Cycas thouarsii to obscure a wall

[Tracy]

After tearing out an ugly hedge and termite infested fence, I wanted my side yard fence to block street noise, and require minimum maintenance.  The solution was a block wall, which was rather stark.  Having success in my previous home with Cycas thouarsii, I thought it would look great along the wall.  The south facing wall also is a great heat sync, which this species appreciates in my coastal climate.

So after 4 1/2 years, here's what the Cycas thouarsii look like along with some Aloe marlothii and the Dypsis pembana on the end.  Quite effective at deterring the tagging too!

[5150cycad]

Looks great Tracy. The space has filled in very nicely. Glad to hear it is deterring the tagging as well. If it didn’t I am sure you know of a couple of other mean prickly Cycads that would definitely do the trick. It would make anyone think twice before they decided to tag up someone’s wall  

 

[TexasColdHardyPalms]

Very nice!

[Tracy]

9 hours ago, 5150cycad said:

Glad to hear it is deterring the tagging as well. If it didn’t I am sure you know of a couple of other mean prickly Cycads that would definitely do the trick. It would make anyone think twice before they decided to tag up someone’s wall

Yes... so to mix it up I thought I would do something different along that wall further to the west.  E whitlockii x sclavoi hybrids.  Only one has flushed since planting, but I'm sure they will both accelerate after adapting to their new spot.  Both were planted earlier this summer after I removed some razor sharp Aechmea bromeliads that I got tired of weeding around.

[Tracy]

On 11/18/2017 at 9:00 PM, Tracy said:

Quite effective at deterring the tagging too!

So the Cycas thouarsii have done a great job along this south facing wall to soften it's look.  They seem to like the reflected heat particularly during the winter months.  One of the females developed these larger seeds from last year.  I pollinated it with one of my males that was coning at the right time.  The male cones are very fragrant at this stage.  Three male cones are at very similar stages of development so you can really smell them in the evening when on this side of the house.

[Tracy]

I also added an Encephalartos ituriensis to the wall "lineup" a while back.  It has adapted well and earlier this summer pushed out it's second flush since planting.

[Merlyn]

That's really impressive growth on the Thouarsii, in less than 2 years!  I recently bought a pair of Scavloi x Ituriensis from Icebluecycads, they look like they have great potential as a medium+ size Encephalartos with quick growth.  At least I hope so!

[Tracy]

14 hours ago, Merlyn2220 said:

I recently bought a pair of Scavloi x Ituriensis from Icebluecycads, they look like they have great potential as a medium+ size Encephalartos with quick growth. 

That should be an attractive hybrid, share a photo of it.   It will likely be pretty big, because even E sclavoi will get pretty large then you add in the ituriensis which is a jumbo plant.  I put a pair of Encephalartos whitlockii x sclavoi on the outside of the wall too.  Someday I expect that both that hybrid and the ituriensis will have to be removed because they will eventually be too large for the narrow strip they are in, but until that day comes I plan on enjoying them.  Hopefully it won't be a problem for me but for my sons to deal with eventually.  Here is one of the E whitelockii x sclavoi along that wall.

[Merlyn]

You might be able to get away with your Ituriensis and Whitelockii hybrids in that spot, but only if you keep them trimmed to the most recent flush.  I have a couple of them planted in spots that will only tolerate a pretty "vertical" plant.  There's no way I'd be able to get past them if I let them grow and hold a full crown.  Others are in spots where a full crown would be great. 

Here's the Scavloi (blue parents) x Ituriensis from Icebluecycads, just to the lower right is the leaf of an Arenga Engleri for a good color reference.  It's a bit bluish, which should be pretty neat if it keeps that color as it grows.

And here's another I just received, a Gratus x Whitelockii that was grown in semi-desert CA.  It's a little light in color, but it was in near full sun so that's understandable.  Hopefully it'll darken up a bit here in FL.

[Tracy]

On 11/18/2017 at 9:00 PM, Tracy said:

After tearing out an ugly hedge and termite infested fence, I wanted my side yard fence to block street noise, and require minimum maintenance.  The solution was a block wall, which was rather stark.  Having success in my previous home with Cycas thouarsii, I thought it would look great along the wall.  The south facing wall also is a great heat sync, which this species appreciates in my coastal climate.

So after 4 1/2 years, here's what the Cycas thouarsii look like along with some Aloe marlothii and the Dypsis pembana on the end.  Quite effective at deterring the tagging too!

Not quite the same perspective as when I planted them or in 2017, but the Cycas thouarsii are doing their job of obscuring the wall.  I'm even getting the added benefit now that the leaves are up and over the wall so they can be seen from the inside.  They provide a little more privacy block as some of my interior planted palms are getting too high to act as screens.  Late Autumn and early winter flushes are responsible for the yellower flushes compared to the greener specimens that pushed their last flush in warmer conditions.

[Tracy]

On 11/18/2017 at 9:00 PM, Tracy said:

After tearing out an ugly hedge and termite infested fence, I wanted my side yard fence to block street noise, and require minimum maintenance.  The solution was a block wall, which was rather stark.  Having success in my previous home with Cycas thouarsii, I thought it would look great along the wall.  The south facing wall also is a great heat sync, which this species appreciates in my coastal climate.

So after 4 1/2 years, here's what the Cycas thouarsii look like along with some Aloe marlothii and the Dypsis pembana on the end.  Quite effective at deterring the tagging too!

While this is a different angle, the latest update shows how nicely these Cycas have filled in and what a great alternative to a hedge they can be as a privacy screen.  They are now tall enough that they actually block more than what the wall did.  My Dypsis pembana's are now up to the height of the phone/cable lines.  Fortunately there are no power lines along the side of my house only these communication lines.

[amh]

looking great.

[freakypalmguy]

Yes, that looks really nice.

[tinman10101]

wow tracy ... that is such a nice planting versus the usually creeping fig or boring bush look.  it lends itself to your interior yard plantings and is slowly morphing in with it.  you just need to figure out lower plantings now since the cycas are now trunking and your bare wall will soon be exposed again.    perhaps a nice spread of clumping aloes like david verity in between the cycas although i did see you have some aloe ferox or marlothii in between some.  

regardless like matt said, its really nice and stunning.  

[Tracy]

20 hours ago, tinman10101 said:

you just need to figure out lower plantings now since the cycas are now trunking and your bare wall will soon be exposed again.    perhaps a nice spread of clumping aloes like david verity in between the cycas although i did see you have some aloe ferox or marlothii in between some.  

Good eye.  There are a couple of A ferox in there and one A speciosa between the 5 A thouarsii I have in that section.  Due to the Cycas overhanging them and moisture in the air, I'm always battling Aloe mites on them though.  I have some A marlothii further down the wall which do much better without the adjacent Cycas although they even have challenges in the spring the years we get a heavy dose of May gray & June gloom.  The Aloe story is a different post though.  I'm getting some pretty heavy pupping happening on some of the Cycas thouarsii, so they may fill low if I don't remove too many.  It is funny though because I periodically ponder what I may want to fill in with if they get too tall and I remove the pups.

[Tracy]

I was cleaning out some old leaves a while back and noticed these very funky leaves.  I finally got around to taking a photo of them.  They are on a female plant and appear a little like it couldn't make up it's mind if they would be leaves or megasporophylls, and ultimately decide to be leaves with these deformed leaflets that never really opened properly.