My Garden - Melbourne Australia

[tim_brissy_13]

Well it’s now been 4 years since I’ve planted out my new garden. Many palms are now photo-worthy, so I thought it is time to create a topic to document the growth. 
 

Firstly, a bit of an introduction to Melbourne’s climate: We have an odd temperate climate full of contradictions; we have the least sunshine hours of any Australian capital city, yet our summer sun can be brutal on a hot day. We have the highest recorded temperature 46.4C/115.5F (even hotter at my location nearly 20km south east of the city centre) of any Australian capital yet also the lowest (-2.8C/27F). Just a few of kms down the road from me (a couple of miles) is where the lowest temperature ever along the Australian mainland coastline was recorded (-5C/23F at Aspendale). Our winters tend to be boringly predictable; gloomy, cool (average temp of 10C/50F) with the odd frosty night thrown in. Our summers are wildly erratic. We have an average maximum temperature in summer of 25C/77F, but it’s not unusual to have a day of over 40C/104F followed by a couple of days around 20C/68F. Rainfall is erratic too and depends heavily on the El Niño and La Niña cycle. For years during my childhood it barely rained. For the last few years we’ve had average or above average rainfall. This summer has been very wet so far. It is probably fitting that I’m starting this topic only a couple of days after the worst storm I’ve experienced here. We had 80km/h (50mph) gusts which lasted for about half an hour accompanied by destructive hail and 43mm (nearly 2inches) of rain. Just 15km/10 miles north west of here in the city, absolute zero rain was recorded and conditions were calm. 
 

Now a bit of an introduction into my new property. After a few years at a small unit with a garden much too small for a palm nut, I moved into what is hopefully my forever home in 2019. This property is 600sqm which I believe is about 1/7 acre if you’re imperially inclined (yes I’m already running out of room). There wasn’t much garden at all when we bought, so we completely stripped everything creating a blank slate. After the hardscaping was completed, I started planting in December 2019. I’ll firstly share some before shots of the early days, then some newer photos to show the progress and perhaps some focused shots on some of my favourite specimens in the garden. 
 

Firstly some 2019 photos:

June 2019

Front yard

Back yard

 

December 2019 - the concreting is finished

Frontyard

 

Backyard:

[tim_brissy_13]

December 2019 - the planting begins in the front yard which is mostly West-facing. Most of the palms I had either transplanted from my old property or kept in pots for years, however there were some new purchases as well. 
 

Chrysalidocarpus ambositrae (Dypsis in 2019!)

 

Brahea Super Silver

 

Bismarckia (yep it’s fairly close to the house, but things tend to grow pretty slow here and stay smaller than up north).
 

Chrysalidocarpus cabadae x madagascariensis

 

The overall result (at that stage):

[tim_brissy_13]

The planting begins in the backyard:

Jubaea

 

Beccariophoenix alfredii

 

Livistona fulva

 

Hedyscepe canterburyana

 

Burretiokentia hapala

 

Chambeyronia macrocarpa var flavopicta (back then just known as the Watermelon type)

 

Chambeyronia oliviformis

 

Chamaedorea microspadix and a variegated Rhapis excelsa

Archontophoenix purpurea

Cyphophoenix elegans

A couple of progress shots:

 

The next palms waiting their turn:

 

 

[tim_brissy_13]

Continued:

 Ceroxylon ventricosum

 

Laccospadix australasica (clumping form)

 

Chamaedorea woodsoniana

Syagrus sancona (I snapped a root during transplant)

 

Chrysalidocarpus baronii

 

Cyphophoenix nucele

 

Rhapis humilis

 

Chamaedorea klotzschiana

 

Archontophoenix cunninghamiana x alexandrae

 

Rhopalostylis sapida var Oceana (Chatham Island Nikau). Got very crispy very quickly in the sun so I put up a makeshift shade house. 

 

Chrysalidocarpus decaryi

[kinzyjr]

Wonderful garden, @tim_brissy_13!

