Turning a Water Oak Forest into a Tropical Paradise in NW Orlando

[RainforestCafe]

@Merlyn you've lost 180 agaves! That's quite a bit, but at least you definitely know what works and what doesn't at this point.

As for your palm survivals, the Leucothrinax Morrisii and Archontophoenix doesn't really surprise me because I'd seen reports of them surviving really cold temps even down to the low 20s. However, the Ptychosperma Macarthurii and Schefferi, also the Pinanga Coronata and Areca Triandra are very surprising to me. I really like those palms, but had never really considered giving them a shot. I'll definitely have to try them now.

With the Ptychosperma Macarthurii and Schefferi, were they both out in the open when they experienced the 25-26F and frost? Or did they have some kind of protection?

[Merlyn]

@RainforestCafe yeah I really expected all the agaves to immediately die after planting.  After a few survivors I kinda went nuts on buying agaves and have three large bed areas full of agaves, aloes, and cacti. 

I guess I was not surprised by the Leucothrinax, based on some reports and Kinzyjr's spreadsheet...but I'd written off most of the Thrinax group.  I had a Coccothrinax Crinita die at random, two Thrinax Radiata die after 25-27F with frost, but a Coccothrinax Barbadensis/Dussiana bounced back after several freezes and finally died from crown rot.  The Coccothrinax Argentea and a Zombia/Coccothrinax hybrid are both still doing well.  Both are planted right next to the driveway, so they probably get a little benefit from radiant heat at night.

I'd avoided Archontophoenix for a couple of years, not for any particular reason.  I think I just had some questionable results with Alexandrae small seedlings, and sorta ignored the rest of them.  But I got some Cunninghamiana from palmsOrl, Maxima from Meg, and Tuckeri from MeanGreen94z.  This winter wasn't an actual test...lots of cool days and nights but no freezes.

For the Ptychosperma:

• Macarthurii and Schefferi large seedlings 1-2' tall, died after 12/25/22 3 day freeze with frost, about 20 hours under freezing, no canopy on either.
• Slightly larger Macarthurii and Schefferi small clusters, both burned to the ground at the same 12/25/22 freeze but grew back. 
• Macarthurii large seedling 1-2' tall, survived 26F with frost but had canopy at the time
• Schefferi small cluster, was burned badly at 24.6F with frost, but grew back.  No canopy, full frost exposure.

In general I'd rate them similar to Caryota Mitis.  Neither species has made it to 4' tall though, so hard to say for sure.  I moved both surviving clusters to a slightly warmer spot in the front yard, and they are doing well so far.

[Merlyn]

And another theory on the Queen death (aside from the obvious Lethal Bronzing or Thielaviopsis possibilities).  Last fall I moved a small Livistona Speciosa to in between two Queens.  I had to cut some roots on that Queen, and then the Livistona died anyway.  It's possible this was the point of infection.  Obviously there's no way to know for sure, but this one died sometime this spring:

The Queen trunk on the right side is the one that died.  When I pulled the Speciosa out of the ground it had all rotten roots.

Either way, I need to think about replacements for those Queens.  They are growing so tall and so fast that they'll be 40+ feet by the end of the year.  As much as I like the idea of canopy, I don't want a bunch of root-unstable lightning rods next to my house.  Any thoughts on replacement ideas?  Fast growing but small diameter canopy and skinny trunk would be okay too...but moderate growers with a 10-15' canopy would be ideal.

[kinzyjr]

12 minutes ago, Merlyn said:

Either way, I need to think about replacements for those Queens.  They are growing so tall and so fast that they'll be 40+ feet by the end of the year.  As much as I like the idea of canopy, I don't want a bunch of root-unstable lightning rods next to my house.  Any thoughts on replacement ideas?  Fast growing but small diameter canopy and skinny trunk would be okay too...but moderate growers with a 10-15' canopy would be ideal.

Syagrus schizophylla?

