Story Title: Summer Tropical Palms
Episode: Summer Garden Special
Date: January 15th 2010
Presenter: Neville Passmore

Bring a touch of the tropics into your backyard with Neville’s favourite palms and cycads suitable for Western Australian climate conditions.

Neville’s Tips and Facts

• There are two families of plants that are unsurpassed for creating a tropical feel in a garden whether it’s actually in the tropics or a very Mediterranean climate. There are the palms and the cycads.
• Despite their similar appearance these are unrelated, in fact the cycads came from the age of dinosaurs and are amongst the oldest living plants on earth.
• These magnificent cycads are known as Sago Palm and these Diones both have tough spiky and leathery leaves with a shuttlecock shape.
• And they are actually a whole lot tougher than Leather boots. This makes them stylish waterwise additions to the home garden.
• A couple of rare palms to excite a collector include the red neck palm which features a velvety red dust on the back of new fronds. This is the Hawaiian Lou Lou palm a stunning fan palm which has silvery down on all new fronds.
• From the opposite end of the palm world the Chusan palm from Taiwan and China will handle snow and is the most cold hardy palm from the northern hemisphere.
• One of the secrets of success is close planting which creates a micro-climate which is cool moist and humid. This helps young plants to establish in what would otherwise be a hot dry inhospitable location. 
• Regular feeding keeps the plants on the move particularly in the warmer months when these warm climate plants make most of their growth.