How to grow fern-like plants in Phoenix, Arizona

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No tropical paradise is complete without ferns. Well, at least plants that look like ferns. And that's the best I can do here in the Phoenix area because you can't grow ferns here. No. No.

Now calm down, I'm not saying that you can't buy ferns here. You can buy all kinds of ferns, just about anywhere. They're grown in greenhouses, and as soon as you put them in the ground here in the Phoenix area they start to die. No, it's doesn't matter how much water you give them, or shade, or if you mist them every few hours. The air in the desert is simply too dry for ferns.

Yeah, no one could talk me out of buying and planting ferns for years and years. I wish I had the money, and effort back! Oh well, live and learn. If you're at a point now where you've wisely given up on planting ferns in the Phoenix area, you're ready for my favorite fern-like plants, called cycads.

No, you really won't find them at your average nursery, and you sure won't find them at Home Depot. Well, you'll find one type, which is commonly called a "sago palm" (no, that's not a sago palm in the pic up there), which isn't a palm tree, nor is it a fern, it's a cycad. If you've never heard of cycads, it's not surprising, they're not exactly common landscape plants.

OK, if you've already started planted "sago palms", you're on your way to the wonderful world of cycads. I have many cycad species here in the Tropical Paradise. And they are available at specialty nurseries, but you have to do to a place where the person there understands the word "cycad". If they just give you a blank look, thank them politely, and move on.

If you've found a place that sells cycads (and I won't mention them here, as it would seem as if I were advertising), then you're in business. You can show them this post, and they'll say, "Ah! A dioon spinulosum!" As cycads go, spinners are fairly common. Not as common as sago palms, but common.

I have several Dioons, including spinulosums, like you see in the pic up there. They do fine with the low humidity of the desert, but you gotta give them afternoon shade. They are kinda pricey, but if you took all of the money I threw away watching ferns die over the years, it would have been way cheaper if I had just planted cycads.

There ya go, I'm glad you asked!

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