Okay, a couple of questions, unashamedly directed at Fu but put on the public pages so that anyone can read, if they were thinking along the same lines.
I'm getting close to establishing a garden along my rear boundary and favour palms and the like. The garden faces WNW so receives plenty of sun. Summer temps reach the low 40's and the coldest winter nights are generally -2 or -3 but occasionally colder.
Cocos palms will be my mainstay and grow very well around here.
(1) Cycads, or Japanese Sago Palms: Full sun or not?
I've been told a few times lately that they love it, but we had a couple of them in our old place, and the one that was more exposed to the sun basically turned yellow and didn't grow new fronds. The other one was more shaded through the day by a Cocos palm and looked more alive. To me, they are a plant that looks good under the canopy of larger trees but everyone I talk to lately suggests that they should be fully exposed to the sun, and it is the cold and frost that turns them yellow.
(2) Bananas: I now know that around here an ornamental banana palm is available, as well as a fruit bearing variety (Lady Finger) banana tree. To my great surprise it was suggested to me that the fruit bearing variety is actually more frost tolerant. I'm not really looking to grow fruit, but love the look of banana palms/trees/whatever, and they do grow successfully around here (but I don't know which ones). Which one puts up with frost better? Help!
Thanks.