Brad's Tropical Paradise

One of the best combinations that you can do in the garden is to plant alyssum at the *feet* of your bulbs. This will give a nice floral effect on the ground (instead of just seeing dead leaves and dirt) and has the bonus of adding a wonderful fragrance to your garden. The trick to this is timing, and using the smallest alyssum plants that you can. This is how you do it - • Plant the bulbs in nice, rich potting soil. I use Miracle Grow Moisture Control®. No, they don't pay me to advertise it, but they should! I also add in more slow-release plant food and polymer moisture crystals. In this area, I have planted Sparaxis. • When the bulbs start sprouting, that tells you where to plant the alyssum. Very carefully plant the alyssum between the sprouting bulbs. You won't have much room, but if you get little tiny plants, you won't need much room. I've started mine from seed and they are about two months old, which is just perfect. Don't worry if they droop over...

This past summer I watched the video podcasts of Tatton Park and got a lot of inspiration. If you want to watch them, by the way, they are free podcasts that you can get using iTunes. Just go to iTunes - podcasts, etc. If you don't already know how to do it, my blog post on How to get free video podcasts from iTunes is here . Anyway, Tatton Park is a stately grand old home of England, which has been been there since the 1700s and the head gardener is Sam Youd. Of course, The Tropical Paradise isn't quite as big as Tatton Park, or as old, but there were a lot of tips that I picked up, and mostly I was inspired to start more seedlings. They, of course, have magnificent greenhouses, but I had the advantage of being in Arizona, so I didn't have to worry about the cold. I am learning a lot! Mostly, that I have should have started the seedlings a month earlier. Oh well, live and learn! I started gardening in my early twenties as a way to beautify my surroundings. I was a fine...

A backyard in Arizona is a wonderful place to be. Here Macintosh, the good little wiener dog, is doing some yoga and some light exercise. On the steps tool is an iPod with a tiny iHome speaker, which works great for listening to audiobooks and music. Underneath the Phoenix rupicola x reclinata palm tree, which I planted this past summer, is the tiny beginning sprouts of Sparaxis. And in the open area, about where Macintosh is looking, I have planted freesia , which should be sprouting soon. It will bloom in the spring and have a beautiful fragrance, too. The temperature here has finally broken. It was downright cold last night, getting into the fifties (F). The forecast is for the high seventies today, which is absolutely glorious. Crystal-clear blue skies and the slightest hint of a breeze. No better place to be than in The Tropical Paradise!

If you have a palm tree that produces a lot of suckers, that is, a lot of new little fronds from the base, chances are very good that you have a Mediterranean Fan Palm (Chamaerops humilis ). And if you keep trying to cut off the sucker growth on this type of palm, you might just as well try to rub the stripes off of a tiger. That's just the way it grows. The proper place for a Mediterranean Fan Palm is in a sunny area with a lot of space to fill. Since this type of palm suckers, it creates a wonderful bushy clump, instead of just a single trunk. If you don't care for the look of this type of palm tree, dig it up, give it to me, and get one that just produces a single trunk, which is most other palm trees. Otherwise, just leave it alone and let it grow to the shape that it wants to. In this area of The Tropical Paradise you can see that I need to fill in the space, and this palm tree will do it. It's a hot, sunny, out-of-the-way place so it's perfect for this pa...

Growing tropical plants in the Phoenix, Arizona, area is possible, as you can see by how well my cannas are doing this October. But there is a lot going on behind the scenes! Just buying Canna Tropicannas at Home Depot and plopping them in the ground won't give this effect. They will live, but they will struggle. If your cannas don't have the same lush foliage that these do, here are some tricks. • Plant them in a lot of good potting soil. I use Miracle Grow Moisture Control®, which has both fertilizer and polymer moisture crystals in it. Then I add more fertilizer and more moisture crystals. If you have already planted yours, dig them up, dig a nice deep hole filled with lots of potting soil, and replant them. They will grow back like wildfire so don't feel bad about cutting all of the leaves off to the base. • Give them a LOT of water. They can even have their *feet wet*. Behind this stand of cannas there are several water sprayers, that come on every day at 2:30 p...

