Seed Pods on a Queen Palm

We have one Queen Palm in our courtyard and it gives me such pleasure to watch the graceful fronds as they wave in the breeze. Occasionally, one of the seed pods will open and out pops a gigantic bunch of what looks like gigantic heads of wheat. They have to be cut off or they will dry and drop a holy mess of stuff on the ground. Dane cut this one off - weighed about 25 pounds.



You can see another unripe pod to the left of the open one. And there is yet another one on the back side!

While they will dry up and stuff will fall off, we always had them cut off. While I loved queen palms, they were a royal pain in the arse here in Phx. Wait till you see what gets caught in the pockets where the fronds grow out of. Yup...don't put your hands in there.

So far we've been lucky. Dane has been pulling the dry stuff off as he can.

Heck, we didn't even have any bugs in the parts he pulled off today. The neighbors 'warned' us about the rat nests. So far ~ knock on wood!! lol

bethk wrote:So far we've been lucky.  Dane has been pulling the dry stuff off as he can.

Heck, we didn't even have any bugs in the parts he pulled off today.  The neighbors 'warned' us about the rat nests.  So far ~ knock on wood!!  lol

Yup....rats and palmetto bugs.

JanaAZ wrote:

bethk wrote:So far we've been lucky.  Dane has been pulling the dry stuff off as he can.

Heck, we didn't even have any bugs in the parts he pulled off today.  The neighbors 'warned' us about the rat nests.  So far ~ knock on wood!!  lol

Yup....rats and palmetto bugs.

Otherwise known as cockroaches, huge, nasty cockroaches. It's one of the reasons I hate banana trees, as if you pull back a piece or have to cut them down say after a freeze, there are tons of nasty roaches.

When I was young, I really liked Mimosa Trees with their pretty pink powder puff looking blossoms. If you walked under one at night and the fronds touched you, there was usually a nasty cockroach attached to it. Ugh! THAT ended that love affair...

Crybaby wrote:

JanaAZ wrote:

bethk wrote:So far we've been lucky.  Dane has been pulling the dry stuff off as he can.

Heck, we didn't even have any bugs in the parts he pulled off today.  The neighbors 'warned' us about the rat nests.  So far ~ knock on wood!!  lol

Yup....rats and palmetto bugs.

Otherwise known as cockroaches, huge, nasty cockroaches.  It's one of the reasons I hate banana trees, as if you pull back a piece or have to cut them down say after a freeze, there are tons of nasty roaches.  

When I was young, I really liked Mimosa Trees with their pretty pink powder puff looking blossoms.  If you walked under one at night and the fronds touched you, there was usually a nasty cockroach attached to it.  Ugh!  THAT ended that love affair...

NOT the Mimosa Trees!!! My Grandma fell in love with those when we all visited my uncle in Tulsa (years & years & years ago). Grandpa brought one home and actually planted it in his yard in Ohio. Every winter he wrapped that tree so it would stay warm and not freeze out. It got to be a good 15' tall before it was too big to handle and that's when it froze.

The blooms were so pretty and all the kids in the neighborhood were fascinated how the leaves closed up if touched.

DO NOT plant Pampas Grass.   HUGE PIA..

Barbara101 wrote:DO NOT plant Pampas Grass.   HUGE PIA..

So far, we've only planted one thing 'in the ground', although it's still in a 3-gallon plastic pot, just buried so it retains the moisture. Dane's sister gave us something that's suppose to grow into an ornamental bush - I've seen hers and it has really pretty blooms in early spring.

I have some ornamental grass planted in a large pot by our front door that is fighting for space with a huge amount of Wandering Jew in a 'patio pot'. The Wandering Jew is dark purple foliage with really pretty bright pink flowers. It started as two little pieces that fell off the neighbor's plant and I rooted it in a glass on the windowsill and then potted it when it produced roots. From a 6" pot it grew and grew and now is cascading over the edges of a 20" 'patio pot'.

I also have a Firecracker plant in a pot that is enjoying the full sun location. It amazes me how well I've done in getting just a few plants to thrive. It makes me happy when I can take a cutting or piece from a friend and baby it along until it just takes over the container. One of my favorites is called a 'donkey ear', a succulent that grows in a hanging basket and gets 'babies' on the ends of the leafs. The pot just blew off the shepherd's hook I had it on and one of the babies broke off in the fall. That piece is now in a pot by itself to grow into another plant.

Here's a pic of my Donkey's Ear succulent hanging basket:



and here's my Wandering Jew and Ornamental Grass:



my Firecracker plant:



and, finally, a trio of jade plant starters from a plant Dane grew from a 'stolen' cutting taken from my aunt's old plant in San Mateo, CA, in 1979....smuggled in our luggage and planted in Ohio:

Have you seen a tree called Golden Rain.OMG So beautiful.My Mom had friends who lived in Fla.She fell in love with that tree.Cut off a branch,brought it home,planted that stick. You should see that tree.  

Going to goggle it & see is I can get a photo of it.

Yes, I've seen it. There is a lake not far from us, Lake Weir, and it is surrounded by those trees. Quite a sight when they are in full color and reflected in the lake water.

Barbara101 wrote:DO NOT plant Pampas Grass.   HUGE PIA..

It really plays hell with most people who have allergy problems, too.

Barbara101 wrote:Have you seen a tree called Golden Rain.OMG So beautiful.My Mom had friends who lived in Fla.She fell in love with that tree.Cut off a branch,brought it home,planted that stick. You should see that tree.  

I knew a woman who would climb up in her rain trees and cut the "blooms" right after they came out. She'd put them in vases totally dry so they would dry out completely. The smell in her office was divine!