Yard/Landscaping Progress

[DAVEinMB]

Well I've caught the palm bug and lemme tell ya,  it's been taking me on quite the ride. 

My property didn't have much in the way of landscaping when I purchased it, just a few small flowering bushes, etc. Nothing exciting, nothing tropical looking. Although the lot wasn't eye catching, it did give me a blank canvas to work with. As a brief overview, I've added some trees to the front yard but didn't do any structural changes. The back however, has received a retaining wall with 3 large planters built into it. This area extends from my concrete patio and serves as both additional patio square footage as well as an area to add some palms and whatnot. Here's what I've added so far:

- Front Yard

   - 3 trachycarpus fortunei (15' oah)

   - 3 mule (two 65g, one 7g)

   - 1 chamaerops humilis (15g iirc)

   - 1 phoenix theophrasti (5g)

- Back Yard

   - 3 trachycarpus fortunei  (7' - 15' oah)

   - 2 mule (7g)

   - 3 chamaedorea microspadix (24" oah)

   - 1 sabal (17' oah)

   - 1 phoenix sylvestris (12' oah)

   - 1 washingtonia robusta (10' oah)

   - 1 livistona chinensis (15g)

In addition to the palms listed above I've added some yuccas, spike plants, decorative grass, elephant ears, fatsia, and a couple small flowering bushes. 

Below are a couple pics showing the mules and sylvester in the planters and the solo washingtonia. I gotta get some better pics of everything else, it's a work in progress so the area is a bit of a mess right now. 

[SailorBold]

That looks awesome.. really like those planters..

[DAVEinMB]

13 hours ago, SailorBold said:

That looks awesome.. really like those planters..

Thanks! Was a fun little project for sure. 

Sylvesters are marginally hardy here. Having it elevated helps it get sun sooner in the day given the trees that line my yard; Im hoping this helps it in the winter months. If need be I could always use the planter as the base for a protective structure around the tree as well. 

[kinzyjr]

Nice selection of plants!  Love the boxes and borders... and that you used Phoenix theophrasti.  

[DAVEinMB]

1 hour ago, kinzyjr said:

Nice selection of plants!  Love the boxes and borders... and that you used Phoenix theophrasti.  

Thanks brotha! I'm trying to create a look and feel that sets my yard apart, cretan date fit the bill . Got it from Phil at jungle music, unfortunately he only had 5g available but it's better than nothing.  Pics to come this weekend

[kinzyjr]

5 hours ago, DAVEinMB said:

Thanks brotha! I'm trying to create a look and feel that sets my yard apart, cretan date fit the bill . Got it from Phil at jungle music, unfortunately he only had 5g available but it's better than nothing.  Pics to come this weekend

A while back I had an overstock of Phoenix theophrasti and sent a bunch to folks in the Carolinas and a few to NM.  Well, I'm out of theophrasti for the moment, but if you would like some Washingtonia filifera seedlings, send me a PM.

[DAVEinMB]

PICS!

First is another view of the Sylvester. When I got it back in May it looked malnourished and had a mean taper to the trunk. The crown is slowly filling back in and the upper third of the trunk is gaining mass. 

 

[DAVEinMB]

Retaining wall and wide shot of the back.

[DAVEinMB]

Misc shots of the back "jungle" area. 

[DAVEinMB]

[DAVEinMB]

And the front. 

[DAVEinMB]

[DAVEinMB]

Alright I think that's enough for now haha.

[Rickybobby]

Looks great!

[DAVEinMB]

On 9/17/2019 at 2:52 PM, Rickybobby said:

Looks great!

Thanks! I think I've reached the end of this year's planting season but I def have some more ideas for the spring 

[DAVEinMB]

Took this pic the other night. Night shot showing some of the accent / ground lights. 

[Laaz]

Looks great. The one thing I would worry about is the raised planters will freeze unlike the ground. Also, here in the south I would doubt you will get 10 years before they rot from the moisture & humidity. I've seen a few places here that used railroad ties & they rotted in less than 10 years.

[Jcalvin]

On 9/20/2019 at 11:17 AM, DAVEinMB said:

Took this pic the other night. Night shot showing some of the accent / ground lights. 

That’s a beautiful back yard. 

 

Have you gad any trouble with rust spot on your Theophrasti? 

[DAVEinMB]

On 9/21/2019 at 2:14 PM, Laaz said:

Looks great. The one thing I would worry about is the raised planters will freeze unlike the ground. Also, here in the south I would doubt you will get 10 years before they rot from the moisture & humidity. I've seen a few places here that used railroad ties & they rotted in less than 10 years.

