Cycad in Suburbia
(page 2)
So in it went prematurely and when the leaves unfurled
it looked great, that was on the Thursday but by the Saturday the
weather had changed quite dramatically. The frozen faces and the
jacket over my daughter's bridesmaid's dress on the video is a constant
reminder.
From being generally mild, polar maritime air swept down the whole
country with overnight temperatures close to zero, allied to the
aforesaid winds. Within two days, two of the lower set of leaves
had turned yellow and one of the upper set was showing early signs
of changing colour. I must admit I thought I had killed it after
only days in the ground, a fool and his money! would be the cry,
hut amazingly the damage stayed as it was and with the two lower
leaves removed and one of the upper trimmed hack it still looked
very good. I was impressed with its powers of recovery and it spent
the rest of the summer settling in.
Of course I did not expect any growth in its first
year in the ground, considering the tiny pot the plant had been
it, not much more than an inch wider than the stem itself, with
a mass of suckers crammed over the sides. I reluctantly cut all
but one of these off, hoping the energy would be diverted to the
main crown. This process made the plant look neater and did no apparent
harm. As a precaution, with its tiny root system I decided to stake
it against windrock.
The summer of 94 was average and as autumn progressed
I took no chances and put some protection up in readiness for the
cold weather as it would be its first winter outdoors (in Britain
at least). This took the form of a wigwam made from tall bamboo
canes and canvas. The plant had been strapped up again to fit this
structure around it with a flap that could be rolled back in mild
spells. If memory serves, the winter of 93/94 was an average one
but I was still very pleased that it had come through its first
seemingly unaffected other than by what I call mechanical damage
where the fronds had been bent back some of the leaflets had been
harmed and immediately turned dull pale green then brown, I decided
never to use this practise again, any future protection would have
to cater for its natural spread.
As spring turned to summer (and what a summer I'm
sure I need remind no one), the Cycad looked wonderful and whereas
I would normally not have expected signs of life at this early stage
I became somewhat optimistic. With the weeks and eventually months
of glorious warm and sometimes very hot sunshine, keeping it well
watered throughout understanding that when in active growth is when
they need the most moisture but again I thought it could still have
a tiny root system.
By this time I had become an EPS member and thus
no longer alone, so to speak. From my earlier research I bad an
idea that a few other people were trying out Cycas revoluta, some
of whom I was now in touch with. I was greatly encouraged when MG's
plant burst into life in August down in London and even more so
when Richard Darlow's in his garden further north like my own came
to life at the end of August. Alas! mine just sat there apart from
the fact that the tiny tuft of furry embryo leafcovers seemed to
have swollen from half an inch to maybe one inch but it was hard
to tell (a watched pot and all that).
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