Tracing the Royal Roots

I was going to follow up about the 'post' palm removal - One Less Royal.  It's quite unimaginable what we found out about having a Royal Palm.

Tom sent out an email to a select group rather that to blog about it himself, and he pretty much says what I was going to say, so I absconded with his email

I'm sure that many of you have read Deb's blog about the upheaval in our front garden.

It was a gut wrenching decision to remove the palm but we really had no choice.....either now with a lot of work or later with even more work.

Besides the danger of the palm dropping a limb on someone there was the possibility of a heavy wind blowing the tree over and it was plenty big enough to take out part of the front wall.

Anyway, let me make this a little shorter by saying that we had no idea of the root system that a palm has.

We recently had a small idea when we went to plant a small orchid in the front garden and I could not get the shovel in any further than 1 inch.  When you have to get a spud bar to dig a small hole the red flag gets run up the old flag pole real fast!  Soooooo putting it all together it had to go.  :(

I started the digging yesterday but couldn't handle it and had to call in for help.

We're hoping that the vine on the wall will be ok.  Since we can't tell what roots belong to whom I cut the roots with my most wonderful Dewalt sawzall one foot out from the wall and then placed the boards there so the worker would not get closer. 

Another chance we had to take in order to get the palm and roots out.

And for those of you that are more patient it was estimated that it would take around 6 months for the roots to die and compost with wetting them about every third day.  The trunk of the palm left in the ground would take longer than that.

I have attached a picture of the area and the pile of roots that represent just under half of the roots that our palm had just within the small area in our garden.  The area is being dug one foot deep so there are more roots below that level.  

So that's the story and the redesign begins.

A picture speaks a thousand words, so here's foto documentation of this root system

Tom just getting started with lifting the roots

just look at how many

this is all around the trunk

eeeschk!

this is about the time that the handle to the pickax broke, Tom went and bought another handle

this is how Tom left it yesterday

Cristobal has been out there working about 3 hours

almost done, nearly 6 hours of work to get it to this

another 2 hours and this is our new blank canvas
we just need to select the centerpiece

and replant all these!

I've been thinking about bamboo - what do you think??   

It would be tall, not destroy the plants on the wall, offer some shade, but still let enough light through for the plants below.  Tom doesn't like the leaves it will drop.

or maybe you have an idea????

One less Royal!

When we first bought our house there was a small garden out front with 2 parking spots all set behind a short metal rail fence.    

We rarely were able to have the front windows open because of the dust and dirt that came in.  There was also noise and exhaust from traffic passing, as well as anyone walking by could just look right in.

We eventually had 14 ft high block walls built.  Oh my what a fabulous difference that made.

how pretty does this look,
now how will people find us?

We started planting things but couldn't figure out exactly what we wanted to be the centerpiece.  I wanted a palm of some sort, it had to clear the roof line but not get overly tall.  A few years ago we were gifted  a palm that seemed to fit the bill. It had been in a pot for quite a few years and one of the guys that delivered it thought it might be a palma cubano.

Well it's definitely a royal palm;  and it has grown so tall, too tall.  It's getting more and more difficult to get to the fronds before they fall, and they are seriously heavy.   A few weeks ago the electric company, CFE, came through and cut all the fronds extending over the wall to be even with the wall and then tossed the fronds in to our front garden.

I was less than pleased, not about then cutting of the fronds, but by the tossing over -  I have orchids  art pieces, and lighting set up in that small garden.  I love that little garden.



Well the palm had to go - I checked about, and no one was willing to move it, nor thought it could be moved and survive.

we started by  removing plants we want to save.
Just look at that huge orchid hanging there

just look how tall

the view from the street

aack, I can't bear to watch

the huge heavy fronds are dropping

and now the trunk falls, chunk by chunk

Now I have to wait for the roots and submerged trunk to start to break down to plant new stuff.  The root system of a royal spreads out like a dense weave rug just under the surface of the the ground.  There is no just digging it up, in fact Francisco indicated a jackhammer would be needed, I believe him.

so sad!  One of the saddest things I can think of is having to destroy a perfectly healthy beautiful tree.
So help!  what should i put there?

irrigation system installation - Day 1

Over a year ago I started talking about putting in an irrigation system.  It takes a bit over an hour to water the back garden with the hose.  Then there is the small garden outside the kitchen as well as the pots around the patio and pool.  Oh, and the small garden out front.  So you can see how, especially during the dry season this could take up quite a bit of time.  I actually enjoy the watering, most times, but sometimes not!

And 'so what' you might think, she's retired, what else does she have to do - Plenty! I have plenty to do!

