A nice day in my garden

12 years ago

It was a particularly sunny day today illuminating the azaleas in full bloom, so I took a few photos. I'm enjoying having mobile photobucket on my phone. While it's not very easy to upload multiple photos directly from the phone to the forum, it does make it a lot easier than having to use my digital cameral, download and reformat photos.

A view over the fronds of one of my windmills.

From the Victorian wrap-around back porch.

A newly planted saw palmetto behind the azalea and my pindo, after it's first winter. Only a tiny bit of cold damage noticed. Seems to be growing normally otherwise, pushing out a mostly green frond.

Another saw palmetto, a needle palm, and back towards the pindo. The crapes are just starting to leaf out after a big cut back this year. They were getting too tall to manage, so had to "hack" them.

From back of garden looking front. Two older windmills framing the porch steps, by the gate. Bananas are getting to be two feet tall along the porch. They reach up to the roof by October every year. I have to thin them out so I only have about five in each clump, otherwise it's just too thick. Pindo to the left side of the photo.

One more close up of pink azalea with saw palmetto and pindo to the rear.

I pruned back my camellia last week after an amazing four months of non-stop blooms (Early December to Mid-April). I needed to give my Med Fan some breathing room. I deliberately didn't prune the camellias last year to offer the new palm some wind protection. The Med Fan did great through the winter, other than some pesky white scale and has already pushed out a few fronds. A blue pot special from Home Depot last year.

Two other, smaller Med Fans out in the back beds. Also "rescued" blue pots from a Home Depot farther in Dover, Delaware. I figured they didn't know what to do with them in their zone 7a anyway.

A large needle I picked up at the end of the season for half price from Lowes. Another blue pot.

This little windmill did really well for its first winter, even on the southwest side of the property and a bit more exposed than the others. If it gets as big as some of the others around our area, this will be a very prominent palm out in my front bed and will frame the left side of my porch. All the other windmills are hidden behind my house in the fenced in garden.

Thanks for viewing.

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Comments (10)

dixieboy
12 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Look'in good there Vince, it's evident that effort has been put forth & dividends are in the showcase, good job!
wetsuiter
Original Author
12 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Thanks! I just hope we get rain this summer to push it along. NJ stole all our summer rains last year. It was incredibly dry last year, so much that I lost two small windmills that were missed by the rain bird sprinkler and I didn't notice til too late. One advantage to blue pots from HD or Lowes is you can return them within a year. I have many other small windmills, sabal minors and needles tucked here and there in the garden. Even a few dozen experimental palmetto seedlings from seeds tossed in the beds last Spring.
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chadec
12 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Your gardens are really looking nice. They are really coming along. Before long you will be able to charge admission.lol Im right there with you on the blue pots. I have 2 needles with spear pull now. Funny they didn't pull till this past week.
wetsuiter
Original Author
12 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
I am so lucky. I've never had spear pull on any of my palms (knock palm wood!). Although last spring I had a windmill drop two fronds and part of a spike when they started growing for the season. My pindo is showing some burn on its newly emerging frond, but its growing and green. A local palm buddy here (Turtile on GW) said they all suffer some cold damage during first winter in the ground. All the palms away from the porch were new last year, so they've gotten a good start and will fill in the holes. Also added more zone 8 gardenias that do well in protected back gardens. Can't really notice them in these pics, but they are covered with emerging flower buds. I've never been happy with the flowers on my zone 6 gardenia.
islandbreeze
12 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Great job with your planting. I love the mix of palms and flowering plants. Nice balance. I don't understand why they're selling Med fan palms in zone 7a, and I can't even get our local Lowe's and HD to get in some needles or sabal minors in zone 6b. It's frustrating!
wetsuiter
Original Author
12 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Yeah, I was surprised to see those two little Med Fans up in Dover last spring. That's why I "had" to adopt them. Last year was the first year that affordable hardy palms were widely sold with a variety of species beyond windmills. Dover is 45 miles northwest of the beaches and a solid 7a, while 7b is pretty confined to the Eastern third of the southern-most county (Delaware only has 3 counties), and if you're lucky enough--like me-- to live east of the Coastal Highway and close to the Bay and Ocean, its truly bordering 8a.
tropicalzone7
12 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Great pics! Your yard looks beautiful! Lots of nice palms and the azaleas really put on a show this time of the year. Not too happy with the short term forecast here. 38F is forecasted for one night and my backyard yard always manages to get a little colder than forecasted at night (and my front yard a little warmer than forecasted at night). I hope my tropicals make it out of this one alive!
Thanks for sharing!
-Alex
wetsuiter
Original Author
12 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Thanks Alex! Major compliment coming from you and your amazing collection. When the first year palms in the big garden get as big as my six year (years in garden) windmill, it'll really be impressive. There are three 3-gallon Hatteras sabal minors from Gary's in front of the crape, so they're not showing themselves yet.

Expecting 42 tomorrow night down here.
tropicalzone7
12 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
I agree, your yard is going to look even more tropical once those grow in! My in ground palms are still small so I also have to wait a while for some of them to make a statement!

How old is your butia? Its getting to be a really nice size!

42F should be no problem for the tropicals by you! The same low temperature is forecasted for Manhattan. I really have been getting the cold end of the forecast lately in my neighborhood!

And thanks a lot for the compliment! :)

-Alex
wetsuiter
Original Author
12 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Butia was a blue pot 7 gallon planted last spring. It was belly high when I planted it and it nearly doubled in size and is taller than me. I wrapped it with burlap and Tyvek house wrap and a leaf cage around the base. I'm not crazy about having to wrap a palm. It goes against my survival of the fittest mentality iny garden. But its only one and if you saw my Bethany Beach pics last week, there was a ten foot monster that has been in ground five years. There is also an unprotected one in Ocean City, but its not really growing.