Are you looking for an unusual plant for your garden or sun porch? Growing cycads is easy, and these unusual plants are spectacular and will impress all your friends. The evergreen plants look like exotic, stunted palm trees but are really primitive survivors of greenery that was around with the dinosaurs.
In its native regions, the cycad may look like a rosette of leaves flat on the ground, as its woody trunk my be entirely underground. In other areas, it grows from three to ten feet tall. It has a distinctive crown of leaves, as the older side leaves fall off. Male and female plants bear cones, the male with pollen and the female with large, colorful seeds. Beetles are the main pollinators for cycads.
Scientists think there were hundreds of species of these primitive evergreens which are now extinct. However, several hundred species are still found in warm, dry regions in Australia, Africa, Mexico, Central America, China, Japan, and arid islands around the oceans. Some look more like tree ferns than palms.
This hardy evergreen prefers dry, rocky soil. It does well in a terra cotta pot as long as the drainage is excellent. The gardener should not let this plant dry out; the soil should be moist but never water-logged. The fleshy roots rot easily. The plant likes to be root-bound, so re-potting is seldom necessary. They exist in the wild with a symbiotic kind of algae in their root mass which takes nitrogen from the air.
Plant them outside in the warmer zones. They need full sun and watering twice a week in hot weather. In winter, you can pretty much ignore them. In the wild, a blue-green algae lives in their roots and attracts nitrogen from the air. In the garden, you will do best to feed them with a fertilizer designed for palms that is a balance of magnesium, phosphorus, and potassium.
Several species of cycad have blue leaves. This is because the plants produce a waxy coating which slows evaporation through the leaves in periods of drought. Even these 'blue' species turn green in humid conditions or in greenhouses, since the plants no longer need to produce the wax. If you can give them low humidity, you can enjoy carious shades from silvery-white to deeper blue.
In the house, plan their place to have lots of natural light. They should not be near a source of heat but in a well-ventilated, low humidity room or enclosed porch. They like the temperature to be around 70 degrees Fahrenheit. Outside, they like full sun and will be perennials in tropical or sub-tropical gardens.
The impressive cycad attracts attention in the garden or indoors. If given the right conditions, they are long-lived, slow-growing, and easy to care for. The attractive blue color can be maintained in low-humidity rooms or gardens. If you are looking for an exotic touch for your home, you should check out the living fossil Sago palm.
In its native regions, the cycad may look like a rosette of leaves flat on the ground, as its woody trunk my be entirely underground. In other areas, it grows from three to ten feet tall. It has a distinctive crown of leaves, as the older side leaves fall off. Male and female plants bear cones, the male with pollen and the female with large, colorful seeds. Beetles are the main pollinators for cycads.
Scientists think there were hundreds of species of these primitive evergreens which are now extinct. However, several hundred species are still found in warm, dry regions in Australia, Africa, Mexico, Central America, China, Japan, and arid islands around the oceans. Some look more like tree ferns than palms.
This hardy evergreen prefers dry, rocky soil. It does well in a terra cotta pot as long as the drainage is excellent. The gardener should not let this plant dry out; the soil should be moist but never water-logged. The fleshy roots rot easily. The plant likes to be root-bound, so re-potting is seldom necessary. They exist in the wild with a symbiotic kind of algae in their root mass which takes nitrogen from the air.
Plant them outside in the warmer zones. They need full sun and watering twice a week in hot weather. In winter, you can pretty much ignore them. In the wild, a blue-green algae lives in their roots and attracts nitrogen from the air. In the garden, you will do best to feed them with a fertilizer designed for palms that is a balance of magnesium, phosphorus, and potassium.
Several species of cycad have blue leaves. This is because the plants produce a waxy coating which slows evaporation through the leaves in periods of drought. Even these 'blue' species turn green in humid conditions or in greenhouses, since the plants no longer need to produce the wax. If you can give them low humidity, you can enjoy carious shades from silvery-white to deeper blue.
In the house, plan their place to have lots of natural light. They should not be near a source of heat but in a well-ventilated, low humidity room or enclosed porch. They like the temperature to be around 70 degrees Fahrenheit. Outside, they like full sun and will be perennials in tropical or sub-tropical gardens.
The impressive cycad attracts attention in the garden or indoors. If given the right conditions, they are long-lived, slow-growing, and easy to care for. The attractive blue color can be maintained in low-humidity rooms or gardens. If you are looking for an exotic touch for your home, you should check out the living fossil Sago palm.
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