Trachy bed this morning

[TerdalFarm]

Yesterday I shared a photo of what I call my "Sabal bed." It has been bare in past years but looks good in 2010.

This morning I took a couple of cell-phone snapshots of the next bed, to the north. I call it the "Trachy bed" as it has most of my Trachycarpus. There is the "large" one that barely survived last winter. Since it did make it, I added another T. fortunei and two Waggies. My avatar Butia is front and center and has done well this year despite being pretty much defoliated last winter.

For several years, a big Musa basjoo was the centerpiece of this bed. It barely survived and even now is only about a foot high.

The first plants in this bed were two dwarf peaches. I liked their flowers in early spring. In terms of my tropical design scheme, they were stand-ins for mangos. I think of mangoes as essential in a tropical garden, but of course they are tropical. One of my highest compliments was when a lady from India visited my garden, she saw the peaches and said, "Mango! I didn't know you could grow those here!"

I added the Canna "Phaison" (troppicanna) last year. It cam back great despite getting no protection. I also planted several Basil along the edge of the pool deck. I started them from seed so they were nearly free "filler" plants. I like their glossy foliage. I also planted a Eunoymous "chollipo" with variegated leaves.

In back is Acanthus I am hoping to use as a stand-in for Philodendron. There is a struggling Aucuba as well.

Photo 1 is from the east. This is the view from the house, patio and "beach." The avatar Butia is just left of the corgi dog. It looks alright.

Photo 2 is from the back, taken from the pasture (hence the electric tape in the foreground). The peaches died. The Camellia I liked so much died. The huge Musa basjoo is miniscule. So, unlike the Sabal bed, the Trachy bed had a bad year. I blame:

--socks the goat who loved Prunus, Camellia, Aucuba, etc.
--high heat and humidity in August
--soil fungus

I'll spend the winter making plans for this bed. As of now, I am thinking Photinia as a BLE that might block winter winds. More Canna as all my Canna did great this year. I think of Canna as like Musa but bigger and with flowers.

And of course I now need to be thinking of how to protect the old avatar Butia, the "large" Trachy and the new Trachycarpus. We'll get down into the 30s oF tonight for the first time (but above freezing) which is a hint I have got to make plans....

--Erik

Photo 1

<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/LX ... site"><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_r-MvN4jW1sE/TKig_ ... AG0255.jpg" height="478" width="800" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/terdalfarm/ ... e">October 2010</a></td></tr></table>

Photo 2

<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/Ed ... site"><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_r-MvN4jW1sE/TKihN ... AG0256.jpg" height="478" width="800" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/terdalfarm/ ... e">October 2010</a></td></tr></table>

[hardyjim]

Oh,that is a dog-I thought a barrel had fallen over-JK



Some close ups would be more.....er,close up.


Looks like a nice sunny day there,is it still warm enough to use the pool?

[TerdalFarm]

Jim,
I'll check the pool temp later. When I stick my finger in under the cover, it is much warmer than the air, but that isn't saying much.
Actually, the air temp. (60 oF) feels great to me.
I'm in a t-shirt and shorts. Must be my Norwegian ancestry.
I'll take some close-ups of palms for you. The only one I took today is of special interest to you: it is my "Takil" (= naini tal, I assume). It has been pot planted and will come in for the winter. It grew nicely in Spring, stopped in Summer, and is doing OK lately. --Erik

<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/bp ... site"><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_r-MvN4jW1sE/TKihD ... AG0254.jpg" height="800" width="478" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/terdalfarm/ ... e">October 2010</a></td></tr></table>

[lucky1]

Erik thanks for the new pics.

The only problem with having your Naini Tal (or any coolish-loving palm) in a pot in the sun is that the roots heat up so much more than if it were planted.
"East sun only" (echo....echo) ha ha
Maybe move it into 3/4 shade (north/east of the Sabal)...speaking of Sabal, are the few brown fronds a result of planting/transportation damage?

It's a bit of "furniture moving" work, but when temps hover around freezing overnight, temporary tarp/blankets over a few lawn chairs that surround a low plant works really well, removing it the next day as it warms up. I've placed a patio table over a small plant with a blanket thrown over top to the ground, held with rocks.

...just gives you more time while you're working on more substantial protection.

[hardyjim]

Where did you get your palm Erik?

