Visit to the Velez jungle

[Geoff]

Visited Ralph Velez in Orange County yesterday... place is amazing (as usual). Some accuse me of having too many palms planted in my front yard. Ralph has more palms planted in a corner of his yard than I even own. View of some of his amazing stuff

View of Ralph on his roof

View from his driveway

one of the tallest Bismarckias in California

[Geoff]

Copernicia baileyana

amazing Nannorhops (was burned in a fire a few years ago and defoliated... Ralphs says it has never grown so lush and rapidly... the fire really helped it ouT!)

Huge infructescence of Caryota obtusa

Drymophleus oliviformis in Ralph's greenhouse

[Keith N Tampa (ex SoJax)]

Looks to me like he has too much grass in the front yard.

[Kim]

Looks to me like he has too much grass in the front yard.

The grass you see is the house next door. His house is obscured by palms.

[Geoff]

Dypsis 'Slick Willy' (now about 25' feet tall... hard to photograph... crown is getting buried in his Pandanus utilis, which is over 30' tall!)

One of the nicest plantings of Licuala spinosa I have seen in California

Easily the tallest Livistona carinensis in California (also burned to defoliation by that fire a few years ago)

40' tall Prestoea montana in fruit!

[Geoff]

Pinanga elmeri (or phillipinensis.. or whatever it is called now)

shot of Ralph's roof looking at house

Ravenea hildebrandii flowering for the 5th year in a row

Syagrus glauscecens (20 years old)

[Geoff]

Burretiokentia dumasi (planted last year... yes he still plants about 30+ new palms in that garden a year)

Bactris setosa (seems fine with cold... been in ground now over 10 years... super spiny trunk on it)

another spiny palm in the garden, Astrocaryum mexicanum

Ravenea mooreii (this on is in fruit, though I don't know with what... probably infertile seed unless the R hildbrandii right next to it pollinated it)

[Geoff]

nice Brahea dulcis (suckering form)

Chamaedorea frondosa

Nice hybrid Platycerium in the yard (he has dozens of large Platys all over, most growing on palm trunks)

another cool fern

[Geoff]

when you run out of room, you have to 'borrow' your neighbor's yard... here is the home across the street

Parajubaea torralyi at the end of the block

another shot of stuff across the street

Hard to photograph most of his palms as they are hidden by other palms... this is the best shot I could get of his nice Hyophorbe verschaffeltii

[BS Man about Palms]

Thanks Geoff!

yep................. I'm on my way to "Velezocity"...

[bgl]

It's always great to see photos from Ralph's garden, which must be the ultimate when it comes to planting stuff close together! And it still looks good! Simply approaching his place from several blocks away is an experience - seeing all those tall palms in the distance! And I'm thrilled that tall Bismarckia is doing so well, and looking great. He bought it from me in 1994 when I had my "moving-to-Hawaii-palm-sale" and he had already talked with his neighbor, who agreed to letting him plant it there. An arrangement that worked out great for the neighbors as well as for Ralph!

[Patricia-CR]

What a treat!!! I want my garden to look like that!

[MattyB]

Thanks for the awesome tour Geoff! And thanks Ralph for sharing your yard with us.

[Hilo Jason]

Thanks for the pictures Geoff. Definitely one of my favorite gardens that I've been to!

[realarch]

Thanks Geoff, unusual and healthy looking palms for SoCal. What a great garden. Nice to see Ralph's palm passion has spread to his neighbors. That's great to see.

[DoomsDave]

Whoa, Geoff!

No one Velezes better than Ralph!

Hmm

Come to the OC and see my place, get pictures of my disembodied cranium . . . .

[Mandrew968]

A lot of those palms would be considered "zone pushers" yet they look to be thriving! The Pinanga is unbelievable and so is the Prestoea. Hard to believe that syagrus is so old. Can you explane this fire stuff, a little better for me? I will have to look some more since I just got overloaded! Thanks Geoff!!!!

[Mandrew968]

What is the palm that's on the right, in the last photo, posted? Green crownshaft. Hyophorbe Indica?

[Stevetoad]

wow... i wish he was my neighbor!!!

[palmcurry]

Nothing like seeing a regional garden filled with trunking beauties. Thanks for the pics Geoff.

Never seen a Nannorhops with such icey bue. I can tell by the pics that it is much more amazing in person. That Pinanga elmeri had me at hello. So nice to see such a mature and healthy one here in SoCal.