In addition to the drip watering system here at The Tropical Paradise, I have a misting line. It's exactly the same as the ones that you see overhead at patios and outdoor seating areas at restaurants, except that here the line is buried in the ground. The mistake that I originally made was to just have the misting heads right on the line, like you see on patios. The problem was that they got clogged up, and covered up, very quickly. So I have invested in  these Aero Mist Nozzle Extensions .  And I mean invested! They are very expensive, and I usually can't find them locally so I have to pay for them through Amazon, plus some expensive shipping. But they are of excellent quality and have stood the test of time. And that's what you need for them to do - stand up. They are about three inches tall, which is just enough to keep their heads out of the dirt. I replace the mister heads every once in a while. They are also pretty pricey, but they work! I have the misters set ...

Cape Honeysuckle (Tecoma capensis ) is one of the very best plants to have here in the Phoenix, Arizona area. It loves heat, has beautiful deep-green vining foliage, and beautiful orange tubular flowers. They start blooming when the temperatures get cooler, which is right now, so if you have some in your yard you should be seeing a lot of new blooms. But if you aren't seeing blooms, it may be the fault of my arch-enemy, the hedge trimmers! Regular readers of Brad's Tropical Paradise know that I discourage the use of hedge trimmers on flowering plants. I am sure you have seen around town, plants that are shaped into "pom-poms" or "Dr. Seuss shapes" by hedge trimmers. Yes, it's fast and efficient, and you see a lot of this around professional buildings and schools, but it the absolute worst thing that you can do for your flowering shrubs. By-pass pruner Put away the hedge trimmers! Get out your hand-held by-pass pruner and watch what you are d...

If anyone tells you that you can't grow Elephant Ears (colocasia) in the Phoenix, Arizona area, have them take a look out of my dining room window. These plants are now about five feet tall and are beginning to block the view out of the window. But they are what I want to see! I took this photo at eye level, and I am about six feet tall (which is how most guys who are 5' 10" describe themselves). These plants have been in the ground for a few years but they have never, ever, been this big. It must be a combination of the weather, the watering schedule, fertilizer, and everything. Whatever it is, it's working! Now all I need is some dinosaurs running around and I will have to rename my backyard Jurassic Park!

Elephant Ears (colocasia) grow from bulbs, just like daffodils, iris, cannas, and lots of other plants. The really cool thing about plants that grow from bulbs is that they create more bulbs season after season. In fact, if you plant a few colocasias, they will reproduce bulbs so fast that you will need to dig them out before they take over your garden, and you will need to throw them away. Or give them away! Pictured at left is a baby Elephant Ear that is growing too close to an area where I need to walk. When I see these, I dig them up and transplant them. All you have to do is to dig down deep enough to get the bulb, which is just shaped like a light bulb, and is fairly small for a small plant like this one, or gigantic (bigger than your fist) for a big plant. When you buy them at a nursery, they come with no leaves like this pictures (at right). When I transplant them I leave a few leaves on to just to help show me where they are. Sometimes the old leaves droop, and someti...

When you visit a garden, you should stay on the paths. A good garden design has paths, such as flagstone, or stepping stones, a sidewalk, or maybe just fine gravel. Walking up into the garden is as poor manners as walking on someone's dining room table. Don't do it. If you are familiar with gardening, you know why. There may be tiny plants just beginning to sprout, and your clumsy feet will crush them. Also, your weight can crush loosely-packed garden soil, or your clumsy feet can kick the watering heads. Stay out! I am happy to have people visit The Tropical Paradise, but I watch with horror when they stroll up into the garden, killing plants and kicking watering heads and misters, which I have to go repair later on. I have excellent garden paths, made from flagstone, set in solidly and grouted. If you have people who are *walking on the dining room table* in your garden, it's probably because you have not designed a logical path for them to stay on. Make that part...

I have no idea why middle-aged guys, like me, get such a kick out of growing gigantic plants, but we do. Maybe it's because although gardening is a gentle art, we are, after all, still guys. I'm not growing record-breaking pumpkins here, but I've got some pretty impressive Elephant Ears ( colocasia ) here at The Tropical Paradise. While visiting a friend in Los Angeles a few years ago, I volunteered to help around the garden, and was given a few tiny bulbs. At the time I really didn't know what they were, and they were so tiny that I just thought they would make a nice small ground cover plant, if they survived in Arizona. I planted them all over the garden, and mostly the Arizona sun, or the Arizona frost, killed them. They are still straggling along in some places in the garden, but in one particular area, where they get only morning sun and a generous amount of water, they have done well. This year I have helped them along with regular feeding of fertilizer and...

