Re: More demons of ignorance, arrogance, and darkness

We walked around it and kicked the tires a few times, Bonnie, and came to the conclusion that it may, indeed, regenerate over the next decade or two. The pieces of plant around/near the base of the palm are alive. One real problem is that the cactus uses frond boots to gain a foothold as it goes up the trunk. And the ignorant twit who "pruned" the palm cut off the boots. [For those unfamiliar with palm lingo, boots are the stubs that are left when dead fronds are cut off. To my knowledge, the only palm that naturally sheds a dead frond--boot and all--is the royal palm. For all others, the frond is cut off about a foot from the trunk and the remaining part, the boot, that is attached to the trunk, is allowed to dry for however long it takes until it naturally falls off.]

On Apr 26, 2006, at 3:40 PM, Bonnie Holmes wrote:

Is there anything left that could possibly start growing again? If so, it
might be worth getting a permanent label to ward off any more ignorant
pruners.


[Original Message]
From: Jesse Bell <silverhawk@flash.net>
To: <gardenchat@hort.net>
Date: 4/25/2006 3:44:10 PM
Subject: Re: [CHAT] More demons of ignorance, arrogance, and darkness

OH MY GOOOOSHHHHHHHHHH. Will it ever end? I am appalled.


james singer <islandjim1@verizon.net> wrote:
Last evening I got an e-mail from a reporter in the Venice bureau of
the Sarasota Herald. She found me via "Dave's Garden." She wanted to
know if she could quote something I'd written on DG about night
blooming cereus. Then she asked me if I was aware of what had happened
to one of 80-year-old night blooming cereus plants in an older
neighborhood on Venice island. I said I wasn't.

Turns out that a woman, Ms. Ruth, now in her 80s, "planted" night
blooming cereus on two palm trees [Phoenix canariensis] in the median
in front of her house in the mid-1940s. I don't know which genus of NBC
they are--they're an epiphyte and their vegetative body is cylindrical,
about the diameter of a hot dog but in much longer stems. For the last
30 or so years, the annual blooming of these two plants has been
occasion for a block party; many neighbors gathered in Ms. Ruth's front
courtyard at sundown and waited until the cacti flowers open.

Last year, the reporter told me, the assembled neighbors counted more
than 200 blooms. It must have been beyond glorious.

About a week ago, a young city park's department employee cut the NBC
off one of the palms before he could be stopped. "I was told to clean
up street trees," he said. "And I thought this one was ugly." Here are
two pictures I took this AM; one is of the remaining "ugly" tree, the
other is of the beautified tree. If you know anything about pruning P.
canariensis, you'll find the beautified tree looks like it was trimmed
by Freddy Krueger.

http://snipurl.com/pnxg

Island Jim
Southwest Florida
27.0 N, 82.4 W
Hardiness Zone 10
Heat Zone 10
Minimum 30 F [-1 C]
Maximum 100 F [38 C]

---------------------------------------------------------------------
To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@hort.net with the
message text UNSUBSCRIBE GARDENCHAT

---------------------------------------------------------------------
To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@hort.net with the
message text UNSUBSCRIBE GARDENCHAT
---------------------------------------------------------------------
To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@hort.net with the
message text UNSUBSCRIBE GARDENCHAT



Island Jim
Southwest Florida
27.0 N, 82.4 W
Hardiness Zone 10
Heat Zone 10
Minimum 30 F [-1 C]
Maximum 100 F [38 C]

---------------------------------------------------------------------
To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@hort.net with the
message text UNSUBSCRIBE GARDENCHAT
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index