Civic Projects
The Civic Affairs and Town Beautification Committees have a close personal relationship with the Town and the Public Works Department. Member Lesly Smith was honored to serve as Mayor of Palm Beach for many years. Our members have served on the Landmarks Commission and the Architectural Commission. Civic Affairs attends all Town Meetings. The Garden Club, as a gift to the Town, recently completed the Kaleidoscope Flower Beds Royal Poinciana Way public medians to complement earlier xeriscape landscaping of Bradley Park. Shade and flowering tree seedlings have also been planted throughout the park as our Arbor Day town beautification projects.
(Please click on images for Brochure of the Kaleidoscope flower beds)
The Post Causeway Traffic Circle by Mar-a-Lago and the Causeway is a Xeriscape Project scheduled by the Club. Recently the Garden Club voted to complete and dedicate the landscaping of Wrightsman Park, adjoining Tangier Park, to the Town. Tangier Park and Wrightsman Park are used by many island families. Preserving our parks and green space is foremost in Garden Club efforts to preserve our heritage. The Town of Palm Beach is our partner.
Text -Sharon Stewart Neri - Civic Affairs Committee Chair
The Kaleidoscope
Flowerbeds on
Royal Poinciana Way
AGAVE augustifolia (Agavaceae) “Marginata or Variegated caribbean agave”; small beautiful Agave with stiff short, sword shape leaves with cream colored margins. Leaves will reach up to 20 in. long by 3-4 in. wide with marginal teeth and a subulate-conical terminal spine. Needs full sun to partial shade.
AGAVE americana, (Amaryllidaceae) (Mexico), “Century plant”; large, loose open, trunkless rosette of spreading, broad and thick-succulent, glaucous gray-green leaves 2-2 ½ m long, sharply bend downward above the middle, with sharp brown hooks at margins, and ending in a spiny point; yellowish flowers on a tall spike to 12 m, produced when plant is 10 years or more old. Arid-Tropical.
AGAVE tequilana (Agavaceae) (Mexico: Jalisco) “Blue star or Tequila agave”; large spreading rosette forming offsets, with rather thin, leathery, gray-green leaves 1 m long and 8 cm wide, straight margins with tiny spines curved forward, short stout terminal spine; inflorescence 6m high, with spreading branches. Requires full sun to partial shade.
AGAVE lurida (Amaryllidaceae) (Mexico); stemless rosette with flaring, recurving broad leaves15 cm wide and 1 m long, glaucous gray-green and striped gray, rather thin, leathery fleshy; dense marginal spines on fleshy base.
AGAVE wercklei (Agavaceae) (Costa Rica); forms a 3ft rosette with wide, tapering leaves that recurve upward then, outward, have a stout terminal spine and fairly large marginal spines. Flowers are showy golden yellow. Very rare in its habitat.
ALOE tomentosa (Asphodelacea) (Arabian Peninsula, Asia) “Hairy Green Aloe”; Larger terrestrial suckering aloe with thick, smooth, mildly spiny glaucous, and in some cases, near translucent, leaves. Plants can get over 2' in diameter. Flowers are whiteish, branced and fuzzy. Plant in full sun to light shade and irrigate frequently.
ALOE species (Asphodelacea) “White teeth”; A short yet dense growing specie that matures at overall heights between 30-45 cm. It's foliage is medium green with leaves reaching lengths of 25 cm. It's leaf margin exhibits continuous alignment of “white” teeth. The plant produces salmon colored flowers intermittently throughout the year that stand only 10-30 cm over the whole plant.
DRACAENA arborea (Liliaceae) (North Guinea), “Tree dracaena”, tree-like, to 12 m, with dense head of broad, swordshaped, evenly fresh-green, sessile, wavy leaves to 90 cm long, with sunken veins and prominently raised midrib. Roots of Dracaenas are orange-yellow (white in Cordyline). Tropical.
EUPHORBIA milii (Euphorbiaceae) (splendens) (W. Madagascar), “Crown of thorns”; xerophytic spiny shrub with slender scandent woody stems to 2 m long, the spreading branches about 1 cm dia., grooved and armed with spines; obovate 4 cm leaves dull green, deciduous, and soon falling if disturbed or too dry; flower bracts soft salmon-red with pale center. May be trained against trellis or wire frame; very cheerful when in bloom at Easter time; good house plant for warm location. From stem cuttings. Tropical.
FICUS microcarpa (Moraceae) “Green island”; heavy textured leaves but is only a little longer than wide, say 3 to 4 in. in either dimension, and the shape would be described botanically as “orbicular” with only an obsure tip. These leaf differences are pretty constant, but even more significant is the growth habit. Green island tends to spread out sideways and is easy to train as a ground-hugging shrub clinging closely to rocks, across a bed, or even trailing down a wall. Subtropic.