Anyway, I can't now remember where I saw the ad, but I contacted Randy, from Natural Thangs - he came out looked the place over, and offered me an estimate.

Tom and I tend to be do-it-yourselfers. Some say we're a bit controlling and want want things done the way WE want them done!  Yes, I'd have to agree on that.  We are also organized and plan things out.  In fact about a year ago I measured out the garden and started a layout for where heads should go for coverage etc.  I just didn't know how to measure the water pressure to know length of line and run, etc. Without that knowledge how could I plan properly head placement, etc. So, I sort of sat this plan off and forgot, well I didn't forget, I just didn't follow through.

So back to Natural Thangs, I saw an ad, or comment, or photo, or something and gave them a call.

Randy - came, we talked over price, we struck a deal, a very loose deal.  We didn't follow our own counsel to others.  Get a detailed estimate and outline of exactly what is to be done. Nor did he provide a 'Design' for the sprinkler layout - but hey - TIM (This is Mexico) Things roll a bit differently here.   Add to that we gave him nearly 2/3 payment up front - again, against our counsel to others; 1/3 up front, 1/3 at halfway point, and 1/3 upon happy ending.

Anyway, Randy and his guys, 3 instead of the 2 he quoted, One guy for free?   Doubtful! all show up this AM ready to rock n roll.

So Randy and 3rd guy, Renee I think, start talking about heads and coverage, and how much of this that and the other thing.  They check the pressure of the water coming out of the hose, chat some more and then head out to buy their supplies.

Talking with Randy, we, Tom and I ask questions about stuff, what's he doing here, how's he doing that - he keeps saying he's a professional and has lots of experience and to trust him!  OK! That's why we're not doing it ourselves right?!

So the worker guys are trenching - the boss man is shopping - and I am sittin back, fat, dumb, and happy!

before trenching

They did get a fair amount done - check out these photos!

during - trenching

Well the photos are causing me some grief right now!  But Day 1, most of the trenching is done, some tube is laid, the sod and dirt have been delivered, still no design, and things have changed from the discussion this morning to what was done by afternoon.

Let's see what tomorrow brings!

Manguera - what this word really means!

OK, so I have these 2 dogs, one of whom is still a puppy, doing all the standard puppy stuff....Which has included chewing the end off the hose so many times that the hose no longer reaches the netherlands of the back yard!

The bamboo out back has been especially hard hit by the lack of watering - so to rectify that situation, and until I design and have installed a sprinkler/watering system we bought one of those huge clear plastic pvc tube hoses that "everyone" (kind of like saying "they") says is the best

I can only think that the people that recommend them do not do their own watering.  

OMG, that thing is killing me, it's like wrestling a 30 ft python, or at least what I imagine wrestling a 30 ft python would be like

It is heavy and unwieldy (is that a word?) and I end up soaked head to toe.  But man o man does it put out the water!

Here in Merida they call a hose a manguera, I don't know what they call it in the rest of Mexico. 

OK, so let's look at this word - Man Guera - Man, self explanatory (well in English it is),  and Guera which means war or fight in Spanish...

So what this means is that a MAN is supposed to be FIGHTING with this hose, Not Me!

Orchids - Dig This!

Rhyncholaelia Digbyana that is -

I got blooms last year in December and January, and this year it is blooming in November. Could be the really cool nights we are having right now!

I have quite a few orchids with flower spikes, mostly the Schumbergkias. My Oeceoclades bloomed in September. I have quite a few that I have yet to accurately identify, so am eager for the blooming to begin.

Puppy Update - Corre went to live with Gary on September 19. Reports are that both are happy! I have avoided asking for a visit, just too difficult; But hear through mutual acquaintances that all seems to be well.

We had 2 people interested in Tech but both were unwilling to take her until all parasites were gone, which here in the tropics is practically impossible and is only effective with regular quarterly drugs. Even healthy dogs apparently require the quarterly maintenance drugs. Being from Colorado, the high desert, we never really had to deal with any of these issues so it's been a real learning experience. So anyway, with only ONE puppy in residence the dynamic changed tremendously and we've decided to not say 'Good-Bye' to Tech.

Somehow she seemed to know - Duh, just look at that face!

HUH?

Here she is helping Tom to clean papers from the file cabinet, She's the safety shredder.

Garden Groups events

We've had two really great Garden Group events lately, both of which have been well documented by Jane and John. You can read about these events as well as about Jane and John's other adventures on one of their 3 blogs. This one has the Garden Group events - http://bicycleyucatan.wordpress.com/

The other two can be linked from there.

Jane and John are my heroes, they have such an amazing relationship and life - we can all aspire to be so, well just so!