Pictures from 8-22-10

[hardyjim]

4' pot for reference-


Erik





Either the heat or fertilizer burned the Gunnera but it should make a comeback with the lovely fall weather to come-



Here are the Brugs I cut to the ground 3 weeks ago-they were 6' and shading my beloved Siam Ruby



Beautiful leaf of Rowe red Banana approaching 7' overall height..






Itinerans approaching 10-11' and picking up speed now!




Sequoia
In May(15th)



Sequoia(foreground) has more than doubled in size!



Rajapuri from Bill has grown about 12 leaves since I got it



Lasiocarpa-also from Bill



Blue A.parryi



Y.gloriosa flowering in Iowa!



Bloom on Thai giant Colocasia



Borneo giant- Alocasia starting to pick up speed-leaves are a little over 2' now



New leaf(little over 3') on Thai giant Colocasia-going into a serious blooming faze-




E.Princeps putting out a nice flush of at least 3 leaves-must like the hot summer weather we have been having-




Another Rowe red in a shadier spot



The palms-

2 of the 3 Waggies I have planted 1st is the slow one




Sabals

Brazoria putting out it's first divided leaf.



Louisiana's 5 of 6








3 Trunk cut Trachys have recovered nicely!

Beautiful Wagxfort



Fortunei withstood -2 to -4f!



Oldest Fortunei-should return + to it's former glory by next year



2 C.cerifera




Planted Princeps


Naini Tal has gone crazy this year!

March 5th
<img src="http://i297.photobucket.com/albums/mm22 ... -10002.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>


Now 8-22-10




T.campestris has somehow recovered even at it's small size!
Hopefully one more leaf this year!




Nanus,2-Latisectus-Martianus



Giant reed grass approaching 11' in year 2




Butia didn't do much because of root damage(I assume)but is moving now-3 new leaves








Tree fern bed-1st year



Smaller C.cooperi-bigger ones wingspan approaching 6'+





I will add some more pics later

[wxman]

Jim -

Outstanding pics and yard. I love how big all your bananas got. And I love that Thai Giant. I'm getting one next year!! It sucks though that someone cut off its biggest leaf. I would want to cut their arm off and see how they like it!! LOL. Question for you... My siam rubies didn't do well in my yard this year, so I dug them up and they both died to the ground. When I dug them I noticed their roots were mushy and brown. It's been a warm summer as you know, so I don't know if my climate isn't warm enough for them? I know you were in the 90s a lot more than me. I had mostly mid to upper 80s during the day and upper 60s at night. One resprouted a pup and I'm still waiting to see if the other will do anything. Now on to the question, do you think musa red rowe is less touchy than the siam ruby? I love how that banana looks and if its as simple to grow as a basjoo, maurelii or orinoco, I'm gonna get me some next spring. I might also try musa thai black as that looks like it will do well in our type of summers.

I will try to post pics this weekend - I'm waiting for a couple leaves to open on my bananas since I had storm damage a few weeks back and they looked pretty pathetic for a bit...had to cut some totally damaged leaves off as they broke at the stem.

[willy1der]

Your yard looks great,looks like your going to be busy come fall!!!what is your method for overwintering your itinerans???

[BILL MA]

Jim,
Looking Great as usual! Your yard has filled in really nicely this year with all your favorable weather (for tropical plants at least) It's nice to see your trachy making a nice recovery to, it will have plenty of carbs to go through winter this year.

I think my favorite picture is the one from the right side of your front yard looking left right before the pictures of the ferns. (which look great too) That give a good perspective on the size of most of the bananas and others.

Maybe I like the genera the best I had to write that after Erik has been so patiently waiting for a picture of it

Keep up the good work!

Bill

[hardyjim]

Wx-

Sorry to hear your Siam's are pooching it,all the variegated Bananas can be finicky(IMO) and seem to need heat/humidity to
thrive.
They can be tough inside too because of this and I had no luck overwintering in the basement -so,
I guess that beast is coming inside!