[TerdalFarm]

Jim,
the "Takil" was from Junglemusic. The owner, Phil, said it was from seed stock he got in the 1990s from Spanner and Gibbons, which is why I assume it is really Naini Tal. Does that make sense? --Erik

[TerdalFarm]

Barb,
lots of substance in your post as always. Thanks!
"Takil" pot planting: this is my first year to try pot planting. So, I've experimented a bit. Roystonea is sunk to the rim, for example. This Trachy was much deeper in August when it was so hot. When we got heavy rain in September, I would lift is out of the hole so the roots wouldn't sit in water. (The hole didn't drain as quickly as I would like. Sound familiar?) Recently I have had it half-way sunk.
Is pot-planting interesting enough to warrant its own thread?
As for exposure, well, another embarrassing confession. I do my garden design in winter. I walk around and contemplate what plants would do well in different areas. Well, Trachy bed was designed a couple of winters ago. In the winter, the sun is low enough that that bed gets morning sun and afternoon shade (from the gazebo). Perfect for Trachycarpus! Wrong. The thing is, in May/June/July/August, the sun is so high here at 35 oN that they are in full sun. Now that it is October, when temperatures are good for Trachy, well, now they get afternoon shade. Dumb, huh?
Sabal: the yellowing leaves are the oldest. I guess I am used to old fronds yellowing; I assume the palm is retrieving nutrients to use in new leaves. The new leaves look good. However, even the old leaves on the two Sabal mexicana are green. Should I be worried about the Sabal palmetto? Remember, this is my first year to grow any Sabal so it is all new to me.
--Erik

[hardyjim]

Jim,
the "Takil" was from Junglemusic. The owner, Phil, said it was from seed stock he got in the 1990s from Spanner and Gibbons, which is why I assume it is really Naini Tal. Does that make sense? --Erik

Yea-it would be Naini Tal then.

[TerdalFarm]

I fear we're going into a situation like "Geranium." Does that label on a plant mean "Geranium" or "Pelargonium"?
"Takil" seems to have one definition in the nursery trade and a 2nd definition for botanists. Hardly the first time.

[lucky1]

The pot planting is a good idea to keep Trachy roots from overheating in summer.
Good that you raised pots to allow for drainage to occur during rain events.
I wanted to sink several potted Trachies but our soil has so much shale that it's not worth the work.
It's only the Trachies that don't like overheated roots...other palms would love it.

I do my garden design in winter

Often the only time we have to plan.

Your sabals look great, mine are just little guys in 1 gal pots.
Mine have been sick for a year, with curly (yes, curly) leaves
They also possess a most unusual gene called: "I won't grow an inch this year".

[TerdalFarm]

Can you take a photo of the curly leaves?
My "Washy project" Washy has bizarrely curled leaves that have me baffled. --Erik

[hardyjim]

I fear we're going into a situation like "Geranium." Does that label on a plant mean "Geranium" or "Pelargonium"?
"Takil" seems to have one definition in the nursery trade and a 2nd definition for botanists. Hardly the first time.

Not so much a different definition but a lot of nursery people just don't keep up
and either aren't aware or don't care that there was a mistake.

The seeds Gibbons & Spanner brought back were Naini Tal,a palm different from Fortunei and Takil
(but still a unique variant of Fortunei).
there were a lot of seeds-probably 100s of thousands.

[TerdalFarm]

It's the "don't care" part that makes me mad.
I think I've shared the story of a local nursery that put tags saying, "chinese fan palms" on every palm. I asked for help, got the run-around, and finally insisted on knowing is the Washingtonia bearing that tag was robusta or filifera. The answer (predictably) was, "probably robusta." When I asked why the tag said Livistonia, the answer was, "well, we had a bunch of those tags so we put them on every palm."
At least Junglemusic could identify the seed source, which is much more than I could say about my local nurseries. (Actually, AG could do that, buy they are special.) --Erik

[lucky1]

Pic of curly leaves on baby Sabal palmetto:



Also has the previously undiscovered "I'm never going to grow" gene.
This beggar is...two...nope, three years old!
I give up.

Barb

[hardyjim]

Erik

I tried e-mailing a seller on e-bay(I will name them weyardsale)
about their selling Takil,I told them they were Naini Tal-


They asked me not to contact them anymore.

They did have some nice Latisectus that I got 2 of and they were
a great deal!

Buyer beware!