived on this piece of property. Which is now a 55+ gated community. Fay had a large section flooded out to bad for me to get into but these were the palms around the club house area. #of palms not to sure a this point. Next time I will make sure it has dried out and will explore.

[palmislandRandy]

How old is the community? The homes don't look as old as the palms. Very nice mature growth!

[plantapalm]

The community is not that old maybe mid 80's, but they built around a lot of the trees. I can only image what was taken out to build it.

[Bob Johnson]

Thanks for the further information.

Mid 1980s? Is it possible for some of those palms to get that large in a 20 years? I wonder if some of the palms pre-date the community - perhaps part of the founder's estate?

[Kris]

Lovely stills of fentastic palms and i simply love your big stills(hi res)mode

And i truely wish to see more...And by the way the visual man(Me)is very happy!

thanks & love,

Kris

[_Keith]

Echo everything everyone said above. More, more, more.

[Mark Heath]

I just looked at your yard in Ft Pierce! You've done a fantastic job w/ pics!!! I travel to Ft Pierce quite often and worked there for a cpl of months w/ my company while i stayed in a hotel. I wish i had known you at that time, i would've loved to have toured your garden! Most impressive!! I would love to see your place sometime soon! I know, i'm flowing w/ too much water myself!!

Mark

[plantapalm]

Bob, I do believe a lot of the palms in the community out date it. Some of the yards have huge royals and a few others that are placed in weird spots, so I am assuming they built around some of the palms.

[paulgila]

very enjoyable pix,looking forward to more!

[plantapalm]

So does anyone have ID's for some of these palms. And is that red fruit relinata a hybrid like the Red Fruited CIDP

[Bob Johnson]

According to the McKee Botanical Garden website, 80 acres were purchased by the McKee-Sexton Land Company in 1922, creating McKee Jungle Gardens. The 80 acres were sold to a developer after the original Jungle Gardens attraction closed in 1976, and all but 18 acres of the land were developed.

How close is this private community McKee? Perhaps the property was once a part of the McKee tract, hence the old, mature palms.

[Bob Johnson]

In the first pic, the clustering palm near the water appears to be Arenga engleri. Several of the pics are of various Phoenix species, reclinata and perhaps some hybrids. The palm labeled Hypahaene crinita is a Hyphaene, but I am not sure of the species. After the Copernicia macrogossa is a Copernicia baileyana. Rick is correct on the one tagged Gru-Gru - it is really a Zombia antillarum. The last pic looks like Copernicia alba to me.

Edited August 22, 2008 by Bob Johnson

[plantapalm]

It is located maybe 3 0r 4 miles south. I was told he live on this tract of property, but he died in the 50's McKee did. The land was bought by a developer and they put about 150 homes there in the 80's. So I do not know if the people that ran McKee after he died lived there or what maybe family? I will see what more of the background I can find out. I am a native Fort Pierce boy born in 79, but unfortunately I did not every make it there to McKee Jungle garden but I asked my mom another Ft Pierce native about it, and she said it was huge full of the most tropicals around along w/ a bear, alligator, parrots, and a bunch of monkeys. My mom has an old torn flyer for McKee Jungle gardens I am going to try to scan it at work today and post it.

[bgl]

Fascinating background and some pretty spectacular palms! Thanks for posting all the photos!

[Tim McKernan]

Wow, Wow, Wow. Sounds like much of the stuff could be 50+ years old. That is a treausure to happen across. Thanks for sharing those pics and post some more if you get in farther when the water goes down.

[Walter John]

Yes sir, this is what I'm talking about, how's the silver blue on that palm in the first pic ? Brahea ? and Arenga in the water ?

[cfkingfish]

This is a very cool, low key garden. The palm in the middle in the first picture is a nice Copernicia hospita. I saw a Livistona decipiens and something in the L. rigida complex as well, but those Copernicias are 40 years old at least.

[Tala]

that is the former estate of Bill & Moffie Bidlingmayer. He planted the majority of those older palms in the early 1960s so good eye Christian! A portion was also home to McKee Jungle Gardens, an oldie but goodie tourist attraction that was one of the last casualties of the Disney invasion. It closed in the '70s. He sold the remainder of his property in the early '80s I think, a bunch of condos were built off US 1 w/ the marketing slogan "come live in a botanical garden". Unlike most present day clearings the new owners actually built around the palms, oaks, etc. and what is now about a thousand Liv chinensis. Back in early 90s we toured the place, John Bishock (of course who else) managed to stomp thru the underbrush and discover what was at the time the largest Arenga pinnata in Fl. Also found that day was Acrocomia aculeata, again at that time registered as the largest in the state. Several of those palms pictured are seed donors to CFPACS. If you are growing Liv benthamii in Fla it came from Bill. Some other old palms not mentioned: Brahea brandegeei, Cocco. miraguama, a Latania of much debate that refused to disclose it's identity, several Livistona decora, australis, saribus; also many Phoenix (some true some not, that "reclinata w/ the red seed" is one), many Roystonea, Sabal domingensis and S.rosei. Look close at the pics, some may be in there. Easily one of my favorite haunts in our region, often transported to another land whilst wandering in there...

[chris.oz]

It is located maybe 3 0r 4 miles south. I was told he live on this tract of property, but he died in the 50's McKee did. The land was bought by a developer and they put about 150 homes there in the 80's. So I do not know if the people that ran McKee after he died lived there or what maybe family? I will see what more of the background I can find out. I am a native Fort Pierce boy born in 79, but unfortunately I did not every make it there to McKee Jungle garden but I asked my mom another Ft Pierce native about it, and she said it was huge full of the most tropicals around along w/ a bear, alligator, parrots, and a bunch of monkeys. My mom has an old torn flyer for McKee Jungle gardens I am going to try to scan it at work today and post it.

Great shots of both the palm garden which has some very infrequently seen mature Copernicias and many other interesting palms I also looked at your really beautiful own garden blog. Thanks very much for sharing .

[plantapalm]

Tala, thanks for the background information. It truly is a jewel.

And thanks to everybody that complimented my blog, I am still very new to the palm world and learning more and more everyday, I only wish that I learned how cool palm trees were 10 years ago!

Did anyone ever make it to McKee Jungle Gardens before it closed?

The tourist flier my mom had was a little damaged but you can still see the picture of the rows of Royals. I unfolded it and scanned both sides, here are those pictures.

[plantapalm]

So I made it back to the garden today. I was able to meet the property manager. She told me that there has been someone stops in and picks up the Copernica macroglossa seeds. She also told me I was welcome to seeds. Sweet. I have another 20 pics I am going to post some now and some tomorrow. Here are the first round.

There are at least 8 Arenga's this size or bigger.

This was tagged as a Phoenix rupicola

I am assuming this is the Sabal domingensis

[plantapalm]

Now for a few unknowns.

[plantapalm]

At first I thought this was part of the reclinata but this is very different, can anyone ID this 1

More tomorrow.....