Redecorating

[Cindy Adair]

I like to rearrange the furniture in my house costing little or nothing but changing the rooms.

I don’t have any plans to move my palms around, but the plants I chose to surround them often end up being too big or just a distraction from the palm(s).

Here I realized the Cyrtostachys (in PR they are simply called Palmas Rojas or red palms) that I carefully positioned 3-4 years ago was no longer easily visible from my balcony.

And surrounding plants obscured some of the beautiful red color.

I also like to see paths that go beyond the field of view adding that hint of mystery.

I did not think to get a “before” photo but here is the newly redecorated view.

First from ground level:

Next from my balcony:

I removed a bunch of overgrown ti plants and stuck stems into the ground elsewhere expecting all to grow this time of year. I dug a little trench to direct the water and make using my lightweight trimmer easy.  Then I mulched with my ever present tree fern fronds.
 

The flowers are cheap here and usually do well and the broms can be shifted easily.
 

The dirt is good and my trusty serrated trowel was all I needed.

Probably it will rain so I don’t bother to water after planting.

My grass ( well, weeds that I cut) will fill in very quickly so the dirt won’t be visible for long.

I see I should/could trim the actual palm a bit too, but so far I have only removed dead leaves. 
 

Do you redecorate around your palms too?

[Looking Glass]

1 hour ago, Cindy Adair said:

I like to rearrange the furniture in my house costing little or nothing but changing the rooms.

I don’t have any plans to move my palms around, but the plants I chose to surround them often end up being too big or just a distraction from the palm(s).

Here I realized the Cyrtostachys (in PR they are simply called Palmas Rojas or red palms) that I carefully positioned 3-4 years ago was no longer easily visible from my balcony.

And surrounding plants obscured some of the beautiful red color.

I also like to see paths that go beyond the field of view adding that hint of mystery.

I did not think to get a “before” photo but here is the newly redecorated view.

First from ground level:

Next from my balcony:

I removed a bunch of overgrown ti plants and stuck stems into the ground elsewhere expecting all to grow this time of year. I dug a little trench to direct the water and make using my lightweight trimmer easy.  Then I mulched with my ever present tree fern fronds.

The flowers are cheap here and usually do well and the broms can be shifted easily.

The dirt is good and my trusty serrated trowel was all I needed.

Probably it will rain so I don’t bother to water after planting.

My grass ( well, weeds that I cut) will fill in very quickly so the dirt won’t be visible for long.

I see I should/could trim the actual palm a bit too, but so far I have only removed dead leaves. 

Do you redecorate around your palms too?

I think this area looks real good.   I like how the dark parts of the Imperialis and the red Neoregelia Bromeliads (fireballs?) kind of bring out the red colors in that area.  You could even bring the fireballs up front where they’ll stay low and not overgrow.  A great spot with the Cyrtostachys as the centerpiece, and the other plants playing off of them.  Bromeliads are great for ever changing spots, as they can just be pulled out anytime and stuck somewhere else, and it never really bothers them.  Crotons and Ti are the other basic staples up here.  And these transplant pretty easily also.  

Palm garnishments are pretty important if you want to make the yard and garden more relaxing and elegant.  But I run into similar issues with rampant overgrowth here too.  Undergrowth stuff can overgrow quickly in hot rainy areas.  I find myself hacking like a maniac and rearranging from time to time.  Lots of broms going into, and coming out of, the ground at times.  

 

Other stuff, like coonties, don’t move so easily….

Right now I have a bunch of Ti, Sanchezia, Shrimp Plant, Firespike, that is jumbled mess by the front door….  It needs a major machete hack-back.   But will recover from the most severe pruning in a few months.  

[Cindy Adair]

Thanks Looking Glass.
 

You have many of the same plants seen in PR landscaping and everything looks nice!

Yes, along the pavers I have fireball in too much shade. I have many in sun and just put the rest along that path out of laziness  after hauling 100 pavers last year.

The small ones in front of the photo are BlackBerry Tiger from a brom club selling at Mounts Botanical garden years ago.

And to the left is a small Navia I got at the world brom conference in Sarasota a couple of years ago. I am trying to learn about broms as they do seem nice around palms and as you mentioned they are so easy to move around.

But I definitely want palms as the center stage.