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I’VENEVERBEEN a fan of cycads. I’ve never not been a fan either— I’ve simply never hadmuchto do with them. I like soft, ferny, frondy foliage and wavery grasses, so anything sharp or spiky doesn’tmake it on tomyfaves list, particularly since a bougainvillea once stabbedmy cat in theeye and costme several-hundred dollars.
However, whenafriend I’m helping out with garden ideas askedme to include some cycads in the list, I scurried tothe computer to consult Auntie Google and did a quick bit of research so I’d look like I knew what I was talking about. At theend of half an hour I’dmet about half-a-dozen cycads but I still wasn’t a fan.
Then I googled ‘using cycads in garden design’ andcame across a heap of images of cycads in beautifully landscaped gardens. And softened a bit.
Like themor not, cycads can make great focal points in a gardenwhether in pots or in the ground. They workwell with large leaved subtropical species like Ligularia, and play nicely with bright colours like burnt orange, azure blue and purple. They look good with rocks and stones and dry garden landscape materials, and you can also display themen masse under taller palms. Lots of possibilities, then.
Cycads have heavy trunks and are crowned by a head of large, stiff leaves. They’re slow growers so it’s unusual to meet one taller than yourself, although older specimens can reach severalmetres tall and live to be hundreds of years old.