Current Favorite Cycad?

[Tracy]

On 4/26/2022 at 8:31 PM, DippyD said:

F2 natwood update… 

Encephalartos have been slow to start flushing down here.  I have a couple that have looked like they are going to push out for weeks without ever bursting open.  Meanwhile, one of my favorite hybrids jumped out ahead of them.  It was under an inflorescence of a Dypsis prestoniana late last summer and autumn, which was dropping flowers then seeds on top of and all around it.  I wonder if all that along with the pollen from an adjacent mango have provided a nutrient source for it, much like mulch?  I was having to clean it off continually to keep it from getting almost buried under all the flowers, pollen and seeds.  They ended up all around the base of it.

[DippyD]

9 hours ago, Tracy said:

Encephalartos have been slow to start flushing down here.  I have a couple that have looked like they are going to push out for weeks without ever bursting open.  Meanwhile, one of my favorite hybrids jumped out ahead of them.  It was under an inflorescence of a Dypsis prestoniana late last summer and autumn, which was dropping flowers then seeds on top of and all around it.  I wonder if all that along with the pollen from an adjacent mango have provided a nutrient source for it, much like mulch?  I was having to clean it off continually to keep it from getting almost buried under all the flowers, pollen and seeds.  They ended up all around the base of it.

What a beauty!!!! Yeah some of mine look like they want to get jiggy with it but just haven’t!

[aussiearoids]

Sadly not many Encephalartos do well in wet tropical areas ..so I will stick with the Zamias .

Z hamannii .

[aztropic]

Encephalartos sclavoi. This is gonna be a BIG boy! Caudex is already over a foot wide...

 

aztropic

Mesa,Arizona

[Tracy]

10 hours ago, aussiearoids said:

Sadly not many Encephalartos do well in wet tropical areas ..so I will stick with the Zamias .

Z hamannii .

And on the flip side we can't grow these incredible Zamias.  A few grow here but not many of the really striking ones that are more tropical like the Zamia hamannii you posted.  Absolutely gorgeous plant!

On a separate note, what color does your E sclavoi flush AzTropic?  I know some are green and others have the bronze flush, and even the color on the bronze varies.  My boy flushing last year; it's puckered up and ready to either push some new cones or flush in the next several weeks.

4 hours ago, aztropic said:

Encephalartos sclavoi. This is gonna be a BIG boy! Caudex is already over a foot wide...

[aztropic]

It flushes lime green. (although our harsh summer sun can turn mature fronds bronze...). 

 

aztropic

Mesa, Arizona

Edited May 3, 2022 by aztropic

[Tracy]

2 hours ago, aztropic said:

It flushes lime green. (although our harsh summer sun can turn mature fronds bronze...). 

I have noticed that the southerly facing leaflets on my bronze flushing ones tend to  brown from the sun over time, whereas the more shaded ones remain deep green leaves for much longer after hardening off.  My green flushing specimen handled the sun better and didn't show the burning, so perhaps it is a good thing you have the lime green flushing one in your climate zone.  Both variations are very cool looking mid-size cycads.  Not huge like the central African ones (laurentiunus, ituriensis, whitlockii) but longer leaflets than most of the Cape Blues and all of the Eugene complex species I have seen.

[Merlyn]

Here's my current favorite, flanked by two other favorites!  A trunking Spinulosum sailed through 24-26F with frost with minimal damage, and I was smart enough to move the fasciated Furfuracea into the garage.  The centerpiece is a Cycas Multipinnata (or so I'm told) with a new frond that's at least 8 feet long and still growing.  It did pretty well with the cold and frost, and oddly enough about 4-5 weeks *after* the frost all the leaflets died on the tall frond.  Most other palms and cycads showed their damage in 1-2 weeks maximum, it was kind of odd and I was concerned there was caudex damage.  But I guess not!

[Tracy]

On 4/28/2022 at 10:43 AM, Tracy said:

 

Making progress on this flush.  It keeps drawing me back to it when I'm in the yard.  A few other Encephalartos have pups starting to flush, but within the genus, its still the only main caudex to have flushed this spring.

[Firepalm]

Love the stacking on that one Tracy!

 

[Tracy]

55 minutes ago, Firepalm said:

Love the stacking on that one Tracy!

 

I'm sure I have mentioned before that I have a sibling from the same cone this was hatched from.  It too is a nice plant, but this one was truly best described as the "pick of the litter".  I'm glad I was persistent in asking about when they would be released.

