If you're curious...

Maybe you're curious about how the plants are packed, shipped, transported and delivered? Each plant that is tagged will be held for us until we are ready to schedule delivery. Plants are usually pulled/prepared on a Thursday, loaded onto the truck on Friday and arrive to us on Monday. We will have some loads that will be full of just Phipps stuff so the delivery time may be quicker.

Here are some photos of plants being packed onto a tractor trailer at Southeast Growers. The workers wrap each plant and bring it to the truck with a small tractor and tree boom. The trucks are carefully loaded but filled to the brim.
-KD

Tagging, Day 3, Part 2

After a full morning at Calusa Creek, I drove about an hour south to Wellington, FL to visit Southeast Growers www.southeastgrowers.com. I'd seen Richard Kern at the TPIE tradeshow several times and he always had interesting / out of the ordinary plants at his booth. Richard was able to spend the day with me going through his 40 acres of houses and fields to tag the SE Asian plants that we'll need. I found many of the plants that were on my wish list and also those that the education department would like to teach about. Many of these plants will wind up in the healer's hut / research field station area of the tropical forest.

WOW! Here is a quick rundown of my picks: Jackfruit, Elephant Apple, Longan, Lychee, Thai Everbearing Mango, Sugar Palms, Pinang Yaki, Bignay, Cecropia, Teak, Tamarind, Clove Tree, Traveler's Tree, Nutmeg Tree....

Here is a photo of one of the Thai Palms.

Here is Heather's 20' tall Kapok tree (there is a hint of buttress roots).
On the left is one of the small Ficus religiosa (Buddha Fig) that I tagged.
These are Rattan palms. They have a vining nature with thorny tendrils that reach out and grab whatever is closeby. This is the plant used to make furniture, placemats and all sorts of crafts.
And a new crop of Breadfruit - aren't those leaves so cool - very tropical looking!

-KD

Tagging, Day 3

Today was a long but fruitful day.
I had intentions of getting to many more places than I actually made it to. Top Tropicals, Boynton Botanicals, Excelsa Gardens, and Bougainvillea Growers - you'll have to wait till my next trip down south.

I started the morning at Calusa Creek Tree Farm www.calusacreek.com in Stuart, FL. Stuart is north of West Palm Beach and about 2 1/2 hours from Homestead. I had visited the farm several years ago on a Tropical Plant Industry Expositon (TPIE) field trip. I knew they had big stuff but I was hoping they fared well with the hurricanes of last season. I was in luck! After meeting up with the general manager, Paul Sojka, I was able to tag many big trees. These beautiful Ficus were contract grown for another customer but only 1/2 were needed so I was able to take the remainder.

I also tagged some Phoenix reasoneri (Vietnamese Date Palm), Hyophorbe verschaffeltii (Spindle Palm), field grown Ficus, and contorted Queen palms with a bent trunk. The shade houses are amazing! Check out the size of these trees!

Tagging, Day 2

As it turns out, Day 2 will also be in Homestead, FL. I've got several appointments lined up including Danny's Nursery, Power Bloom Farm, The Jungle, and Acosta Farms (container division).

At the first stop, Danny's Nursery, I spied these fantastic clipped Ficus trees. Normally I don't venture into the formal, clipped territory but they will be perfect to help recreate the look of the mai dat from the Royal Palace in Bangkok, Thailand. Danny's also had several Ficus 'Alii' ranging from 8-11' and 2 types of Jasmine (J. sambac and Murraya).

The second stop was just as exciting as they carried 4 cultivars of Bougainvillea on 72" trellises, 7-9 ball Eugenia pom poms, and a great crop of Gardenia. 3 great scores for creating the ambiance in the tropical forest village area!

Both The Jungle and Acosta Farms Container Divison had some of the plants that we'll fill in with but I'm still on the hunt for the big trees. -KD

Tagging, Day 1

I flew into Ft. Lauderdale yesterday and I spent the afternoon and evening making appointments and preparing my wish lists. I'll be in Florida through Tuesday AM so I'm hoping I can get much of the purchasing completed. Today I will be in the Homestead, FL area visiting Botanics Wholesale www.botanics.com, Bick Farm, Acosta (Field) www.acostafarms.com , and Silver Krome Gardens www.skg.com . I'm looking for all sorts of plants for the new conservatory but my biggest priority is for the large trees since they will need to come into the building before it is closed up and because they will take up the most space.

Botanics Wholesale had many unusual genera of Palm from all over the world. I selected several species of Licuala and Rhaphis as well as Areca vestaria, the windowpane palm (Pinanga kuhlii).

I spotted a beautiful yellow flowered tree in the parking lot that I was able to tag in a smaller size, it is Bulnesia arborea. No huge trees :-(

The second stop, Bick Farms yeilded some cool flowering trees including the Orange Geiger, Pink Tabebuia, Royal Poinciana and Palms (Phoenix, Queen, and Red Latan). I took lots of notes but I'm in search of the big trees and SE Asian natives first.

The trip to Acosta (field) Farm was interesting. I parked at the end of a dirt road and waited for a man named Freddie to pick me up in his truck. I wished that I had a more conversational grasp of the Spanish language. Freddie drove me through the farm in his old pickup truck. We dodged huge ruts, puddles and swarms of mosquitoes. The field production area is just a small portion of Acosta Farms growing space and I knew I'd be headed to their container division on Saturday. I did end up tagging several trees there including some Royal Palms, Bauhinia, and Poinciana. Look at how the trees are grown in raised beds (meaning the rest of the area is swampy).
I tagged this Poinciana because it was the largest tree I'd seen thus far. It is about 20' tall and has an unusual form. It is kind of the runt of the area - left behind while other crops have been planted around it. I like that it hasn't been clipped and pruned for a formal look (what most people desire).

The last stop for the day was Silver Krome Gardens. In the middle of a rainstorm at 4:30 PM the owner's son Bill gave me the grand tour. I got the lay of the land and discovered many fantastic plants that will add the finishing touches to the conservatory. Check out this 'Thai Beauty' Caladium.

Until Tomorrow!

Construction Update

The Tropical Forest construction is moving along and the subsoil has been placed. It is a sandy gravel mix of varying depths. Our planting soil (about 966 cubic yards) has been ordered and will be delivered within the next week. The soil will be about 4' deep throughout the conservatory. It is a combination of Haydite(expanded shale), Pro-Base (composted pine bark), sand, and a small amount of Peat Moss. It is time to tag trees for the exhibit so I'll be heading to visit nurseries throughout Florida in the coming weeks. We are looking for some generic tropical trees for the framework of the conservatory with the bulk of plants being of Thai origin or of the Southeast Asian origin. Since last year's hurricane season wiped out many growers, the hunt for large canopy trees will be time consuming. Our maximum ceiling height is 60' in certain areas and a 12' tree just won't do it! -KD