PalmsNorth.com

I came home from work this afternoon and W was not here. A few minutes later she showed up towing the extra-tall horse trailer.
This is what she had inside!


<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/e9 ... site"><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_mGr3W8Fg7R8/S_Rek ... GP0151.JPG" /></a>



We're planting it on the SW side of the Gazebo she painted in Caribbean colors.
--Erik

Now that's what I call a keeper!

That is one sweet palmetto Erik! That's one W that knows her man! That will surely add some bling bling to your pool area as well as you tiki hut to serve up drinks to all your friends hanging out by the pool.

Dig a huge hole and plant with very sandy WELL drained soil and that bad boy will be around for a good long time in your area. I planted my Birmingham in the ground about two hours ago and have high hope for it too.

Killer Palm,
Bill

That is un-bloody-believably beautiful!

Both the palm and the woman are keepers!

You're a lucky man Erik.

Barb

Dang,I half expected to see some dinosaurs walking around
in the background.
What a monster!

3 posts? How about some comments!

Bill

Nice Job Again to you and your Wife!

Sorry, Bill. Been busy with work.
The storms that same night were fierce. The TV reported a funnel cloud spotted at 151st and Harvard--where we live! I looked out the window and saw it coming down in my back yard but it rose up again. Phew.
The big Sabal was knocked over twice but is unharmed. Tough palm!
Both sagos (recently moved from pots to the ground) were uprooted, as were the new Ficus carica and some other plants.
Barb, Trachy (5?!?) are fine. Musa leaves tattered, but no surprise there.
----------------------------
I waited until today (after work) to start digging the S. palmetto hole to give time to let water run off/soak in. We've had >4" of rain this week!
I bought 100 lbs of play sand to mix with aged compost (horse manure, pine shavings for bedding, uneaten hay + chicken manure) to put in the planting hole.
I have a big enough hole, but am thinking I might make it even bigger as I struck clay when I got down deep. Does that make sense?

I have to work again tomorrow but will dig some more after. It will be in the ground by this time tomorrow or Saturday morning at worst.
We have nice temps coming up--highs of 90oF and lows of 70oF--but strong winds and I want it securely in the ground so it doesn't keep blowing over. So far it has only knocked over Hibiscus "texas star" but it could get worse.

--Erik

Erik
Probrably preaching to the choir here but highly recommend tying up the outer fronds around the spear for a month or so until roots are established so it lessens the "sail effect" of the leaves. i know ya'll get some fierce winds there. It will help the center spear from getting "frazzled" (is that a word!!!).

Penny,
preach away ! I did not know that.
Any other advice?
--Erik

See if you can find out if it was grown in full sun-
if not the leaves could get toasted.

You may need to cover it with shade cloth for a
while,you sure don't want those purdy leaves to burn up-

Just don't "love it to death". Too much water,too much good soil ! Remember these things grow naturally in almost pure beach sand! I lost my first two many years ago here from what I believe was too much watering after transplanting. Since this is in a pot there shouldn't be any transplant shock to speak of. Good luck and by the way, how much did it set you back?

Thank goodness that storm didn't linger, Erik.
Four inches of rain in a week. Wow.

Glad those Trachies are surviving the storms (the poor things...yup, we used to have fronds), LOL.

Clay at the bottom of the hole...BAD!
Keep digging, add rocks for drainage to the bottom.
Hopefully there's some slope for drainage...even a bit.

Some very good points everybody made.
Re the sun-grown question. The palm looks like it's had great fertilizer applied during its nursery days.
Would unusually long petioles indicate it had been grown in shade?
They look normal?

Barb

Hey All!!! This is W replying for Erik...

Just to set the record straight, I went shopping at a road side set up with plants from Florida at Erik's encouragement. He had talked about this for days and we just didn't have time to go together with our crazy schedule this month. He had recently complained that several of these big palms had sold over the past week and he was afraid he wouldn't get one. So I took the truck and Clydesdale sized horse trailer along with HIS credit card and went shopping!!!!! Other purchases included a variegated banana (E let our last one die over a bitter winter and I miss the colorful leaves), 3 fire bushes, a standard trained lantana and a standard trained gardenia....total bill was around $215 with OK state taxes.....can't remember what the big guy cost, didn't care once I saw them I HAD to have one!!!!!

