7 years of growth

[Matt in SD]

If you look to the right in the Jackfruit photo above, you can see a tall palm trunk with some orchids mounted on it and inflorescences hanging down. This is some sort of Ptychosperma that I got from Rancho Soledad in June 2003. It was in a 10 gallon pot and already had about 6 feet of trunk. I still don't know what it is, and despite flowering all the time, the male and female flowers are never open at the same time, so no seeds yet. It seems happy though.

Turning around from this planter, this is what you see. A Howea belmoreana purchased from Rancho Soledad in ~2004 as a 15, somehow I never got this one on my spreadsheet. It has about 6" of trunk now. There is a variegated Rhapis in front that is one of my favorites.

[Matt in SD]

Here's the Rhapis up close

And to the left of these up on the retaining wall is a Chuniophoenix hainanensis I got from Floribunda as a 1g in March 2003. It was not a large 1g, so yes it has grown, but this is a SLOW palm. I think that it's probably slowed down because it's too close to some bamboo. I'm going to dig this palm up and try it at the new place where it has less root competition. It is a nice looking palm thought and is always green and perfect. Pretty amazing considering some of those leaves are probably 4 years old.

[Matt in SD]

Moving into the "heart" of the back yard, this is the view from in front of my greenhouse. I think Kim asked about the large Pritchardia, it's P affinis. Not the prettiest Pritchardia as it gets older, but they are nice when young.

And my greenhouse. The inside would probably be a topic for another thread.

[Matt in SD]

Here's the Dypsis leptocheilos that was visible in the first photo in the previous post. This palm does not photograph well, it actually looks nice. This was a 7g from Jungle Music in July 2003. Just started showing clear trunk this year.

[Matt in SD]

Next to the teddy bear is this Basselinia glabrata (formerly Alloschmidtia). I have a hard time believing this is really a Basselinia because it's so easy to grow. I'm very curious to see if the trunk on this fattens up. I've seen some skinny ones even in Hawaii, and then Jeff Marcus has one that has a ~5" thick trunk and 6 foot leaves.

Looking back at the greenhouse.

[Matt in SD]

One more palm for tonight. I got this Clinostigma savoryanum from Rancho Soledad as a 10g in June 2003. It was not trunking yet, but was huge for a 10g plant (at least by SoCal standards). The trunk base is somewhere around 14" thick now. It had a case of pink rot a couple years ago, and there were beetles eating into the trunk. MattyB brought me some T-Methyl containing fungicide that I put on the petiole bases and watered in. I also took a syringe and loaded it with a couple different fungicides and pesticidea and injected all the soft areas. It's all good now. And yes, that's a Carpoxylon in the pot next to it, seems to be enjoying winter so far.

It's funny that at some point your palms actually get difficult to fit in a photo!

And my 4 year old son for scale on the trunk

[Shon]

Loving this thread Matt. Like how your mixing the individual shots with the full garden shots. Hope there is alot more.

[pogobob]

Very nice landscape Matt, I hope you keep the place for your kids. Your next place will be even better!

[surferjr]

Very nice landscape Matt, I hope you keep the place for your kids. Your next place will be even better!

I'm there with you Pogi, but anyway to get that cap off them there dogi ? Ah Christmas is over and we need to get on with the show with our new President!!

Pogi for Pres! :drool:

best,

clark

[pogobob]

Very nice landscape Matt, I hope you keep the place for your kids. Your next place will be even better!

I'm there with you Pogi, but anyway to get that cap off them there dogi ? Ah Christmas is over and we need to get on with the show with our new President!!

Pogi for Pres! :drool:

best,

clark

Hey lay off my avatar! Yours looks like something that got yanked out of a jackasses rear bagg!

[Matt in SD]

Bob,

I've been thinking more and more of leaving nearly all the palms in the garden, with the thought that some day one (or more) of my kids could live there. I feel like I have enough time (I'm only 35 now) to start fresh at the new house without transplanting all the big stuff. Plus I couldn't bear to have one of my big palms die trying to move it.

Glad you like it Shon...I've got more photos.

A little past the Clinostigma, at the South edge of the property I planted this Caryota gigas from a small 15 g I got at Jungle Music in May 2003. This has been my best performer of the three gigas that I have. It was also the smallest when planted. It's now the fattest, holds the most leaves, and will clearly pass up the others in a couple years. In the background of this photo you can see the trunk of a Ravenea rivularis that I got as a 2g at a grocery store in ~2004.

Up into the leaves...this palm and a triple planted Archontophoenix cunninghamiana form part of the canopy on the south end of the yard.

