Palm Genera
Palm Species
Tillandsia Varieties
Platycerium Varieties
Out with the existing unwanted plantings. The property was defaulted upon the previous owners death and bank owned for ten years vacant with no maintenance. As a result the trees were overgrown and the lot was loaded with huge invasive plants. We removed the Cupaniopsis anacardioides (Carrotwood) and Schinus terebinthifolia (Brazilian pepper) as well as bischofia javanica and a Ficus elastica.
After the removal of the Invasive plants and clearing out all of the debris it was time to trim the remaining trees. The back row of Terminalia buceras (black olive) trees on the property were opened up brought down growing into what is now a nice canopy. There was also one black olive close to the house and one Swietenia mahagoni (mahogany) in the easement that we had removed.
Irrigation installation completed.
Fruit Trees installed, not all survived to current.
Carambola Arkin (Removed)
Carambola Fwang Tung
Cinnamomum Camphora
Citrus × microcarpa | Calamansi (Greening)
Mangifera Pickering
Our first experience of seeing rare and unusual palms almost fully grown out in person. It was so wonderful and overwhelming to see the diversity of species that they have acquired.
From their nursery on this visit we chose:
Chambeyronia macrocarpa
Coccothrinax crinita
Coccothrinax crinita sp brevicrinus
Dypsis (Chrysalidocarpus) leptocheilos
Dictyosperma album
Satakentia liukiuensis
Koi shipment arrives bringing back joy from koi ponds of the past.
Never had I see such a vast collection of fan palms, with the added bonus of their full grown counterparts planted within view of the nursery.
Getting our feet wet ironically with one fan and two pinnate palms:
Coccothrinax argentata
Gaussia princeps
Pseudophoenix sargentii
While my Aunt was visiting from Virginia I wanted her to see Mike’s giant Copernicias in the ground as well as the diversity of palm leaves in his collection.
This visit I had a bit more purchasing fun adding these to our collection:
Allagoptera arenaria
Carpoxylon macrospermum
Chambeyronia (Kentiopsis) oliviformis
Coccothrinax miraguama subsp. roseocarpa
Dictyosperma album var. conjugatum
Gaussia princeps
Schippia concolor
The vanda orchids get a proper home with consistent irrigation.
The wetland area starts to take form, Water holding basin added.
Placing a call out to Caribbean Palms Nursery with no answer or conformation we headed out to Loxahatchee, much to our displeasure Mike was nowhere to be found. It was birthday present time and I was itching for a new genus or species. While driving up and down one letter roads we spot a field grown Satakentia and drive in to see if they have any smaller material, John the owner of the property sends us to meet his friend around the corner “Robin” who has “Quite a lot of cool palms”. Robin gave us a full tour of his property explaining growth patterns and ups and downs of each Genus, The tour was a great birthday present.
Along our path I spotted many things I had not seen or heard of as of yet and went home with:
Areca catechu
Neoveitchia storckii
The creation of the driftwood orchid wall was started in march. Inspired by the mind of Ella Graham who said “I want Orchids mounted on driftwood on that wall.” A driftwood hunt followed as well as curation of many more orchids to cover the new sculpture.
Starting April 2021 stemming from a call to help with a Koi Pool I met Babette and Leonard Sackler. Helping along the way with many projects Babette always sent me on my way with plant offerings, each more special then the last.
Along the way she donated the following and more to our garden.
Billbergia Sp. (s)
Neoregelia Sp. (s)
Platycerium hillii
Platycerium willinckii
Platycerium veitchii
Ptychosperma salomonense
Tillandsia bulbosa
Tillandsia copanensis
Tillandsia novakii
Tillandsia flexuosa
Tillandsia streptophylla “Red”
Veitchia arecina
The Tamiami orchid show is a dangerous place if you love plants as much as we do. The amount of booths all featuring similar orchids and aroids was overwhelming to say the least. Having just been through a few orchid buying sprees I found myself drawn to what I had not recently seen if at all. That is when we stumbled upon the Fantastic Ferns (more on them later) booth where we purchased Pla. Neptune as well as the Tropiflora booth. That is where things got wild….. Looking at tillandsias’ online is one thing, when they are all lined up in bins in front of you it is unbelievable.
I grabbed so many plants…
Tillandsia ‘Curly Slim’
Tillandsia ‘Juncifolia’
Tillandsia ‘Veronica’s Mariposa’
Tillandsia “White Star”
Tillandsia “Yabba” Green Form
Tillandsia aeranthos “Major”
Tillandsia brachycaulos
*** Tillandsia duratii ***
Tillandsia fuchsii v. gracilis
Tillandsia hondurensis
Tillandsia ionantha
Tillandsia ionantha v. vanhyningii
Tillandsia rodrigueziana
Tillandsia schiedeana “large form”
Tillandsia setacea
Tillandsia streptophylla
Tillandsia stricta ‘Hard Leaf’
Tillandsia tricolor v. tricolor
We had always loved platyceriums only having ever owned Pla. bifurcatum before Tamiami, However after buying our Pla. neptune we got the bug.
In March we drove out to Fantastic Ferns for our scheduled appointment with Sally and Frank to pickup a Platycerium ridleyi. When we got there we were blown away at the quantity and quality of their ferns. By the time we were ready to leave we had added Pla. Grande, Pla. Wandae, and Pla. Holtumii to our list.
Then came the Mounts Botanical Garden Plant Sale in April where we purchased:
Platycerium andinum
Platycerium elephantotis
Platycerium horn’s surprise
Platycerium mt.kitshakood
I kept seeing mention of Floribunda Palms and finally looked them up looking for more things unknown. Reviewing the vast availability we honed in on things with colorful emergent leaves and defining features. We settled on the following order:
Areca catechu
Areca guppyana
Areca vestiaria
Areca vestiaria ‘Red form’
Bentinckia condapanna
Burretiokentia vieillardii
Calyptrocalyx albertisianus
Calyptrocalyx leptostachys
Calyptrocalyx pachystachys
Carpoxylon macrospermum
Chambeyronia hookeri
Cyphosperma balansae
Dypsis (Chrysalidocarpus) leptocheilos
Dypsis rosea
Dypsis Sp. “Maroantsetra”
Euterpe Sp. “Orange Crownshaft”
In August 2023 we had the pleasure of touring the property of one of the founders of the Palm Beach Palm and Cycad Society. Following the tour was the ability to purchase from their onsite nursery, it was quite the treat.
We ended up buying our fourth Carpoxylon macrospermum this time in a 45 gallon pot.
We also purchased:
Archontophoenix cunninghamiana
Areca vestiaria ‘Red form’
Arenga hookeriana
Coccothrinax montana
Itaya amicorum
Pinanga sp. “Thai Mottled”