Review
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“Contains virtually everything you need to know about these
s and their usage in gardens. This is the go-to book.”
—Raymond Jungles, landscape architect
“Dewees and Atkinson provide the inspiration for the careful
crafting of beautiful palm landscapes, even in the smallest of
spaces.” —John Dransfield, Honorary Research Fellow (Palms),
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
“Makes a winning case that there is a palm for every garden, if
not two or three.” —Judy Kameon, founder of Elysian Landscapes
and author of Gardens Are for Living
“This is a fascinating read about the magic of palms and also
makes a beautiful addition to the coffee table.” —Better Homes
and Gardens
“Together author Dewees and photographer Caitlin Atkinson break
through the typical tropical stereotypes to broaden the
restricted reputation of palms. . . . If you want to successfully
add more bold fronds and a tropical style to your landscape,
Designing With Palms is the comprehensive book for you.”
—Gardenista
“After reading it’s nearly impossible not to have newfound
appreciation for palms.” —Garden Design Magazine
“Visually fascinating. . . elegant work.” —Choice
“A beautiful and informative book for gardeners and landscape
designers who would like utilize more members of this versatile
family. Beautifully designed with lovely photos by Caitlin
Atkinson, the content is well-researched and includes appropriate
suggestions for gardeners in a variety of climates.” —NYBG’s
Talk
“Whether you intend to add palm trees to your garden or just
want to feel like you escaped on a tropical vacation, Designing
with Palms by Jason Dewees is for you.” —Garden Design
“Stunning photos. . . . advice on spicing up landscapes with
palms.” —The American Gardener
“Whether you love palms or not, Jason challenges us to see
beyond the iconography—sometimes balmy and bold, sometimes tacky
and misused—to really see this diverse and ancient family.”
—Cultivating Place
“This book will increase your appreciation of palms and help you
select and care for them. Furthermore, the many photographs will
give you plenty of inspiration for using palms in your garden.”
—San Francisco Chronicle
“Contains virtually everything you need to know about palms and
their use in gardens. Based on the San Francisco author’s
knowledge and hands on expertise . . . it is encyclopedic,
instructive, and an inspiring coffee-table delight.” —Marin
Magazine
“A magnificent work worthy of these princes of the
kingdom.” —The Ledger
“A wealth of design inspiration and ideas, exquisitely
photographed by Caitlin Atkinson. Jason [Dewees] shares lessons
from some of the best designers working with palms in the United
States. Useful information about the palm family and a portfolio
of hardy and popular palm species equip designers and gardeners
to embrace the power of palms in landscape design.” —New Books
Network
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From the Back Cover
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The Power of Palms
Few people understand palms as well as Jason Dewees,
horticulturist at Flora Grubb Gardens and at East West Trees, the
leading wholesale source of palms in the United States. In this
comprehensive guide, he shares the many ways palms can transform
courtyards, gardens, and landscapes. Detailing the most important
species and highlighted by striking photography, Designing with
Palms imparts vital advice on making the most of these
statement-making s.
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About the Author
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Jason Dewees is the staff horticulturist at Flora Grubb Gardens
and East West Trees in San Francisco. Responsible for the Tree
Canopy Succession Plan for the San Francisco Botanical Garden, he
serves on the Horticultural Advisory Committee for the San
Francisco Botanical Garden, and on The San Francisco Conservatory
of Flowers Advisory Council.
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Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
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Preface
For most people, the palm hides in plain view. So charismatic,
instantly recognizable, palms get lost in the glare of their own
beauty.
Most of us first fall for palms when the shush of waves on the
sand mixes with the overhead rustle of their fronds. Relaxed,
half-naked, our skin warmed by the sun, our toes cooled by the
sea, we are, for that moment of bliss, in paradise.
Next we notice the amazingly tall row of palms not far from our
house. Our palm love swells and deepens in an encounter with wild
California fan palms in a desert canyon echoing with birdsong. Or
maybe we fall in love in that moment on screen when palms wave
shadows over Kathleen Turner’s sexy villain character at the end
of Body Heat, conferring an ineffable mood to the scene. Even the
simple grace of a potted palm in the corner of the room can charm
us into affection for this distinct family.
My mother adopted a neanthe bella palm (Chamaedorea elegans)
around the time I went to kindergarten. Friends from my nursery
school left the house with her when the family moved away
from San Francisco to New York. It had the classic palm-tree
shape, but in miniature: a rosette of feather-shaped leaves on
top of a green ringed stem no more than an inch thick, with stilt
roots emerging from the base into the soil in a
fertilizer-stained clay pot. I remember nubby root tips dotting
the length of the stem. Every week or two, my mother hand-washed
the with soap to treat a case of scale, the music of Stevie
Wonder or Carole King filling the house. That must have
lasted a long time in her care, for it was later on in childhood
I wondered why the periodically appearing flower stalks never
made fruits—or were those little kernels that dried and dropped
off actually fruits? Sometimes I would peel the husky leafbases
from the trunk, exposing a pale internode that would slowly green
up in response to the light. Even now, I find grooming a
chamaedorea palm one of the most satisfying of garden tasks. My
crush for neanthe bella lives on.
I believe it was the archetype of the palm tree that drew me to
that miniature at home. Palms were regular but infrequent
elements of the landscape where I grew up in California, and
holiday visits to my mother’s side of the family in Miami exposed
me to a place where palms were abundant. Their image preceded in
my mind the arrival of that house. Recognizing a miniature
version of the icon gave me the child’s thrill of connecting a
cat to a tiger.
This first crush grew into a love of the palm family, s,
and gardens—and has since become my passion and vocation. I work
as a palm spet and horticulturist and have been able to
focus on this exceptional family’s attributes and
contributions. I share my love of palms with many in the design,
planning, architectural, and gardening fields and help create
landscapes that challenge conventional ing design. It is a
joy and a mission. The satisfaction of working with a client to
choose the right species for her garden design and her subtle,
modern house on a spectacular, blustery site overlooking Point
Reyes National Seashore comes from puzzle-solving, sweaty
exertion, and elation at both the results and the relationship
we’ve developed in working together. Along the way, I have found
that the palm’s icon status is both portal and obstacle to
working with palms in design.
Palms are among the earliest trees depicted by the human hand.
They are stamped on Roman and Israeli coins from two millennia
ago, portrayed at Egypt’s Tomb of Sennedjem from the late 1300s
BC, carved in 5800-year-old petroglyphs in Saudi Arabia, and seen
in rock art at Tassili n’Ajjer, Algeria, from 6000 BC. The date
palm of the Fertile Crescent was likely one of the earliest
cultivated fruit trees, bound to the origins of Western agrarian
civilization. These ancient portraits are potent, distilled
images signifying the satisfaction of hunger and thirst. However
enrobed in our jet-age perspective such elemental satisfactions
may now be, images of palms remain ubiquitous today, still
signifying respite and bounty. If any is an icon, it is the
palm.
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