[Firepalm]

20 hours ago, Tracy said:

I'm sure I have mentioned before that I have a sibling from the same cone this was hatched from.  It too is a nice plant, but this one was truly best described as the "pick of the litter".  I'm glad I was persistent in asking about when they would be released.

Lol, yeah I should have pestered George more about these plants when he first showed them to me in the shade house.  Hybrids are not all created as equals which is part of what I love about them.  You never know exactly what each one will look like until it grows up.  

[DippyD]

Things are waking up! 

[Tracy]

On 5/3/2022 at 11:34 AM, aztropic said:

It flushes lime green. (although our harsh summer sun can turn mature fronds bronze...). 

 

aztropic

Mesa, Arizona

 

On 5/3/2022 at 1:38 PM, Tracy said:

I have noticed that the southerly facing leaflets on my bronze flushing ones tend to  brown from the sun over time, whereas the more shaded ones remain deep green leaves for much longer after hardening off.  My green flushing specimen handled the sun better and didn't show the burning, so perhaps it is a good thing you have the lime green flushing one in your climate zone. 

I just potted up one of my E sclavoi that was in a 15 gallon.  So I took photos of it and the one in the ground to show the difference between the leaflets that face north, versus the ones that face south and are more exposed.  Photos 2 & 3 are the one in the pot, and photos 3 & 4 are the one in the ground.  Both flush bronze, but you can see they both would appreciate more shade.  Leaves on these are from last year's flush.  So hopefully your green flushing will handle sun better, like the green flushing one I had.

[Tracy]

On 5/19/2022 at 9:42 PM, DippyD said:

Things are waking up! 

 

Interesting color on that pup's flush.  Same color my E horriwood initially pushes out.  I can't ID without the rest of the plant but am curious....

I just loved the look of this litte E caffer flushign with it's very plumose and curly leaflets.  Last year's flush was looking pretty beat up, so the refresh button of spring is very welcome.

[Tracy]

On 5/11/2022 at 5:10 PM, Tracy said:

 

 

This one deserved an update given how striking the flush is.  Viewed from both sides with backlighting in the 2nd photo.

[DippyD]

4 hours ago, Tracy said:

Interesting color on that pup's flush.  Same color my E horriwood initially pushes out.  I can't ID without the rest of the plant but am curious....

I just loved the look of this litte E caffer flushign with it's very plumose and curly leaflets.  Last year's flush was looking pretty beat up, so the refresh button of spring is very welcome.

The plant is a arenarius or purchased as one. Def has a more wicked leaf structure to it but pretty certain it’s straight aren. 

[DippyD]

4 hours ago, Tracy said:

This one deserved an update given how striking the flush is.  Viewed from both sides with backlighting in the 2nd photo.

Digging crew is en route

[DippyD]

This girl has a nice broad leaflet. One of my favorite! 

[Tracy]

This Encephalartos longifolius has spectacular form.  It's in the northwest corner of the garden, so the wall behind it gives shade as the sun gets past overhead.  It looks a bit more stretched than the others of this species that get more sun and specifically more of the westerly sun exposure.  It's still a beautiful specimen with great formal looking structure with the curved leaves and nice stacking of leaflets.  Still haven't had a gender reveal yet on this one and based on the size of this flush, it won't have a ton of energy to be popping out any cones soon.

[Tracy]

Finally!  This fella kept on pushing out only partial flushes, putting most of his energy into cones the last couple of years.  Looks like this time the focus is on a nice big flush for me.  Encephalartos longifolius male plant.

[Tracy]

I wouldn't be telling the truth if I didn't admit that a flushing cycad attracts my attention and attraction.  So for today, my favorite cycad is this Encephalartos inopinus which has it's main caudex flushing right now.  It has multiple pups which have essentially pushed the main caudex up from the ground.  You can see a few of them from the last shot.  Normally the pups on this plant flush first, but this year it is the original main caudex which is flushing before all her/his pups.  The sex reveal on this plant appears to me that it's quite a ways in the future yet.  The energy is being split so many directions with so many pups.

[GeneAZ]

This is about a 25 year old seedling that has a lot of Trapps Valley in it.  It just entered the older juvenile phase and is changing a lot annually with each whorl of leaves.  9 new leaves this year.

 

Caudex detail is 10 x 10 inches in 35 gallon container.

As I say, it's changing every flush now, but I don't think it will be curly or flared on the upper third with greater arch, as in Trapps form.  This one does harden off to very dark green and lots of glans (sp) bumps on the leaflets.

[GeneAZ]

My favorite E. eugene maraise of the "Palala" form.  Not growing this year -- yet!

Sorry for the wash-out, but my sun is relentless!!!!

