Palm Growers , Bananas and other tropicals..Hello ..

15 years ago

Im ashamed to show my face here , its been a long time visiting here and seeing so many familiar names , I wanted to report in. I hope all the members here are doing great and taking care of those cool plants they traded for at the MTPS recently.

Big Orange Vol , Cheryl , LaVonne and so many ,many more cool gardeners , A big Hello from the Cumberland Plateau !

Ive changed jobs , moved but still live in the same neighborhood and starting a new landscape.

Ive left behind 3 tall Trachcarpus Fortunei ( windmill palms ) at the old house - about 15 feet tall and two huge needle palms as big as an outhouse ...OK , Im at a loss for descriptive measurements...lol..and several Sabal Palmettos with 3 feet of fat trunk and sabal minors and sabal palmetto x Birminghams. The Musa Basjoo bananas are true tennessee banana plants and great palm imposters for those in cooler areas of Mountainous Tennessee but some palms do great all over Tennessee.

Anyone have any Palm , Banana, Yucca or tropical plant reports? Id love to hear what your trying here in Tennessee. Its true , some of the tallest palms are in the SE Sector of Tennessee but, the oldest ones are in Sparta ( 45 years or more in the ground )and a few in Cookeville , Crossville Livingston areas in the North Highlands/Plateau are reporting a few also.

I have a large Washingtonia Robusta doing great and recently planted several smaller 'windmills'.

Thanks for allowing me to take up a little space and Jeff ...Im so sorry I missed you on that fishing trip up at East Port Marina last year , I felt like dirt not getting to see you. I hope LaVonne is enjoying the summer season and I wish you all the very best.

Im off work until August and getting ready for a trip to South Florida , wish me luck on finding a few oddities to 'push the envelope' around here.

Take Care ,

Rob aka Mountain_Grown

SUPPORT THESE PALMY NURSERIES IN MIDDLE TENNESSEE :

* BLOOMS , on Thompson Lane (100 Oaks area) at the end of the tunnel nearest 100 oaks Mall.

* Flower Pot , across from Green Hills Mall on the busy Avenue (not sure if this is Franklin Road or S.8th AV.sorry)

* Savannah Nursery - Downtown Columbia,Tennessee.

* Home Depot - across from 100 Oaks mall next to CARMAX (?)

* sometimes Bate$ Nursery off Briley North has tropical$.

The first three entries above devote time and money for Tropicals and need support from the growers. Happy gardening.

Comments (6)

Amazindirt (7a TN)
15 years ago
Just a note -- I think Blooms has closed, hasn't it?

We just had Bloomsdays here this past weekend. I heard an interesting talk on palms by Frank Glavin. I bet you SE Palm Society club guys know him -- he certainly seemed to know his stuff.
bigorangevol
15 years ago
Rob you should be ashamed dang it! Call or email me!!! You have the email addy and you should have the phone numbers too; if not...615-310-4155.
Related Professionals
Arlington Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers · Newcastle Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers · Edinburg Landscape Contractors · Federal Way Landscape Contractors · Lemont Landscape Contractors · Long Beach Landscape Contractors · Peachtree City Landscape Contractors · Pikesville Landscape Contractors · Quincy Landscape Contractors · Wailuku Landscape Contractors · Woodland Hills Solar Energy Systems · Atlanta Roofing & Gutters · Naples Roofing & Gutters · Portage Roofing & Gutters · Rome Roofing & Gutters
fglavin
15 years ago
Hi Rob, the Flower Pot nursery is on Hillsboro Rd. They do have some nice stuff there from time to time. Calvin did close Blooms this year. It was quite a shock driving up into the parking lot and seeing absolutely NOTHING! No buildings, no greenhouses, no plants...I mean nothing but a parking lot. I talked to him though, and he said he is planning on reopening somewhere else. The rent for that spot was just way too high for him.

Amazindirt, I'm glad you enjoyed the palm talk! I was pretty much just winging it that day, as I had some pretty bad jetlag still from my trip back from Thailand (and yes Rob, that was with UT). I was so tired the day before, I felt like I should've had toothpicks keeping my eyelids open, lol. I had a talk the day before on hardy subtropicals for Tennessee. Next time you see me at an event there, please come up and introduce yourself! I don't usually post on this forum anymore, but have in the past. I'm going to try to make it to the fall plant sale.
Amazindirt (7a TN)
15 years ago
Hey, the Frank himself!

You and I actually did talk, I just didn't mention GW. ;-) I was the tall, wide woman. I don't remember whether I introduced myself, but I'm Ione Smith. :-)

I actually wanted to talk to you about palms. I got a Trachycarpus that I think might be one of the slightly different subspecies or species you talked about. It was in a group of Trachycarpus fortunei. The difference is that the middle fingers (I dunno the technical term!) of the fronds on this one are much wider than the rest of the fingers. I remember you talking about a palm like that, but I don't remember which one!
fglavin
15 years ago
Ione, I remember you! The correct term for what you are describing is "leaflets." All of the leaflets together make up the leaf, and are connected to the trunk of the palm by the petiole. Anyhow, Trachycarpus fortunei is a very variable species. I have no recollection of what I said that day, lol. Well, not really! Chances are that you have a Trachycarpus fortunei with different characteristics, but it's always possible that a different seed got mixed in.
Amazindirt (7a TN)
15 years ago
Thanks Frank! I do know about leaflets and petioles and such, but I didn't know to apply the leaflet term to palm fronds. Makes sense, I guess! ;-)

I hope you stick around the forum. I suddenly find myself the proud owner of quite a few palms this year, and no doubt I'll need lots of hand-holding once the weather turns cold!