Hyphaene coriacea tends to stay in that more moderate size range of 10-20 ft and give you a green Bismarckia look with some interesting fruit.

https://www.palmpedia.net/wiki/Hyphaene_coriacea

[RainforestCafe]

3 hours ago, Merlyn said:

Any thoughts on replacement ideas?  Fast growing but small diameter canopy and skinny trunk would be okay too...but moderate growers with a 10-15' canopy would be ideal.

What comes to my mind right away for a replacement that can still give you some canopy but not become overwhelming are some of the livistona species such as chinensis, decora, and nitida.

I was never interested in them before, but the more I research them, I'm really interested now and they're probably one of the next things I'm going to plant. They seem like really good "foundation plantings" for central Florida because I know they'll pretty much always be green and should be able to survive even a 1980s type freeze in my area... So bulletproof.

In my reading on them, especially nitida and decora, it seems like they grow really fast up to about 20' and then slow to a crawl, which is perfect IMO. And that would give you the 10-15' canopy diameter as well.

 

[Merlyn]

@kinzyjr Schizophylla would be great size-wise, but it would take 20 years to get a canopy!    That side of the house is shaded in the morning, which is one reason they got so tall in 4 years.  I think Hyphaene Coriacea would suffer over there due to the rich soil and shade.  I was thinking more along the lines of a thinner trunk clustering Dypsis/Chrysalidocarpus of some sort.  They are fairly close to the house and in the warmest area of the yard.  It might be enough to keep them happy in the winter.  And thin trunks are easy to chop down...unlike a Queen or King.

@RainforestCafe I do have several Livistona Chinensis and two small Sabal Causiarum over there, and I have been wanting to plant a Nitida somewhere too.  I really like the "weeping willow" look of a cluster of Nitida, though I am less enthused about Decora / Decipiens.  I probably should look at the area closer before I think about new plantings...it is pretty packed with large palms already!

There's 4 Kings, 5 Queens (was 6), 6 Chinese, 3 Sabal Mauritiiformis, 2 Sabal Causiarum, a big Phoenix Reclinata clump, a Pindo, 1 Caryota Mitis, and a bunch of smaller understory kind of stuff.  Maybe that's enough, even if I chop down all the Queens? 

BTW - on the left side of the diagram there's the Areca Triandra and Pinanga Coronata.  They are wedged in between Viburnum shrubberies on the left edge and a large Chinensis...not to mention the overhead Queens.

[Merlyn]

Here's a good evening photo of the West side, you can see that a couple of Queens are losing fronds faster than normal.  This could be lack of fertilizing in the fall, or maybe a disease.  The two big Chinese and Reclinata are getting some size to them, so maybe trashing a few Queens is a good idea.  Maybe I will just leave the areas empty.

In the front yard (just to the left corner of the above photo) is a Beccariophoenix triple, with about 3-4' spacing between them.  In the foreground is a Butia x Jubaea, with a wheelbarrow for scale. 

And further to the left in the front yard is this sad Butia, a supposed hybrid.  It's got yet ANOTHER crown infection, which has happened almost every winter.  I suspect that oak leaves are falling into the crown and trapping moisture, and then it starts getting fungal infections.  I'm treating it again, but if it doesn't start improving this summer it's getting trashed:

[Merlyn]

In the front yard this Encephalartos Gratus x Laurentianus is pushing a big 5 leaf flush.  It was about 8-10" caudex before, and has to be approaching 12" once this one is done:

And my favorite placement of Beccariophoenix Alfredii is looking good in the afternoon sun!

And I cleaned out the East side pathway from a few encroaching fronds.  Now I can walk through there without getting smacked in the eyeballs...er..too many times!

I also put down about 100lb of Sunniland 6-1-8 on the palms and cycads last week.  I bought a big 50lb bag of Lesco 24-0-11 to put on the bamboo and shrubberies.  Technically it's "lawn fertilizer," but bamboo are just really big grasses...right? 

[kinzyjr]

10 minutes ago, Merlyn said:

And my favorite placement of Beccariophoenix Alfredii is looking good in the afternoon sun!

I'd say you nailed it with this look. Perfect palm, perfect spot, perfect planting bed to compliment it.

