Tropical cycad

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I'm experimenting mostly here at The Tropical Paradise, and one of the great successes has been the cannas and the elephant ears. But getting cycads, which normally prefer to be kept on the dry side, to live with plants that love to have their "feet wet" has been a challenge.

Yesterday I moved a zamia floridana cycad into the space where I had originally planted a dioon spinulosum. The dioon had been struggling in this space for several seasons, and after closer inspection, I found what had originally been a nice mound, that allowed for drainage, had collapsed, creating a much-too-wet environment for the dioon. It's also an area that gets a lot of direct sunshine, even though it's only in the morning. But this is Phoenix, and you can get a sunbird before 9 am!

So I moved this little zamia floridana into the vacant space. And actually, it has been living just a few feet over, and was already outgrowing its space, so it needed to be moved, anyway. I bought it at Lowe's where it was being sold as a houseplant. I've never seen them for sale in the Phoenix area in nurseries, although I have several here which are doing fine.

This type of cycad grows well in swampy areas. So well, in fact, that it is an invasive species in Florida, called a "coontie". This part of The Tropical Paradise is pretty swampy, so it should be happy there.

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