[tim_brissy_13]

Guassia maya

 

Chrysalidocarpus baronii Black Petiole

A few of my 6 Archontophoenix myolensis that I transplanted from my old property (germinated in 2014)  

 

Meanwhile, Chambeyronia macrocarpa, oliviformis, Hedyscepe and a Plumeria start to show some growth (and the weeds)

 

[tim_brissy_13]

Autumn/Fall 2020: some of the cooler climate palm go in the ground:

Ceroxylon quindiuense

 

Rhopalostylis baueri var cheesmanii 

 

Ceroxylon echinulatum

 

Rhopalostylis sapida East Cape/Fine Leaf, Parajubaea sunkha and torallyi var torallyi

 

Trachycarpus sp (maybe ‘Tesan’ - very thick leaflets with strong white colouring on abaxial surface)

 

Another Rhopalostylis sapida var Oceana

[tim_brissy_13]

Later in Autumn 2020  - a few rock pathways are formed:

 

Meanwhile, my Pritchardia hillebrandii starts to fill out.  

[tim_brissy_13]

Then came the winter of 2020. For us Melbournians, we were basically locked in for what felt like most of 2020 and 2021 due to pandemic related rules. The benefit of that for gardeners was a lot of time to spend in the garden and purchase new plants online. A bunch of tree ferns went in the ground in winter (not so exciting for this forum) followed by a couple of orders of palms in early spring. I still remember the day the larger palms arrived. It was about 9C/48F in early October - a rude shock for palms that had arrived from the warm subtropics in Queensland. 

[tim_brissy_13]

A new season of planting begins in the Spring of 2020:

Linospadix monostachyos

 

Pritchardia maideniana

 

Arenga engleri

 

Chrysalidocarpus madagascariensis 

Chrysalidocarpus pembanus x madagascariensis (next to the existing C cabadae x mad)

 

Chamaerops humilis var argentea

 

Chamaedorea seifrizii (Florida form)

 

Chrysalidocarpus prestonianus hybrid (possibly with cabadae)

 

Syagrus weddeliana

 

Syagrus schizophylla

 

Chrysalidocarpus arenarum

 

Chrysalidocarpus lanceolatus

 

Chamaedorea radicalis (tree form)

 

Oraniopsis appendiculata 

 

Chamaedorea hooperiana

 

Caryota obtusa 

 

Chrysalidocarpus lutescens (it’s a bit of a zone push here so I had to try)

 

Chrysalidocarpus baronii

 

Schippia concolor

 

Chuniophoenix hainanensis

 

Chamaedorea glaucifolia (in front of existing A myolensis)

[tim_brissy_13]

Some more new plantings and progress shots of Summer 2020/21:

Chamaedorea elatior 

 

Dypsis rosea

 

Chamaedorea oblongata

 

Chamaedorea ernesti-augustii 

 

Chamaedorea brachypoda

 

Chamaedorea arenbergiana x nationsiana

 

Archontophoenix cunninghamiana

 

Chambeyronia macrocarpa var flavopicta

Some random progress shots at that time:

[tim_brissy_13]

More from early to mid 2021

Archontophoenix myolensis 

 

C cabadae x madagascariensis

 

Chambeyronia oliviformis

 

Archontophoenix cunninghamiana

 

Chamaedorea oblongata

 

Chrysalidocarpus pilulifer (looks like a hybrid to me)

 

Ceroxylon ventricosum

 

Burretiokentia hapala

 

Chambeyronia macrocarpa var hookeri

 

Pritchardia maideniana

 

Chamaedorea woodsoniana

 

Chamaedorea elatior

 

Dypsis rosea under shadecloth

 

C ernesti-augustii

 

Jubaea

 

R sapida var Oceana

 

C cabadae x madagascariensis 

 

C woodsoniana male inflorescences

[John2468]

I’m jealous😍

[tim_brissy_13]

More from 2021 heading towards the growing season including some new plantings.  The first winter was harsh on some of the more tender species which came down from QLD the previous year. 
 

