Where to buy companion plants for palms in FL

[Yunder Wækraus]

I took my first trip to the Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden on Saturday. Wow! My priorities and desires are forever changed :-) I know that I'm not in South Florida, but I think I can get away with some cool stuff (for a time) up here. So I want to add some trees to my garden, but I don't know where to go to get them. Some are common, I should think. Here's the list:

(1) West Indian avocado variety (I haven't seen any for sale up here yet. One nurseryman told me that all avocados died because a laurel bug infestation, but my aunt and uncle have a huge old West Indian variety that's been in the ground for at least 50 years, so I'm sure it can't be true that ALL are dead)

(2) Lychee (I believe this should do very well in my climate, but I haven't seen any being grown--why?)

(3) Floss silk tree (I had one in CA, but it was barely able to pull through one bad NorCal winter, and I never saw it bloom. I haven't seen a single one on our island yet, and I had begun to think they weren't popular in Florida. But I saw several in Miami, and then some massive ones in Fairchild.)

(4) Cannon ball tree. (I'm pretty sure this one is going to be the hardest, but dang it, I'm obsessed with this tree now.)

Does anyone know of the best nursery for the above in FL? I'd prefer it to be within 75 miles of Melbourne, but I'm planning to drive back down to Fairchild this month, so I suppose anything between Cocoa Beach and Miami is fair game.

[Cocoa Beach Jason]

There are Lychee trees for sale at Tropical Island Nursery on Plumosa in Merritt Island (plumosa is just off 520). Although call them first because I haven't been there for months. I think I also saw some at Rockledge Gardens. I have heard that they are not salt tolerant but I have no experience. I don't know about the others. There is a huge Silk Floss Tree at a residence in Cocoa Beach so they do fine around here.

[Yunder Wækraus]

Thanks. I'll give them a call. I always forget about the salt aspect. I don't feel like my yard is full of salty spray, but I suppose my feelings aren't necessarily accurate. I have noticed that there are no (or few) air plants on the island. By comparison, there's no shortage of Spanish moss on Merritt Island. Perhaps the lack of air plants is a sign of increased salt spray--who knows?

[waykoolplantz]

RFVCbroward.org...the rare fruit & vegetable council has a sale twice a year....the wildest & strangest stuff you've ever seen.

They can give you guidance what will grow up where you are. Searle Bros has plenty of rare palm as well as exotics...not far from the Fruit place off Griffin rd in west Broward.

You are also welcome to stop by my place..not far from either...palms..bamboos..crotons..baobobs..maybe get some ideas

[Ken Johnson]

In some gardens that are heavy with palms I have seen a lot of other plants that mix in very well and some that don't. The worst problem is when large understory plants catch palm fronds and blooms. The best is when it is open and airy which means usually a lot of small type plants. Orchids, bromeliads and small succulents for some examples. Some trees mix well like waykool's baobab's and a few ornamental bloomers or other odd shaped things like lignum vitea.

The plant society sales are a great place to meet the local growers and to buy, sell and trade. They are the best place to start. Look for the sale at FAU, that is close by you.

[Yunder Wækraus]

Thanks for the advice. I'll check out all locations mentioned.

[Jeff Searle]

Thank you Mike for suggesting us. I do happen to have lots of small Floss Silk trees at the moment. And maybe one or two other interesting things to look at. Your more than welcome to come by.

[Yunder Wækraus]

Sounds good. I'll try to carve out some time to make nursery visits before the kids start school.

[Eric in Orlando]

Floss Silk Trees grow well in central and southern FL, plenty around. Some of them with Ceiba crispiflora mixed in are starting to flower now

Rockledge Gardens in Rockledge (on US1 just south of Cocoa)

Living Color Garden Center on Griffin Rd. in Ft. Lauderdale,(if you have a resale certificate you can purchase wholesale from Black Olive East, the parent nursery next door)

Searle Bros. in Southwest Ranches

Boynton Botanicals in Boynton Beach and Excelsa Gardens in Loxahatchee, if you are able to purchase wholesale

[Yunder Wækraus]

I'm not able to purchase wholesale. But thank you for all of the suggestions.

[Eric in Orlando]

I forgot Valkaria Gardens in Palm Bay.

[Yunder Wækraus]

I called several of the nurseries listed in this thread. None who answered carried cannon ball trees nor did they know who might carry them. One nursery claimed that the trees are "old school" and no longer used because they're too big a threat in a hurricane. I wonder how true that statement is. Surely someone in Florida must have Couroupita guianensis for sale.

[Eric in Orlando]

Probably the best bet for Cannonball Tree is the Flowering Tree Sale held at Fairchild on Mothers Day. There is a Tropical Flowering Tree Society in SoFL. I would check with them.

[Yunder Wækraus]

Thanks. I'll make some calls.

[Yunder Wækraus]

Quick update, I went to some of the nurseries y'all recommended to me and purchased papaya, lychee, avocado, star fruit, longan, jacaranda, floss silk tree, traveler's palm, two types of heliconia, two cordylines (purple Hawai'ian ti types), a kiwi plant, a banana, several purple sweet potato vines, three kids of croton, and a Monstera deliciosa. I think that should keep me busy for a bit.

[Dave-Vero]

Indialantic has a strikingly permissive climate (you've noted the coconuts) but does freeze in winter. The last catastrophic freeze was in 1989. It killed lychees, mangoes, whatever.

The little Exotica Tropicals has heliconias and other tropical-looking plants. 912 Pinetree Dr, Indian Harbour Beach, north of Lowe's. 321-960-8928.

