July 1999 Meeting of the Palm Society of South Texas in Austin

Our group's farthest trek north was a resounding success! More than 20 members from Corpus Christi, Ingleside, San Antonio, Beeville, Houston, and Dallas were all there. We also had visitors from the Austin area, and we hope y'all had a good time! Our chairman Bill Baker arranged a group tour which was conducted by Rick Crawford, Executive Director of the State Preservation Board.

Rick's tour far exceeded our expectations. His knowledge, enthusiasm and pride in our state capital was evident in every step of the tour. He was involved in the Preservation Master Plan of 1989 which entailed the construction of a massive extension built entirely underground for additional staff offices. A restoration project of the capital itself was completed in the early 90's, which unfortunately included the removal of some mature Sabal texana next to the capital building.

Only three Sabal texana have been replanted, and we politely badgered him at every opportunity to plant more palms. He then took us inside, which was a welcome relief from the heat for us (and no doubt a welcome opportunity for Rick to get away from landscaping issues!). For two hours he conducted our tour and sent us home with spiral-bound copies of the preservation project's master plan. Thank you, Rick, for an interesting and extensive tour of our magnificent state capital!

Rick Crawford, State Preservation Board

Three Sabal texana -- only three palms on the entire grounds!

Joe Montgomery's Garden

Joe Montgomery

Washingtonia filifera

After the capital tour, Bill Baker led a brief caravan tour through Austin to view palms en route to a tour of Joe Montgomery's garden. Joe is a member of the International Palm Society and has been growing his garden for 30 years. His garden is a marvel to behold. All of his palms were grown from seed. Not a single tree was on the property when he moved in, which is just the way he wanted it. Every plant that went in the ground he wanted to put there himself.

Some of the palms in Joe's garden are Sabal texana, Rhapis excelsa, Trachycarpus takil, T. fortunei, Livistona chinensis, Seranoa repens, Syagrus romanzoffiana, and Washingtonia. He also has Dypsis decaryi and Veitchia merrillii which showed no trace of winter damage. He then pointed out that a number of palms and other plants in his garden are in pots. He moves them to a sheltered portion of his yard every winter to protect them from winter damage. He uses horse manure for winter mulch to provide nutrients and protection to the remainder of the garden.

The garden is grass in the middle, surrounded by a feast for the eyes. Not only does he have an impressive variety of palms but also a number tropical looking plants such as a Kapok tree, bromeliads, orchids, bananas, queen sago and more than perhaps even Joe can count. With every step, a different plant in perfect condition is there to behold. It is truly an inspiration and privelege to view such a magnificent accomplishment. Thank you Joe and Norma Montgomery for letting us visit!

Bromeliads growing on trunk of Livistona chinensis

John Dillard and Texas sabal

Sabal texana

Sabal palmetto

Burgers at the Bakers

Our hosts Norma and Bill Baker

Burgers are on the grill!

Jana Meiser and Peter Hueppi discuss the online auction, with Gary Meiser, John and Blake Volk in background

Robert Riffle, Frankie and Frank Ketchum

Chairman Bill Baker and his wife Norma hosted a barbeque at their home in Austin. After tromping around all afternoon in the hot sun and then a torrential downpour, we were grateful to have clear skies and a place to sit and visit. Several of the people in attendance had "met" on the internet but never in person until this day. Tony Cerbone (his Dallas garden is online) and Mike Osborne travelled all the way from Dallas to attend the meeting. Attending from the Houston area were Peter Hueppi ("The Cool Tropics" webmaster), Robert Riffle (author of The Tropical Look), and our new member Mike Burnett (the "Gulf Coast Garden" webmaster).

After a great dinner, webmaster Jana Meiser announced the arrival of 100 seeds for distribution. In June she travelled to Miami to attend the International Palm Society directors meeting held at the Montgomery Botanical Center. The Center is a private non-profit scientific research organization which specializes in tropical plant research collections. They share limited quantities of seeds with affiliated IPS chapters to distribute as each chapter chooses. PSST received 50 seeds each of Acrocomia aculeata and Syagrus coronata.

This sparked considerable interest, despite the 2-3 year germination wait time for the Acrocomia seeds. We held a discussion on how to handle distribution (after most had already been distributed). The group decided to distribute the seeds at meetings to anyone interested in trying them. Any remaining seeds will be auctioned at the Cool Tropics Online Auction site, with the proceeds going to PSST. Jana (got) volunteered to be the person who sets up the PSST id at the auction site and post the seeds for sale. Jana is not sure how often the seeds will be distributed from Montgomery, but such special seeds are indeed a unique benefit of PSST membership.

Meeting summary by Jana Meiser
Photos by Ed Ladd, Jana and Gary Meiser, Mike Burnett