Brad's Tropical Paradise

Unlike most plants here on planet earth, cycads are dioecious. That is, they are either male or female, like animals and people. There are actually quite a few plants that are like this - here's a list from Wikipedia . This dioon edule cycad here in my garden is a male. I know it's a male from the shape of the cone. This is the third time it's coned since I planted it here in the 90s, and, well, it just makes me a little sad. The truth is that he would need a female plant nearby to cone at the same time as him to be able to help produce fertile seeds. So, he goes through this cycle every couple of years, and then the cone falls apart, useless. He is surrounded by many other cycads of the same species here in The Tropical Paradise, but they are far too young to cone, and I really don't know if they are females or males. He will have to be patient. Cycads live for hundreds of years, so hopefully someday, he will help life to find a way!

Summer is here and this is the time to get out there and feed your palms, cycads, and all of your tropical plants. Be generous! That bag of Osmocote that has been sitting in your garage for six years isn't doing your plants any good. Go get it, sprinkle it out all over your garden, and water it in well. Use it all. And if you're feeling even more energetic, pour some Miracle-Gro into a hose-end sprayer and do some foliar feeding. Don't worry, you won't overfeed your tropical plants, they're probably close to starving to death. In combination with the humid, hot weather and plenty of food, they will be luscious, strong and green. And if you want your grass to be nice and green, too, install artificial turf.

In habitat, cycads, like sago palms, grow in large groups, called colonies. In gardens they are usually planted as individual specimens, or scattered thinly around. This isn't surprising, as even the least expensive type of cycad, the sago palm, is a pretty expensive and slow-growing plant. So beginning a colony of cycas revolutas wasn't anything that I ever had in mind. But now I am starting one. It started as I began to mourn the untimely demise of one of my oldest cycads. It's latest flush, last year, was pathetic and stumpy and it appeared to be on its last legs. I told my sad story to the Vice President of the Arizona Palm and Cycad Association, whom I have known for almost a decade, and he took pity on me. He donated the very sizable plant on the left, which was a pup taken from one of the gems of his collection. And then something very strange started happening. As if to protest this *replacement*, the *dead* sago started to grow again. So, I have planted the n...

The first time you see one of your cycads coning, I can tell you, it's exciting. Cycads have to be a certain age and size before this happens, so it is rare to see. I planted my first dioon edule in about 1997 and it coned for the first time in 2006. Then it coned again in 2008. And it's not quite as exciting the second time, as you realize that there won't be a flush of beautiful new leaves that year, and the leaves that are there will just splay out and look terrible. I just noticed that it is starting to develop a cone again this year (2012), and I have to admit that I'm not pleased. At first it looks like it's going to be a big flush of leaves, and then you check it in a day or two, and then you finally realize, sigh, it's a cone. It's cool to see, but I'd rather have leaves. Will have to wait another year.

Cycads, such as sago palms, like all tropical plants, need food. And, yes, you can spend a lot of money on expensive plant food that has been labelled *for cycads*. And that's great. In fact, you can visit websites and read discussions on forums about the best mixture for cycads. But in the meantime, if your plants are out there starving to death, you're better off giving them something. One of the neatest tricks that I have been using for years is houseplant fertilizer spikes. These are inexpensive (I just bought a bunch at the dollar store) and cycads love them. Unlike most dry plant food, which you sprinkle on the surface and then just wash away, these go down into the root area. And not only do they bring in much needed food, they also loosen up the soil a bit to help bring in moisture. And these plant food spikes provide continuous release for two months, which is just perfect for cycads. When to feed. Cycads only grow once a year, in growth spurts called *flushes...

Like everyone else who lives in the Sonoran Desert, which is where the city of Phoenix, Arizona is, I swear it gets hotter every year. I promise myself to not look at the sunburn damage, and be patient, but it's hard. It seems like the heat came on very fast this year! But at least now we're now entering the rainy season. Thankfully, the Sonoran Desert has thunderstorms in the summer. It's still brutally hot, but at least it's not dry. And while humans don't like heat and humidity, plants do. Here is a shot I took a few minutes ago of Trilobite Reef. As you can see, the cannas look pretty sunburned. They are still growing strong, and will look fine in a couple of months, but in the meantime, well, they just look sad. There is sunburn all over the place, unfortunately, but I would like to focus on what is doing surprisingly well, and that's the portulaca (moss rose). You can see the two bright green clumps of it with the light purple flowers. I planted a lot...

I just learned about Haworthias this past year - like most people I guess I just saw them as *aloes*. And in addition to being interesting plants, they seem to be doing well in the heat, which surprises me. This little guy (and he is very tiny, only a couple of inches tall) just sent up a flower stalk. Next to it is portulaca (moss rose), which is also doing well in the heat. The cannas that you can see in the background are getting sunburned as are a lot of plants here at The Tropical Paradise. The summer rains are on their way, and that will provide a nice break from the relentless heat and sun. And then it's not that long until September, is it?