[Matt in SD]

You can see the trunk of the triple kings in the last shot. At the base of these I planted a Chamaedorea elatior (1g from JD Andersen in July 2005). I was hoping it would climb into the middle of the three kings. I think it's going to because it's clearliy starting to lean that direction. Very odd since most palms will lean away from a wall or other barrier. This palm is a female, and it looks like it's producing seed, which if viable will be a hybrid since I don't have any other elatiors around.

And on the North side of the trunks of the kings I've mounted a bunch of orchids. These are recent mounts (about 4 months ago), so they haven't attached fully yet.

[Matt in SD]

In between the gigas and the kings, I planted this Ceroxylon quindiuense that Steve in San Diego gave me the first time I met him in August 2003. It was a 1 1/2 leaf seedling then. It's about 3 feet tall now. Not super fast, but it's picking up some speed now. This was going to be an experiment in growth rates. I figured the gigas and the kings would go up much faster, so even thought the Ceroxylon will get huge, it will always be below the crowns of the others. At this point, I think I'm going to take this baby to the new house since the climate should be perfect, and I'm not too confident in my experiment of having a Ceroxylon 6 feet from a Caryota gigas.

From this point it's going to be sort of hard to go in any sort of logical order. There are a few essentials that I forgot to post that were on the way to the point I'm at now, and then there is the other side of the house, and the planter behind the fence. So we're sort of going to walk back out of the back yard, then to the South side of hte front of the house and around to the back again, but outside the fence.

This Cyphosperma balansae is going on it's second winter in the ground, purchased as a 2g plant from Jungle Music in November 2006. This is possibly my all time favorite palm, and I have made a bit of a personal vow that I will kill however many is necessary to get a big one in the ground here. I have found that they don't like my greenhouse, but they seem perfectly happy outside, and this one is happy in the ground. At this point I've only killed on of these and have another that almost died but is very slowly recovering. But I think some true carnage is about to start in the new yard.

[Matt in SD]

Across the patio from the Cyphosperma we can see the other side of my Howea belmoreana. To the left of the belmoreana trunk, you may be able to make out a thin trunked little palm. That's a Dypsis 'menalaingo', which is at this point the only understory Dypsis that I can say has "done well" outside in the ground. I have others surviving, but this one usually looks pretty good, and has grown all of that trunk since planting (purchased as a 1g from JDA in June 2003, in the ground since April 2004). I don't have a closeup, but it is the palm in my avatar.

And we go back across the lawn and look back at the Pritchardia affinis. I still like this palm, but when it has 10 feet of trunk, I may wish I planted something else in that spot. It is just forming trunk now, purchased as a 15g from Jungle Music in June 2003. To the right of the Pritchardia is a plant with long leaves, it's a Garcinia dulcis, related to mangosteen. This thing took the 2007 cold event about 3 months after a disasterous planting where pretty much all of it's roots were ripped off. Surprisingly hardy.

[Matt in SD]

And turning right from the spot in the last photo there is a Ptychosperma that I bought as 'woto boho' but it's clearly not. This was in a 4" pot in October 2003, and now has about a foot of trunk on the main stem. It could be macarthurii, but I sort of think it's something else.

And Bill was probably already drooling at the last shot, knowing what's next...in front of the Ptychosperma is my Kentiopsis piersoniorum. I got this as a small 2g plant from Jungle music in about August 2003, and planted it in May 2007. This is a slow palm, but worth the wait. In 5 1 /2 years the base diameter has gone from about 3/8" (1 cm) to about 1 3/4" (4cm), pretty pathetic. It is pretty hardy, and this one gets about 1/2 day direct sun. It is clearly growing faster in the ground than it ever did in a pot.

[Matt in SD]

Looking to the right from the last shot is a reminder to me that I still have a bit of cleanup to do at the old house. In this shot there is a Rhopalostylis sapida on the left that I've been pretty unimpressed with. It's only about 8 feet tall overall after 5 1/2 years from a smallish 15g plant, and it still gets sunburned despite only getting about 1/2 day sun in the summer. In the middle is an Archontophoenix that I think might be maxima. It gets a nice reddish new leaf, has a smooth green crownshaft, and has only a trace of white under the leaflets. And to the right of the maxima is a Dictyosperma album 'rubrum' that I got as a 4" from Floribunda in March 2004. It really is a great looking palm when young, but this is a crappy photo of it.

Now we're going all the way back to the front of the house and around to the South side, this is where the Kerriodoxa and Cryosophila are. Behind them is a Dypsis carlsmithii that I got as a 5g from Floribunda in March 2004, and planted in July 2005. It grows WAY faster in the ground. The leaves are about 4 feet long now.

[Matt in SD]

A shot of the carlsmithii from the other side of the fence. And you can see a mature Chamaedorea ernestii-augustii behind it. This stuff is all in the shade of a HUGE CIDP.

On the other side of the CIDP is this Lychee tree. I think these are one of the best looking fruit trees around.