Trachycarpus princeps

Parajubaea tvt

 

Chamaedorea klotzschiana 

 

Chamaedorea microspadix

 

Chamaerops humilis var argentea

 

Chrysalidocarpus prestonianus hybrid

 

Dypsis rosea

 

Chamaedorea anemophila

 

Pritchardia hillebrandii

 

Schippia concolor (had not grown at all in its first year.  Looked to be on the way out)

 

Howea belmoreana

 

Chrysalidocarpus madagascariensis

 

Bismarckia

 

C lutescens and decaryi fairly beat up after winter 

 

Chrysalidocarpus baronii showing nice colour

 

[richnorm]

Bravo, love it! 

[tim_brissy_13]

3 minutes ago, richnorm said:

Bravo, love it! 

Just getting started! Honestly, around 2021/22 most of the garden was still settling in and not looking fantastic. The palms also didn’t know that they’d be in for about 15 frosts the next winter with the worst of it 2 nights in a row around -1.5C / 29F. More photos to come soon. 

[Than]

Stunning collection! Remember to plant something for the bees too!

What is the small palm in front of the Syagrus weddeliana?

[tim_brissy_13]

Some pre-winter 2022 pictures:

Bismarckia

 

Chambey macro var. flavopicta

 

Dypsis rosea

 

Parajubaea tvt

 

Trachy princeps

 

Archontophoenix myolensis

Cyphophoenix elegans 

 

Chamaedorea klotzschiana

 

A few pictures of the garden early-mid 2022:

 

[tim_brissy_13]

9 minutes ago, Than said:

Stunning collection! Remember to plant something for the bees too!

What is the small palm in front of the Syagrus weddeliana?

Thanks! We’re actually mindful to create a good environment for the bees. I’ve got a lavender bush which you can actually see in the last photo I posted in the front of that garden. It’s now huge and the bees love it along with a couple of Gardenias and Magnolias. I just tend not to take as many photos of those plants!

I should’ve been more specific, the small palm in that photo is the Syagrus weddeliana. The larger palm behind is Archontophoenix purpurea. 

[tim_brissy_13]

Some pictures from Winter 2022. Many palms had minor frost burn, but amazingly I didn’t lose anything which even surprised me considering some of the marginal species I’m growing. Weirdly, the dark mottling in these photos mostly went away a few days after the worst frost. The morning of the lowest temperature, I was worried I would have widespread damage. 

Hedyscepe canterburyana 

 

Rhopalostylis baueri var baueri

 

Caryota obtusa 

 

Chamaedorea anemophila

 

Chamaedorea arenbergiana x nationsiana

 

[peachy]

As someone who knows the Melbourne climate better than most and who tried to garden in the Bayside soil, I am in awe of your success. I never knew cordylines would live there, your big bromeliads have better colour than any of mine and even the growth rate on some of the palms seems faster than they grow here. Of course I too have 'rockets' that shoot up over night too but for Melbourne yours are great. My Schippia always looked lovely but only grew a new leaf every 2 years. Your fruit salad frangipani is gorgeous,  that is one of my favourite varieties. Good choice with the Bismarckia too. The more purple they are when small the more silver they get when they are older so your baby is going to be a dazzler.  I admit I had never heard of Dypsis rosea but now my life will have no meaning until I get one ! I think I spotted a red vinca there too. I planted a tiny one here last year and now spend half my life ripping them out. Hopefully they have better manners in Melbourne. Well done ! Although I expected nothing less from a fellow peke parent.

Peachy

[tim_brissy_13]

Spring 2022 including more new plantings. 
 

Archontophoenix cunninghamiana

 

Archontophoenix cunninghamiana x alexandrae

 

Dypsis rosea  a little battered by winter but still growing fast.

