Introducing myself

[Alberto]

That blue bird nesting in the drain pipe ,also flies arond here. Last I saw them eating from the butia fruits.The male is blue and his 'wife' a olive green collor.

[Cindy Adair]

The wildlife photos are charming! I'm glad to see you enjoy them as much as I do.

[Davi Aguiar]

Hi Cindy: Yeah nature as a whole has always fascinated me.

Hi Alberto! It's good to know they are found your place too and specially that they eat Butia, nice! here I would say they enjoy avocados the most.

[HorsesnPalms]

Welcome!! Your photos made my evening. So difficult to get a photo of a Hummingbird. Just gorgeous. Thank you for sharing. I am with everyone else when it comes to Euterpe edulis..

wow!

[BS Man about Palms]

Wonderful pics of your rural oasis! Welcome to the world of posting and sharing. Please keep it up.

[akamu]

thanks for sharing your side of the world with us I enjoyed the video and all your great photography

[JakeK]

Davi, welcome! Your farm is beautiful and all the palms make it even more so.

[Rafael]

Benvindo ao palmtalk, Davi!

[Alberto]

Davi,

Are the Euterpe edulis native there?

Here I saw once a couple of "jacus" eating the fruits of Geonoma schottiana and also fruis of S.romanzoffiana.

BTW- What are your native palms there? Is there one micro Syagrus sp or other palm growing on the tops of neigbouring mountains?

[realarch]

Finally getting around to give you a hearty welcome to this large extended family. There are quite a few of us who are totally addicted to this spot on the web.

Tim

[Peter Pacific]

Hello Davi, welcome to Palmtalk and thank you for a fascinating post! I loved the pictures of your world you can tell you love it too!

Peter

[Davi Aguiar]

Hi Robin! I agree, it's very hard to take pictures of hummingbirds, but only when they're humming. In both pictures I posted they were resting, and protecting their feeding plant against other hummingbirds. In relation to humans they are quite tame, these let me get almost just a foot away from them. There are other species here that I've never been able to take pictures of. I'm glad that you enjoyed the pictures! Thanks for your comment.

Hi Bill! Thanks for your comment. You are right posting and sharing is fun!

Hi Jake! Thanks!

Obrigado,Rafael!

Oi Alberto! I've never seen an E. edulis here which I think is native, but almost all the forests around here were once cut down for coal, and the E. edulis probably did not survive. The palm species which I've seen in the wild around here are only queen palms(with a rather slender trunk , compared to most grown in Belo Horizonte), Acrocamia aculeata, and Geonoma schottiana (which I saw-and got the seeds-growing around a spring which helps supplies water to a small village nearby-which could be the reason why they were not destroyed. I've never seen any other palm species growing in the nearby mountains.

Hi Tim! Thanks ! I think I'm becoming addicted to it too.

Hi Peter! Thanks!

Now, more of my palms, unfortunately I think I forgot to take pictures of the around one year old seedlings of Phoenix roebelenii, but I think this may no be necessary:

This I think is an Allegoptera arenaria:

Euterpe oleracea surviving the winter:

Phoenix sp.

Continue...

[Davi Aguiar]

Orbignya phalerata recovering from a transplant which separated it from its seed.

Aiphanes aculeata

Areca triandra(I think):

King palm(I think)

Best regards!

Davi

[Dave-Vero]

A quick search suggests your squirrel is Sciurus aestuans, which looks like the eastern gray squirrel from North America, Sciurus carolinensis. It thrives around people and unfortunately has been introduced to western North America, England, and various other places, where it's a pest.

[Davi Aguiar]

Hi Dave! I agree with you, it is Sciurus aestuans, but this species at least around here is not that common, but I would say has become more common though! One species here that is a lot more common the monkey (Callithrix penicillata).

[Alberto]

I think that our squirrel, called here serelepe or caxinguele is Sciurus ingrami. Serelepes are not a common sight, and also not widespread. I have seen them in bigger forests +- 20 km from here, but in my forest it is absent

[Davi Aguiar]

Well, in Wikipedia it says for Sciurus ingrami: "It is regarded variously as a species, or as a subspecies of the Brazilian squirrel.", which is Sciurus aestuans; I don't know exactly what it is. I only started seeing it at the farm in the last couple of years.

[Alberto]

You are right. Thanks for the information.

So the species in my region is Sciurus aestuans subsp.ingrami

Nice seedlings you have. Do you germinate all your palms or do you also buy some seedlings?

[Peter]

Welcome, and thanks for the great photos! Are you growing any flowering trees?

