esrosedotblog

PALMISTRY

Every year has its seasons and, here in the desert, there is no exception.

It is just that we have different kinds of seasons; almost all of them horticultural.

This, for instance, is the Palm Trimming Season. It has followed closely on the Third Annual Planting Season (annuals only tri-annual) and will be followed by the Hot-Dormancy Season.

There are lots of palm trees. We have thousands in the town and ten in our yard depending on where you draw the property line—if we get to trim them, they are ours and so the line moves.

In late May, the palms all start to seed. Pods grow out from the leaves and then explode in thousands of little winged seeds per tree.

They crunch when you walk on them and stick to everything. They can clog a pool filter. They cause some people to get sinus problems.

You gotta cut the ones that are close to the house. And the leaves too as they will soon die and droop unless you want to make a skirt.

There are some who just cut the seed pods and let the leaves drop to the trunk and form a skirt. We have four skirted trees on the bank (where the property line is).

The skirts are home to rats, snakes, bats, and god only knows what else. We are all good neighbors.

So, our four palms, close to the house, have been cut. We are the first on the block. They all have three fronds sticking out of the top. They look as though they have had a crew cut. But, the new growth will come back quickly.

Ours are done 'by hand' with a machete and a genuine climbing cutter. No chain saws. No cherry pickers.

The underfoot crunch is mostly gone and the pool is clean. We have pretty much vacuumed all of the seeds that have been brought into the house.

The outdoor areas got airblown the other day but it takes a while to get all of it out of the yard. A lot of the seeds blow up into the air and then just settle back down again.

You gotta hose them out.

There are two of the other neighbor's trees that are close enough to cause trouble but he will be an early cutter too. At least he has in the past.

Another season gone.

Now we are waiting for the Hot-Dormancy Season where everything pretty much goes into a fetal position to hide from the ultraviolet rays. Some plants like it but not many. I do not fertilize in the summer. You want to discourage growth.