As part of the second leg of the International Palm Society’s biennial group trip, Singapore was the next stop after Sarawak, Borneo. The IPS had planned three palmy locations to visit while we were in Singapore. Gardens by the Bay, Singapore Botanic Garden (topic of next week’s post) and McRitchie Reservoir. Gardens by the Bay was first up. Before…
Every two years the International Palm Society (IPS) has a biennial member get-together in some palmy part of the world. Two years ago it was in South Florida. Before that, Thailand. This year, close to 150 palm tree lovers would get together in Borneo and Singapore for the IPS 2016 Biennial. Usually not a fan of…
For as long as I have been traveling to Southeast Asia, I have had a bucket list of things to do in that region. One item on the list was to summit Mount Kinabalu on the island of Borneo. While it is not the tallest peak in Southeast Asia, which is a commonly shared falsity amongst travelers, it is…
Every so often a palm tree makes its way into cultivation and becomes the desire of all collectors. Sometimes this desire puts pressure on wild populations, like what happened with the Foxtail Palm (Wodyetia bifurcata). Poachers eventually led to Australia banning seed export of Wodyetia bifurcata. Luckily the palms grew pretty fast in cultivation and set copious amounts of…
Starting a new business is no easy task. Fellow business owners will tell you that if you want to run a successful small business and enjoy what you do at the same time, then you should turn your hobby into your business. That is exactly what happened to a friend of mine that got bitten by the palm…
So if I were to ask you to guess what plant has the largest inflorescence in the world, what would you say? “Whats an inflorescence?” OK, that’s just a scientific term for a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem. Basically the stalk of the plant that is holding all those flower clusters you see on your day lilies, hydrangeas, sweet…
This last Saturday I had the pleasure of visiting a garden that I have had on my “to see” list for some time now. Thanks to the efforts of the Palm Society of Southern California (PSSC), the garden of Jason and Virginia Dunn in Fallbrook was open to all members of the PSSC this past weekend….
Back on August 25th, 2015, famed plantsmen and palm tree growing legend Mardy Darian passed away at 82 years young. I first met Mardy in 2008 when I went with a few friends to tour his Vista, California, garden. In an effort to limit visitors and to generate some income to assist with his water bill, Mardy would charge…