Brad's Tropical Paradise

Frost damage happens when cold air is allowed to "puddle" around a plant. Cold air moves the same way as water, it drains. If you look at your yard and want to avoid cold damage as much as possible to your tropical plants, keep that visual in mind. Here in The Tropical Paradise, most of the plants are on a gentle slope. The artificial turf is the lowest point. The cold air drains down and "puddles" over that area. Pictured is some cold damage to the leaves of some ornamental sweet potato. In the wee hours of this morning, when the temperature dropped below 32 degrees F, the coldest air was at the lowest level. Above this level, there is no damage. You can check for the coldest area of your yard by watching where water goes when you have a hard rain. If you have an area with standing water, it is not a good place for a tropical plant in your yard. Planting it just a few feet away can make all the difference in the world!

It got down to freezing last night here in The Tropical Paradise for the first time this year. That's 32 degrees Fahrenheit or 0 degrees Celsius. The weatherman was reporting it and I had friends get in touch with me to remind me about it. Cold can definitely kill tropical plants. And even if the frost doesn't kill your plants, it can severely damage them, burning the leaf tips, or blackening them, even killing leaves. But, this is no time to panic! I know, it's the perfect time to panic, but there are some thing you can do. The most obvious thing is to be very, very careful about the cold-hardiness of the plants you have in your garden. But that's no fun, it eliminates just about all tropical plants. The tropics, of course, are those areas located very close to the equator. I am 30 degrees north of the equator, so I am far from the tropics. But a lot of people live within 30 degrees of the equator and successfully grow tropical plants, and plants that look tropical.

It's 8:00 o'clock in the morning, Thursday, November 25th, 2010. Here in The Tropical Paradise in Glendale, Arizona, it is 45 degrees F. And even though I've lived here in the Southwest, and California, since I was 19, I never stop marveling at how how beautiful this part of the country is. I grew up in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where I walked to school for miles and miles in the snow, uphill (yes, both ways!), and you just don't see this kind of weather "back home". If you are fortunate enough to live inside of 30 degrees latitude (where the dotted lines are on the map at right), you can grow these plants. Cycads need warmth. In fact, they love heat! Here in the desert, they don't like a lot of direct afternoon sun (that's morning sun in the picture above), but they are happy with plenty of heat. And here it can get above 110 degrees F in the summer! What they don't like is cold. And if you live somewhere that has humidity, even better. Here i

It's another beautiful day here at The Tropical Paradise, and Macintosh, the good little wiener dog, has been given medical authorization to be released from confinement in her cage and can move around a little. So I built the wiener dog corral this morning from some blocks that I had left over that were sitting along the side of the house. She will be safe in there, as she might be tempted to walk up into the garden area, looking for her friends the geckos, and could possibly hurt herself there. As you can see, the corral bricks are nearly 4 inches high, and weigh several pounds each. That's her bone there next to her tail, which she will get back to after breakfast. It will be a beautiful, sunny day and she will be safe and happy there!

It's the third week of November here in Glendale, Arizona, and this morning I am seeing the first signs of a gentle frost. The morning temperatures are now getting below 40 F, which is perfectly normal for this time of year. What isn't normal is what appears to be a new flush on my cycad Encephalartos natalensis . Actually, it seems to be just one leaf, and it has been at this point for about a week. I've never seen a cycad do this. I did move this natalensis earlier this year, away from where the old palo brea was, which was removed a couple of months ago, and that is the only thing that I can account for it. Normally, the cycads in The Tropical Paradise flush (that is, put out new leaves) only in spring and early summer, which here at latitude 33.538N, is April and May. By June here it is brutally hot, getting up into the 100s F. So, when summer sets in, I expect to see no more flushes until the following spring. But this cycad seems to be confused about the time of

There are so many reasons for having a garden! It's a wonderful place to be after a busy day at work, or to just sit with friends. Macintosh, the good little wiener dog, hurt her back this weekend and although the injury is minor, she will need to be confined to her little "iPod" for two weeks. The Tropical Paradise is a great place to rehab, I know, because I have hurt myself many times and spent a lot of time recovering here. Today is especially nice here in Glendale, Arizona. This is the time of the season where the tourists visit from all over the world. I call this "chamber of commerce weather". It's in the high sixties, and will get into the seventies today with a brilliant cloudless sky. Here underneath the olive tree is a great place to be. Right now there is a very gentle breeze, no sound of air-conditioners running, the traffic is very faint way off in the distance, and mostly there is the sound of birds. This is a good place to rehab.

What would a Tropical Paradise be without flowering bulbs? Planting bulbs is a lot of fun in a warm climate. Here at The Tropical Paradise I've lost track of how many different types of bulbs that I have planted, but I know the best ones are daffodils (at left), iris (actually rhizomes, not bulbs), freesia, crocus and hyacinth. Bulbs that require cold temperatures, like tulips, do not grow here. The time to plant bulbs here in the desert is in the fall. The ground doesn't freeze here, so you don't need to lift them for the winter. I strongly recommend daffodils. Plant them fairly deep (several inches) and they will multiply over the years. After they finish blooming, avoid the temptation to trim back the leaves, let them die back naturally because that is how the plant gains the energy for the next year's blooms.   The post on getting iris to bloom is here. Crocus Crocus (at right) are the earliest bloomers - you will see them start blooming in late January

