Great volunteers don't grow on trees...But!

Our blogs made the Newspaper!
Our local newspaper puts out an insert on Mondays called Luminaries. This past Monday Aaron and myself made the paper for hard dedicated work on the Palm Walk at Heathcote Botanical Gardens. Score on top of it they printed our blog addresses in the description. Here are a few pictures I took of the newspaper.

Transplanting A Palm Tree at Heathcote!

Today, getting back into the swing of things at Heathcote Botanical Garden, Aaron and myself volunteered for 3 hours. Cleaning up fallen limbs and palm fronds from Fay blowing thru last week. We also worked on a project that we haven't had time for in the past few weeks. Heathcote has 2 Chambeyronia macrocarpa Palm Trees in the Palm Walk. One is very happy living its life in the shade while the other one is not so happy since it was planted in the full sun. So after a talk with the volunteer director she agreed that it needed to be relocated. We were finally able to get that done today. I have progress pictures of the transplanting project with the palm tree today.

The Flamethrowers original home. You can see the sunburn the leaves have.

The hole!

The removal.

Water is the key to any successful transplant.

Mulched and watered again. It should be very happy in its new shady home.

New exposed trunk.

The other very happy Flamethrower Palm.

Thanks for stopping by!

Helping Lazy Palm Trees Up at Heathcote!

Today in the area Aaron and myself were working on had 2 Lazy Palms, the first was a Phoenix roebelenii or Pygmy Date Palm, and the second was a Chamaerops humilis or European Fan Palm, that may have been blown over in the Hurricanes of 2004. When we pointed these out last week to the directer, they had not noticed that trunks were buried. We told her that we would like to help them up a little bit, they were amped. So this week as we were clearing and trimming we gave these palms a lift. So here are some before and afters of today.

Phoenix roebelenii - Pygmy Date Palm

Can you see the trunk?

Like magic it appears!

Chamaerops humilis or European Fan Palm
This 1 was not as bad

Now a few more feet of trunk off the ground

The Full Shots

Thanks for stopping by!

Livistona rigida , The Mataranka Palm

The Livistona rigida, or Mataranka Palm is distinguished by its very large leaf and long petioles, which gives a beautiful, rounded and grand aspect to the crowns of older trees. In addition, the new foliage of young plants have reddish to purple color when in the sun. The palm is quite similar to Livistona mariea, but is faster growing, and seems to be more cold hardy. The Livistona rigida is indigenous to northern Australia and is found in the Mataranka Hot Springs Reserve growing in narrow strips along the and along the Roper River and its tributaries. This is were the common name comes from.

Hot Day at Heathcote Botanical Garden!

Today was a sweltering 90 degrees with the humidity level at over 90% that = Sweat Sweat Sweat! After the 3 hours Aaron and myself put in at Heathcote Botanical Gardens, mind you in a long sleeve shirt and jeans due to the excessive amount of mosquito, I felt like I was going to pass out from heat exhaustion. I will say we are whipping the Palm Walk into shape. In a few more weeks we will be able to stamp this area. They have a nice assortment of Palmlings in the propagation area and we are cleaning the areas up so we can place a bunch of new palms out in the garden. Today we tackled another area of Boston ferns that were over taking the walk. In the this little section there were a few un-named Cycads maybe Zamia's and Bromeliads, the Bismarckia noblis or Silver Bismarck that we de-booted a few weeks ago, a fairly young Puerto Rican Hat Palm or Sabal causiarum, and a Chambeyronia macrocarpa or they have it named as a Red Feather Palm, personally I like the Flamethrower name better. But this is planted in the sun and it is not very happy. So after a discussion with the directors they agreed and I think it will find a new shady home in the next few weeks. So I have a few Before and Afters of the area we worked in today.

The before at the entrance of the Palm Walk.

The after at the entrance of the Palm Walk.

The before from the sidewalk.

The after from the sidewalk.

The backside showing the poor flamethrower, the Bismarck, and the PR Hat Palm.

The un-named cycad uncovered when we removed the ferns.

Thanks for stopping by.
I hope you enjoyed your visit.

A few more Heatchcote Plants! Tillandsia ionantha, Onc. Sharry Baby orchid, Bromeliads

Going through todays pictures I snapped a few extras of some more bloomers from Heathcote Botanical Gardens. The first is an Onc. Sharry Baby orchid that has 2 full spikes and three new spikes growing. The added bonus about this orchid is its sweet chocolate smell. Next is a cluster of bromeliads growing in the middle of an oak tree that was in the area we were working in today. They have attached themselves to the side of the tree and keep putting out new pups. And the last group are from a Tillandsia ionantha, I think, These are normally small and this 1 is a midsize Tillandsia. But the blooms and leaf colors are the exact same. So here are the extras.

Onc. Sharry Baby

Bromeliads growing in the Middle of the Oak tree in the area we were working in today.

New growth from the cluster of bromeliads.

Tillandsia ionantha I think, it is very large for this species.

Another Day at Heathcote Botanical Gardens!

Another Wednesday and another day volunteering at Heathcote Botanical Garden, Slowly but surly we are making it through the palm walk. Cleaning and removing ferns vines and any stray trees that have sprouted in the ferns. It feels so good to see the progress we are making. This section of the garden is going to be a highlight of the gardens soon. With around 20 palms that are sitting in pots right now it is going to be sweet to finally get this place cleaned and all of those palms placed and planted. Today I snapped a few pictures of some other plants while I was there so these will be included with the befores and afters.

Set 1: Before and After Backside

Set 2: Front side Before and After

Alpinia zurumbet 'Shell Ginger' Bloom

Shell Ginger Flower

Crossandra infundibulformis 'Green Ice Crossandra'

Green Ice Crossandra Flower

Cypress Vine , Ipomoea quamoclit

If you love growing vines, then this is the ideal vine for growing on trellises, arbors or fences. It even can be trained to climb up a string tied to a tree branch or the eaves of your house, but any way you grow Ipomoea quamoclit it requires some training and the ideas are endless. The hummingbirds absolutely love it, butterflies fawn over it and bumble bees help pollinate it! While the flowers are pretty, the vine is very invasive and fast growing. It tends to cover and choke out all the plants near it.

Tillandsia xerographica

Dubbed the ‘king’ among air plants, Tillandsia xerographica, is a xeric epiphyte that is from the semi-deserts of Guatemala. It is very slow growing, but is easy to take care of. It loves sunshine and will take regular watering as long as the water doesn't stand in rosette, but can stand some drought quite well. Its silvery gray leaves, sometimes almost white, has a tight rosette of leaves ending in spectacular curls. The inflorescence, is on a thick, green stem, from 6 to 15 inches in height, and is densely branched. This Tillandsia xerographica is in bloom right now and is located at Heathcote Botanical Garden if anyone would like to see it.

Volunteering at Heathcote Botanical Gardens

This week we worked on removing overgrown vines and out of control ferns. Uncovering the Cycads that have slowly lost their space to the ferns and vines. We also exposed a Cat Palm that was barely visible from overgrowth along with a forest of Lady Palms some towering over 12ft.

Before

After

Before

After