[Matt in SD]

Turning around from the last shot, this Carpoxylon is another experiment. I brought in two last spring, planted one in a fairly sunny spot and potted the other up in the shade (the other one was in the pot next to the Clinostigma). The potted one in the shade has done great, and is much fatter now than this one. This one burned BADLY, petioles and everything. Then it pretty much stoped growing all summer. I assumed it was dead, but just left it there, and then all of a sudden in the middle of December it opens this leaf, and there is another spear pushing behind it. I still think it's 50/50 at best to survive the rest of winter, but I'm shocked it's not already rotted out.

Down the hill (180 degrees from the last shot) is another "must have" Ficus, Ficus auriculata.

[Matt in SD]

This is for Kris, if he's made it this far. This CIDP was one of the only original plants still left from When I moved in. It was just about to form trunk when I moved in, so this is the only palm shown that's had "7 years of growth". It's HUGE, the spread is right around 30 feet.

And the banana plantation down the side (Don't tell the city). Bananas look like crap in the winter.

[Matt in SD]

And the far back property line. Not a lot of palms back here, I mostly planted trees to make canopy around the perimeter.

Shots like these are funny to me since when we moved in there was nothing here at all. No wall, no fence, and definitely no trees sticking out. At some point the neighbors start to notice somethings up.

[Matt in SD]

The tree in the center is an Ice Cream Bean tree (Inga edulis). I think this is one of the best canopy trees for this area. It is a fast grower, enriches the soil, maintains consistent leaf cover throughout the year, and can be trained to grow to many different forms. And my kids love the fruit. I'll probably plant several of these at the new house, all seedlings off of this tree. This tree I think is 4 years from a 5g pot (that's a 6 foot fence behind it).

And one of my only palms back here, a Butia.

[Matt in SD]

And then the sun was setting and that's it. Not every palm in my garden, but a good fraction of them. Still weighing the pros and cons of digging and moving most to the new house, or leaving the garden largely intact. But I still have plenty of time to decide...the palms aren't going anywhere. I hope a few people enjoyed this little tour, I felt like I needed to document what is sort of the "final product" now that it is being converted to rental.

[nomolos]

What a great post! I really enjoy the tour of the garden, great looking specimens - well done!

[BS Man about Palms]

Great tour. I think its worth a bi-weekly trip to check on the Kentiopsis.....

[Kris]

This is for Kris, if he's made it this far. This CIDP was one of the only original plants still left from When I moved in. It was just about to form trunk when I moved in, so this is the only palm shown that's had "7 years of growth". It's HUGE, the spread is right around 30 feet.

Dear Matt

i must tell you that right from your first post till this page's sunset still iam walking with you...

All the palms & plants,including your house & that lovely green house looks great but what impressed me most was the stills of the Jamboo(CIDP) & the still of little Matt i hope even god blesses me with one,here i ment both the CIDP & my kid standing next to my CIDP someday....

And that sunset still has come out very beautiful,i must say that you use your machine very well...And what is the white plastic box seen near your house & even greenhouse..in which 2 water hose is connected ? is it a fertilizer despencing unit ?

Thanks & lots of love to you & your naughty kid,

Kris

[happ]

Real beauties, Matt

[Matt in SD]

Kris,

I hope you can have some kids soon. It definitely changes your life!

The plastic things that the hoses go into are water powered hose winders. You push a switch and the hose gets rolled back inside the box by water pressure. They are pretty cool, but they break regularly. The company will send parts out for free, but it's still a pain.

Matt

[Kris]

Thanks Matt...

[Surf Guy]

Wow! Unbelievable! I am speechless! You must have one heck of a micro-climate and good canopy. I will be planting as much as I can this spring and hopefully in three years my garden will begin to take shape. Thanks for sharing the tour.

Mike

[joe_OC]

Hey Matt,

I was at Ron Lawyer's place and saw a couple that looks like your Hookeri...Ron was saying that was unique as well...

One last shot before I get some sleep. I think this Chambeyronia hookeri has a slight edge on my Clinostigma savoryanum (will post that one tomorrow) as the palm that people spend the most time looking at, and also a palm that I'm not sure I can go without looking at every day. Without something in there for scale, the photo is sort of a joke, this palm is HUGE. Unlike any other C hookeri I've seen. I planted it from a 20g pot in June 2003, purchased at Bluebell Nursery in Anaheim.

[PalmsZA]

Dude....I love the Rhopi! Oh and the hooker!

I have struggled to grow R.sapida here....maybe its the sandy soil?

Anyway lovely garden and a lot of suprises (for me anyway) for SoCal.

Cheers

Dennis

[realarch]

Wow, what a collection..I'm speechless. Just imagine 20 years from now in your 'NEW' house.

Tim