[D. Morrowii]

3 minutes ago, kinzyjr said:

I'd say you nailed it with this look. Perfect palm, perfect spot, perfect planting bed to compliment it.

Was going to say the same thing @kinzyjr that thing looks great and very at home there! 
That West side view looks pretty cool as well  @Merlyn even if the Queens are a little under the weather. 

[Merlyn]

So this picture is concerning to me, because there are a lot of Sylvestris dying of Lethal Bronzing in the area.  In the neighborhood next to me someone brought in a 6' trunk palm...which promptly died of LB.  On the other side a Sabal died with suspicious-looking leaves, and across the street from that one another Sylvestris died the same way.  And there's a lot of Sylvestris dying along 46 and at the 417-I4 interchange area.  The two local nurseries quit carrying them. 

I fertilized last week and don't recall seeing the two brown fronds in the center.  But I also clearly missed seeing the dead Queen, so maybe I just wasn't paying attention.  While it's not clear if this one is infected (or just badly magnesium-deficient), I am going to keep an eye on it for further decline.

[kinzyjr]

1 hour ago, Merlyn said:

While it's not clear if this one is infected (or just badly magnesium-deficient), I am going to keep an eye on it for further decline.

Keep an eye on the spear leaf for premature death and/or if the entire crown starts to shrink or close up like it is desiccating.  If either of those happen, time for it to go.  The days when Phoenix species were lifetime palms are sorely missed.

[Merlyn]

@kinzyjr I haven't looked into the crown yet, but I need to go take a bunch of photos asap so I can compare objectively before/after.  Thanks for the tips on recognizing the early signs!  I've waffled for the past 2+ years about just trashing the Sylvesters anyway...on the premise that they are eventually going to die from LB and I shouldn't waste the time or yard space on them.  If this one turns out to be clearly infected, I probably will cut up and trash the other two at the same time.

I just noticed that a neighbor has a bunch of 10' trunk Roebellini dying.  One has looked miserable for a couple of years, but now it's dead and 2 or 3 others are clearly dying.  Right next to that house is a dead Butia that seems to have died of crown rot.

[RainforestCafe]

On 4/12/2024 at 7:35 PM, Merlyn said:

Here's a good evening photo of the West side, you can see that a couple of Queens are losing fronds faster than normal.  This could be lack of fertilizing in the fall, or maybe a disease.  The two big Chinese and Reclinata are getting some size to them, so maybe trashing a few Queens is a good idea.  Maybe I will just leave the areas empty.

Yeah that is a lot of stuff there, maybe you don't need anymore 😂

But the way you set up the different heights and layers, those queens work perfectly. It's the perfect place for some archontophoenix, but it might be too cold for them in that spot. 

How old is that Chinese fan palm to the left? It looks pretty decent sized.

[Merlyn]

@RainforestCafe blasphemy!  You can always use more palms!    I originally planted the Queens to provide some quick shade to the West side of the house, and was always planning to cut them down someday.  I just didn't expect it to be only 3 years later!

The two Chinese fans are actually about the same size, it's just the picture angle that makes the far right end one look smaller.  I bought two just barely trunking pots from the big box store on a big sale for $100.  Here's an old before/after picture from right after planting in April 2018:

In the bottom picture you can see I added a pair of 3 gallon Livistona Chinensis on either side of the bigger ones.  That way as one gets tall there's a couple growing up behind it.  And you can just see the Reclinata cluster behind the center oak.

[RainforestCafe]

The change on the side of your house in just a few years is crazy with your before/after pics. I always love gardening before/after pics. That's what's great about Florida though 😂 you don't have to wait long for your plants to get big.

Whenever I'm planting things, I always measure out a good distance between things, and I look at the little 3 gallon plant sitting there like "there's no way this guy is going to reach over all this distance". But sure enough it does! Haha

[Merlyn]

@kinzyjr I'm pretty convinced the Sylvestris is dying from LB.  It's gone downhill a lot in the last week:

I color enhanced the picture a bit so it's obvious.  The set of fronds that was mostly dead are now dessicated, and the ones that were 99% green are now about 50% yellow and 25% brown tipped.  And the new spears had pretty much closed up.  So at lunch I chopped off all the fronds:

And I didn't see any signs of fungal discoloration:

I'll dig out the stump this weekend when it's not 90+ degrees!