Iris grow well here in the desert. In fact, they do so well, they grow "like weeds" - and if you have clumps of iris that aren't blooming any more, here is a trick to get them back to blooming. Dig them up. I'm not kidding here. I actually did that for a neighbor of mine next door who had lots and lots of iris, but no blooms. I dug them all up, separated the bulbs (actually, technically they're rhizomes), poured in a bunch of fresh potting soil and fertilizer, and watered them in well. Wow! What a show that spring! And since there were way more bulbs than could fit in the planting area, I took a few and planted them over at The Tropical Paradise. The plain fact is that iris refuse to bloom when they get too crowded. Give them a little space of their own, say, about 4-5 inches between bulbs, plant them shallowly (not too deep!), cut back the leaves, and they will perform for you. If you want the most bloom every season, dig them up in the fall (no, it'

One of the disadvantages of a shady yard is that, when the temperatures drop, as they did today in Glendale, it becomes uncomfortable for the good little wiener dog, Macintosh. Here she has found a sunny place next to a couple of zamia cycads. In the background is a small Chamaerops humilis (Mediterranean Fan Palm). The coffee grounds on the top of the soil are nice and warm. This is right below an olive tree, so the olives are dropping all of the time. A hazard! The flagstone reflects the warmth, too. It's only in the low sixties right now at about noon on November 10th. Anything below 80 is pretty chilly for the little dog!

Agaves make a natural compliment to tropical plants. They grow well here in the desert, with very little care needed. But it's important to choose the type of agave wisely! Some grow very, very large with deadly sharp dagger points and multiply rapidly with offshoots (called "pups"). I have seen them take over areas of yards where you would need a machete to cut through them. Instead, choose small agaves. My favorite one is pictured here, right in front of Macintosh, the good little wiener dog. It is an Agave Parryi. It has a beautiful blueish color,  a very tight shape, and does not produce offsets in abundance. It stays fairly small. Just treat it like a cactus - plant in a well-drained area and don't over water it. The one here in The Tropical Paradise is doing fine with the run-off from the Phoenix roebellini just above it. Pictured just below the agave is also a small Aloe variegata (partridge breast aloe), which also requires no additional water. This p

Even though it's still pretty warm here in Glendale in November, winter is definitely on its way. Many people are surprised at how cold it can get here in the desert. Of course, it doesn't snow here, but it can get below freezing. The coldest temperatures happen in the wee hours of the mornings in January, and it can get into the teens (F). There really isn't anything that you need to do for your cycads, especially if you have plenty of Dioon Edule, var. palma solas. Of course, you want to cut back on the water for all of the garden, and hopefully, you have planted your cycads on a slope so that water can drain if we get a lot of winter rain. Cycas revolta (Sago Palm) at the LA zoo with Brad Cycas revoltas (sago palms) also do fine in the winter. You may see some tiny spots or some cold burn at the tips, especially if the plant is fairly small, but it won't harm the plant. When a new flush appears in the spring, you can trim away the last season's flush com

No, of course this picture isn't of The Tropical Paradise, it's Sahuaro Ranch , which is an historic area about a quarter-mile east of here, at 63rd Avenue just south of Peoria Avenue. This was a working ranch back in the late 1800s, and has been protected as an historic property by the city of Glendale. I go there as often as I can. Not only is it beautiful and relaxing, it is also inspirational! This property, which adjoins with the Glendale Main library, has a lot of different plants, including, as you can see, roses. The palm trees that you see in this picture are Canary Island date palms (Phoenix canariensis ) , and date palms (Phoenix dactylifera) . And they are not just decorative, they were planted for dates, and are some of the oldest palm trees in the Phoenix area. Well worth a look! Photo copyright Roger Hall. Used with permission.

I've always liked dogs. And I've always liked gardens. Getting these two things to mix well is a challenge, but it can be done. I've had dogs in my life since I moved to Arizona to go to ASU, but I was never a dog owner (or a dog guardian, as they say in California) until five years ago when Macintosh, the good little wiener dog, came into my life. When I hear stories of people's dogs digging up their yard or chewing their plants, I smile weakly and try to change the subject. The first thing that I knew that I wanted, if I ever got a dog, was a female. Females are smarter, you know. And they don't go around marking everything by lifting a leg. I also knew that I wanted a small dog. My garden is not the place for a big, galumphing dog. Macintosh is a miniature dachshund, and was the smallest of the litter. Full grown, she weighs only about ten pounds. If you love dogs, like I do, you know that the best thing that you can do for them is to be very clear about what

One of the great joys of living here in Glendale, Arizona, is the beautiful, intensely blue sky. I grew up in Minnesota, land of "sky blue waters", so I just love the blue sky. And as much as I like Los Angeles, it just doesn't get blue skies like this, except in postcards. This is the view from The Tropical Paradise looking north by northeast. The trees in the distance are a Jacaranda, a Cottonwood, two desert pines (they grow well here in Glendale, but they really don't do much for me), and a couple of Washingtonia Robusta (Mexican fan) palms between them. Many people consider these to be a "weed palm", and they are very, very common here in the Phoenix area. They do grow like weeds, including starting in the cracks of sidewalks, etc. and they get to be upwards to 80 feet tall in no time. They look great from a distance, or along a boulevard (those are the type of palm trees that you see on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, by the way!), but on my small pro