Any Hardy Eucalyptus, Palm or Tree Fern Growers?

I’m just wondering what hardy eucalyptus, palms or tree fern folks in western Washington have had success with.

I know the Eucalyptus gunnii is supposed to do great, but haven’t yet tried it myself so would love to hear from someone who has – I’m also looking at Eucalyptus neglecta and I’m currently trying Eucalyptus pauciflora. So far the E. pauciflora has grown like crazy, but I just started the seeds early this year so we’ll see how their first winter goes.

I’ve had a Trachycarpus fortunei for several years, of course no problems with that one, but I’d like to try some others that are at least semi-reasonably hardy here. I’m currently starting seeds for Butia capitata and am wondering if anyone has had any success with the variety or any other palm varieties.

For tree ferns, I have Dicksonia antarctica, but again would like to know if anyone has had any luck with others. I’m getting spores for Dicksonia fibrosa, but am wondering if anyone has noticed that it needs drastically more protection than D. Antarctica or if they’re in fact fairly similar in their needs.

Any experiences or suggestions with these groups of plants would be most appreciated.

Thanks,
Amanda

Amanda - I have no experience with these, but I'm loving their names. It sounds like Eucalyptus neglecta might be the plant for me. And of course it seems that most things would need more protection that Dicksonia antarctica. Ha!

Do you have pictures of your yard? It sounds like you're growing some pretty cool stuff there.

Amanda, nice to see someone besides Gwen and me here on DG from Whidbey Island!

Katie, that’s so perfect ;) You’re definitely a plant name reader and then some. I always did enjoy the name E. neglecta and from what I’ve read, it does rather fit that name since it supposedly is very forgiving and one of the most shade tolerant of the sun loving eucalyptuses.

And yes, of course, as far as hardy tree ferns go D. antarctica is said to be the most cold tolerant. I think I read somewhere that the name comes from the fact that it’s one of, if not the, most southerly tree fern and is found so close to the continent of Antarctica.

Hello! It’s so nice to know that there are other islanders here. I’m actually new to Whidbey Island and have already fallen hopelessly in love. Though, Katie, because I have just moved my garden is actually in hundreds of pots – far from a lovely sight. You wouldn’t believe how many trips in U-Haul’s biggest trucks it took to get it all here...

So the individual trees and plants that don’t absolutely hate me now are still quite beautiful, but I’m starting anew as far as the garden as a whole. I’ve started to get a few things back in the ground and just finished getting the plastic up on the greenhouse last night (the picture is an interior shot that includes my garden helper).

Mostly I’m just working on tilling and amending the heck out of the sandy soil – I’ve spent a decade gardening in solid clay/rocks and suddenly I have the opposite of every soil problem I had before. I guess you have to be careful what you wish for!

~Amanda

Amanda, the other DG member, Gwen, lives in Langley - I live in Greenbank (closer to Freeland) in the Honeymoon Lake community. You sound might ambitious!!!

And a garden helper! You're in the right place - the people in the Pacific Northwest forum are absolutely nutty about animals. (Isn't that right, Kathy - Katie 59???!!!)

Greenbank is absolutely beautiful too. My family and I did the farm tour a couple of weeks ago and saw some of the farms/vineyards in that area - my sister is also volunteering with the land trust at the Greenbank Farm so she’s up there a couple times a week.

We’re on five acres here and were also on five acres in Auburn, but three of the acres here in Langley are open sun – there’s something most of my plants have never seen before! Given how much yummies the veggies gave when they were growing in sunnish part shade I can’t wait to see what they do here.

And I’m so very glad to hear that there are nutty animal lovers amongst us – I can definitely fall right into that category. We have three dogs, the fellow in the picture is Angel – he’s my newfie and the one that is happy to let the garden be what it is…the others are a bit more into modifying it ;) I also have a host of other furred, feathered, finned and scaley babies. Finally being rurally zoned we’re also planning on adding some livestock (aka outdoor pets that make useable manure, eggs and fleece) to the family.

I can’t wait to hear about everyone elses ‘babies’.