[kinzyjr]

@Merlyn It definitely has the stressed crown look that one would expect to see with Lethal Bronzing.  Taking it out is a smart choice.

[sonoranfans]

On 8/30/2023 at 9:46 PM, Merlyn said:

Yes, that's true.  Organics are usually decomposing on the surface, and I read about fungal/bacterial blooms with heavily amended soil.  Too much of it can suck up all the nitrogen, and severely acidify the soil at the same time.   It may also be that they are ok with moderate water but can't take sitting in constantly wet sandy glop. 

@kinzyjr yeah I had read about palms just going downhill after freezes.  This one just sorta vaguely started looking better at the end of the fall of 2022, but then got defoliated once again at Christmas.  I wonder if Gigas/Obtusa have problems in full sun here?  Another one in a 7g pot is better, but it blanched out when I moved it from a spot with >noon shade to full sun.

I had a 25' C. mitis that I had removed as it was too close to the house and became infested with squirrels.  They are tender even at 29F, mine was severely burnt on the leaves while beccariophoenix alfredii had zero burn.   But that mitis might come back from the ground even if burnt to the ground so that is why its survivability is 26F or so I guess.  They are not water shy, mine was right next to a leaky hose bib.  It grew scary fast and had a nice deep green color foliage if it wasnt hit with leaf burn.  Poor drainage can effect pH by the drop in oxygen and accumulated waste products that might normally be washed away in good drainage.   I dug up (2) live oaks in my yard and couldnt remove all the roots, they are many and tough.  Those spots I did not plant on, they are trail walking areas now.  Southern live oaks are famous for water resistance and slow breakdown, I would not plant over a site with residual roots.  If water oaks are like live oaks, I would let those spots rot for 7-8 years at least, then try to remove them and prep the ground and see how it looks.    I tried digging at my old oak areas 3 years after taking them down and all those big roots were still largely intact and tough. 

[Merlyn]

@sonoranfans after I cut down the dead trunks, it did resprout pretty aggressively from the ground.  The shorter trunks were sheltered from the frost by the upper ones, so today it's still around 15 feet tall.  I probably did plant it too close to the house, but with some trunk pruning I should be able to keep it from hitting the house during hurricanes.  The relatively small trunk diameter means they were fairly easy to cut with a reciprocating saw and a 6" blade. 

I haven't had any problems replanting over the water oak locations, but I was digging a 3 foot deep hole at least 10 feet in diameter when I was pulling out the stumps.  The water oaks have a big ~6 foot diameter platform of roots that is super dense, but they rapidly transition to thin 2-4" diameter roots outside of that platform.  That's probably why they fall over so easy in hurricanes.  But I can totally understand the problem with live oak roots.  The one that I took out is still rock hard 5 years later...zero chance that I'll be planting there without renting a stump grinder and spending a whole day digging and grinding.

[Merlyn]

Today I cut up the rest of the Queen palm with a new Bosch RS325 reciprocating saw.  The Milwaukee with the stupid "counterweight" system ripped my hands to shreds when the blade got gummed up cutting the queen trunk.  With the exact same 12" Diablo 3tpi carbide blade, the Bosch just breezed right through it.  The apparent cause of death was Thielaviopsis, which was very apparent in the upper half of the trunk:

I didn't think to smell the top of it, supposedly Thielaviopsis smells like fermented fruit.  The lower portion was pretty solid, with no apparent signs of Ganoderma or root rot:

Most likely this got into the palm (and possibly the other Queens too) because I had to chop off live fronds several times.  They were starting to clear the roofline, and I refuse to let the fronds rip up my brand new roof.  So most likely this means I'll have to cut down all 6 Queens on that side. 

