Wednesday, February 26, 2014

More from the sidewalks of NE Portland...

The vintage stock tank catches my eye every time I pass by...

This time however it was the fence that jumped out at me, after all I’ve been on a bit of a fence finding mission.

I like it!

And the vintage stock tanks.

These trachycarpus are so lush.

There are 3 of them planted in a row and somehow they’ve kept their lower leaves, usually with a trunk that size the lower leaves would have yellowed and been removed by now.

Not my style, but it always makes me smile.

Another fence (and a much greyer day)…

This one has me scratching my head. What’s with the tilted wire cut-outs?

I don’t get it! Why the tilt?

Here’s a follow up on a post from last December.

The fifteen agaves and an opuntia are all looking pretty sad.

I had to counter that with a happy agave, in my next-door neighbor’s garden.

I drive by this palm all the time and I’ve never seen any winter protection around it. Yet it always looks good.

I’m sure you palm fans can tell me what it is and if it should look this good after snow, ice and temperatures in the low teens.

Yikes! This is not good. It was much more dramatic in person; the tree in the front actually goes out of frame to rest on the top of the neighbor’s house.

Windy nights keep me awake picturing scenes just like this involving the two towering Dour Fir trees looming over our house.

All material © 2009-2014 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

31 comments:

  1. I worry about my Douglas firs falling onto us on windy nights too. There's not an abundance of root on those trees, it looks like they rotted at the base, possibly from having too much mulch around them, or maybe just too much waster pooling? We had a tree expert come in to give us an assessment of our firs, and he said that a lot of Doug firs like we have is a good thing, because the roots knit together under the ground and essentially they hold each other up.

    The first thing I noticed on that picture of the Trachycarpus was all those lower leaves. I can't help wondering about them. The lower leaves on mine turned quite tatty and yellow, and I removed some last fall.

    What's planted on the other side of the fence with those tilted wire cutout? Maybe it's meant to keep some vine from attaching to the fence and rotting it? Sorry, that's all I've got.

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    1. I've heard that about the roots in mass helping a group of trees stay up-right. We used to have 3 but 1 was removed a few years back to put in that bi-colored garage I hate so much.

      There was nothing planted on the other side of the fence...that's part of the mystery!

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  2. That palm looks like a Chamaerops humilis possibly var. argentea. It looks pretty good having gone through that nasty freeze.
    Max P.

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    1. Thanks Max, indeed...it's got me considering the purchase.

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  3. Maybe they were planning on planting something between the sidewalk and the fence that would grow through the tilted panels and into their yard.

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  4. They look like laundry chutes. Why you'd want to throw your laundry onto the sidewalk is beyond me. Maybe they're to let local wildlife (Racoons, possums, cats) easy passage?

    You see the most interesting things on your walks. Must set out on foot with my camera now that it's not always dark when I'm home.

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    1. They do!

      To be honest a few of these started out in the car. Lila and get tired of walking the same streets day after day.

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  5. I second the call on Chamaerops humilis and agree that it's probably argentea. Such a lovable little palm!

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    1. I kept expecting it to look dead but it just kept on looking good...

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  6. fifi lafontaineFebruary 26, 2014

    Ooh that looks like my blue Mediterranean fan palm! Mine doesn't look as good as that one. Poor little agaves. Mine look like that too...maybe even worse. :(

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    1. There are a lot of sad agaves around town...

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  7. Driving to work this morning, I noticed there were several trees in my hood that were down (mostly multi-trunked conifers/arborvitaes). It does make me happy that I don't have any trees that can fall on my house.

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    1. It's something to be thankful for. All I've noticed nearby are lots of big branches, but the soil is so soggy, it's scary.

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  8. I like that fence, too! The one with the wire cut outs is a head scratcher, though. I think that palm may be a form of Chamaerops humilis. It looks much better than the one at work after a couple sudden drops to 9 degrees or so. I hope your trees stay vertical. My parents had the Doug firs near the south side of the house removed for just that reason. They meant to replant with less looming specimens but have been a bit slow in the execution. I'll have to help them amend that situation, don't you think? :)

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    1. I imagine you'll help them come up with a few great ideas...

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  9. There's so much creativity going on in your neighbourhood Loree, very impressive and admirable with all the unique touches peppered all over. Loving the first fencing, so unique and individual!

    It's been such a stormy winter here in the UK, suffice to say so many trees have fallen all over. We do worry about the burnt conifers on our neighbours garden, they don't have the money to get them taken down but they are threat to three other properties including ours. Oh and that was the area where the fire started....

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    1. Yikes! A threat and an eye sore I bet? I'd think their insurance company would be out there demanding they come down.

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  10. Chamaerops humilis for the palm, like the others say. Oh no, if those firs go, there might be a space you have to fill:-)

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    1. Nope, the firs are not on our property. If they came down it would just mean I had more windows overlooking my every move when out in the garden. Not a good thing.

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  11. The silver Atlas Mtns Morocco form of Chamaerops humilis v argentea, and they are amazingly cold hardy, but slow growing. I use this a lot because it is so drought tolerant and stays shrub size for so many years, but eventually with great age it can get taller trunks like the straight species. Looking at that Agave meltdown, it's hard to see the appeal of pushing that hardiness envelope; I'd be playing it safer and stick with just the hardier ones if I weren't in a zone 9/10 climate. I get similar meltdowns from being too wet and cool with Agaves such as gypsophylla and tequiliana.

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    1. Those agaves never looked like nursery bought plants, probably gift pups they thought they'd experiment with.

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  12. I love the first garden and fence with the stock tanks. The fence looks like it would've been time consuming! And I love that last little palm, too.

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    1. Time consuming indeed, a labor of love. BTW I drove by there tonight and they'd moved it! Now it's closer to the sidewalk. I couldn't stop to take pics but you know I will, eventually.

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  13. I kept seeing toppled trees on the news. One woman had one land next to her in her bed. Now THAT's too close for comfort. Soggy ground + high winds = disaster in the making. I'm glad you weren't walking by just then.

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    1. Me too! Did you see the guy who ended up with one puncturing his windshield during morning rush-hour? Stopped traffic on McLaughlin, thankfully he was fine.

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  14. Chamaerops humilis cerifera is your mystery palms. Its amazing! They should be able to tolerate temperatures in the low teens provided they stay brief and relatively dry. A lovely palm for sure. Most people say they are hardier than the regular form of chamaerops humilis and some have suggested that ones with black spikes could potentially be the hardiest (I have no experience if this is true of just a wise tale - but I like to pass it on)

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    1. Wait blue with black spines? That sounds amazing.Perhaps I need one?

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    2. Indeed! I have one potted that stays at the front door under cover. I did bring it into the house during the 12F night. But it has stayed out through some nasty weather.

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  15. Could the fence cut-outs be viewing portals for dogs? I'm not sure why they'd be tilted though...

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    1. I thought that at first but you'd have to pick your dog up and stuff it through head first, most dogs don't take kindly to that sort of thing.

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