Be water-wise and still have a beautiful garden.

Plants I like: Dioon (Dioon spinulosum)

The Cycads are a quirky group of plants. I’m always excited by their patterns of seasonal growth. They seem to sit in the garden unchanged through the year until conditions support a flush, and then everything seems to happen very rapidly. The caudex tip starts to swell and the beginnings of very hairy new leaves emerge and elongate rapidly. You can see depicted in the attached picture that the new growth almost looks like it’s glowing.  This picture was taken from a client’s garden without a flash or fancy photographic technique, it’s just a great looking plant. The Dioon spinulosum thrives coastally in sun to light shade, and lends a tropical feel to the garden without being excessively thirsty. They occur naturally in tropical Mexico, but they’re remarkably tough and tolerant of poor soils. So long as they have adequate drainage, supplemental summer water will  encourage new growth as does regular feeding, but they perform admirably with moderate amounts of both. In heavy clay or poorly drained areas they can suffer from rot. They grow to 4′ in diameter and will slowly grow a trunk given enough time to reach a terminal height of up to 12′ , but plants of that size are somewhat rare in cultivation. In my experience they have been pest free and tidy sculptural garden gems.

Chestnut Dioon

Dioon spinulosum

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