Miami Wayfarer Posted March 17, 2021 Report Share Posted March 17, 2021 This year I started my second viewing of Miami Vice. In addition to the usual things I love about the series, like the cars, the styles, the locations, etc., I have also payed more attention to the palm trees. I don't think there is one episode that doesn't have at least one palm tree in it. Without them I don't think the show would feel the same. This year I got into the plant hobby and thus far only have desert type plants. I am really tempted to get a palm at some point and I wanted to ask if anyone here has added any palms to their living spaces or yards to add a bit of that Miami Vice feel. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Posted March 17, 2021 Report Share Posted March 17, 2021 (edited) I love palm trees and started palm growing and collecting long time ago. Some I have planted outside in the garden (mostly hardy species as I don´t live in the tropics), but most palms I have inside in my winter garden (20-32 degrees C throughout the year and 60%+ humidity. Many I have given away due to space issues, but I have still around 10 different tropical species from Australia, Asia and South America plus banana trees (that bear fruit every year in my wintergarden and they taste better than from supermarket as they are fresh) and other tropical plants. I don´t have great pictures at hand, but some I added. The green and red fruit belong to a Mexican mountain palm species which grows in the tropics as well as in cool climates and can stand light frost. I harvested 180 fruit last year and grew 90 single palms from them. Some ate 0.5m tall in the meantime. The small palm trees in a pot are seedlings from a very tropical species in SE-Asia (Ptychosperma macarthurii) that I collected on site in 2019 and germinated myself at home. Now they are much bigger but I don´t have a picture at hand. Generally I recommend, if you just start with palms, to buy a good book about different species, because only very few are good for dry and dark rooms and are prone to bugs due to that. If you know which species fit for your apartment or house than it is easier to buy one that is easy to care and will grow. If you have a garden in a non-tropical climate with cold winters I recommend the following palm (Latin names, please look it up on the internet): Trachycarpus fortunei (down to -15C degrees if protected) I you like bananas plant Musa basjoo outdoors, they grow like weed and you can simply cut them down over the winter (is on my garden picture) If you want to have palms indoors stick to easy palms first: All sorts of Chamaedorea (mountain palms, the one with the fruits on my picture is one of these), Howeia forsteriana Warning: don´t buy coconut palms and put them at home .They will NEVER survive in a normal apartment and get bugs immediately. Same for banana trees indoors unless you have very bright light and humid air. P.S. most palm trees you see in Miami Vice are strictly tropical in their requirements but were planted in S-Florida long time ago as they are not native there, but grow well in this tropical monsoon climate. Most are Coconut palms. Sometimes there is light frost in S-Florida and some palm trees die due to it. Edited March 17, 2021 by Tom 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miami Wayfarer Posted March 17, 2021 Author Report Share Posted March 17, 2021 It sounds like you have quite the collection! Those banana plants are impressive. Do you have a favorite palm? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Posted March 17, 2021 Report Share Posted March 17, 2021 (edited) vor 38 Minuten schrieb Miami Wayfarer: It sounds like you have quite the collection! Those banana plants are impressive. Do you have a favorite palm? Not ONE favorite really. But some I like very much. See below. It also shows how different palms are. All of the palms below I have or had and grew them myself. 1. Bolivian coconut (Parajubea torallyi). Highest palm in the world. Up to 3500m above sealevel. Looks like a Coconut palm. I have it. Very rare but very hardy and used to frost, wind, sun, dust, dryness. 2. Verschaffeltia splendida, very rare from Seychelles. Full big leaves that only split by wind. Black spines that get lost over time and stiltsroots. I had 10 of them but they grew too big. 3. Bottle palm (Hyophorbe lagenicaulis). Extinct in the wild (Mauritius) but is grown everwhere in the tropics. I have one big (2m) in my wintergarden that I grew myself in 2020 from seed in Mauritius. 4. Foxtail palm from Australia (Wodytia bifurcata) - the name clearly comes from the leaves that look like a foxtail. Discovered only 40 years ago in a small area in Australia. Was nearly extinct, now grown everywere. I have a 2m one in my wintergarten. Very hardy, but tropical. 5. Pelagodoxa henryana. Very rare palm from the Marquesas Islands in the Pacific. Very rare but arguably the most beautiful palm. Stiltsroots, some spines but full broad leaves that only split by wind. Hard to grow with huge seeds. I had one. 3. and 4. are very common in Miami area. 2. and 5. grows well in Miami Botanical gardens but is not often to be seen elsewhere in S.Florida 1. is not used to humid tropics and is not common in Miami but grows well up north. Edited March 17, 2021 by Tom 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Posted March 6, 2022 Report Share Posted March 6, 2022 new banana harvest from the winter garden is ready. Was a great breakfast fruit addition today. More tasty than the supermarket ones, as harvested fresh and ripe 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpaul1 Posted March 6, 2022 Report Share Posted March 6, 2022 love that thread Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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