Thanks! Yea I've been thinking of ways I can combat the fact that those planters are basically giant pots. I'm thinking of burying something around the roots like the image attached. They also sell one that's designed to keep gutters from freezing. Gotta do some more research to make sure I'm not asking for a fire though. 

I figured about the same lifespan on the wall and planters. I plan on staining it to help keep the wood intact and I used galvanized nails to help offset the degradation. I can see slowly replacing sections with stone as time goes on. 

[DAVEinMB]

On 9/21/2019 at 5:49 PM, Jcalvin said:

That’s a beautiful back yard. 

 

Have you gad any trouble with rust spot on your Theophrasti? 

Thanks! 

I haven't had any issues yet but it's only been in the ground since early July. I tried to put it in a place that gets sun most of the day. I'll update its condition once it's settled in. 

[DAVEinMB]

Got up on the roof yesterday to get an overhead shot of the sylvestris and it definitely looks like it's settling in nicely.  Lower pic was taken June 28th, top pic was from yesterday. 

Planter has a nice sandy soil mix in it taken straight from the yard. It gets watered daily and has received 3 courses of Pennington 9-4-9 slow release palm and hibiscus fertilizer since April.

[OC2Texaspalmlvr]

Its amazing what a lil love and attention produces. Nice turnaround on your sylvester 

[DAVEinMB]

19 hours ago, OC2Texaspalmlvr said:

Its amazing what a lil love and attention produces. Nice turnaround on your sylvester 

Thanks! Now I just have to devise a plan to keep it alive through the winter 

[DAVEinMB]

Added some bamboo this weekend to help provide shade for a few chamaedorea.  Progress pics attached 

[SailorBold]

Looks great!!.. I think Im going to try that palm fertilizer this year.  That is some awesome growth.

[DAVEinMB]

4 minutes ago, SailorBold said:

Looks great!!.. I think Im going to try that palm fertilizer this year.  That is some awesome growth.

Thanks! It's starting to look more and more like how I envisioned it prior to starting the project. I'll have to post some pics of what it looked like before the first tree went in... looks like 2 completely different houses. 

I'm def a fan of that fertilizer and all my trees seem to like it. The last course was given to them in September. Pretty much everything was coming into the winter season looking strong - although slow, I saw steady growth on everything all winter long. 

[DAVEinMB]

June 2019 vs. today, happy spring everyone

[mdsonofthesouth]

Looking good!

[Buggle]

Please, where do you find large date palms and clean-trunk trachys?? I am in NC.

[DAVEinMB]

3 hours ago, Buggle said:

Please, where do you find large date palms and clean-trunk trachys?? I am in NC.

Date palms are rare at nurseries here, especially large ones. Every so often I'll stumble upon one or two but nobody regularly stocks them due to their longterm survival rate. CIDP seem to be the best option for the grand strand's climate but even those seem to be a special order type situation.  I've cleaned all the trunks on my trachies - it's not difficult however it is time consuming. I haven't seen any nurseries carry ones with the trunk cleaned - likely because they see no value added for the additional labor. 

[Buggle]

1 hour ago, DAVEinMB said:

Date palms are rare at nurseries here, especially large ones. Every so often I'll stumble upon one or two but nobody regularly stocks them due to their longterm survival rate. CIDP seem to be the best option for the grand strand's climate but even those seem to be a special order type situation.  I've cleaned all the trunks on my trachies - it's not difficult however it is time consuming. I haven't seen any nurseries carry ones with the trunk cleaned - likely because they see no value added for the additional labor. 

Thanks! I think the cleaned trunk of the trachy looks amazing and very tropical and slender. I'm sure any date palms with a trunk would be very expensive, I did ask a local nursery here to order me some.

[DAVEinMB]

18 hours ago, Buggle said:

Thanks! I think the cleaned trunk of the trachy looks amazing and very tropical and slender. I'm sure any date palms with a trunk would be very expensive, I did ask a local nursery here to order me some.

No problem! I have 5 mature trachies and 3 have cleaned trunks - def more tropical looking, at a glance they almost look like different trees. A word of caution when cleaning their trunks - make sure to throughly clean your pruning tools with a diluted bleach mixture and allow newly planted trees time to establish themselves before stripping the trunk. You don't want to add any additional shock on top of whatever transplant shock the tree is working through. 

What part of nc are you in? 

