Texas Mountain Laurel - A White Variety

Every year, a few of the Texas mountain laurels show up with pale purple or whitish blooms.    They are such an oddity that they get snatched up quickly. 

I happen to be a sucker for white flowers -  I think it was the white roses in The Great Gatsby when I was a teenager that did it  -  I just relate white flowers with romance.   But don't you love how white blooms almost glow in the moonlight.  

Well, last spring, we had a mountain laurel that bloomed white, white, WHITE!   We've marked it and will begin playing with the seeds this year.   There isn't much written on white blooming Texas mountain laurels.  We've heard that they cross-pollinate so there's no guarantee what color trees produced from seed will bloom.   We're still deciding on the perfect isolated spot to transplant her - and since we hope she's a big part of our little nursery, we do need to find a name for her.    All suggestions are welcome! 

Japanese Rhinoceros Beetle

Below is the carcas of a Japanese Rhinoceros Beetle.   Some people buy them for pets but we were lucky enough to have them just show up in some palms.  In fact, 25 people 'like' the Japanese Rhinoceros Beetle facebook page!   If you are a palm lover, you want to watch out for these guys.   

The mature female burrows down beside her selected plant.   She leaves quite a large opening as shown in the photo below.   Beetle hole is on the bottom left of this palm trunk. 

Once underground, the beetle will lay her egg(s).   The larva then begins to feed on the roots and up the heart of the palm.    At my home, we lost 5 of our 6 Windmill palms, Trachycarpus fortunii,  before we clicked in to what the problem was. 

The first picture below shows the initial frond damage -    by the time your palm is putting out brown fronds, it is probably too late to save it. 

Other palms that the rhinoceros beetle likes to feed on are small Mediterranean Fan Palms, Chamerops humilis, and young Texas Sabals, Sabal texana.    Once they have noticable trunk size, they don't seem to appeal to this beetle.  I would imagine they also enjoy a Florida Sabal or Cabbage Palm.  

Most problems with palms can be avoided with good irrigation and fertilization practices.  This just happens to be an exception to that rule.

This field of Queen Palms, Syagrus romanzoffianna, (also known as Cocus Plumosa) have really grown this spring.   They have 6, 8 or 10 feet of clear trunk.  That means that the palms measure 12 - 16 feet tall overall.  

Above is the freshly dug rootball.  A queen palm doesn't need a very large rootball.  See the white dots?  Those are all roots that have been cut - the cut will cause them to branch 4" back and grow even more roots.   If the palms you purchase are not in containers, then fresh dug are best.  

Plant, stake, water, and enjoy!

Planting for the Future

David Day, special ed teacher at Olmito Elementary in Los Fresnos, goes above and beyond in his job!  He contacted Simmons Oak Farms about a large landscape project on his campus and we were happy to give them some small live oak trees.   This piece in the Brownsville Herald is a wonderful taste of that campus.  

Tree Trip

Trying to share a photo, where we're loading some nice-sized queen palms.  It was on the front page of the Valley Morning Star last month - but I must be technically challenged because I cannot get the "share this"  to work.  Anyhow, a photographer wandered around and shot a few frames of what we do around here.  Maybe I can find a 12 year old to help me post this and actually show the article. .  .

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Harlingen High

Harlingen High Schools Beautification Committee applied to our "100 Trees for 100 Years" program.   The owners of Simmons Oak Farms (along with both their wives) graduated from HHS so we were thrilled to get to send some large live oaks to that campus.

The Future Farmers of America took on the task of getting them planted.   I'll bet it was a little harder work than they anticipated.  Each of these trees weighs about 500 pounds!  Their advisor is Jacquelyn Stevens.

Everyone did a great job in beautifying the campus! 

Click here, to see pictures from more campuses and churches.