I would try again with the Siam but that's just because they are my favorite after Ae Ae!



Willy

I cut off some pups that I will bring in,the big ones get mulched,they are supposed to be
(possibly)as hardy as Basjoo,to-0!!!!!

However these are probably not Itinerans as they are said to pup very far away from the mother plant
and these pup right off the stalk,so much so they are VERY difficult to split away with any roots!

I guess I will find out,doing the same with the Thai blacks!


Bill

It's to bad it drops off so much to that part of the yard (by a couple feet),you wouldn't
know it from the pics but that is the tallest banana-to the right of the Rowe red!

I think I have a more straight on shot of the yard and some more cactus bed shots.

I highly recommend doing a cactus bed,they are way less fuss and extremely rewarding!

[hardyjim]

Some more pics-

Fern frond-from 3 weeks ago







Cactus bed-












Castor bean forest



Thai black banana

[canadianplant]

Holy crap dude........ Everything looks like it exploded:D

Did you guys cool off like we did? IT was 19C here for 2 days, then back up to 30C, still no rain since a week n a half ago.

Whats the hardiness on that Y Gloriosa??

Looks right good dude GJ:D

[sidpook]

Very pretty. Great gardens.

[TerdalFarm]

Jim,
I just keep going back and looking. I'm replying merely to say, "thanks!"
About the siam red banana discussion, I saw my first one at the Tulsa Zoo and it looked amazing in the sun. I'll grow one next year. Anyway, keep posting your photos for us. --Erik

[hardyjim]

Thanks Guys


Yea it cooled off here for about 4 days(mostly the humidity was buch lower with dewpoints in the 50s)
a welcome relief!

The desert bed has still been in the 100s though which is great!

Gloriosa is said to be hardy to 0 F and has showed no ill effects-that I have seen-
from mid single digits,I hope it keeps growing after flowering.

I will have to get a new pic of the flower stalk soon.




Growth really has 'exploded' this season with 3+ months avg low 70s to 90 and above-
and over 35" of rain,very fortunate not to have to water at all this summer-although I did.......
3 times.

[JackLord]

Iowa Botanical Gardens. Simpy fantastic.

Question- in your cactus garden, what is that plant with the thin stem/stalk to the left of the banana? Looks like a minature prehistoric palm.

[hardyjim]

That is Pachypodium Lamerei -a.k.a.

Madagascar palm

[JackLord]

That is Pachypodium Lamerei -a.k.a.

Madagascar palm

Cool. Do you dig it up or build a shelter around it?

[hardyjim]

I sunk it in the pot to give some height in that area since the Yucca fell over last spring.

M/palm is fairly tender and begins to suffer from temps lower than 40F

It's(Yucca) filling in well now!

[sidpook]

Is that a pachypodium? ANd does it stay outside in the winter??

[hardyjim]

Pachypodium Lamarei is pot-planted and removed in fall

[TerdalFarm]

Stunning! --Erik

[hardyjim]

Thanks E!

[sidpook]

These are so amazingly beautiful. I was in teh Peace Corps in Comoros E Africa off the coast of Madagascar in Indian Ocean, they were all over the place like the Baobab trees...Co odd looking, I always felt like Barney and Betty Rubble would stop by and visit at any minute over there...

[hardyjim]

One of my favorite places on earth(Madagascar)would love to go there sometime-
absolutely unbelievable plants and animals !

I used to be really into Pachycaul and other plant oddities,I was starting a collection up again
but that was derailed by cold hardy palms and Cactus

[TerdalFarm]

Mike,
maybe you could make an off topic post to tell us about the Comoros. Hopefully with photos! I doubt I'll ever be able to afford to go there, or Madagascar.
My Bizzie is likely as close as I'll get.
Maybe add a triangle palm....
--Erik

[sidpook]

I'll do that then. It really was an amazing place and very odd stuff there you don;t see in most tropical places....I'll have to starta thread soon.....