Something missing this year

As I bring in all of my non-hardy plants for overwintering in the garage, basement and house, there's something missing this year.

Something that has caused me much pain but also much excitement over the last few years. If you know what it is, you've really been paying attention!

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It's my sago palm, Cycas revoluta. I've had it for at least five years now, and it's getting pretty big -- which is great until winter arrives. Since it can reportedly tolerate temperatures below 20ºF (-7ºC) I leave it outdoors until the last possible moment. Inevitably it needs to come indoors though, and since I don't have space for it in the living areas upstairs, it either lives in the basement or in the garage.

In either place I constantly bump into its sharp-tipped leaves, causing much discomfort all winter long.

The fronds never look great after the winter, and this year there was quite a bit of yellowing...

...plus spotting that I never understood:

So this year I tried something different:

Removed all of the leaves!

That makes it so much easier to store, and there will be a nice flush of new growth in the spring apparently:

Even though this means that I will have a plant with less foliage next year, it's better than ratty foliage -- at least I hope so.

We'll see how I feel about this next summer.

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