By the way, around our house the plants that come in the house are all 'girls' and usually under my care and winter supervision while the ones that stay out are 'guys' and E's projects. S palmetto will be a guy palm as he will stay out all winter...the gardenia and recently purchased (as a gift for me) pygmy date palm are definitely girls!!!

So on to the care and planting of S. palmetto. Erik dug a good sized hole and about 2' down hit clay so will spend Saturday digging a wider hole and ensuring drainage and hopefully the roots will grow wide instead of trying to get through our OK clay base. I also found out about the tying the palm leaves together as the palms on display had just been untied. In fact the one I brought home came with a piece of rope to tie it up with during high winds. The old lady selling the palms told me to tie it up when there was bad winds to keep it from blowing out of the hole for the first year or so...I mentioned this to E, but I don't think he took me seriously so thanks Penny for the reminder. I'm betting this one will survive the OK winters and be one of our happy children for years. In case E didn't make it clear in earlier posts, his wife just LOVES palms and is willing to let him play at growing them in our back yard forever!

Thanks to all for your wonderful posts, keep encouraging him to keep them alive!!!

The Wife

Erik,
I wasn't talking about you buddy, I was talking about the other 140 people that looked at it and couldn't find anything to say.

I'm really glad the tornado missed you guys too that is some scary stuff especially when you can see it

Good to hear from your wife too that was a nice surprise, she sounds like a real good women!

Bill

Good to hear your better half chime in Erik,I wonder how that Sabal will fare
in it's first few years?
Don't be surprised to much if you lose some are all of the leaves over winter.
Palms from warmer places will sometimes lose there warm climate grown leaves
that are not winter battle ready.
The good news is that monster will(if healthy/happy)replace them quickly.
That's when they become our palm,when they grow into the shape they will have in
"our"climate.
It really is wonderful to watch a palm put on it's Iowa,Mass,OK,Mn,Ca. (or where ever it's growing)
digs!

I would protect from wind/sun and cover the leaves when the Arctic wind blows in
winter.

Yes, we're thrilled to have Erik's W join in, hope you do that more often!
Would love to have you aboard too.
Great lively paint job on the gazebo, very cheerful.

$215 sounds like a good price for all the stuff you bought.
That roadside stand was a great find...if only that would ever happen in Canada
We get asparagus and fresh salmon at roadside stands...YAWN.
Where are the roadside stands of palms?????

BTW congrats on taking in those two rescue horses a few months ago...have been thinking about how fortunate they are.

Erik's likely out digging...and you need to go supervise
Thanks for joining in the conversation.
Barb

definitely sounds like you got a good deal... I imagine if I was even able to find a palm like that around here, it'd prolly be close to $215 just for the one palm:) Looking forward to pics of it in the ground!

Jova,
yes, the wife is a good deal. Not cheap, though.
Here is her hobby:
<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/oV ... site"><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_r-MvN4jW1sE/S_m2N ... GP1405.JPG" /></a>

That's a pure bred Spanish Andalusian stallion she's driving in her practice cart.

As for the Sabal palmetto, here are a few shots of the planting process. I did this myself yesterday while W was in the local hospital ER, saving lives. So no, Barb, she did not supervise. She was home today, though. After she drove her stud, we played in the garden all day. These photos were taken in the morning, so everything looks better by now.

Sabal palmetto in planting hole. I dug down through as many inches of the hard clay I encountered as I could, then put in 4" of pea gravel in the 48" wide hole (thats 12" around the root ball all around).

<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/rL ... site"><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_r-MvN4jW1sE/S_m1G ... GP1374.JPG" /></a>


This photo shows the root mass before I untangled as many of the peripheral roots as I could easily with my fingers. It is about 16" top to bottom.