[Merlyn]

And this afternoon I started on my plan to redo the Southwest property line.  This was Viburnum Odoratissimum planted mostly in early 2018.  I did a whole bunch of sound measurements and determined that Viburnum does an "okay" job of blocking/absorbing noise, but a dense stand of bamboo is roughly twice as good.  With 417/429 open there's constant highway drone, which is especially bad with those *@#*$(% "loud pipes save lives" idiots on motorcycles.  So my plan is to replace the Viburnum with a few different Bambusa species.  I have 6 pots of Textilis "Gracilis" that maxes out at about 20-25' tall and around 1.25" diameter.  I also have:

• Bambusa Contracta - 15-20' tall about 1" diameter
• Bambusa Subtruncata - 13-20' tall 1" dark green culms with some lower striation
• Bambusa Textilis "Albostriata" - 20-30' tall 1" culms, slightly more "open" clumping than Gracilis but with cream culm stripes
• Bambusa Dolichomerithalla "Silverstripe" - 25-35' tall 2" diameter with a spreading pattern when young but matures to a tight clumper similar to Gracilis.  Reports on size vary, the growers at Bamboo Forever in Oviedo said theirs never grew bigger than about 25 feet tall.
• Bambusa Dolichomerithalla "Doli Blue" - 25-35' tall 2" diameter with persistent blue bloom on the lower culms.
• Bambusa Textilis "Ladyfinger" - 12' max 0.5" diameter culms, very tight clumping with a bit of a "V" spread
• Bambusa Textilis "RG Dwarf" - 15-20' max 1.25" culms - these spread open at the base when young, but supposedly also mature to a tight clump like a small version of Gracilis
• Bambusa Textilis "Vietnam" - supposed to be just like Gracilis but "slightly fuller," whatever that means.

I haven't figured out placement yet, but the Albostriata is probably going where I cut down these two Viburnum:

And after:

 

[Merlyn]

Today's fun was digging out 3 Viburnum stumps on the left side of the pathway, and cutting down 3 more 15 foot tall Viburnum on the right side.  I'm going to slightly recontour the pathway, probably similar to the sketched white lines.  On the left I'll do Bambusa Textilis "Albostriata," on the right at the corner I'll put in Bambusa Dolichomerithalla "Blue" aka "Doli Blue."  I have pots of Contracta and Subtruncata that'll probably go on the right as shown.  Most likely to the right of that I'll use Doli "Silverstripe."

[Merlyn]

In preparation for the new pathway direction, I moved an Archontophoenix Cunninghamiana triple and a Maxima solo to new spots along the West side:

Along the South fenceline, I redid the row of Bamboo.  Originally I had replaced three dead Viburnum with a Bambusa Multiplex "Golden Goddess" and a Bambusa Glaucophylla Variegated.  I dug up and gave the Golden Goddess to a friend, because it generally grows broad and shrub-like.  I wanted something narrower and taller here.  I also cut down 2 more Viburnum that were starting to lose leaves.  So in the place I have, Bambusa Textilis "Gracilis" up next to the camera, Bambusa Textilis "Vietnam" short in front of the pot, Glaucophylla Variegated getting a little taller of a shrub, and a bigger clump of Bambusa Boniopsis that used to be in front yard:

On the other side of the Boniopsis are the two clumps of Bambusa Multiplex "Alphonse Karr" that I had just planted a couple of weeks ago.  I decided this would be a better spot for them:

[Merlyn]

I moved the last two palms out of the way of the path remodel, a pair of 6' trunk Chamaedorea Oblongata.  These were planted about 2 years ago along the edge of the SW path at about 3-4' of trunk.  They were suddenly out in full PM sun when I cut down the Viburnum, and were already starting to blanch out.  Here they'll get AM sun but PM shade from the Alfredii and the house.

