Oh look, its Randy's office. He gets to go to work every day with his tropical paradise just outside.
A fabulous looking Rhapis excelsa guards the entrance to the house. For balance, another of equal beauty flanks the other side of the French doors.
While Randy is busy getting the French roast brewing, I'm busy admiring this incredible looking Variegated Rhapis Excelsa in the living room. Fresh bagels, fresh squeezed orange juice and gourmet coffee to go with the palms - it don't get much better.
While Randy is toasting my ET bagel to perfection, I find another Rhapis excelsa variegata by the breakfast nook.
After the splendid noshing was completed, we head towards the east side of the property. A total of 140 photos were culled from the multitude taken in this fabulous garden. Many were of crotons but those will be posted in a thread on the croton forum. Having only slept 4 hours, trying to ID both palms and crotons - my brain went into overload. My brain's "SD card" was at capacity, Randy told me what they were, just ... Many palms from here on may not have an ID, hopefully Randy will provide one, or correct me on my mistakes. In the past I've done garden tours keeping notes. You end up doing more writing than enjoying the plants. From here on - I just photo'd what caught my eye. The first of the unknowns.
This may be the nicest Dypsis prestoniana in South Florida. Its the best I've personally seen. Probably safe to say that the heeled Dypsis need to be planted high in mounds to have a chance down here, just like Randy's.
Dypsis bejofo that was attacked by a banana moth. Randy cut the invested leaves off, its still pushing, just waiting for the next new leaf - it could use one.
I had just ID'd a croton that Randy has been growing for a few years. To a croton collector to get a certain ID is a big deal. Mike and Randy were examining every leaf. Just a few feet away I spied this petite Licuala, tucked away and looking happy. It looks like it has mottled colored leaves. The guys were busy so I snapped its photo and moved on, no ID attained.
This area was a bit crowded for photos to work. To the naked eye, the area was spectacular. Like being in a rain forest. I simply could not get an overall aspect of this palm that photo'd well. Heck - this cv. species is cultivated for the interesting crown shaft anyway - Chambeyronia macrocarpa var. 'Watermelon'.
Could this be the sought after Hydriastele beguinii cv. 'Obi' ? This palm was simply amazing, I could not frame a shot of it that could do it any justice. It alone was worth the travel to Boca Raton. Any one coming to the Biennel with a couple of extra days, I would PM Randy.
I can't remember what we were looking at here. It may be the palm in the background against the wall? Is that a Dypsis with the glacous stem?
Pritchardia pacifica with a lovely orange flowering vine. Don't recall the name of the vine. Randy does not remember where he got it. Saw it, liked it, planted it - years ago. A mutual friend, who specializes in rare plants, saw this vine and was extremely impressed. Maybe someone can chime in with its ID? The Pritchardia is amazing to me. This is a bit of a zone push with Randy being so close to the Everglades. He has to deal with some much lower temps during cold fronts than the Boca Raton areas closer to the coast. This palm has been beaten up several times, sometimes with every leaf burns. Since it has gained some nice size, it appears that it has become a little more cold hardy. We were all talking how years ago that this palm was deemed to be very susceptible to Lethal Yellowing. It prevented many from taking a chance of using this genus when planning their gardens. Something I personally lament since we don't find many specimens in South Florida still.
Ron, it certainly appears to me to be a Gardenia tubifera "kula". Not a vine at all. They are an exceptionally nice plant with fragrant flowers that change color from golden orange to white over the course of a few days. The scent on these is quite exceptional as well. I recently purchased a few of these from Marie and planted two at the Audubon House. Good eye Randy!
Ron, Obi island has an entire complete leaf. This could be a very nice beguinii, hard to tell from the picture. The leaf bears a strong resemblance to Drymophloeus oliviformis too.
Thanks guys for your input. Looks like Randy is growing a true Beccariophoenix alfredii. South Florida gardens don't require such a cold hardy palm so they remain uncommonly found, usually only in discerning collections.
Here is an unidentified Coccothrinax. Its gotta fairly robust trunk but the leaves do not look correct for a Coccothrinax spissa. The leaves are very stiff and are extremely large for most Coccothrinax species. Any help with an ID on these sweet looking palm?
Not just one but two of the nicest Chamaedorea tuerckheimii I've ever seen. They appear to be flawless.
