Let me talk about sago palm (cycad; Cycas revoluta) and growing them in the desert or in desert landscapes. We should be aware that they are NOT palms, they grow best with some relief from the late and midday sun (best on the east side of a home), they prefer to grow in soils high in organics and kept fairly wet.
Cycads are not palm trees
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| Canary Island Date Palm growing in artificial grass. They will handle temps below 20F and above 110F but they like some afternoon relief from intense sunlight. |
A reader didnt want me to call them sago palms because he thought people might get them mixed up with other palms, like our true palms. He is right. They are far removed from true palm trees. So lets look at a few of the palm trees that do grow in the Mojave Desert and their scientific names. Scientific names (genus, species and even variety or cultivar) say something about their appearance, how they flower or other physical descriptions. If you step back one further in classification, to their Family, it is even more general in nature. Where the sago palm and other palms diverge from other palms is in their Family name; a category of classification more inclusive than their scientific name.
Palm Family
Palms, as we know them, are in the true palm family, Aracaceae. Sago Palm is not in the true palm family but in its own Family; Cycadaceae. Is it a palm? Technically it is. But it could be called a false Palm, not a true Palm. A more familiar Family to us is Rosaceae or the true rose family. This family not only includes true roses of all kinds but most of our temperate fruit trees (peach, apricot, plum, apple, pear, strawberry) as well as many landscape plants (rose, pyracantha, flowering plum, photinia, and cotoneaster). So compare the true palm Family to the true rose Family. In fact, sago palm is so far removed from palms it is closer to a pine tree than a palm tree!
Common name Scientific name Family
Mexican Fan Palm Washingtonia robusta Arecaceae
California Fan Palm Washingtonia filifera Arecaceae
Mexican Blue Palm Brahea armata Arecaceae
Date Palm Phoenix dactylifera Arecaceae
Canary Island Date Palm Phoenix canariensis Arecaceae
Sago Palm (Cycad) Cycas revoluta Cycadaceae
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| This is a girl plant. Sagos are dioecious, boy and girls are separate from each other like mulberries and date palms. This is a dainty girl plant. You can tell by the round flower like thing in the center. The boy plants have flowers that look like a penis. |
Sago Palm is not a Desert Plant
That’s true. It is not but it can handle some of the low humidity, high temperatures and intense sunlight if it is in good health. If your sago palm is surrounded by rock chances are it will not handle the south or west sides of a hot landscape. But if it is in good health, it might. They will prefer growing on the east sides of buildings getting some relief from the afternoon sun or in light to medium shade of a tree.
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| Sago palm prefers growing in soil with lots of organics in it and then covered with wood chips. They will not grow well surrounded by rock, in rock landscapes or hot sides of buildings (south or west sides).
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Plant them in Compost and Cover the Soil with Wood Chips
Will they grow in soils not amended with compost? For a time, yes. Will they grow in landscapes surrounded by rock? Yes, for awhile. But that is not where they prefer to grow. They prefer rich moist soils. To get them in good health to handle the heat then plant them in soils with compost in it and water them like a peach or apple tree.
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| These sago palms (okay, cycads) are planted on the north side of a home and the soil covered with wood chips. |
If you want a sago with healthy dark green leaves that are vibrant and healthy then plant on the east or north side, use compost in the soil mix at planting and cover the soil with wood chips. Oh and dont forget to use about four drip emitters when they are a few years old and water them at the same time as your fruit trees, roses, and most landscape trees and shrubs.