And the last plant to move was a Dioon Spinulosum.  It moved up the West side to next to the Maxima.  It's getting ready to flush a big set of fronds, so I'm glad I moved it before it started.  Hopefully I didn't cut too many roots, I scooped out a really huge 50+ pound clump:

[Merlyn]

Today was pathway day!  I shifted the path about 2 feet to the left, rerouted the 1/2" driplines that go under the path, and planted 4 bamboo on the left side.  The two thin but taller clumps are a Bambusa Textilis "Albostriata" from Bamboo Forever in Oviedo.  I actually bought a 7 gallon pot and just chopped it in half to make the two smaller clusters.  The next two are Bambusa Textilis "Ladyfinger" aka "Richard Waldron."  The smaller was a 3 gallon, also from Bamboo Forever, and the bigger just in front of the Foxtail triple was a transplant from the front walkway.  The Ladyfinger are supposed to grow really full and narrow, but only about 10 feet tall.  Albostriata is a bigger one similar to Gracilis, and should mature in the 20-30' tall range:

Up on the front walkway I planted a Bambusa Multiplex "Rosa" to replace the Ladyfinger.  Rosa should grow to only about 5' tall and is supposed to have rose/pink culms.  I've had sooty mold problems with other Multiplex, so the full sun spot might help:

And in the front CIDP bed I removed a Dypsis/Chrysalidocarpus Baronii seedling that was "failing to thrive."  I replaced it with an Archontophoenix Purpurea that I bought from MB Palms at the Leu Gardens sale.  It looks like the CIDP needs a few fronds trimmed off, and another dose of Thiophanate-Methyl to help ward off the Graphiola Leaf Spot.

[RiverCityRichard]

59 minutes ago, Merlyn said:

Today was pathway day!  I shifted the path about 2 feet to the left, rerouted the 1/2" driplines that go under the path, and planted 4 bamboo on the left side.  The two thin but taller clumps are a Bambusa Textilis "Albostriata" from Bamboo Forever in Oviedo.  I actually bought a 7 gallon pot and just chopped it in half to make the two smaller clusters.  The next two are Bambusa Textilis "Ladyfinger" aka "Richard Waldron."  The smaller was a 3 gallon, also from Bamboo Forever, and the bigger just in front of the Foxtail triple was a transplant from the front walkway.  The Ladyfinger are supposed to grow really full and narrow, but only about 10 feet tall.  Albostriata is a bigger one similar to Gracilis, and should mature in the 20-30' tall range:

Up on the front walkway I planted a Bambusa Multiplex "Rosa" to replace the Ladyfinger.  Rosa should grow to only about 5' tall and is supposed to have rose/pink culms.  I've had sooty mold problems with other Multiplex, so the full sun spot might help:

And in the front CIDP bed I removed a Dypsis/Chrysalidocarpus Baronii seedling that was "failing to thrive."  I replaced it with an Archontophoenix Purpurea that I bought from MB Palms at the Leu Gardens sale.  It looks like the CIDP needs a few fronds trimmed off, and another dose of Thiophanate-Methyl to help ward off the Graphiola Leaf Spot.

Can’t wait to see the Purpurea thrive. I’ve heard so many negative experiences with them here, but mine has grown very well under 40% shade cloth for 2 years. Still too nervous to put her in the ground though

[Merlyn]

@RiverCityRichard mine looks about the same size.  It will see some AM sun but shaded by around noon.  This has done ok with Alexandrae, Cunninghamiana, Tuckeri, and Maxima so far.  They are all now in nearly full sun, so the next couple of weeks will tell whether they can really handle it.  The Alexandrae is about 4 to 5 feet tall and has been in full sun since the bears chewtoyed up my Dwarf Cavendish bananas last fall.  It is a bit pale compared to ones in shade, but seems ok so far.  I definitely should have remembered to fertilize in November.

[RainforestCafe]

@Merlyn the path looks good! I really like that, and I think it looks better than the big bed that it was before. Are you putting a bamboo clump on that right side where those tree stems are?

[Merlyn]

@RainforestCafe yes, I originally planted the Viburnum at about 6-7 feet from the property line, thinking that they'd fill out that far and still be approximately on my side of the line.  The new curve of blocks goes back around and is just a couple of inches on my side of the property line.  I'll extend that back about 50' to the fenceline.  I'm putting bamboo about 3' back from the blocks, so it has room for the footprint to expand for 5+ years before becoming an issue.  In the corner will be Bambusa Glaucophylla variegated, then Doli Blue, Contracta, Subtruncata, Doli Silverstripe x 2 clumps, RG Dwarf x 3 clumps, then Gracilis x 5 clumps.  I'm doing 4' spacing on the hedgeline, though I did 3' spacing on the ones in the above photo.

