Creating a tropical paradise in a very hot climate

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I like living in the Phoenix area, the cost of living is much lower than in California, and it's less crowded. But it gets very hot. I mean waaaay hot, crazy hot. And one of the things that I've done here is to create the illusion of the coolness of ocean breezes in the tropics - with cycads.

If you're not familiar with the term cycad, it's not surprising. They grow beautifully here in the Phoenix area, but they just haven't caught on like petunias have. So they can be difficult to find at your average garden center. So please don't go wandering into Home Depot asking some overworked person where their cycads are. All you're gonna get is a weird look. But don't despair!

Most people who look at cycads just imagine that they're small palm trees. But they're completely different plants, and besides if they were small palm trees they'd outgrow the space in a season or two. These plants are miniatures, and that's the secret of why they look so great, and also why they don't sell very good. They're gems, and they cost a lot, even when they're very, very small.

What I have now, after about twenty years of planting cycads, is a garden of big miniatures. You know, like jumbo shrimp. I just took that picture up there standing next to my cycads, and I'll continue to look down on them for many years. I suppose if, God willing, I live for another twenty years they might be as tall as me. At least the Dioon spinulosum, which is the broad-leaf cycad there. The narrow-leaf one, a zamia, will never get very tall, it just gets bushy.

If you're just a cycad beginner, go to your local nursery and ask for a "sago palm", which is actually a cycas revoluta. Once you get used to that, you can move to other types of cycads, and you'll find that they are available in Phoenix - you just gotta know where to look, and what to look for. Most of these plants really don't go by common names, so you gotta speak a little Latin - and don't worry about your pronunciation, close is close enough, and no one really knows what Latin is supposed to sound like.

If you're already past the "sago palm" stage, go ahead and show the place that sells cycads the pic in this post - they'll know! Enjoy!

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