I sat looking at my Cycads while having coffee this morning, they're quite an intriguing prehistoric plant.
I'd love to share them with you.
We've a couple of male and female Cycads in our garden and have had them for many years.
Being "dioecious plants" the male produces cones filled with pollen and the female produces seeds.
The birds love eating the fleshy seeds of the plant, hence attract different species to the garden which is a good thing.
Their long spikey leaves resemble a palm tree, showing off long green spikey leaves, they're actually gymnosperms (naked seeds), in other words they don't produce a fruit or flower, they're an ancient seed plant, which have existed for millions of years.
We've a subtropical to hot climate here in South Africa which is ideal for the Cycad plant to thrive.
They also can be found in Australia and central America.
I think the historical display they give to the garden, telling it's own story of the past, is quite enchanting.
When I look at them, I see dinosaurs Lol!.... could write a children's
story maybe?...a little fairy tale... Hehe!
Cycads are prehistoric plants
They're very woody and hardy plants needing very little attention.
This Cycad plant in the picture is a male, the shape of a male cone is elongated and a female is more rounded.
These in the picture are females, the seeds are pollinated by insects from the male plant.
The seeds from the female cone will become loose and eventually fall or break off easily.
One can them cut the cone off and propagate the seeds by cleaning the flesh off around the seed and leave to air dry for a few hours, then put into a bucket of water for 24 hours.
The ones that float can be thrown away as they're not pollinated, the ones that've sunk to the bottom are most likely fine.
One then keeps them in well drained soil until they start sprouting ready to plant.
This little one had been propagated by hubby about ten years ago. They're very slow growing plants.
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Image from GIF
I can imagine, in prehistoric time that Dinosaurs fed on the Cycads. I don't know if they did, or even if they were around then....just "imagine so". 😉
The plant has been around for a good few million years, sometimes described as "living fossils".
No!.... I don't have any "Dinosaurs" in my garden Lol!!
They're very hardy and prickly plants, quite difficult to weed around, one has to be very careful, the sharp leaves can do a bit of damage to the skin.
Sadly, it's said that "Cycads" are nearing the end of their tenure on earth. I'm not to sure why.... "climate change"? or "poaching"?. Mmmm....I wonder!.
It's legal to buy the plant from nurseries, unfortunately, we have the illegal poaching of the plant because the older the plant is, the more valuable it becomes to collectors, making it quite a lucrative business for the poacher.
One also needs a permit to buy them or obtain one through the nursery. We fortunately have one, I believe in obeying the law.
If one wants to sell them, one has to go through a Nursery, one cannot sell them privately, it's actually very sad that people exploit our prehistoric heritage.
They're really beautiful specimens to look at, I would say.
These two little pups we got directly from one of the plants, they must be approximately about eight years old, I think we'll nurture them a little while longer, then plant them in winter.
Young plants should be planted in winter when it's dry, if planted in rainy season, the roots will rot.
After wondering around the Cycads, I decided to pick some avocadoes from my avocado tree, then made some avocado on toast this morning before I started my post.
Avocado on toast with a dash of lemon.
Thank you for allowing me to share part of my garden with you, especially the Cycads.
Next time I'll share my aloes.
Image from GIF
HAPPY GARDENING
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