In 1974 when I was a Probation Officer at Juvenile Court in New Orleans I saw an elderly man collecting seeds from the many beautiful palm trees along Loyola Ave by the Civil Courts Building. He told me he planted the seeds in empty coffee cans and grew them for sale. He was correct because I followed his advice and had many palm trees to plant in my yard. New Orleans has many beautiful palms and they make the landscape very interesting. I purposely painted the the palm tree behind the lion in the above painting because with the moon the painting looked like another place not New Orleans City Park. The park has some unique and beautiful spots that could be found in Europe .
Last November while visiting the park I decided to collect some seeds from that big beautiful palm tree near the Peristyle. I wasn’t sure why. I had already collected seeds from palm trees on Magazine St and they were sprouting. This weekend I was in city park and discovered to make room for “improvements” that big beautiful palm tree was cut down and laying ready to be cut up into pieces. Now I know why I stopped to collect the seeds. I will not only have a beautiful palm tree but one from the big palm tree that once stood majestically near the Peristyle in City Park making my painting even more cherished.
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