 

Ceroxylon parvifrons (from RPS 2018 batch. Let’s see what it turns out to be…)

 

Trachycarpus nanus x princeps

 

Trachycarpus takil

 

Brahea moorei

 

Sabal bermudana

 

Syagrus hoehnei 

 

Chamaedorea linearis

 

Caryota monostachya

 

Howea forsteriana variegated

 

Pritchardia martii

 

Pritchardia napaliensis

 

Hyophorbe indica Red form

 

Euterpe edulis Orange Crownshaft

 

Chrysalidocarpus sp bef 

 

Lanonia dasyantha

 

Chrysalidocarpus lanceolatus

Rhopalostylis sapida var Oceana

 

Archontophoenix myolensis, a couple of them starting to get large. 

[Than]

Would be faster if you made a list of the species you ain't growing!

I bet they love your wet summers there. Awesome job!

[tim_brissy_13]

3 minutes ago, Than said:

Would be faster if you made a list of the species you ain't growing!

I bet they love your wet summers there. Awesome job!

I think I’m up around 200 species now, so it does take time to document everything. With about 3000 species of palms, I’ve still got some collecting to do!

We actually don’t usually have wet summers. This current summer is unusual with about 150mm (6 inches) of rain this January so far. January is our driest month with 47mm (<2 inches) rain on average. Our yearly average is 650mm (26 inches). The erratic dry summer heat can be as damaging as the frost. 

[tim_brissy_13]

Summer 2022/23:

chrysalidocatpus prestonianus hybrid

 

Chrysalidocarpus pilulifer - suffered some crown rot from the cold winter and wet spring that year. 

Schippia concolor - amazingly grew through a tough 2022 to completely recover. Since establishing itself, it puts out a good 6-7 fronds each growing season  

 

Trachy princeps

 

Chrysalidocarpus ambositrae  it had just started to split into 2 stems here.

 

Arxhontophoenix cunninghamiana producing clean trunk with Oraniopsis poking out from behind.

 

Dypsis rosea (regular updates for @peachy)

 

Bismarckia

 

Chrysalidocarpus lanceolatus fronds in sync over Pritchardia hillebrandii

Hyophorbe indica Red form rocketing along  

Chambeyronia macrocarpa var flavopicta

 

Chrysalidocarpus pembanus x madagascariensis 

Chrysalidocarpus decaryi x leptocheilos

 

Chamaerops humilis var argentea

 

Chambeyronia macrocarpa var hookeri

 

Chrysalidocarpus arenarum

 

Brahea Super Silver first hint of colour  

 

Archontophoenix myolensis showing a freshly exposed crownshaft with nice, wide ring spacing on the trunk.

 

That’s all for today. Here’s a few parting shots from about a year ago.  I’ll be posting some more photos in the next couple of days which should see us through to 2024.

 

[Harry’s Palms]

Very nice garden/jungle. The collection is quite something. As time goes on , it will be interesting to see. Thank you for sharing. Harry

[happypalms]

Nice one tim you certainly have done your homework on cold tolerant palm varieties that’s a lot of palms to fit into a suburban garden it takes a lot of hard work and time for a palm garden that you’re after but in the end the hard work is rewarded with a great vision you had in your thoughts with some rather tall buildings palms are a great landscaping choice well done imagine if you lived in the subtropical climate let alone a tropical climate you would be the grand master of palm gardening let’s hope the Kerriodoxa lives and that small pathway around the back of the house needs 30 chameadorea adscedans planted along the path but honestly congratulations on your vision 

[happypalms]

10 hours ago, peachy said:

As someone who knows the Melbourne climate better than most and who tried to garden in the Bayside soil, I am in awe of your success. I never knew cordylines would live there, your big bromeliads have better colour than any of mine and even the growth rate on some of the palms seems faster than they grow here. Of course I too have 'rockets' that shoot up over night too but for Melbourne yours are great. My Schippia always looked lovely but only grew a new leaf every 2 years. Your fruit salad frangipani is gorgeous,  that is one of my favourite varieties. Good choice with the Bismarckia too. The more purple they are when small the more silver they get when they are older so your baby is going to be a dazzler.  I admit I had never heard of Dypsis rosea but now my life will have no meaning until I get one ! I think I spotted a red vinca there too. I planted a tiny one here last year and now spend half my life ripping them out. Hopefully they have better manners in Melbourne. Well done ! Although I expected nothing less from a fellow peke parent.

