Costa Rican Palm Society Meeting - Saturday October 31, 2009 10AM

[Jeff in St Pete]

Brownea sp.

Joey palm

[Jeff in St Pete]

close up of Joey base

For scale - one of our new members

[Jeff in St Pete]

Kerriodoxa elegans

Croton

[Jeff in St Pete]

Small Coccothrinax crinita

And larger ones

[Jeff in St Pete]

Livistona sp.

[Jeff in St Pete]

Pinanga seeds

Archontophoenix maxima

[Jeff in St Pete]

Chambeyronia macrocarpa new leaf

[Jeff in St Pete]

[Jeff in St Pete]

[Jeff in St Pete]

Just as the tour ended it started raining again. This time of year, no one in Costa Rica travels without an umbrella.

Getting some palms together for the auction

[Jeff in St Pete]

Some of the palms (and a couple Brownea trees) up for auction

I was the auctioneer, so I took a moment to take a photo. The small Chambeyronia macrocarpa (on the left) sold for the highest bid of the day at 12,000 colones ($20.80).

[Jeff in St Pete]

Alcantarea

I believe Marco said these were Roystonea princeps

[BS Man about Palms]

Awesome Jeff! I remember how great of a place Marco has from the biennial. In many places it is approaching "habitat" conditions................

[Jeff in St Pete]

Mauritia flexuosa

[Jeff in St Pete]

Since it was Halloween, the girls decided they needed a costume

[Jeff in St Pete]

Large variegated Pandanus

[Jeff in St Pete]

Some Foxy Ladies

Regular

Variegated

[Jeff in St Pete]

Another Mauritia

[Jeff in St Pete]

[Jeff in St Pete]

More variegated Foxy Ladies

[Jeff in St Pete]

[Jeff in St Pete]

[Jeff in St Pete]

Group photo - 3 or 4 people had already left, but this is the majority of us.

[Moose]

Jeff - thank you so much for posting these photos. It brings back fond memories of my visit to Marcos farm during the 2008 Biennel. You don't need to apologize about the dark photos, it is dark at Marco's place on a sunny day. Having personally witnessed Marco's great collection - no photos can really do it justice. It is an adventure that must be done first hand!

It is great to see your Society pick up steam with the increase in membership and participation. Your country can grow some great stuff. The Society will help deseminate information and spread the word of the many species that could and should be utilized in Costa Rican gardens.

Kindest regards,

Ron.

[Jeff in St Pete]

Awesome Jeff! I remember how great of a place Marco has from the biennial. In many places it is approaching "habitat" conditions................

Thanks Bill. I couldn't believe how much some of the palms have grown since the Biennial. I looked back at some of the Biennial photos and noticed how much the Joey and the Kerriodoxa have grown in the last 17 months. Even the Corypha has grown several feet.

[Jeff in St Pete]

Jeff - thank you so much for posting these photos. It brings back fond memories of my visit to Marcos farm during the 2008 Biennel. You don't need to apologize about the dark photos, it is dark at Marco's place on a sunny day. Having personally witnessed Marco's great collection - no photos can really do it justice. It is an adventure that must be done first hand!

It is great to see your Society pick up steam with the increase in membership and participation. Your country can grow some great stuff. The Society will help deseminate information and spread the word of the many species that could and should be utilized in Costa Rican gardens.

Kindest regards,

Ron.

Ron, I'm glad you enjoyed the photos. It was a lot of fun exploring Marco's farm again!

Our Palm Society is definitely picking up steam. Word is spreading and we are signing up new members at every meeting. Now that we have some money in the bank, we will be able to start advertising next year. I feel confident that by advertising, we will double our membership in 2010.

Our other good news - we received a $1,000 donation! This will be used to build our website which we believe will be the key to our success.

[Kathryn]

Hey, that place looks familiar! Thanks for sharing.

[PalmGuyWC]

Jeff,

Thanks for the tour of the Marcos farm. I was lucky enough to visit there sometime in the 80's. Things have sure grown, in fact back then he didn't have that many palms, but I remember eating some delicious mangos.

Dick

[Jeff in St Pete]

Hi Dick,

You must have visited Marco before he started collecting palms (or when he was just getting started). I can't imagine what the farm must have looked like back then. Now sections of the property are covered by mature palm forests.

My friends from the Costa Rican Palm Society are still talking about our visit there. The palms that impressed people the most were the large Coccothrinax crinita and the Corypha. Everyone wants these palms now!