KALANCHOE thyrsiflora (Crassulaceae) (in hort. As “Vertical leaf”) (Cape Prov., Transvaal); stem-forming succulent with almost oval leaves flat on the surface, rounded beneath and arranged diagonally, light green with silvery hoary covering, apex flushed red; flowering yellow. Subtropic.
NEOREGELIA cruenta (Bromeliaceae) (Brazil: Guanabara); stout rosette with broad leaves about 30 cm long and 8 cm wide, brownish-green with blood-red blotch at spine-tipped apex, the margins spiny also; flowers blue surrounded by bluish bracts, deep in center of plant, which turns rosy at blooming time. Tropical.
PORTULACARARIA afra 'Variegata' (Portulacaceae), “Rainbow bush”; lovely little succulent with red-brown stems and sparry, opposite branches dense with pretty leaves mildly-green broadly margined creamy-white, and with a thin carmine-red edge. Arid-subtropic.
Additional Plants found in the
Kaleidoscopes:
AGAVE univittata (Agavaceae) (Mexico); This plant matures at about 45 cm. Stiff, straight leaves measuring 25-30cm. Leaves exhibit white teeth on leaf margin, lighter green band that runs the length of the leaf. This specie produces numerous offshoots throughout the year.
AGAVE attenuata (Amaryllidaceae) (Mexico), “Dragon-tree agave”; rosette, on 1 m stem when old; leaves to 1 m long, wide in the middle, narrow at base, smooth, without teeth, gray-green; the beautiful inflorescence with greenish-yellow flowers in 3 m spikes gracefully arching, occasionally producing bulbils. Tolerates full sun to shade. Arid-Tropical.
ALOE maculata (saponaria) (Liliaceae) (S. Africa); This is a spotted Aloe specie that matures at overall heights of 30-45cm. It produces salmon pink flowers throughout the year. It constantly produces plant offshoots.
KALANCHOE fedtshcenko (Crassulaceae); This plant matures at 45-65cm. It produces throughout the year orange-pink flowers. Its foliage color is gray green however turns to pink to purple tones during the drier winter months. It regularly self branches into dense masses of succulent foliage.
NEOREGELIA margaret (Bromeliaceae) This relatively new Neoregelia produces a deep red foliage color during the drier, cooler winter months. Its mature height is only 20-30cm with plant spreads reaching 40cm. It can tolerate full sun to partial shade conditions.
Bibliography
HORTICULTURAL CLASSIFICATION:
Burch, Derek. “A Touch of the Tropics: Ficus for the Landscape.” Horticultralist.com.
<www.horticulturist.com/mastermag10/ficus.html.>
Cathcart, Dennis and Linda. “From Beautiful to Bizarre.” Tropiflora Cargo Report. 2004. June
<www.tropiflora.com/creport/cr14-2/p6.html>.
“Detailed Information on Aloe Tomentosa.” Dave's Garden. 11 August 2009
<http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/64396>.
Graf, Alfred B. Exotica, New Jersery, Roehrs Co., 1982
Graf, Alfred B., Tropica, New Jersery, Roehrs Co.,1992.
Lemke, Cal. “Agave angustifolia 'Marginata- Variegated Caribbean Agave.” Cal's Plant of the Week.
2009. University of Oklahoma. 10 March 2005 <http://plantoftheweek.org/week298.shtml>.
SUGGESTED READING:
Anderson, Miles. Cacti & Succulents.
Bell, S. Growing Cacti & Succulents in the Conservatory & Indoors.
Cave, Y. Succulents for the Contemporary Garden.
Dardick, Karen & Levick, Melba. Estate Gardens of California.
Gardner, Theodore R. II. Lotusland, A Photographic Odyssey.
Gentry, Howard S. Agaves of Continental North America.
Hewitt, T. 101 Essential Cacti & Succulents.
Hochstatten, F. Yucca 1 or 2 or 3.
Huntinghton Bontanical Garden. Dry Climate Gardening with Succulents.
Irish, Mary & Gary. Agaves, Yuccas, and Related Plants.
Kapitany, A. & Schulz R. Succulent Success in the Garden.
La Fon, Ron. The Euphorbia Journal.
Masson, Kathryn. Santa Barbara Style.
Nobel, Park S. Environmental Biology of Agaves and Cactus.
Rowley, G. Caudiciform & Pachycaul Succulents.
Rowley, G. Crassula, A Grower's Guide.
Rowley, G. History of Succulent Plants.
Sajeva, Maurizio & Constanzo, Mariangela. Succulents, The Illustrated Dictionary
Sajeva, Maurizio & Constanzo, Mariangela. Succulents Two.
Sunset Books. Succulents and Cactus.
Taylor, Jane. Drought Tolerant Plants.
Van Wyck, B. & Smith, G. Guides to Aloes of South Africa.
Wasowski, Sally. Native Gardens for Dry Climates.
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