[Davi Aguiar]

Hi Alberto!
Thanks! Most of them were germinated, but some were bought as seedlings:

Mauritia flexuosa: 2 of the 3, were bought in Rio's botanical garden and the other one which is doing better was germinated from seed was placed in a better spot.

Mauritiella armata: The four of them were germinated from the seeds my uncle gave me from his fishing trip to Goias.

Oenocarpus: The four of them were bought in Rio's botanical garden.

Bactris gisipaes:2, friend gave me them.

Geonoma schottiana:3 from seeds colected nerby.

Lytocaryum waddellianum: Bought from a nearby plant nursery.

Euterpe edulis: 3 bought in the Belo Horizonte zoo-botanical garden, around 5 given by a friend and around a 1000 from seeds.

Butia: My uncle gave me the seedling from a trip he did to the south, I think Paraná, but I'm not sure.

Syagrus olearagea: Around 5 from seeds collected from cultivated trees.

Syagrus flexuosa : around 10, germinated from seeds of different locations, both in Minas Gerais and Goias
in the wild

Allagoptera caudensis: Around 100 from seeds collected from cultivated trees.

Acrocamia aculeata: around 150, bought pre germinated seeds.

Queen palm: around 10, 2 given as a gift, and the others some from seeds collected in
Belo Horizonte, and the others from the local plants.

Allagoptera arenaria(?): around 5 from seeds collected at Araxá, cultivated.

Euterpe oleracea: 3 from seeds collected from cultivated palms at UFMG

Phoenix sp.: around 25 From palms at Belo Horizonte.

Orbignya phalerata: One from seed collected in the south of Goias.

Aiphanes aculeata:3 from seeds collected in Belo Horizonte

Areca triandra: Around 15 from seeds

King palm: 3, given by a friend.

Triangle palm: photo not posted(I forgot to take the picture): 1 bought as small seedling at Carrefour not identified, now around as tall as I am.

Hi Peter, thanks! I grow 2 species of tabebuia (one pink and the other yellow)-there are also 2 native species of the yellow and one of the pink) – the cultivated ones,though around 7m tall and 6 years old from seeds, have not blossomed yet; Tibouchina granulosa, Bougainville and Eugenia Dysenterica-have not blossomed yet. .

[Davi Aguiar]

Look at how much the Mauritia has grown::

Mauritia and my father for comparison

[Alberto]

Thanks for posting the update. Yes it grew "somewhat" !

[Yunder Wækraus]

Hummingbird:

Yellow birds:

Green butterfly:

Hummingbird in Myrciaria cauliflora(Jabuticaba):

Continue...

I love the wildlife photos. There's no point in having a garden without lizards, birds, snakes, frogs, butterflies, beetles, etc. in it to give it true life. You are so blessed to have such amazing animals in your area.

[Dave-Vero]

I'm not sure Ouro Preto is one of the towns that Dennis Cathcart, whose Tropiflora nursery in Sarasota, Florida specializes in bromeliads, visited on his recent visits to Brazil. He definitely found some beautiful towns and plants.

[Davi Aguiar]

Thank you all for your comments.

Alberto: Yes it has grown. We thought about ferilizing it but were afraid as it is the only Mauritia that is that we expect to survive. One of the others died, and the other suffered a setback.

Yunder: Yes the wildlife is great. I feel very blessed to be able to enjoy it. I was told that a brazilian red wolf was seen at the farm last week. This is great as it is regarded as a rare species.

Dave: There are a few nice towns and many nice plants in the state. At the farm there are just three species of native bromeliad that I know of: one whose bloom is upright and the “petals” pink. One that is pendant and it’s petals are pink, and a species of tilllandsia.

These are not real updates because the pictures are a little over a year old, but here we go:

The Lytocaryum has flowered:

The triangle palm which I had no picture of:

And some palms that we bought on www.e-jardim.com:

Trithrinax brasiliensis, Syagrus ruschiana, Lytocaryum insigne, Lytocaryum hoehnei, Syagrus botryophora, Syagrus lorenzoniorum, Areca vestiaria, Verschaffeltia splendida.

The Veschaffeltia splendida died(I think I drowned it along with one Areca vestiaria), and I have the Trithrinax brasiliensis, one Syagrus ruschiana, all three Lytocaryum hoehnei, one Syagrus lorenzoniorum, the surviving Areca vestiaria planted on the ground. With the exception of the Trithrinax (and the Areca vestiaria which was only recently planted) suffered a setback, as they were planted on places without irrigation,(except the Trithrinax).