Monday, March 19, 2012

Makeovers(The Garden Edition:)

Several of the things I have been doing at El Presidio is getting our place prepped up for spring which includes pruning, plant placement, and fertilizing.  Today's post shows my annual "haircut" on the two palms. The artist, known as Angelo, will be doing the makeovers today. One is the California palm.  And the second is the Canary palm.  They both look fantastic after their makeover.  Well, you can decide for yourself:) Please hold your clapping until the end. And without further ado, Oprah Winfrey style, "Who wants aaaaAAAAA MAKEOVER?!!!"
Before
 THE CALIFORNIA PALM
After
 THE CANARY PALM

Before

After
And cue commercial AAAANNNDDD CUT!  That's a wrap people!

19 comments:

  1. Amazing shots...the last photo...resembles a little pineapple..Lovely

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  2. They look great. I especially like the canary palm!

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  3. Wow! I never thought of having to trim up palm trees. Is our weather in Wisconsin warmer then you right now?

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    1. Um....yes:) But only for 2 days. Everyone visiting from out of town had been laughing about that yesterday. It's a nice break....just as long as there isn't a severe freeze. I think tonight I'll be covering up plants:)

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  4. you made me laugh. :) edward scissorhands...

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  5. Wow, stately palms! They look neat after the makeover. Interesting post.

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  6. The palms look healthy and happy. :)

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  7. I love the canary palm especially! Might have to invest in one of those! What do you know about orange and lemon trees? I am hoping to have one of each eventually.

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    1. Hi Mary,
      Great trees. Now if you're in the Tucson area, here's the lowdown. Orange trees do EXCELLENT! Fertilize and water when needed and these trees will provide. I was shocked. During our freeze last year, the orange trees survived extremely well. Now for the lemon tree. Lemon does well here as well, but last year because of our historic freeze, most lemon and lime trees were killed by the frost. That still doesn't prevent people from putting them into the ground. Some lemons did come back. Might I recommend a Meyer's Lemon? Just be aware that these trees are more sensitive than their Tangelo, Mandarine, Orange, Tangerine, and Grapefruit varieties:) The biggest surprise for me? THE BLOOD ORANGE!!!! Yum!!! And this year we have fruit forming on the bush:) Happy gardening!

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  8. great pruning!!
    that canary palm looks like one humongous pineapple after it had its trim!! :)

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  9. You are such a great writer, Chris... SOOOOOO entertaining as opposed to so many other bloggers...

    I love Palm trees... They don't grow here on the mountain in TN unfortunately.... Your pruning job is GREAT... I think both trees are smiling now with their new haircuts...

    Have a great evening.
    Betsy

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  10. Well, I'm going to say it because I had already thought it before I read the other comments...the Canary Palm looks just like a great big Pineapple! It should be renamed :-)

    It must be very dangerous pruning the California Palm if you have to use a ladder or am I being naive? Perhaps there is some magic way of doing it, surely there aren't any pruners with handles long enough to do it from the ground??

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    1. We purposely planned for the Canary palm to have that look since I've nicknamed this garden the Fruit Garden as there is a Blood Orange, Fig, Mulberry, Apple, Mandarin, Loquat, Guava planted in this area. I can't wait for it to all grown in...when it's mature, it should be something quite special.

      For the CA palm, there is a bucket that will at times come in for the haircut, otherwise it's book, a strap, and a climb. But it's not me doing the job....I let the pros do it. Angelo is the man!

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  11. Maybe i have a different preference, as i feel that the first one had its haircut too much, just like a "mohawk". We have a joke here when a friend just had a new haircut. Someone will ask "is he dead"? That means someone is asking if the barber is already killed for giving the friend the worst haircut! I could have asked you the same question 'is he dead'? just kidding. I actually prefer to see more fronds on palms to stay with it.

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    1. :) I know what you mean. I had these guys cleaned up to keep the cockroaches and scorpions away from the homes. They like to nest in the old fronds so I wanted to keep it clean and bug free. One of the units has issues with cockroaches and I don't want to encourage them to stay:)

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  12. Hi there! Just found your blog...cool post! I like your creativity with something simple like pruning. I think the 'cuts' bode well on both of them. I'm just wishing I had a palm tree to trim!

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    1. Hi there! Welcome and thanks for the kind words. There's always a cost while trimming up palm trees of about a yearly fee around 230 dollars:)

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  13. Great transformation of the palms.
    Wish we could grow palms here, but it's to cold and wet.

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Thanks for stopping by!