~Amanda

Yes, yes, I'm nutty about animals. I absolutely love Angel. I have a houseful, too - 5 dogs, 11 cats. It's crazy around here, but I gets lotsa lovin' and that's perfect.

Ah, so you're starting over. It's admiral, bringing everything with you (like ladybugfan). I didn't that on a smaller scale when I moved to Woodinville from Ballard. My moving helpers weren't too happy with me.

Neat greenhouse. Did you guys build it from scratch??

Well welcome Spooky, I have 2 dogs and 4 cats. The cats own the dogs. LOL
We used to have years ago a Eucalytus farm down the road from me, he sold to the nuserys around the area, don't know what kinds they where, he's gone now but there are still some of them along the road.

Ester and Tyler
Says Hi

Five dogs and eleven cats? My goodness I’m sure it can get rather crazy there! That is seriously impressive. We have enough trouble here with just the three dogs, but as you surely no, they’re certainly worth it.

And yes, every last plant and tree came along. I would have left some of the larger trees and shrubs to save them the trauma of transplant if it had just been a nice family moving in after us, but we had been planning to buy the property and our landlord broke the lease (without saying a word to us) to sell the five acres to a plant hating real-estate developer...

My moving crew (aka family) wasn’t terribly pleased with me either ;) Plants don’t exactly stack all nicely and conveniently in a moving van and the root balls on larger trees, even young ones, aren’t exactly fun to haul around.

Yes, we built the greenhouse from scratch. We could neither afford the kits nor find one that was as large as I was looking for. We were able to salvage a lot of the lumber so biggest single expense was just the plastic.

You have your hands full too - Ester and Tyler are positively adorable! If I didn’t have Newfies I would so absolutely have a corgi. I just adore them. And you wouldn’t believe how hard I’ve tried to get a picture of my pups doing what Ester and Tyler are doing in that photo. They do it every time I don’t have a camera. And how very cool that you have a former eucalyptus nursery so near – they can be such beautiful trees.

~Amanda

That's a great greenhouse and dog companion! What a job moving all the plants, but I can certainly see why you wouldn't want them to be bulldozed and thrown in the dump to make way for a developer's project.

I have limited experience with a Eucalyptus tree. I planted an E. parvifolia several years ago, but it was severely damaged in an ice storm and I had to take it out. it was quite lovely, with reddish twigs and graceful small, narrow leaves. I suspect that it didn't really appreciate my heavy clay soil either, so you might do much better with sandy soil.

Why thank you, and yes, that was why everyone had to come along. They're most certainly much happier here.

And thank you very much for the suggestion of E. parvifolia. That one looks like a great candidate as far as temperature goes and I'll have to add it to the list. I have heard that sometimes it's heavy, wet soil as much, if not more than cold that can do eucalyptuses in so it may very well fair better here in the sand.

Thanks,
Amanda

Hi There I have a ton of different eucalyptus and tree ferns and a lot of things from New Zealand and the southern hemisphere. Neglecta is great. I have had it in the ground for at least 10years with no damage. Glaucescens is also fab. I will take some pictures to post tomorrow, I have planted even more since I love them. Hot dry rocky neglect. Glad to see someone else like the different. Heidi and Dragonfly

Hi There here are some of my eucalyptus. Heidi

Hello Heidi,

It sounds as if you have my kind of garden and then some! That eucalyptus is absolutely stunning. Thank you so much for sending the picture along. Is that the E. Glaucescens? I’m deciding which ones to order seeds for to try this year and I’m certainly going to have to add that to the list.

~Amanda

Amand - you absolutely MUST make a trip out to Heidi's (Dragonfly Farms Nursery) next spring when it opens. She has a ton of interesting stuff:

http://www.dragonflyfarmsnursery.com

What a wonderful list of varieties. Oh goodness, I'm already drooling... I am definitely going to have to head over that way come planting time.

~Amanda

The last couple of years we've tried to coordinate a trip to Heidi's as a group. I can't imagine why that wouldn't happen next year.

How fantastically fun. That certainly sounds like an enjoyable field trip.

