Brad's Tropical Paradise

Cycads are interesting plants. They're a group of plants that have a very ancient lineage, before the days of flowering plants. The most common ones are called "sago palms", although they aren't really palms. They look kinda like small palm trees, or large ferns. The ones I like the best are called Dioons, which is what the one at the top of this post is. And it's flushing. Flushing means that it's growing new leaves. If that doesn't impress you, it's understandable, because most plants grow all of the time. Palm trees grow all of the time, ferns grow all of the time. Well, except when it's really, really cold. But cycads only grow once a year, in what is called a flush. Every once in a while one of my cycads will flush twice a year. And heck, I've even seen some flush three times a year, but that's very rare. They usually flush once. Once. And that means that when a cycad starts to flush, it's the most exciting time in the world...

It's May 2nd, and there are a LOT of pods on my palm trees. It's spring, and they're just the way the plant produces flowers, but you gotta admit it looks kinda strange, especially up close on miniature palms. Anyway, first of all, relax, it's perfectly normal, it's just the flowering stage of the plant. The pods will lengthen and open to reveal the tiny yellow flowers. It's kinda pretty, although it can get messy, so as soon as the pods open and the outside gets all shriveled up, I snip the pod off at the base (I took this pic a few minutes ago, and I'm gonna go out and snip it after I finish writing this). Or I may leave it on for a few more days, it really doesn't look bad, do you think? There really is no sense trying to trim off the pods early. They will just continue to grow out, and look ratty. Yeah, you'll have to be trimming for the next few weeks. It's like "deadheading" any flowering plant, you go out there and trim on...