Storing Bismarck Palms
Cold season preparations are in full swing in my greenhouses.
Now that it’s autumn, everyone at the farm is busy moving all the tropical plants back into the heated greenhouses where they will spend the cold, winter months. Most of them are kept in one of two large hoop houses designated specifically for these warm weather specimens. Among them, two Bismarck palms, Bismarckia nobilis, potted and displayed in front of my perennial flower garden.
Enjoy these photos.
-
- Surrounded by perennials in front of my cutting garden is this beautiful urn – one of a pair of stately Kenneth Lynch garden planters that flank the garden’s entrance. This photo was taken in early June, just after it was planted with beautiful tropical Bismarck palms and Helichrysum petiolare, the licorice plant. Now that it is getting colder, the palms are ready to be removed and returned to one of my greenhouses where they can continue to thrive over the cold season.
-
- Here’s my head gardener, Ryan McCallister, trimming off any old, dead growth.
-
- Ryan cuts the dead leaves at the base of the plant. And only cut those leaves that are completely dead – cutting off partially dead leaves depletes the palm’s potassium supply.
-
- Here, Ryan shows the new growth. These stunning palms prefer to be in full sun – they grow so well in this area in front of my cutting garden.
-
- Next, Ryan removes the Helichrysum petiolare, which is planted around the base of the palm.
-
- Helichrysum is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae, native to South Africa — where it is known as imphepho — and naturalized in parts of Portugal and the United States. I underplant many of my potted tropicals with Helichrysum – it comes in silver or white but can also be found in a variety of soft hues of green, gold, or variegated foliage. It actually gets its pale coloring from numerous dense hairs that cover the plant, giving the plant a soft texture.
-
- Ryan removes the plants in sections and places them on a nearby tarp. They will be repotted into smaller pots and then stored in the greenhouse until next summer.
-
- As each section is removed, Ryan passes a hori hori knife between the inside edge of the container and the soil to loosen the contact. He does this carefully so as not to mar the pot in any way.
-
- Two of the most important tools in any gardener’s bag are a sharp knife, such as this hori hori, and a really good quality pair of secateurs. These are one of my favorites to use from Okatsune.
-
- Ryan gets all of the licorice plants out in just a few minutes. Helichrysum is easy to maintain. It prefers warm, dry conditions and well-drained soil.
-
- Here’s the last of the Helichrysum out of the pot. They grew quite a bit over the summer. Helichrysum can grow as much as a foot or two in one season and spread up to three feet.
-
- Ryan inspects the licorice plants and trims off any dead foliage.
-
- Once all the Helichrysum is removed, Ryan removes the weed cloth and any extraneous soil surrounding the palm. The palm is actually potted in its own vessel, which was then inserted into the giant container. Placing the pot into the larger one saved a lot of soil and effort when preparing last spring.
-
- The edges of the pot are cleared of any soil and the pot is ready to remove.
-
- Ryan pulls the pot carefully out of the urn. Look at the difference in size. This plant is potted un one of my Round False Bottom planters available at my shop on Amazon. One can also place a plant’s original plastic pot into a larger, more decorative container – put some bubble wrap or packing peanuts into the bottom of the large container, or even set the pot on top of another sturdy vessel that it turned upside down. Just be sure there is adequate drainage for the plant.
-
- Here is a look inside the Kenneth Lynch planter. We saved so much soil by inserting the smaller pot into this one.
-
- The same was done to the palm on the other side.
-
- Ryan tidies up the potted Bismarck and prepares it for storage.
-
- Both palms are then loaded into our trusted Polaris Ranger. I love these vehicles. We use them every day around the farm for transporting plants, equipment, storage bins, etc. And these all terrain vehicles can get through places other vehicles cannot.
-
- Finally, Ryan places the Bismark palms onto a shelf in the tropical hoop house next to my Equipment Barn. They will now stay here for about seven months – in a heated and humidity-controlled structure where they can continue to thrive until they are brought out again next year.
Martha Pins
Martha Tweets