<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/fo ... site"><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_r-MvN4jW1sE/S_m1J ... GP1376.JPG" /></a>

This photo shows how I tied up the fronds to protect the inner leaves/spear from wind and sun. (Thanks for the tips!)
I then staked it to keep the wind from blowing it around while the roots get established. I mixed 100 lbs of play sand with aged compost and some of the back-fill. I added some osmocote and epsom salts to the mix, too.

<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/RC ... site"><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_r-MvN4jW1sE/S_m1L ... GP1378.JPG" /></a>

This is the view from our bedroom window. Lower right corner is one of the new needle palms. The new Sabal is to the left of the gazebo.

<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/nW ... site"><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_r-MvN4jW1sE/S_m1w ... GP1394.JPG" /></a>

Tropicman,
come on down sometime. W will smoke meat with you. That chicken in the last photo, for example....
--Erik

Looks AMazing!!!

Looks AMazing!!!

Erik,
Finally...a shot of garden from a distance.
Nice job planting the Sabal...but why so close to the gazebo?????
After all you do expect it to GROW, don't you?!

Nanas are taking off nicely in your heat.
That needle palm is a good size, good spot!

The only thing missing is 20 of us sitting around munching on BBQ...if only we could, huh?
That'd be fabulous!

Neat to see W dedicated to her sport.
And H's love of palms.
Good for her.

Thanks for those great pictures, Erik!
Barb

Yea,nice layout!

I think that Sabal will love it's new home!

Good job

Well I`m totally jealous Erik. I only wish we could get palms like that besides T. fortunei. Excellent palms for the price you paid. Your wife should be commended.



John

John,
the wife thanks you for the hydrogen peroxide trick. She says it saved her beloved Washy.
--Erik

Barb,
I agonized over the distance from the gazebo.
On one hand, I want it to grow tall without the wind knocking the leaves against the gazebo, tattering them.
On the other hand, I hope to incorporate the Gazebo into winter protection schemes. (Not that I've figured out how to do that, yet!).
Hence the compromise. It is far enough away that if we are here long enough for it to form a trunk, it can. And hopefully close enough that I can use the gazebo structure for winter protection.
Other things:
yes, the large needle palm is fantastic. Just US$40 at Home Depot. The roots filled the ~5 gallon pot, but not root bound. I think it will do great.
The little needles (US$20) had tiny root balls, by comparison, suggesting that they had just been potted up from 1 gallon pots.
As for the nannas, the clump in that photo (Musa basjoo "thin red line") is doing great. It had the least protection. The two clumps I protected so carefully are alive, but the protection efforts set them back a lot. Live and learn--sometimes less is more.
--Erik
P.S. W sent you a PM about her horses.

Nice job with the palmetto, I'm glad you fixed up your soil otherwise your long term survival would have been slim. I think it's fine you planted it near the gazebo too. You can build protection off of it #1 and later in the year if it's sitting right you can add painted black panels to absorb heat until you use your
pool area!

Bill

Bill,
thanks for the input.
I'll ask about those black panels early next year.
Most winters, we only have a few short periods when it is too cold for cabbage palm. Much of later winter is clear and sunny. For example, while I complained about early January cold (low of 4oF; highs <30oF), much of late January had highs of 50+oF with lows >35oF.
The black panel idea might well boost late winter temps.
As of now, there is no electricity to the far side of the pool. W wants to run wire out there for a Gazebo fan in the summer and palm heat in the winter.
Got to love her!
--Erik

awesome

Looks excellent! Man, I gotta get a pool...

I can't even believe that you guys can get such awesome palms...

Yes, Paul, I was stoked. I figured I'd have to go back to Dallas to get something like that, and our next trip won't be until October.
It turns out I was the only person in Tulsa to buy a cabbage palm.
They brought them up in the truckload of plants from Florida and set them out on the side of the street to get attention.
They are now sending them to Dallas, hoping someone down there will buy them.
Dallas is only 4-5 hours away but they are a solid zone 8.
--Erik

We have not had strong winds or threat of storms for a while so I untied the Sabal palmetto and removed the stakes so the fronds can hang free.
Here is how it looks now:
<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/YM ... site"><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_r-MvN4jW1sE/TCX8X ... AG0037.jpg" /></a>

Looking good there, that is one killer palm for sure.

Bill