New drought resistant palm plantings

[nkbish]

I planted an area over the last few days with some plants that will not require too much water. My hope is I will only have to supplement watering this area a few times every summer. This area has a path that leads down to my dry river area. It is on the lower end of my property and gets a little chilly in the winter, so it is probably a 9a/9b area.

I planted 3 jubaea chilensis along the fence line. They are tucked into the natural scrub brush. The brush is a native plant called buckwheat. It is covered in white flowers in the spring and changes to a purple and then brown in the summer. Behind this area there is California coastal oak trees. I still need to get 2 more jubaea chilensis and plant them where the 5 gallon pots are. This will be lining the road down to the creek.

This is the largest one I have, planted from a 15. They are all small but maybe in 10 years they will look like something.

[nkbish]

I will try to post photos of the rest of the area later tonight.

[nkbish]

Here is the other side of this area. I lined the drainage with butia capitata's and put a bismarckia nobilis as the center piece in this spot. I also put some aloe ferox around the bismarckia. In the future I would like to plant some encephalartos sp to complete the area. Not much now but it should fill in nice.

[nkbish]

This area has California coastal oaks in the creek bottom. I have lost some of the oaks to a beetle that has moved in because of the drought. I know it does not look like much now but in this hot inland desert it should look nice in a few years.

[nkbish]

Here is what it looks like in the spring after the winter rain.

These photos are from about six months ago.

[MattyB]

Awesome! That buckwheat is a great sign of the health of your soil that means it's been undisturbed and all the natural microbes are in the soil and it's not been mechanically compacted. I think you're right, you'll be able to get away with only a couple of waterings in the summer for that Jubei at least but it's gonna take you about five years to get him Established so in the meantime make sure you keep watering them.

[Josh-O]

looking good.

keep the updates coming.

its always nice to see gardens that are up and coming

[nkbish]

Here is the last photo. A nice sunset after a hot day of planting some palms.

[Josh-O]

perfect!!

[nkbish]

1 more Sunset of the bismarckia with the oaks behind it. It was 100F today, the nice sunset finished off the day after a hot day of planting some palms. My goal is for this area to blend in with the natural landscape.

[WestCoastGal]

Nice piece of property there and like what you are doing. Down the road should make for a wonderful surprise to anyone who visits that area and finds this tropical looking paradise. Any thoughts about planting some mule palms there? The faster growth would give you canopy sooner and allow for some partial-shade plants at their base.

[nkbish]

Awesome! That buckwheat is a great sign of the health of your soil that means it's been undisturbed and all the natural microbes are in the soil and it's not been mechanically compacted. I think you're right, you'll be able to get away with only a couple of waterings in the summer for that Jubei at least but it's gonna take you about five years to get him Established so in the meantime make sure you keep watering them.

The area with the bizzy was almost all buckwheat that I cleared. I want to leave the buckwheat in the area of the jubaeas and plant in the middle of them. The soil in the area is a very, very compacted DG with about 6-12" nice native topsoil. I currently have the jubaeas on 2 gph for 30 minutes 2x a week.

[nkbish]

looking good.

keep the updates coming.

its always nice to see gardens that are up and coming

Thanks Josh, I have been here 2 years and it is always a work in progress.

[nkbish]

Nice piece of property there and like what you are doing. Down the road should make for a wonderful surprise to anyone who visits that area and finds this tropical looking paradise. Any thoughts about planting some mule palms there? The faster growth would give you canopy sooner and allow for some partial-shade plants at their base.

For this area of my property I want to plant stuff that likes to bake in the hot sun. I have another area that I have been planting things with the purpose of future canopy for the shade loving plants. If I could source some mules for the right $ I would love to have some.

[nkbish]

I also planted this brahea nitida in this area. I'm not sure if it will fit the low water needs but time will tell.

[nkbish]

[Jubaea]

You are off to a nice start. I think some of the more drought tolerant Brahea might complement the area well.

[nkbish]

You are off to a nice start. I think some of the more drought tolerant Brahea might complement the area well.

I would like to do a grouping of about 3-5 brahea armatas further down the path on the steep slopes that falls into the creekbed. Any other suggestions on brahea sp. that do not need much water that would work for a 9a area. I think the bottom of the creek will get some very cold nights in the winter.

[nkbish]

This is a nannorrhops, I think arabica, I planted last winter from a small one gallon. It is an easy grow and bakes in all day sun.

[nkbish]

I finished the day with my little helper looking the area over to make sure things were done correctly.

[nkbish]

The other day I planted 5 brahea armatas on the steep slope that lines the drainage.  They were planted from 5 gallon size pots but are huge.  They did have some roots that were in the ground at the nursery, so I hope they don't get set back too far.  This area is further down the slope and the lowest spot on my lot.   

[nkbish]

I planted two more jubaeas yesterday.  These two are lining my dirt road down to my dry creekbed.  There are three others on the other side of the road.  In 30 years there will be a Jubeae tunnel.

[nkbish]

This area has really compacted DG that does not drain very well so I added a lot of soil and planted them a few inches above grade.  I had my little workers offloading the dirt.  They were having more fun than me.