Florida Garden

Queen Palms

There are two Queen Palms down by the steps. They are little secrets as they wont make themselves apparent for a few years.

Queen Palms April 2013

There are 3 large Queen Palms and about 4 small ones scattered about, so thats 7 massive palms in total when they all grow. The two near the front door are doing well although I forgot to photo them in Aprill 2013. Their stems are now getting pretty thick. Im wondering how long it will take before they have proper trunks. The one to the side of the house is a cheat as I brought that massive. theres one at the front thats doing kind of well considering it came out of a small bottle.

Queen Palms February 2012

At a guess now there are 6 or 9 Queen Palms in the garden. The two main porch Palms, and a splattering of pot grown plants from garage sales.Im actually getting quite interested in them really. The porch Queen Palms are growing steadily. The tall one has a new shoot but its not as tall as the original one. Frustratingly I saw some in Home Depot for 450 and they were 20 feet tall with stems about 2-4 inches in diameter!! Its like I cant win really. They had $100 plants that would need a fork truck or crane to shift!! Made my little plants look stupid. Then again, I probably couldnt plant such huge plants as access is and always was quite limited so much so that getting even a small shovel to bear was challenging.

Queen Palms November 2011

There are now about 6 Queen Palms in the garden, 3 of which are new for November at $1 each.

Queen Palms

I think I got them from Home Depot. I was sort of thinking that they would stand sentry to my 'palace'. One either side of the main steps. However, I sort of under estimated how long they, or anything, would take to grow. I figured that they would have loads of sunshine once they broke free of the roof line with the added benefit that their base would be always in the shade and they would never really compete for light where they are. However, the big challenge that I didnt really take into consideration is that they are actually quite shaded and as you can see from the photo below, one of them is virtually impossible to make out. this brings into question whether they'll ever actually get tall enough to benefit from their true position in life. However, as I planted them in 2009, I think, and as of typing it being 2011, they are still alive and making some progress. I read somewhere that they grow 1 goot a year....

The lower photos are newer and you can see a slight difference. You can probably also see the less than ideal placing a little clearer too. Everytime I look at them I imagine thick trunks stretching into the heavens. I mean, the picture on the Home Depot tag shows them being much bigger!!!

Just for reference, the Home Depot tag says they are Syagrus romanzoffianum and that they require 6 hours of sun. Well, I figured they would get 6 hours of sun once they break the roof line.... It also says their hardiness is 30F which isnt great but their location should at least help with that.

August 2011

August 2011: Got back to find that one of the palms had spouted 1.5-2m in growth, or rather a frond of that length, which was encouraging and exciting. You can see it on the photos below. I guess it had to do that seeing as it was so deep in the vegetation and now it can easily graps those UV rays!!! I realise its not really that large, but it the next fronds are as big then it will really be rocketing. I hope the otherone which is still about 4 feet tall does the same, however, its not as challeneged and so it will probably just plod along. There are two root photos which show that the bases are both about the same so the fact that one is nearly 3m tall and the other barely over 1m is interesting. I wonder if the taller one will now grow faster because it has more light?

An Extra Queen Palm?

It has just occured to me that the palm I planted in the front yard is not a Foxtail but a Queen Palm? I think its currently detailed under Foxtail. BUT IM NOT SURE NOW SND IM CONFUSED.

Picture Of House

I have included a picture of the house where you can clearly see one of the Queen Palms towering out of its little hiding place. I have included it as its a sneek peak at what will be when you look at the house and see it set amid two palms. That will take forever but this is a start. And while im at it, a mature Pecan Tree, Jacaranda, White Bird Of Paradise and a full hedge etc.