[Buggle]

On 4/24/2020 at 11:47 AM, DAVEinMB said:

No problem! I have 5 mature trachies and 3 have cleaned trunks - def more tropical looking, at a glance they almost look like different trees. A word of caution when cleaning their trunks - make sure to throughly clean your pruning tools with a diluted bleach mixture and allow newly planted trees time to establish themselves before stripping the trunk. You don't want to add any additional shock on top of whatever transplant shock the tree is working through. 

What part of nc are you in? 

I am in the Wilmington area. My windmill is pretty small right now so I'll wait for that one to grow or if I get a bigger one, but they're so expensive!

[NCFM]

On 9/12/2019 at 9:09 AM, DAVEinMB said:

Well I've caught the palm bug and lemme tell ya,  it's been taking me on quite the ride. 

My property didn't have much in the way of landscaping when I purchased it, just a few small flowering bushes, etc. Nothing exciting, nothing tropical looking. Although the lot wasn't eye catching, it did give me a blank canvas to work with. As a brief overview, I've added some trees to the front yard but didn't do any structural changes. The back however, has received a retaining wall with 3 large planters built into it. This area extends from my concrete patio and serves as both additional patio square footage as well as an area to add some palms and whatnot. Here's what I've added so far:

- Front Yard

   - 3 trachycarpus fortunei (15' oah)

   - 3 mule (two 65g, one 7g)

   - 1 chamaerops humilis (15g iirc)

   - 1 phoenix theophrasti (5g)

- Back Yard

   - 3 trachycarpus fortunei  (7' - 15' oah)

   - 2 mule (7g)

   - 3 chamaedorea microspadix (24" oah)

   - 1 sabal (17' oah)

   - 1 phoenix sylvestris (12' oah)

   - 1 washingtonia robusta (10' oah)

   - 1 livistona chinensis (15g)

In addition to the palms listed above I've added some yuccas, spike plants, decorative grass, elephant ears, fatsia, and a couple small flowering bushes. 

Below are a couple pics showing the mules and sylvester in the planters and the solo washingtonia. I gotta get some better pics of everything else, it's a work in progress so the area is a bit of a mess right now. 

What variety of yucca and spike plant did you plant? They really add to the tropical look

Edited May 23, 2020 by NC_Palm_Enthusiast

[DAVEinMB]

@NC_Palm_Enthusiast I'm pretty sure the yuccas are gloriosa (Spanish daggers). Two were pups from a clump growing locally and the larger of the three came from a small nursery and was only listed as a yucca. The spike plants came from the same nursery and were also only listed as spike plants haha. I'd also like to know for sure what they are, they both have around a foot of trunk and have almost doubled in size since getting them into the ground.  I'll post some better pics of them in the next couple of days. Maybe someone can shed some light. 

[NCFM]

40 minutes ago, DAVEinMB said:

@NC_Palm_Enthusiast I'm pretty sure the yuccas are gloriosa (Spanish daggers). Two were pups from a clump growing locally and the larger of the three came from a small nursery and was only listed as a yucca. The spike plants came from the same nursery and were also only listed as spike plants haha. I'd also like to know for sure what they are, they both have around a foot of trunk and have almost doubled in size since getting them into the ground.  I'll post some better pics of them in the next couple of days. Maybe someone can shed some light. 

Oh ok, thanks. Yeah I really like the look they give off

[DAVEinMB]

@NC_Palm_Enthusiast oh I also have a yucca cane from a big box store, not sure how long it will last but it was only 12 bucks. I planted it up against the house underneath an overhang so it's got some wind and frost protection. It sailed through this winter unscathed but it was super mild. I'll get some pics of this one as well. 

[NCFM]

2 hours ago, DAVEinMB said:

@NC_Palm_Enthusiast oh I also have a yucca cane from a big box store, not sure how long it will last but it was only 12 bucks. I planted it up against the house underneath an overhang so it's got some wind and frost protection. It sailed through this winter unscathed but it was super mild. I'll get some pics of this one as well. 

I've always wanted to try those outside here but I'm not sure they would survive an 8a winter, depending on how yours does in the future I might give it a try, though.

[Manalto]

Just seeing these photos for the first time. Very striking, Dave - a standout. All those covid-19 gardeners have a lot of catching up to do! I particularly like the voluptuousness of the Washingtonia, and wonder how one would do in Mobile. What species/hybrid is it?   

Edited May 24, 2020 by Manalto
typo

[NCFM]

10 hours ago, Manalto said:

Just seeing these photos for the first time. Very striking, Dave - a standout. All those covid-19 gardeners have a lot of catching up to do! I particularly like the voluptuousness of the Washingtonia, and wonder how one would do in Mobile. What species/hybrid is it?   

Looks like he said above in his list thats it’s a robusta