Volunteers (L-R) Mia Davis, Lenny Goldstein, Xavier Purroy, John Cozza, Clyde de Quesada (behind John), Steve Pearson, Julio Alvarez (behind Steve), Benyah Andressohn and Horace Hobbs.
UM Palm Planting Day, June 14, 2025
Last year, following a successful Spring Palm Show and Sale at UM, the South Florida Palm Society asked UM if we could repeat the sale, but this time, in the larger Faculty Parking Lot adjacent to the Gifford Arboretum. Steve Pearson suggested to UM that SFPS would help make improvements to the Palmetum and in return UM would waive the normal fees for our palm sale. It was a win-win proposal for everyone.
The sale occured on March 8 to 9, 2025 and was very successful. Our vendors offered nearly 300 species for sale. The previous weekend, a group of volunteers added new plant tags in UM’s Palmetum.
Then June 14, a group of 14 volunteers from South Florida Palm Society, TREEmendous and students from FIU, friends and family led by Steve Pearson, planted 18 palms in the Palmetum. The palms were donated mainly by Montgomery Botanical Center and Redland Nursery. We are very grateful for the assistance of the volunteers and the palm donations.
The work was completed in just two hours, despite the heat and approximately 110% humidity (more or less). This was simply fantastic! I am so grateful to the volunteers who dug holes, planted the palms, spread the mulch and even carried gallon jugs of water, so the new palms could have their first drinks. Then it was time for pizza!
Our hardworking volunteers (l_R): Benyah Andressohn, Mia Davis, Xavier Purroy, Steve Pearson and John Cozza.
Hopefully, with a bit of soggy summer weather, the new palms will take hold and become more beautiful with each passing year. This all depends on skill and luck, and we’ll know soon enough if nature is on our side.
There are still many more palms that can be added to the Palmetum, so we are hopeful to continue improving the Palmetum and in recognition of this effort, UM will approve our application for palm shows and sales in the spring in 2026.
Thanks to our 14 volunteers and the palm donors as listed below, UM’s Palmetum has 18 new seedlings.
David Lord
Just behind the marker for the University of Miami’s Palmetum is a freshly-planted Heterospathe philippinensis. This dwarf species will top out at about 10 ft., but is in no great hurry; the specimen here is already more than 20 years old. The original donor was Frank Hausman, a quiet man who traveled the tropics during breaks from teaching piano at the Columbia School of Music. He would bring back seeds of lots of interesting plants and share or trade them.
Volunteers: Ben Andressohn, Clyde de Quesada, David Lord, Horace Hobbs, John Cozza, Julio Alvarez, Laz Priegues, Valance Tulia, Lenny Goldstein, Mia Davis, Miguel, Scott Pearson, Steve Pearson and Xavier Purroy Solans.
Palm Donations:
Montgomery Botanical Center: 2 Coccothrinax sp., 2 Coccothrinax fragrans (smells nice), Sabal miamiensis (rare in cultivation), Sabal lougheediana, Coccothrinax boschiana and Caryota gigas.
Redland Nursery: 3 Caryota urens, Ptychosperma lineare, 3 Carpoxylon macrospermum, Arenga engleri, Orania sp.
Lenny Goldstein: Heterospathe philippinensis David Lord: 3 Carpoxylon macrospermum
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