C-Y-C-A-D-S : ADDS PSYCH

When I started gardening, my friends often ask what plant in particular  do i collect...then i would utter the cycad plant. Curiously, they wonder what on earth is that, and at an impulse i started explaining by spelling it...C-Y-C-A-D.

Yes, it sounds unfamiliar as it is peculiarly spelled AND is really a collector's item.The reason why i was intrigued to have it with me ...i was fascinated by its uniformed, slenderly-leaning ,well-patterned green leaves, waving right before your eyes...then on, i fell in love with it..as if adding joy and contentment in your psych.

Commonly, or locally, it belongs to the family of olives ( OLIBA-in common par-lance).The one we use on Palm Sundays

...this is the most common cycad in our country... Cycas revoluta.

Another feature of this creature is its uniqueness.It's not a palm...not a fern...its cycad!

Cycads are genetically strong and resilient for they have lived and survived  more than  a hundred years,  known to be present during the Jurrasic Era.

They grow insidiously  and will "flush" (gives out new leaves)....once a year or more. And I water them just once a week.

Cycads are perfect for eye-catching centrepieces  of a garden like what I did at our events venue, Villa Rosalinda.

or even as a 'grand jewel"at our lawn...

Truly, this specie is stunning and is silently elegant!Though literally it doesn't talk (for which i love plants, they don't answer u back!), they are boastful and mighty knowing how far they have gone.
I find it so cool as they are called "the living fossils"...

then i started getting seedlings....

and began searching for different species....

... got a copy of  this book which helped a lot in identifying them...

naming cycads seemed easier since I'm a graduate of BS biology, my pre med course actually

 (my eldest son's into it also, and i'm in deja vu every time he names plants!)

....got the "pitogo"...also a common cycas in the Philippines...Cycas rumphii

cycas with flush

I love this big Encephalartos hildebranti

I'm yearning for more cycads ..  Encephalartos ferox...
i think this is the trade mark of all beginning collectors

this one is a birthday gift from my hubby.. for my hobby ! (for years he hasn't moved on yet) which I spotted at a garden in  Violeta Village.

         

dioon edule

                                                                 

and I "upgraded" my collection when I got this Encephalartos trispinosus...called "blue cycad".

Just like any collector, I  have this feeling of "just one more" on my wish list. 

I even ordered online and have them delivered the seedlings.

when I renovated the adjoining house, I practically packed the whole perimeter  with different specie...

CYCADS will leave me a legacy ... long before I am gone , this plant will still be there... something that will outgrow me... perhaps extend me to eternity... and hopefully be appreciated by the next generation.