I have finally earned my sago palm.

Sago palms, or cycads, have been a tradition in my family. My grandpa was a gardener/landscaper and my dad was also a landscaper. My father owned his own nursery back in the 1980s at 21st and Bell which is now nothing but car dealerships. So sad. My dad is also a horticulture teacher. He's a genius at identifying plants by both their scientific and regular names.

Then one day, along came a daughter. The tradition of male green thumbs ended as I had no desire to carry on the family business. I've never been one to follow.

Luckily, my boyfriend seems keen to carry on the other family business -- law enforcement. So I figure since I've finally fallen in love with a suitable male companion my father really likes, I must have finally earned my sago palm because my dad gave me one today.

My dad's father gave him two sago palms and he's taken care of them for around 40 years. I got a 15-year-old offshot of one of them. My dad potted it for me in an Ikea pot and after it was accosted by the cat, it found its home next to my bed. I'll post a photo of it later after I download the photos from my camera.

Until then, you can learn about the sago:

sago wiki

Lots of sago info!

The little buggers are expensive.

Don't let your dog chew on these!

Sago palm flower sustains Indonesians stranded at sea.

There was a time when these were so valuable that they were getting stolen out of front yards. I'm guessing those days are gone, as they are going cheaply on eBay. Then again, these are babies on eBay! Not the 40-year-old giants like my dad has.

Wait, just found one going for a "buy it now" price of $285 on eBay.