Peachy

Hi peachy as it happens I have some small dypsis rosea you may be in luck so you’re life will have a meaning again 😄

[Tyrone]

What an incredible garden you’ve created there. Everything is grown so well too. The amount of species you are growing there really well is astounding. Melbourne is not the most palm friendly place either. What is the soil like there where you are? 

[Little Tex]

  

12 hours ago, tim_brissy_13 said:

Summer 2022/23:

chrysalidocatpus prestonianus hy

 

Chrysalidocarpus pilulifer - suffered some crown rot from the cold winter and wet spring that year. 

Schippia concolor - amazingly grew through a tough 2022 to completely recover. Since establishing itself, it puts out a good 6-7 fronds each growing season  

 

Trachy princeps

 

Chrysalidocarpus ambositrae  it had just started to split into 2 stems here.

 

Arxhontophoenix cunninghamiana producing clean trunk with Oraniopsis poking out from behind.

 

Dypsis rosea (regular updates for @peachy)

 

Bismarckia

 

Chrysalidocarpus lanceolatus fronds in sync over Pritchardia hillebrandii

Hyophorbe indica Red form rocketing along  

Chambeyronia macrocarpa var flavopicta

 

Chrysalidocarpus pembanus x madagascariensis 

Chrysalidocarpus decaryi x leptocheilos

 

Chamaerops humilis var argentea

 

Chambeyronia macrocarpa var hookeri

 

Chrysalidocarpus arenarum

 

Brahea Super Silver first hint of colour  

 

Archontophoenix myolensis showing a freshly exposed crownshaft with nice, wide ring spacing on the trunk.

 

That’s all for today. Here’s a few parting shots from about a year ago.  I’ll be posting some more photos in the next couple of days which should see us through to 2024.

 

You must be insanely proud waking up to that garden in the morning

[Neil C]

Excellent work Tim. What do your neighbours think of the emerging Jungle? I hope it encourages them to get creative.

[Jonathan Haycock]

Love how you’ve done the paths @tim_brissy_13. Exactly the style I’ll be looking to achieve once our house is built. 

Must admit I had a little chuckle when you mentioned how challenging the Melbourne climate can be for palms. I lived in the West Midlands, UK for 38 years where the only bulletproof species were Trachycarpus fortunei/wagnerianus 😂, and some of those were snuffed out in the 2010 winter. Appreciate it’s all relative though. Sometimes I catch myself complaining when the temperature here drops below 20C 🤣. 

[tim_brissy_13]

22 hours ago, happypalms said:

Nice one tim you certainly have done your homework on cold tolerant palm varieties that’s a lot of palms to fit into a suburban garden it takes a lot of hard work and time for a palm garden that you’re after but in the end the hard work is rewarded with a great vision you had in your thoughts with some rather tall buildings palms are a great landscaping choice well done imagine if you lived in the subtropical climate let alone a tropical climate you would be the grand master of palm gardening let’s hope the Kerriodoxa lives and that small pathway around the back of the house needs 30 chameadorea adscedans planted along the path but honestly congratulations on your vision 

Thanks Richard! I was on a similar page for the plantings along the path. No adscendens, but I do have 9 species of Chamaedorea planted along there now. The triple planted adscendens is in another area of the garden but still only 3 leaf seedlings. 

