Phoenix canariensis x rupicola palm tree

-
The Phoenix canariensis x rupicola palm tree cross that I planted last month is growing strong. It is a cross between a Phoenix canariensis (Canary Island Date Palm) and a Phoenix rupicola (Indian Date Palm). The cross was developed by a local grower and fellow member of The Arizona Palm and Cycad Association, Robert Claesgens. This cross is so new that larger specimens than this one are not yet available. It will grow faster than an ordinary Phoenix rupicola, which is notoriously slow, but not as fast as a regular Phoenix canariensis. I have it placed in my garden with plenty of room to allow it to grow.

As you can see, I am trying to give it a lot of companion plants. In the foreground is a clump of ornamental garlic. This is a sunny part of the yard, and I am noticing the tips are browning. I'm not sure at this point if it's too much sun, or just from the transplant that is causing this. Behind it is another attempt to get a Canna Tropicanna started here. The first one died. It may be too sunny and dry for Cannas here. There are a lot of bulbs planted at the base, which will start to grow in the fall, and bloom the following spring. Behind it is a Dioon edule cycad, which has been in the garden for over ten years. It coned a couple of years ago and has just been sitting there, refusing to send up new leaves since then. Mature cycads can do this! The plant is strong and healthy and I just need to be patient.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Growing sunflowers from Pennsylvania in Arizona

-
Image
It's October 21st, and I just received some sunflower seeds from a friend in Pennsylvania. Their season is ending and the season for planting here in Arizona is just beginning, and I'm kinda wondering if the seeds are wondering what's going on? It's spring again already? If you're new to the Phoenix, Arizona area, and are from back east it must seem kinda strange that fall and winter is our flower season, but it is. By springtime it will start to get so hot here that the flowers will die, and of course back east the season is just beginning.  Sunflowers growing in Peoria, Arizona, about a mile from where I live I've seen sunflowers blooming around my neighborhood of Glendale, which is a suburb of Phoenix, in the winter, and although I've never grown them I understand that they're easy to grow. I guess I'll find out - I learn best by doing! The seeds arrived safely, and it's my understanding that they were still connected to the spent flower (I do
Read more

How to tell if your cycad (sago palm) is alive or dead

-
Image
Cycads are strange plants. They're beautiful, and look like small palm trees, or large ferns. They grow very slowly, and can be very expensive, even common ones like "sago palms". But sago palms, in spite of their common name, aren't palms at all. They belong to a group of plants called cycads. They are wonderfully weird, and grow in strange ways. And sometimes they lose all of their leaves. Of course, if it were a palm tree that lost all of its leaves, you would know that the plant was dead. But it's not true of cycads. So don't dig that cycad up and throw it away! Not yet. If you've recently transplanted a cycad, and the leaves have all faded away, hang on. Take a look at the top center of the plant, at what I call "the pucker". There you will see some stubby, soft fronds, no more than an half-inch or so. At least that's what you should see. That means that the plant is still alive, and has dropped its leaves to focus on building r
Read more

Rooting sago palm pups for more plants

-
Image
Once a sago palm ( cycas revoluta ) reaches a certain level of maturity, it starts to create pups. Like agaves, these are little plants that are exactly the same as the parent plant, only smaller. And yes, you can trim them off and grow them into new plants. This is how to do it. Cut them off from the parent plant with a sharp knife. If there are any roots at the bottom, try to save them, but chances are there won't be any. That's not a problem. The next step is rooting them. Douse the cut part and the bottom of the plant with some garden sulfur and some rooting hormone powder. Rooting hormone powder is pretty easy to find at your local Home Depot. I had to go to a real nursery to get garden sulfur. Anyway, the idea is to keep the little plant from rotting while giving it time to grow its own roots. Sago palm pups being rooted Bury them fairly deep in some free-draining mix. It should include volcanic pumice, if you can find it, and if not, you can use perlite. I
Read more