But first I need to whip out the handy dandy Bosch RS325 with a 12" Diablo pruning blade and slice out the 3 big Viburnum clumps.  I left the trunks tall so I can use them as a lever to pull out the roots.  Then there's another 5 similar huge Viburnum in that row.  So I hope in 2 weeks I'll be done!

[RiverCityRichard]

23 hours ago, Merlyn said:

@RiverCityRichard mine looks about the same size.  It will see some AM sun but shaded by around noon.  This has done ok with Alexandrae, Cunninghamiana, Tuckeri, and Maxima so far.  They are all now in nearly full sun, so the next couple of weeks will tell whether they can really handle it.  The Alexandrae is about 4 to 5 feet tall and has been in full sun since the bears chewtoyed up my Dwarf Cavendish bananas last fall.  It is a bit pale compared to ones in shade, but seems ok so far.  I definitely should have remembered to fertilize in November.

I remember when I got the Purpurea seedling from Redland nursery in homestead, they had a mature one in full sun, that the guy giving the tour said was the parent plant of their seedlings. Seems the more shade, the better purple hue here though.

This Alexandrae has been in full sun in a 15g pot for a year, and I just planted it two weeks ago in a spot where it gets only morning sun. Already turned a much deeper green and picked up on spear growth. The cunninghamiana isn’t as fortunate and it gets all day blazing sun, but tons of water.

[Merlyn]

@RiverCityRichard my Cunninghamiana triple was looking a bit sunburnt right after I moved it from the side yard.  It turns out the sprinkler valve running the whole West side of the yard had a wire disconnected, so it hasn't been running for...months?  I reconnected it yesterday and hopefully the extra water will keep it from burning too much.

This week I found enough spare time to dig out the 4 trunks of Viburnum and level out the area a bit.  I decided to try out a generic steel pruning blade (Milwaukee 12" 5TPI) and found it was great for cutting up old queen trunks and lopping off branches of Viburnum.  But I tried using it in the dirt slicing up roots, and it got dull really fast.  By the third set of Viburnum trunks it was so dull I was having to really force it to cut, and it snapped at the hilt.  So back to using Diablo 3TPI carbide-tipped blades, despite their crazy high cost!

In the new bamboo hedgeline I transplanted a small Bambusa Glaucophylla variegated, and then split up a 3 gallon pot of Dolichomerithalla "Doli Blue" into 2 spots, followed by Contracta and Subtruncata.  Splitting the 3 gallon into 2 plantings might be a bit risky, but it was already sending up shoots that were trying to bust the pot.  I covered the area with about 6 or 7 2cuft bags of mini pine bark mulch for a heavy layer of organics, and will top that with a couple of inches of my regular cypress mulch.

[Merlyn]

On Sunday I finished planting out the SW hedgeline...ouch.  It was supposed to rain around noon, so I lopped off 30 feet of Viburnum and hauled it all off.  I left the main trunks to use as a lever when I go back to cut out the stumps:

After lunch I started in on the bamboo.  I planted Bambusa Textilis "Gracilis" in the end near the fence.  I split up a pair of 15 gallon pots in this area, less 1/4 of a 15g that went behind the Bismarck earlier.  Two halves of a 15 gallon pot went in the spot closest to the rear fence, and three quarter-15g divisions filled in the rest up to the oak.  The yellowish culm on the left is a 3 gallon "RG Dwarf" from Bamboo Forever:

On the back side of the oak I planted another 3g RG Dwarf (not visible) and transplanted last year's RG Dwarf to the side near the oak.  The other two taller clumps are two 7g pots of Bambusa Dolichomerithalla "Silverstripe":

And a view from the North end of the whole line.  I still need to clean up the blocks and rip out all those annoying mosquito-laden ferns:

[D. Morrowii]

Looks real nice! Will the bamboo eventually completely obscure that side or are they meant to be patchy along there? 