(Pay no attention to the latifrons in the foreground.)

[GeneAZ]

E. msinga blasting off.  May be called E. msinganus now.

The spinier the better with this species, at least from a collector's point of view.

[GeneAZ]

Coasta asked me to post an image of my Macrozamia Macdonnellii.  In summer, it's always growing kind of a sequence of leaves, rather than a flush.

I've had this for 15 years from a one-leaf seedling.  Still don't know the sex.  It has two enormous tap roots and in the past has broken each and every container it was in.  Currently it is in a creation of two 35 gallon pots telescoped together with the bottom cut out of the upper pot.  Next pot will probably be a garbage can, or I could telescope two 55 gallon containers I've been saving which are low profile.  The weight of this is incredible since the mix it is in is 50 percent decomposed granite.

This will be much bluer or even silver by the end of summer.

[Coasta]

@GeneAZ wow Gene!! That thing is huge!! It looks gorgeous and I see zero burn on it. does this get more sun exposure then your encephalartos?

[GeneAZ]

2 minutes ago, Coasta said:

@GeneAZ wow Gene!! That thing is huge!! It looks gorgeous and I see zero burn on it. does this get more sun exposure then your encephalartos?

This one gets full blasting sun till 2pm!!!  As usual, if the roots and container are not exposed to the sun, the battle is mostly won.

[Coasta]

Thats amazing to hear. Makes me think they can handle full sun here in ground as long as they are happy in soil like the other Australian blues. 

[GeneAZ]

The hardest part it getting one in the first place.  I paid 300 bucks 15 years ago for a one-leaf seedling with the seed still attached.  The seller had more, but limited everyone to one each.

[Coasta]

Yikes! Well it was worth the wait and price back then as that thing is a beauty! 

[Tracy]

5 hours ago, GeneAZ said:

The hardest part it getting one in the first place.  I paid 300 bucks 15 years ago for a one-leaf seedling with the seed still attached.  The seller had more, but limited everyone to one each.

Not mine but a friend's plant from this time last year.  Perhaps a few might be on the market again in the future.   I would expect some inflation over the last 3 years though.

[Tracy]

On 6/6/2022 at 5:07 PM, Tracy said:

 

Almost done pushing the flush, here is the "full monty" of my biggest Encephalartos longifolius, one bad boy.

[Coasta]

 Palma Sola

[Tracy]

Last Autumn I thought this Encephalartos eugene-maraisii was ready to pop open a new flush.  It looked so close, so I've been anticipating the same thing this Spring.  Instead it appears to be pushing out some cones.  It's the big reveal... male or female???

[DippyD]

3 hours ago, Tracy said:

Last Autumn I thought this Encephalartos eugene-maraisii was ready to pop open a new flush.  It looked so close, so I've been anticipating the same thing this Spring.  Instead it appears to be pushing out some cones.  It's the big reveal... male or female???

Mines flushing 3 male cones right now as well… well assuming they’re male but never know. Need to expose their selves a little more 

[Tracy]

9 hours ago, DippyD said:

Mines flushing 3 male cones right now as well… well assuming they’re male but never know. Need to expose their selves a little more 

After they pop out more, share a photo or two.  Sounds like this is the season yours is giving its big reveal on it's gender as well.

[DippyD]

On 6/18/2022 at 7:02 AM, Tracy said:

After they pop out more, share a photo or two.  Sounds like this is the season yours is giving its big reveal on it's gender as well.

 

[Tracy]

12 hours ago, DippyD said:

 

Yours is a bit ahead of mine.  When I have seen other specimens of this species cone, the males have several cones.  I'm still having trouble without seeing a closeup of the "scales" or whatever they are called on the outside to try and tell if these are male or female.  Shape will be the other big indicator as they continue to push... fat = female, elongated = male, which I'm sure you already know.  At least at this point, I don't see yours as elongated but they can change.  I guessed wrong at this stage the first time my E horridus x woodii was pushing it's first cone, and thought she was a he.  That has taught me to be patient rather than to go on my initial impression.

Right now the only male Encephalartos cone I have starting to push is on an E trispinosis, that is unless the one below turns out to be male.

[Tracy]

On 9/5/2018 at 5:27 PM, Tracy said:

 

Two perspectives 4 years later.  She has gotten bigger as has everything else, including that Dypsis bef my son was standing next to that was knee high in 2018.  Front flush still getting started on the main caudex as I await the cones to ripen and start falling apart.  Meanwhile one big pup on the backside along with another smaller one that is hidden from view at different stages.  This is a special plant for me that was a transplant from my Carlsbad house.