[LJG]

A lot of those palms would be considered "zone pushers" yet they look to be thriving! The Pinanga is unbelievable and so is the Prestoea. Hard to believe that syagrus is so old. Can you explane this fire stuff, a little better for me? I will have to look some more since I just got overloaded! Thanks Geoff!!!!

Beleive it or not but some kids did a drive by fire-bombing of his plants. Not sure the exact details however.

[DoomsDave]

A lot of those palms would be considered "zone pushers" yet they look to be thriving! The Pinanga is unbelievable and so is the Prestoea. Hard to believe that syagrus is so old. Can you explane this fire stuff, a little better for me? I will have to look some more since I just got overloaded! Thanks Geoff!!!!

Beleive it or not but some kids did a drive by fire-bombing of his plants. Not sure the exact details however.

As a former schoolteacher, Ralph came in for some, well, hassle.

A while back, someone put a whole bunch of shredded computer paper in his plants, and it looked like it had snowed.

He even showed it in the PSSC Journal

Don't remember the year, but it wasn't recently, that's for sure.

(Ten years ago? At least . . . .)

[kylecawazafla]

Amazing yard!

[pogobob]

Must be the worlds record for PPSF... palms per square foot!

[Walter John]

Always a pleasure to be Velezed on a Thursday.

The Nannorhops, oh boy, stupendous and stupifying.

[Tassie_Troy1971]

I had the pleasure of visiting Ralph last year and was amazed by his collection and the small space it occupied . As Ralph picked up a fallen palm frond he said in his Bronx accent " I do this everyday " ! Ralphs greenhouse is a real treasure also .

[Rafael]

Unbelievable garden!!!!

Loved the rophies!

[Cindy Adair]

Wonderful photos and garden! Thanks!

[gyuseppe]

beautiful garden!

[Mandrew968]

Len, I can believe the fire bomb thing--it's not very cool at all, but sometimes it takes an adult to know right from wrong. The paper thing sounds far less painful. In my neighborhood, we had a group of kids that thought it would be cool to kill the local male crocodile(16 plus feet). They caught the individuals and they are doing federal time. He was an amazing creature and it hurt me, personally(reptiles have always been my first passion) to lose him; He was the biggest outside of Everglades national Park.

[chakoro]

Geoff,Thanks for sharing,can you tell me does he have to irrigate constantly?Also how does he fit so many palms in a small area?Does he just add soil and build the soil level up then plant new species out?Regards Craig.

[Mandrew968]

Geoff,Thanks for sharing,can you tell me does he have to irrigate constantly?Also how does he fit so many palms in a small area?Does he just add soil and build the soil level up then plant new species out?Regards Craig.

I was told the Californian soil is deep there, and he uses tons of nutrients...

[Geoff]

I have seen Ralph happily chop away at the base of two palm trunks to reach a small patch of soil inbetween to plant a smaller palm... but sometimes the palms aren't going to stay smaller. Since there still is a high turnover (I am guessing he's planted thousands of palms), most do not make it due partly to lack of sunlight. But he will plant a palm that may ultimately grow to 100' in an area no larger than 6 square inches... if it makes it, he will deal with it later. That is why sometimes you get 3 palms growing so close their trunks touch. But some palms grow pretty slow in all that root competition. He does fertilize regularly, but California soils are pretty rich and very deep.

He has a Thrinax he planted in 1968 (that's over 40 years ago!) (I think parviflora) that has finally reached a staggering height of 5' (that's leaf height... trunk is maybe 18" tall)... Thrinax are known for being exceptionally slow in California... but come on! Palm looks completely healthy, though. it gets very little sunlight and is sandwiched between many other palms. As you can imagine, it is a bit difficult to photograph all these plants.

[AJQ]

Simply Awesome! Wish my neighbours were like that.

Regards Andy.

[chakoro]

Geoff,Thanks for the detailed information.Knowledge gained through trial and error is often the best knowledge of all.As i have a small house block and an insatible appetite for palms and other tropical plants i have always admired Ralph`s garden and hope to do something similar here.

Years ago i saw a garden like this on a very small piece of land,thickly planted with palms covered in epiphites(mainy broms and orchids)on the trunks.The strange thing was as i walked into it through the paths to a central open space, it seemed much much larger than when viewed from the street..and apart from being alive with all sorts of wildlife(lizards, birds and butterflies)it muffled the noise from a busy street.Thanks again Craig.

[samirbouag]

AM I IN PARADISE!?? wowwwwwwwwwwwww i love gardens like that!

[Butiagrus]

Hello!

Thanks for this post, it's a very impressive garden, good work there !
The Parajubaea torally on the street it's huuuge

JB