Don’s Tips: Cycads

cycad frond

Cycads

Have you ever heard of plants called cycads?  As a kid we used to be given bits of cycad leaves on Palm Sunday – presumably the church didn’t know that they aren’t palms!

Cycads do look a bit like miniature palm trees up to1 to 2 metres high.  Australian cycads are known by names like Burrawangs and the most popular foreign one is the so-called sago palm:  Cycas revoluta.

Cycads are spectacular foliage plants that do well in the garden or in pots.  They grow slowly, but in time can be worth as much as $1,000 or more – mostly because they are beautiful, rare and easily moved from the ground.

The best burrawang display in Australia is in the spotted gum forest near Batemans Bay in NSW.  This is one of the world’s most beautiful forests:  the stunning gums have a cream to grey trunk spotted grey/brown and the lush burrawangs cover the ground.  Heart stopping!

Try to visit this area one day.

Hooroo, Don