Treat Your Sago Right

I was out in the yard today & noticed that the King Sago Palm by the poolside was blooming.

This is probably one of the most unique blooms that you'll see on a palm. There is no petals, stamens, or anthers that you can see. Just modified leaflets that will harden before the seedpods fully develop. While I was looking at the palm I noticed that there was a small amount of Cycad Scale starting to spread on the trunk. Its time to treat again.

Sago Palms should be treated with a Systemic Insecticidal Drench every 3 Months to prevent the scale from reoccuring. Even with the drench you still have small outbreaks of it every once in a while. The best thing to do is spray the leaves (topside & underside) & the trunk with Malathion Oil, Once A Week For 4 Weeks & treat the soil with the Systemic Insecticidal Drench.

This should keep your palms & even some of the surrounding plants Bug Free year round.

---Andy Thielen

Lots a Pots

It took almost the entire nursery staff but we managed to cram all of the new pottery into the nursery. There are so many styles and sizes to choose from it's hard to imagine not being able to find the perfect one for the spot you have. If you patio needs a little color we got it. I read a book that used the term "zonal denial". It was in reference to those of us who need to grow plants that aren't suited well for our particular climate. I think the best way to do this with success is to grow in pots. During the occasional cold snap you get some extra color in the house. As I was leaving the nursery today I saw 3 pallets of pots being pulled in so come by and get some pots since we're running out of room! -Jeremy McGrew

Fruit

I was thinking the other day about how many fruit producing plants we have at the nursery. I thought hard to come up with all of the rare things like Lychee's and Mango's when I realized I was skipping over some of the most important ones for Florida. STRAWBERRIES! After going over to check out some of the hanging baskets I saw something I had never seen before...a strawberry flower. Of course I knew they flowered since as Francois says, "All plants flower." And you know what comes after flowers on fruiting plants, fruit!

Be sure to check back soon because we should have a new shipment of rare and tropical trees any day. If you haven't been by the nursery recently we have done some major spring cleaning and now have more pottery than ever. We unloaded new interior decor the other day as well so stop by before it's gone. See you when you get here, -Jeremy McGrew