[Merlyn]

1 hour ago, D. Morrowii said:

Looks real nice! Will the bamboo eventually completely obscure that side or are they meant to be patchy along there? 

Thanks!  The intent is that they'll fill in and make a complete sound/sight block.  Based on noise measurements I did earlier this spring, bamboo is the best sound block.  A sparse bamboo was worth about 6dB of noise reduction, where a completely dense Viburnum was at best 5-6dB.  A dense bamboo is around 10-11dB, somewhere between 3x and 4x better noise performance.  Other stuff was mostly in the 3-5dB range, and the worst was Podocarpus at only about 3dB in the best case. 

The species I picked should spread to a 2-3' diameter footprint in about 1-2 years.  I planted them at 4' spacing, so theoretically they'll merge together in a couple of years and completely block the whole line.  I planted 3' back from the property line (the blocks) so I shouldn't have to mess with them for 5+ years.  If they don't quite merge together I can always cut a culm off and stick one in the middle between the clumps.  But with 7 different species in 15 plantings, I'm sure some will expand faster or slower.  And probably at least one of them will be "not what I wanted" and I'll end up transplanting or trashing one or two.

One thing I discovered after cutting down the "wall of Viburnum" is that a lot of the noise I thought was coming from the West...was actually coming from the East and being reflected off the Viburnum back into the backyard.  So if I'm going to be happy with the in-yard noise level I'm going to need to block the stuff coming in from the East too...sigh...

[Merlyn]

I planted my last two boos yesterday after the thunderstorms.  On the "garage bed point" I planted Bambusa Textilis "Purpurascens," more or less a Gracilis type but with culms that age to a purple hue:

In the SE corner I planted an aggressive grower, Bambusa Eutuldoides "Basistriata," a green version of "Asian Lemon."  Supposedly it has light green culms with dark green stripes.  This is supposed to have a "prodigious annual growth of culms," per Tropical Bamboo.  It's supposed to get to 25' tall with 1" culms, but many people say 1.5" is typical on mature Eutuldoides.  We'll see...but hopefully it'll be a dense sound/sight block on the SE corner.  Next to it is a 15' tall clump of Bambusa Cerosissima, which I planted in March 2023 from a single culm.  It looks a lot like a tight clumping Textilis Gracilis at the moment:

[Merlyn]

At lunch and tonight I finished ripping out the ferns on at the SW hedgeline.  It was 5 big yard bags full and I am sure I got 100% of them.  Of course that means I killed maybe 73.62% of them.  Here's before and after, there were a few Philodendron "Hope" that were completely buried in ferns:

And then I moved the last bamboo for a while, a Bambusa Glaucophylla green (non-variegated) that was in the back corner near the SW hedgeline.  When I moved the Glaucophylla variegated to the hedgeline last week it left a convenient open spot between Gracilis "Vietnam" (close to camera with a new shoot already) and Boniopsis (far side missing a ton of leaves).  The Boniopsis lost about 75% of the leaves after transplant, it was hot and dry and I didn't give it enough extra buckets of water.

[Merlyn]

And the SW hedgeline/bamboo line is done!  I cut out the last 7 Viburnum stumps Friday evening and flattened out the holes and raked it all semi-smooth:

On Saturday evening I added another 20 bags of on-sale mulch and 10 bags of compost.  There's now a good 2-3 inches of pine bark nuggets, compost and generic mulch for a good fast-degrading organic layer.  This morning I replaced the old 1/2" dripline that used to feed the Viburnum, and then started adding my top coat of slow-degrading cypress mulch.  It took 18 heaping wheelbarrows full to cover the area, about 125 cubic feet of mulch = 4.6 cubic yards!

In the SW corner the Gracilis are already sending up a few shoots:

[Merlyn]

And because I'm a glutton for punishment, I filled in 4 more wheelbarrows around the back side of the well equipment:

And then did two trips to Home Despot to get 40 more bags of generic pine mulch to fill in a low area on the NE side.  It was pure sand and stuff hasn't been growing well there, so a layer of fast-decomposing organics should help.

[kinzyjr]

@Merlyn Everything is looking great!  Ready for the Gardening Decathalon?