~Amanda

Hey spooky! Have you ever heard of Dicentra'Spooky'? Seems like a must plant for you. I was looking at your gh, and is that 'Malevolence' in the center? I have Solanum marginatum also. Such cool plants!

Hey there. I haven't heard of Dicentra 'Spooky'...I'm definitely going to have to look into that. I love dicentras in general, but that absolutely sounds like my kind of plant.

And you most certainly called it. That is indeed the 'Malevolence' ripening its fruit in the greenhouse. The picture of the fruit attached was taken a few weeks ago while the 'Malevolence' was still outside, but in the last week its finally starting to get some color to the larger fruit. It has by far become my favorite plant.

I can't tell you how glad I am to hear that someone else has this variety - my family has been adamantly insisting to me that no one else on the planet would grow a plant like that. Now I finally have the photo evidence to prove them wrong ;)

~Amanda

Hi Gordon, Hope you are coming over someday. I think it is dianthus spooky. It is a wonderful black. Spooky I would say eucalyptus glaucescens is fab. They need cold stratification for 30 days or more. I put the packet of seeds in the vegetable crisper for at least 30 days. This helps with germination. I suggest to plant them in poor soil. If they are in good garden soil the top out grows the roots and in really windy winters they can tip over. Good luck Heidi and Dragonfly

OOH, Spooky you are SO in the right place!! A million welcomes, although I saw you've been a member for a number of years. You are among plant lusting friends now, so your family can completely relax their evident habit of not even understanding you. A plant named 'malevolence' is exactly what should be grown. Also, I Love the greenhouse, but love the table next to your helper even more!! (And, of course, love the helper!) We need a list of the other things you brought! Bravo to your family for helping you bring all of your lovelies, even if they complained about it.

As soon as I saw this thread (which I somehow missed before) I was going to recommend Cattledogs to you, but I see she has already chimed in! If you go to her place, begin saving up now. She has more cool plants than can be imagined in one place. We are so completely spoiled by her. Also, since you are now among friends, we are ever so good at sharing what we have, especially come seedling time in the spring. I, all by myself, have put 35 varieties of seeds in for germination for next year, including a number of acacias. Gordon will have stuff, Thistledownfarms grows stuff by the dozen, and between everyone, we all have more plants than we know what to do with. I count on my DG friends to provide homes for seedlings that would otherwise languish since I cannot seem to put the brakes on how many seeds I plant. Our pot ghettos runneth over. And we like the cool stuff. Sure, we plant pelargoniums like everyone else, but they might be next to some cool South African plant, or New Zealand sedge. Or a really cool eucalyptus!!

Here's a warning though, in case you had not already noticed. No one ever stays on topic on the PNW forum. Our threads tend to be wild and wooly and get a little confusing sometimes. We really do try to stay on topic, but it simply never works. I believe we are entirely too creative in our thinking to live inside that kind of box.

Okay, this thread is too old. So it needs to get moving again. Here is one of my 'helpers' . This is Franny.

Ditto

Franny is absolutely beautiful, Melissa!!

She thanks you, Carole. (And also, she knows it.) LOL!

I love Franny! She's beautiful. Her coat looks so soft.
So how many seeds have you ordered already this year? I have already gone extremely far overboard and I haven't even looked at a seed catalog yet. I think I'm going to do a double booth at Sorticulture this year......
Lots to give away and trade too!
Windy, cold and rainy here. Can we please skip winter?
Linda

Oooh, Linda. What are those??

Looks like Clematis tangutica. I just dug mine out because I didn't have it placed correctly. It was taking over the climbing rose, so now I need another place for it. I have about 3 clematis that have yet to be placed.

Let's see... how many seeds?? I have planted 40 varieties so far, and that does not count annuals. That's about 35 new varieties. And the germination has begun. This year I did the 'baggie' method where you put the seeds on a paper coffee filter, then put in a little plastic bag, seal, and put in a warm place. Some are in their baggies in the fridge getting cold treatment. But I have a variety of campanula that was supposed to need 2 weeks warm, then cold treatment, then room temperature for germination to occur. NOT! Less than 1 week and I have about 1/2 germinated in the warm bathroom.
Some of the ones I tried are old seed I've had for awhile, like Poncirus trifoliata. I do not even know if the seeds are still good on that one. I've played with 'liquid smoke' and GA3 to help germinate some of them. I like playing like I'm a mad scientist. We should post our lists when all the germination that is going to happen is completed.

