Sunday, October 21, 2018

Finally Did It

Growing up in San Diego, you just get used to seeing palm trees. They're everywhere. Especially at the beach.


Not long after we moved to Washington State, we took a road trip back down to visit family and as we got closer to the city, Sharaya asks from the back seat, "What's that?" She was maybe 4 or 5 years old.

"What's what?"

"That thing with the funny leaves on top."

What?!? We were horrified that she didn't know what a palm tree was! We had failed as parents.

We decided then and there we wanted to have a palm tree in Seattle!

When we bought our second home, Chuck did some research and found a certain kind that actually grows here! So one year for Mother's Day he surprised me with my very own palm tree!

It's a Trachycarpus Wagnerianus or Windmill Palm and I absolutely love it! 

This was in 2003, right after we planted it. You can see we hadn't even buried the edging yet.

  

2009


 I've planted succulents around it, thinking cactus-type plants would be perfect with it but I found the fronds got really tiny, I mean really small! So I took the plants out and the fronds got big again.


2015
 


My dad has lived most of his life (almost 94 years!) in San Diego and absolutely loves the idea of us having a palm tree in our backyard. Every time I talk to him, he asks about it; how it's doing, how tall it's gotten, so now every year I take a picture and send it to him. 

April 2016

 
July 2018
 

I've tried to figure out what I could plant underneath it. I've had flowers and all kinds of things over the years, and even though it looks so nice when everything is blooming, it's been so hard to keep up with it. I'm constantly pulling weeds and watering and I finally decided that I was done.



The one thing I've always wanted to put under it was sand. Just plain ol' sand. That's one of my favorite memories about being at the beach: the crashing waves, all those palm trees and the sand under my feet! So after all these years I went to Home Depot and picked up 9 bags of sand. What a difference! No more weeds, just beautiful, soft sand.




If feels more tropical now, like it's finally finished. I know Allie's gonna love playing in it, and now I go out in the morning to see what kind of critters have been walking around in it during the night!


3 comments:

ellen b. said...

Amazing to see the growth of the palm over the years. Great idea to add the sand!

diana said...

It's gotten so large since I last saw it!! Sheesh. Now it looks like a real California palm tree.

Rebecca Jo said...

I love you've taken pictures through the years of it.
Look at the critter prints. Love that