Brad's Tropical Paradise

The elephant ears are growing well. I've planted many types of colocasia , but these are the only ones that survive and thrive here. They all came from tiny cuttings that I took from a friend's yard in Los Angeles many years ago, and they just love it here. I cut them back very hard and fertilize heavily. I planted them in several places in The Tropical Paradise and the only place that they really like is the east-facing wall by the dining room. This exposure gives them just a bit of morning sun and lots of afternoon shade. It's also the wettest part of my garden, by virtue of the water sprayers giving the most volume, and during the rainy season, right now, they are on the drip line from the roof, so the ground stays wet all of the time, which caladiums like. Underneath the elephant ears is a very healthy patch of Ajuga reptans (carpet bugle). I saw a lot of it growing well this past weekend at the arboretum in Flagstaff and it doesn't seem to mind the 100+ temp...

The dog days of summer are here in The Tropical Paradise. The high temperatures now in July are well into the 100s, and there is humidity because this is our thunderstorm season. Unfit for man or beast, but the plants like it! Actually, Macintosh, the good little wiener dog, doesn't seem to mind. As you can see, the dioon spinulosum at the left is doing well. It sent up a flush last month that has now finished and hardened off. New flushes on cycads start soft, and when they reach their final size, they become stronger. And the length of the fronds varies depending on whether the plant is in shade or sun. The more shade, the longer the fronds, the more sun, the shorter. In fact, the dioon spinolum over by the kitchen window has very stunted and sunburned leaves. I may have to move that one! If you look very carefully at the small cycad that is just right of center, the Macrozamia moorei , you will see a flush just beginning. I find it interesting that at this time of year, it ...

The best time to water your plants is at the hottest time of the day. In the summer, that's about 5 pm. Here in the Sonoran desert of Phoenix, Arizona, the temperatures always gets well above 100 in the summer. And even in the shade, it's pretty rough for your plants. Out in the sun it is just unbelievable. So, give your plants water when they need it the most, when it's the hottest. I just switched my automatic watering timer to come on every day, at 5 pm, for twenty minutes. The desert thunderstorms are on their way!

After all of my careful preparations to ensure that my watering system would operate perfectly during the summer months, I realized with dismay yesterday that the newly-replaced Toro irrigation timer had failed. No, it wasn't the batteries, I tried that. So early this morning I drove to Walmart and bought an Orbit 1 Dial Electronic Hose Timer , which I had researched online. I like it. Even though I have resisted anything that had a digital display, this one seems pretty user-friendly. As you can see, the numbers and the dials are big enough for a middle-aged guy like me to see without his reading glasses! I will replace the other timers (both in the front and here for the misting system), too. I use Energizer Ultimate Lithium batteries , which are more expensive, but really do last much longer. And the less I need to go back there and fiddle with this stuff, the better! Macintosh, the good little wiener dog, doesn't seem to mind going back there, looking for her friends, t...