I finally have germination on some Helleborus lividus that I planted last year. Took almost an entire year being outside, but little leaves are popping up!!

Linda - that's pretty insane. What a full and lovely plant. How long have you had it there?

Sounds like you're having some fun there, Pix. Congrats on the Hellborus lividus babies.

Franny says thanks to you, Linda, for noticing the softness of her fur. She recently had a bath, which happens rarely with Aussies. She handled it well and has been modeling her soft coat ever since. We've always said that someone who spins wool would enjoy spinning Franny fur. She's our 'main dog', and she's getting up there in age. She's 13 now. Here's our other Aussie, Skipperdee. He is looking extremely annoyed at the entire 'jacket thing'.

Thanks, Kathy. I do feel so proud!

Tell Skipperdee he is very handsome too. Poor guy don't you know how embarrassing it is to be forced to wear a coat? My heeler is offended if I even put a collar on him, he doesn't think he needs it.
Yes let's post our lists as they germinate. I'm probably not going to plant to many seeds until the end of Jan. I don't want to pay a huge gas bill to heat the greenhouse any longer than I have to.
The picture of the yellow flowers is a clematis at Cistus. It's not your regular run of the mill yellow clematis, if you look closely the petals are very thick and fleshy. Of course I bought one, how could I not? I'll look up the variety when I go outside.
Here is Tuck my heeler when he was a cute little baby.

Interesting . . . we have at least three people on this list with cattledogs/blue heelers. I see a pattern here. Tuck's a cutie.

It used to be pretty funny when I'd take Nick (my Whippet) to Marymoor. You could tell the sighthound owners because they were all carrying dog coats. Whippet, IGs, Greyhounds - they're all like kids. Don't want the coat until they're done playing and cold and tired and want to go home. So after the dogs "told us" we were finished, we'd all put the "kids" coats on and walk back to our cars (for a few blissful ours of sleeping dogs).

Embarrassed to have the coat on if I'm playing - not so embarrassed when I'm cold.

Oh he is just adorable! Wait until Heidi and Rachel see him! They will swoon.

Kathy, your dogs know that they are meant to be pampered! So funny!

Why thank you so much for the welcome. Yes, I’ve been a registered member and obsessive user of Dave’s Garden for a couple of year now which is why I though it was finally time that I lent some financial support to the wonderful site. I so agree – if nothing else the ‘Malevolence’ ought to be grown simply for its name ;)

And the table is assuming to say the least. We almost didn’t bring it when we moved because we had not the slightest idea where we were going to put it in our new, smaller house, but then we realized that we were going to have this greenhouse that was going to need a lot of tables so we brought it along for that. Now there’s also a ping-pong table and all kinds of strange assortments of tables in there.

The move was a big project but most everyone made it safely despite the horrid timing of midsummer. All the roses panicked at first but have since recovered and we’ll really have to wait until next year to see for sure, but it looks like we may have lost only one tree in the move – one of my favorites though (a 6’+ Metasequoia glyptostroboides) so I’m still holding out hope that she’ll spring back next year…but I had known moving that one during the growing season was going to be a long shot and one out of over a hundred isn’t bad. Other than that the only other causality was one of my ‘Seven Seas’ rosemary plants, but luckily I had two and all the other rosemaries and lavenders are doing just fine.

I’m definitely going to have to start saving, it sounds like there’s all kinds of oh-so-wonderful temptation there. It’s fantastic to know that there are so many others playing with the more tropical flared varieties – they’re definitely an obsession of mine (of course so are pelargoniums – I collect scented geraniums ;) a big part of the reason I needed the greenhouse up in a hurry). With our unique climate it seems a shame not to incorporate at least some of those plants that otherwise couldn’t be grown so far north.