[tim_brissy_13]

19 hours ago, Tyrone said:

What an incredible garden you’ve created there. Everything is grown so well too. The amount of species you are growing there really well is astounding. Melbourne is not the most palm friendly place either. What is the soil like there where you are? 

Thanks Tyrone. The soil is really sandy for the first 700mm then it hits clay (I know from when we did our front fence posts). When we did the concrete landscaping, it raised the surface level up by the thickness of the concrete(about 150mm) so I topped up with about 30 cubic metres of topsoil enriched with mushroom compost and other organics (at least for the backyard, front yard didn’t need extra soil because we dug out the driveway and replaced existing think concrete). I’ve also added 9 cubic metres of pine bark mulch twice in the 4 years. I think the extra organic material really makes a difference. As Peachy said, the sandy bayside soil can be hard to get things to grow in unless amended, but it also has allowed me to grow some of the marginals here because of the good drainage. 
 

By the way, I definitely take inspiration with what you’ve done over the other side of the country! Just not quite on the same scale. 

[tim_brissy_13]

10 hours ago, Neil C said:

Excellent work Tim. What do your neighbours think of the emerging Jungle? I hope it encourages them to get creative.

I’m actually pretty lucky; our street has a lot of nice gardens, but nothing palmy or tropical. On one side of me is an older couple who, honestly, are more dedicated and skilled gardeners than me. They are always out there in the garden working at it, and some of the amounts of fruit they produce is amazing (tomato, mandarin, apricot etc). Amazing displays of flowers too at certain times of the year. 

[tim_brissy_13]

41 minutes ago, Jonathan Haycock said:

Love how you’ve done the paths @tim_brissy_13. Exactly the style I’ll be looking to achieve once our house is built. 

Must admit I had a little chuckle when you mentioned how challenging the Melbourne climate can be for palms. I lived in the West Midlands, UK for 38 years where the only bulletproof species were Trachycarpus fortunei/wagnerianus 😂, and some of those were snuffed out in the 2010 winter. Appreciate it’s all relative though. Sometimes I catch myself complaining when the temperature here drops below 20C 🤣. 

Thanks Johnathan. The rock paths probably looked best when they were freshly done. The weeds are a constant battle through the rock gaps, and the garden is now at that awkward stage were I need some of the taller palms to grow over the paths to allow us to walk unobstructed underneath. I try to convince my wife that one day there will be no overhanging fronds in the way, but she’s well aware my palm sickness will likely get in the way of good garden planting and I’ll continue to plant palms where we don’t need them!

 

You’re right with the Melbourne climate, definitely all relative. I’m actually really grateful to be where I am. I can grow most of my favourite species (Hedyscepe, A purpurea, Chambeyronia, Pritchardia sp etc) and I’m largely protected from extreme events that could wipe out large chunks of the garden. Of course it’s a bit easier further north for most species, but honestly I don’t envy the work involved with the growth rate and subsequent green waste in those climates especially FNQ.  Well manicured gardens up there deserve a lot of credit. I also remind myself to appreciate the slow growth rate of some species as it can keep them at an interesting height for many years (some, like A cunninghamiana, are not following this general rule and are instead reaching for the sky!). 

[Tassie_Troy1971]

Great effort Tim getting all those species to grow well.

Looking really good overall 

You can grow a bigger range of warmth loving species than me as the overall average temperatures are higher.  I've never had over 35c or under 0c in the 15 years here at Old Beach.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Barry]

Tim, great gardens and vision! I am not familiar with your climate, but it looks like you are doing a great job, especially with the growth rates you documented. Look forward to move pictures in the future.

[palmfriend]

Tim,

I love your documentation - great work and an impressive collection! 

Following the progress of your palm"s growth is very interesting - having in mind that you are 'covering' 

a wide range, from tropical ones to those which prefer a more cool environment. 

Thank you for sharing and please keep up with the good work -

all the best from Okinawa!

Lars

[Daryl]

Your garden is looking fantastic Tim!