Janet, Jeff & Mike: Waggies & Windmills
Janet if you want a 5 gal Vancouver Waggie, tell me. I’ll give you a receipt from who I bought it. If you think that the price is too high I’ll keep it or Jeff will grab it. I can get the Waggies at a few locations. If you want seedlings then you can grab a few from me when they are ready for free. It takes a few years at least to get decent seedlings. I just brought Asian Takil and Waggie seeds this past summer. I have target Trachys in Japan, China and CA.
That really goes for Mike. Mike you can have two 1-2 gal T Fortunei palms for free this April. Please specify yes or no by the 2nd week of March. I’ll be away on a small trip soon. When I see your post, I’ll select a few specimen when I come ashore here.
I have 1 sacrificial Waggie that I will abuse if it snows. I will pile snow on it to see how much it can take. I won’t put ice on it as I already know the outcome of ice on US Waggies. I won’t be too evil. A Takil or two will endure the same fate in the near future if Takils prove as numerous as Waggies.
I have 5 sacrificial T Fortunei 2 gal palms. I water them with water from the Gorge. If they survive the salt until adult stage, their roots will be at sea level at max tide. I want to see if they can take a little salt. So far they are OK. One sacrificial Basjoo is placed near a drain pipe that continuously waters it in winter. I want to see if Basjoo is drown-resistant. If it survives, will it grow well under constant watering? I’ll find out this summer. I have 1 Basjoo cluster and 3 specimen kicking around. My smallest started and stopped 2 times already this winter by pushing a center spear with a burnt tip. It is only 30 cm tall. If it survives it will produce a root cluster and then who cares if Jack Frost nukes it later. It will reappear into a cluster of stalks. You should get one Mike. Basjoos are fast. You can then divide them.
A friend here in Victoria germinates thousands of my Trachy seeds from different locations of the Pacific Rim. I plan to put Waggies on a DND property where they can be watered regularly and outside the general public’s grasp -seed wise. They will be isolated seed producers. Takil would be next. With my plan in place for a decade (if all goes well), BC palm growers will have access through me to many Waggie seeds for free. If you want to experiment with T Fortunei seeds until you count to a googolplex, just talk to me. Or you can just come over and select seeds from a T Fortunei that you like. If you want to see the Dockyard Trachys, I will escort you on base. The base firefighters can let us use a ladder (trust me we need one) and then you can select seeds from the two females. You can visit the palms but I can't show you interesting parts of Dockyard. The male looks a little limp (as if he took too much San Diego sunshine) but he does his job when it comes to the birds and the bees. In 2 years I have harvested over 10 000 Trachy seeds in Dockyard. You can imagine that somebody here is mass producing. A lot of them will end up in Vancouver.
Let the games begin.
The following thread was started by Denis -Victoria, BC z8b on February 12, 2003 at 6:33 am PST
GUFFAW GUFFAW GUFFAW
The above followup was added by paul on February 12, 2003 at 9:22 pm PST.
Thanks very much for the offer Denis. I would have totally taken you up on your offer although I don't think I can sqeeze any more palms into my yards. I'm sure someone else will give those palms a great home! With two trachies, 2 cordylines, a l. chinensis, and 5 phoenix sp. (one larger canariensis and 4 potted seedlings) I've pretty much used up all of the space available to me. As much as I'd like to plant a whole variety of palms, I'd rather not deal with overcrowing 10 years down the road.
I envy those with full sized backyards and fronyards... ;)
The above followup was added by Mike in Victoria on February 12, 2003 at 10:29 pm PST.
Sure. I'm interested in a 5 gal Waggie if you're ok with picking one up. Just contact me when you have an opportunity to make the trip.
'm starting to working on an trapezoid shaped easement strip about 50' X 20' wide and I could use one or do a "little grouping" of 3 Waggies (with one large and a couple of smaller specimens). However, I'm not sure how much space a Waggie needs or conversely, how crowded can they be and yet be properly grown. Any feedback would be appreciated.
The above followup was added by Janet on February 13, 2003 at 4:10 am PST.
Hi Janet:
You an basically put them (up to 3) as close as you want. Especially if they are different sizes. The nice thing about palms is that, as long as the crowns are at different heights, they can overlap. Don't worry about crowding the roots. The bigger issue is providing enough water in summer.
The above followup was added by Jeff, Victoria, BC, 8b on February 13, 2003 at 6:04 pm PST.
Janet I can’t bring you a large 15 gal Waggie. I don’t have room for a big Trachy and the biggest size available will most likely be 5 gal. I can get you three 5 gal if you really wish it. It will cost at least $40 the Waggie.
I’ll bring you the sales slip. I also have limited room and you are not the only gardener with a request. Tell you what...I’ll tell you the price before going –if I can. Should you refuse someone else will probably grab the Waggies from me.
Leave room for future Waggies. You will want it for later.
Trust Jeff for palm advice. I go to him for ID related matters and tips.
A big Trachy will cost you a lot. Ask any IPS member.
I want to bring a bunch of 1 gal specimen to the Island. I will sacrifice size for numbers as I have 5 gal Waggies around already.
Once I have enough Waggies in place and seeds the propagation in SW BC will be in full swing unless Vancouver beats me to it. -I wouldn’t mind that happening. Keith has room for 10 000 of my future seeds. Joe probably has much more space. And Barrie can handle much more. I think that it’s about time that major BC Waggie production got underway since T Fortunei is well under production in BC. At the moment BC Waggie production is small.
The above followup was added by Denis -Victoria, BC z8b on February 14, 2003 at 2:45 am PST.
Thanks for the info Jeff. I guess that I need to get my hands on more than just one Waggie. However, I have just one more question to help in the planning process, do Waggies need any more moisture than Trachy's? I don't think that the easement area would be appropriate for plants which require a constant moisture level. I am planning on laying a soaker line out to the new planting to ensure that the palms are not stressed while getting established but am reluctant to place anything such as musa basjoos there (though that would be fantastic!). Hmmmm, Now that is an idea.
Janet
The above followup was added by Janet on February 14, 2003 at 3:21 am PST.