And it’s also good to hear that I’m not the only one madly starting seeds for next year. My second batch of eucalyptus seeds arrived today, so that’s actually on the game plan for this evening. I’m going to be trying Eucalyptus dalrympleana, glaucescens (so appreciate that suggestions, I hadn’t previously heard of this species but am so excited to try it), neglecta, nicholii and perriniana. I love the look of the acacias. I have an Albizia julibrissin which has similar foliage to some of the acacias, but I’m going to have to try an actual acacia at some point.

No worries about the staying on topic – I definitely fit that category of being a little too ‘creative’ to stay focused for too long.

Franny and Skipperdee are both absolutely adorable! And what a cutie Tuck was as a puppy (and I’m sure he’s still positively handsome).

This is a picture of Angel playing in the water with his 'baby brother' Moby. Although the picture was taken about a year ago and baby brother Moby has since gone on to exceed Angel in size by fifty pounds and quite a bit of height - no one around here had thought that a dog would come around that made Angel look small ;)

SC - Man, I just love that picture. There are some dogs just made for water. It almost makes me want to swim out and see if they'll rescue me (well, maybe not). And Moby . . . well isn't that just the perfect name?

I think those two would live in the water full time if they could. The first time we took Angel to the ocean when he was a puppy he just walked up to it and laid down in the waves that were washing up on the beach and apparently thought it was the perfect place to take a nap. Must be those webbed feet of theirs - they also have specialized fur to keep them warm in the water which means they're perfectly content to stay out in it all day while we're freezing just from them coming up and shaking next to us.

We're in the process of training them for their water rescue titles but it's a work in progress...I'm not sure that I'd quite run out and wait for them to save me yet ;) Moby (and maybe it's because of his name) is getting pretty good at rescuing bumpers, boat cushions and empty life jackets but so far Angel only rescues sticks and his favorite bumper.

Our third dog thinks the water is fun and all but he doesn't work because he doesn't think he's a dog. The two newfs have been in a ton of obedience and rally classes and our golden has never done any formal training and in all honesty he's usually the best behaved of the three...

~Amanda

Oh dear divine being! These dogs are adorable! The newfies are perfect in the water - I can almost smell the wet fur, and the golden is, of course, 'golden'!

Okay, now I have to take a photo of the little NOID eucalyptus I got from Heidi, which I have yet to place because I don't know how big it's going to get. Maybe you can help ID it. And I have several acacias poking their little heads out.

Word to self: do not try to germinate tiny seeds on filter paper in baggies ever again. They germinate great! Then, you will get a stiff neck from trying to handle said filter paper, laden with germinated seeds, magnifying glass so you can see them at all, and sharp tweezers (the only way to transfer seeds to soil). Given that you were blessed with only 2 hands, it's a delicate balance.

I didn't realize that Newfies had that independent streak. But I guess they are bred to work alone once they hit the water, so that makes sense.

When I saw your puppy's picture, there was so much skin and fur that for a minute I thought it was a bunny picture!!

Pix, makes my neck hurt to think about it!!

There’s definitely a lot of wet fur smell around here, but they so adore the water. And ‘Independent streak’ is putting it lightly. It’s so true that they are working dogs in every regard and they’ll let you know when they think you have a ridiculous idea – you wouldn’t believe the looks Angel can give and Moby is a talker and then some. But I grew up with Newfoundlands so I’m hopelessly in love with their stoic sassiness.

And a lot of the time the golden, Boomer, does look like a giant bunny. He has so much gorgeous feathering that a lot of people ask us what breed he is because they think he looks like a golden but a golden couldn’t possibly have that much fur.

I’m far from a Eucalyptus expert (and juvenile foliage can confuse things – or at least confuse me ;)), but I’d certainly love to see pictures of your unidentified treasure. I’ve at least read through and looked at pictures of a lot of different species so maybe I have seen the variety before.

How fantastic that you already have some acacias making a showing – what species are you trying?

And that’s good to know on the filter paper baggie technique though it still sounds as if it could be quite helpful for large varieties.

~Amanda