S. M. Garver - Jacksonville, Florida

Stages of new growth on a small sago palm, its bigger sibling, and one relative. Sago palms are actually cycads which are a conifer plant and not a true palm. They grow for 15-20 years before they bloom. The blooms are different for male and female plants.
page 19 of 19 of Jacksonville scenes

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This new growth caugh my eye and I decided to capture its image. (April 7, 2021)
[A small palm variant with dark green fronds sticking upward from the base. The plant is about three foot tall and the dark fronds are only on the back side. About twelve sticks of light green new growth stick up about a third as high as the older growth. The new growth is much thinner and all the leaves are curled inward.]

Two days later and the new growth nearly doubled in size. (April 9, 2021)
[A small palm variant with dark green fronds sticking upward from the base. The plant is about three foot tall and the dark fronds are only on the back side. About twelve sticks of light green new growth stick up about two thirds as high as the older growth. The new growth is much thinner and all the leaves are curled inward, but they are starting to open.]

Six days later the new growth was higher than the original growth. (April 13, 2021)
[A small palm variant with dark green fronds sticking upward from the base. The plant is about three foot tall and the dark fronds are only on the back side. The new light green growth has surpassed the height of the original growth and the leaves are partially unfurled.]

Eight days later the new growth was well above the original growth. (April 15, 2021)
[A small palm variant with dark green fronds sticking upward from the base. The plant is about three foot tall and the dark fronds are only on the back side and only visible on either side where the long fronds stick out at the sides. The new growth in the center is upright and the leaves are mostly unfurled.]

Twelve days later the new growth has slowed its pace, but its still noticeably bigger than my previous visit. (April 19, 2021)
[A small palm variant with dark green fronds sticking upward from the base. The plant is about three foot tall and the dark fronds are only on the back side and only visible on either side where the long fronds stick out at the sides. The new growth in the center is upright and full and the leaves are unfurled.]

Fourteen days later in the sunshine the new growth is hard to distinguish from the original fronds. (April 21, 2021)
[A small palm variant with fronds that all appear to be the same medium green color due to the sunshine and shade from the angle of the sun. It appears to be a quite full bush.]

Here's the top down view of the same sequence
Two days after the first photo where the new growth nearly doubled in height, but it does not look as large from this view. (April 9, 2021)
[The dark green fronds sticking outward from the base on the one side are more than three times the length of the new growth. About twelve sticks of light green new growth stick up looking quite thin because the leaves are curled within, but the lowest part of each is starting to unfurl.]

Six days after the first photo where the new growth was higher than the original growth. (April 13, 2021)
[The dark green fronds sticking outward from the base on the one side are longer than the new growth, but not by a lot. The new growth is much wider as quite a bit of it has begun opening although some parts are still quite curled.]

Here's a closer view of the furled fronds six days after the first photo. (April 13, 2021)
[Many of the individual leaves of each frond are curled inwards like someone used a curling iron. The original dark green fronds are very flat compared to the newer light green fronds.]

Eight days after the first photo where the new growth was higher than the original growth the new growth has mostly unfurled. (April 15, 2021)
[The dark green fronds sticking outward from the base on the one side are longer than the new growth, but not by a lot. The new growth is much wider as nearly all of it has unfurled. There are still two new fronds with furls.]

This is the bigger sibling on the other side of the same lot. The new growth has finally made an appearance on it several weeks after the other plant's new growth was this size. (April 28, 2021)
[This plant has much longer original fronds which are so long they touch the ground on nearly all sides. Those fronds are about four feet long. The new growth in the center is approximately a foot tall and still quite furled.]

Closer view of the new growth on the bigger sibling. (April 28, 2021)
[The new growth with is curled fronds is front and center in the image. The mature fronds are behind and beside it. There is an opening in the older fronds which makes the entire length of the new fronds visible.]

The new growth continued on the bigger sibling. (May 4, 2021)
[The individual curled fronds on the new growth is flattening and nearly the same height as the older growth. The mature fronds behind the new grownth are barely visible. The mature fronds in front appear to be quite dried out.]

I stepped back to capture an image of the entire plant. (May 4, 2021)
[The mature fronds are probably twice the length of the new growth, but the mature ones extend more to the sides and down rather than upright. They are much browner than the new growth.]

The same plant a week later (May 12, 2021)
[The upright new fronds block the site of the mature fronds behind them because they are now taller. Mature fronds can only be seen on the sides and front.]

Close view of the dew on the new fronds (May 12, 2021)
[A view of the center of the new fronds with their light green individual leaves. Some of them are still slightly curles. Theere are dew drops on all sections of the thin leaves.]

Close view of the individual leaves on the new fronds (May 12, 2021)
[One frond with its center stem snakes through the image. Approximately 60 individual skinny leaves emanate from it.]

The next year I saw it bloom. This center bloom indicates this is a female plant. (May 26, 2022)
[Two photos spliced together. On the left is a view of the bloom and the leaves. On the right is a close view of the tan center with a multitude of layers peeling away from the center. This sits atop a light brown base of sorts.]

This is the bloom (cone) of a male sago palm. (May 26, 2022)
[Instead of a globular bloom opening like a cored onion, this bloom is long, vertical, and conical at the top.]

The new leaves grow after the center cone finishes blooming. (July 10, 2022)
[The upright cone from the prior image is now wilted and curled to the right side as it starts to decay. Behind the cone are shoots of new leaves-to-be.]

Not quite a week later the cone is no longer visible, but some of the leaves are still quite curled. (July 16, 2022)
[Two photos spliced together. On the left is a view of the branches of unfurling leaves. On the right is a close view of one branch with some of the very thin leaves with their ends tightly curled.]

Nine days later the leaves are completely open. (July 25, 2022)
[A close view of same branch in the prior photo with all the very thin leaves completely flat (no curling at all).]

Palm fronds in the tightly curled stages - different views of the same plant (April 26, 2023)

Not sure if this is two plants very close together or one well-blooming male sago palm because there are two cones. The tip of the second one is partially visible on the far left. (May 9, 2023)
[Two photos spliced together. The photo on the left is the entire plant. The right-most cone is entirely visible and is probably 10-12 inches high. The right image is a close view of the right-most cone. On the very left edge of the image peaking out from the dark green fronds is the tip of another cone.]

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