King Sago (Japanese Sago Palm)

Native to Japan’s southernmost islands, it is a magnificent accent plant to the smaller scale spaces in the landscape. This is a very symmetrical plant with very well defined shiny dark green leaves on a shaggy trunk that can grow up to 10-12 ft in height. This is a very slow growing plant possibly requiring up to 50 years before it arrives at this state height. Although called a palm it belongs to the cycad plant family, several varieties of these plants dominated the landscape during the Mesozoic era over 150 million years ago. In mature plants the reproductive structures format the center of the rosette; the male is a yellow cone that grows 12-18 inches; on the female the cone is a globe shaped yellow structure in which scale like leaves cover the bright orange seeds that are about 1.5 inches in diameter.

USDA Zones 8-10. Hardy as it can take down to 15 F degrees.