Seasonal plant sales at Vero Beach (Gardenfest, early February), Florida Institute of Technology, and Orlando's Leu Gardens can be useful. Searle Brothers announce their twice-yearly Extravaganzas.

For palms and cycads, GTC on Merritt Island sells at some sales and about twice a year at the nursery, which is a big back yard.

Maple Street Natives in West Melbourne can be useful.

Bromeliads tend to be specialty items, even though many are very easy to grow. They tend to be passed along among friends. The Heathcote Botanical Gardens sale, which should be the weekend before Thanksgiving, will have a lot of bromeliads from the garden's own propagation efforts and donations from friends. There's also certain to be vendors.

Don't forget some of the more mundane garden items. Beach sunflowers flourish, as do native sea oxeye daisies, yellowtops (Flaveria linearis, a yellow member of the aster family), a number of ordinary garden plants such as zinnias (they thrive at the beach), verbenas (mostly native to the Southeast) and "rain lilies" belonging to Zephyranthes and Habranthus. They are kind of hard to find and expensive (the ritzy Plant Delights nursery in North Carolina, for example), but when happy will produce lots of new bulbs and seedlings, resulting in spectacular displays. Its unfortunate that hardly anyone has the patience and passed-on starter plants anymore. They were fairly common when I was a kid.

Hurricane resistance matters. Some winners are the native Sabal palmetto, about as windproof as a tree can be, Livistona palms from Australia, live oaks (extraordinarily dense wood), and crape myrtles, of all things.

[Yunder Wækraus]

I also grabbed a sea grape (as a nod to native plants on the island)

[Dave-Vero]

Sea grapes freeze in freezes, and are kept in check at Sebastian Inlet State Park by periodic prescribed fires (I was at the park one day when a crew was burning around the restrooms and boardwalks. Apart from smoke and some flames, everything was business as usual). They are endlessly prunable.

Among the other native shrubbery, Forestiera segregata (wild olive) is perfect for poodling into hedges and Simpson stopper (Myrcianthes fragrans) is also prunable if you want, and has lots of red berries this time of year. Firebush (Hamelia patens) is untidy but loaded with red-orange tubular flowers all summer. Hummingbirds, Zebra swallowtail butterflies.

I'm not kidding about zinnias. Great temporary plants, far cheaper than trying to baby bedding plants from the Big Boxes.

I've got loads of spare bromeliads, most preferring some shade. If you need big, the orange Aechmea blanchetiana from Brazil (they are beach plants), it's easy to find people, like me, needing to get rid of surplus rosettes.

[Yunder Wækraus]

Thanks for the tips. Right now my yard looks like weeds, unmowed grass, and poorly spaced random plants. I've got a long way to go. But I have a picture in my mind, and I think it will be neat a year from now.

[palmislandRandy]

You might also try Excalibur Fruit Trees in Lake Worth. They have an amazing selection of rare varieties. I bought my nephew a 7 gal lychee that fruited in a few years. Most of my fruit trees came from them & the fruit is incredible. Ask to take a peek at the palm collection in one of the shade houses!

[Yunder Wækraus]

Thanks!

[redant]

  On 8/9/2015 at 1:04 PM, palmislandRandy said:

You might also try Excalibur Fruit Trees in Lake Worth. They have an amazing selection of rare varieties. I bought my nephew a 7 gal lychee that fruited in a few years. Most of my fruit trees came from them & the fruit is incredible. Ask to take a peek at the palm collection in one of the shade houses!

I second that. they have everything!

Silk floss tress grow really easy and fast from seed. I have several to give away but see you found one. The roots on those trees tend to go out rather far and above the surface of the ground, choose your planting location wisely.

[donalt]

  On 7/27/2015 at 1:14 PM, Yunder Wækraus said:

I took my first trip to the Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden on Saturday. Wow! My priorities and desires are forever changed :-) I know that I'm not in South Florida, but I think I can get away with some cool stuff (for a time) up here. So I want to add some trees to my garden, but I don't know where to go to get them. Some are common, I should think. Here's the list:

(1) West Indian avocado variety (I haven't seen any for sale up here yet. One nurseryman told me that all avocados died because a laurel bug infestation, but my aunt and uncle have a huge old West Indian variety that's been in the ground for at least 50 years, so I'm sure it can't be true that ALL are dead)

(2) Lychee (I believe this should do very well in my climate, but I haven't seen any being grown--why?)

(3) Floss silk tree (I had one in CA, but it was barely able to pull through one bad NorCal winter, and I never saw it bloom. I haven't seen a single one on our island yet, and I had begun to think they weren't popular in Florida. But I saw several in Miami, and then some massive ones in Fairchild.)

(4) Cannon ball tree. (I'm pretty sure this one is going to be the hardest, but dang it, I'm obsessed with this tree now.)

Does anyone know of the best nursery for the above in FL? I'd prefer it to be within 75 miles of Melbourne, but I'm planning to drive back down to Fairchild this month, so I suppose anything between Cocoa Beach and Miami is fair game.

You might do well to try Orlando nurseries. There are many mature lychee trees and floss silk trees (in full bloom,depending on time of year) throughout Metro Orlando.

[Yunder Wækraus]

Quick update: I've managed to locate all desired companion plants save for guavas (nor hurry there). Here's a pic of the cannon ball tree I finally found. It was a lot more money than I had hoped to spend, but I only got it by paying a small premium to a nurseryman who paid a large premium to another nurseryman who paid a reasonable price to yet another S. Florida nurseryman. Man, these guys are sure hard to find. They're supposed to be hardy down to zone 10a, but an '89-style freeze up here ain't 10a. So here's hoping the new tree gets a few years to establish before anything nasty tests it.