My lettuce seeds have all germinated wonderfully. The problem is that, in the area that I have dedicated to lettuce, the tiny seedlings poke their little heads up and promptly die. This is due to two factors here at The Tropical Paradise - the unusual heat and dryness, and the big clumsy feet of my wiener dog, Macintosh. So I am trying something new today. I watched a video on how to prick out seedlings , which I hadn't really realized that you could, or should do, and I have started transplanting the seedlings that are big enough to move. I have also added a bit of protection, a paper coffee cup with the bottom cut off, which should be enough to re-route little wiener dog feet. I have another 36 seedlings doing well in the little plastic greenhouse tray, and if this works, I will start to transplant them to the "official lettuce area", which is near my dining room window. My goal is to create a "kitchen garden" that is just a few steps away from the doo...

Yesterday I planted some freesia bulbs which I had ordered from Easy to Grow Bulbs . I like the attitude of this company, and I like their videos, so I have a lot of confidence in them. Their instructions were to plant them two inches deep and about three inches apart, but I modified that slightly. I have planted freesia before, and they do well here in the Southwest, but the mistake that I made in the past was to plant them singly. All alone, or *in time out*, as the videos by Yolanda Vanveen say, is a mistake. They grow, but seem so lonely. So this time I have planted them in a dense crowd. Splitting the difference between the advice on the label and what I have been watching on YouTube, I have planted them no more than two inches apart, sometimes closer. I have kept the depth the same. These were sold as a team called  Sunset Sisters , which appealed to me, and I want them to bloom together. Another thing that I am doing this year, which is a little nerdy, is putting out...

I had artificial turf installed here at The Tropical Paradise about six years ago and it's the best thing that I have ever done. If you are considering it, I would like to encourage you, and make some suggestions. • Have it professionally installed. When the crew came out to install this, they prepared the ground, dug out the space, filled it with fine sand, tamped it down, and, well, just did it right. • Get a small blower/sweeper. You never vacuum this surface, you care for it by sweeping or gently blowing. There are tiny little pieces of rubber down at the bottom of the *roots* of the grass, which hold the plastic grass up. You don't want to vacuum them up! I use a rechargeable Worx blower/sweeper, which is small and lightweight. Takes about ten minutes to blow away stray leaves, etc., from the patio and the turf. • Don't be too neat. Artificial turf actually looks better with a few stray leaves on it. The cleaner it is, the more artificial it looks, so let it ...

I just purchased a WORX Air 18-Volt Cordless Blower/Sweeper online and it arrived today. So far, I like it. I own a very powerful corded blower/vacuum which has been collecting dust in my garage for a very long time now. I have dragged it out a few times in the last couple of years, but the hassle of using the cord, it's weight and noise, etc. was just making it less than fun for me. I had been pondering a cordless blower for a long time and this looks like it will be perfect for me. It is surprisingly small and light, which is exactly what I wanted. The little battery charges on a stand and then snap on the blower, and off you go. It works best on hard surfaces and has plenty of power for my needs, but if you need to clear leaves out of an NFL stadium, it's not for you. It's not silent, which would be nice, but it a whole lot quieter than a full-size blower/vac. I think I'll keep it. Macintosh, the good little wiener dog, approves, too!

I like birds. My garden attracts a lot of them, including hummingbirds. They are attracted by the water, and the shade. But some of them want worms. And when they go digging for worms, they excavate a big hole. For a long time I have laughed this off, but the most recent hole was where I had just planted some bulbs. I replanted the bulbs and have now begun setting up a bird defense. I don't want to distract birds in general, I just want them to avoid areas where I have recently planted bulbs. And apparently there is an easy way, so I am going to try it. Today, I took some twine and strung it between a small post and other anchor-points, such as the misting heads, and even one of the cycads. It's only a few inches off the ground. On the twine I have wrapped a little bit of aluminum foil. Hopefully this will discourage the birds. I guess I will find out today. Update later in the day - Saw more evidence of bird digging. Looks like I will need to add more twine. The article...

Iris grow great here in the Southwest. If you have had a clump of them for several seasons, you may have noticed less blooms this past season. If that's the case, there is an easy solution. It will require getting your hands dirty, and it may make you some new gardening friends! Iris won't bloom when they get too crowded. That's why they always bloom great for the first year or two and then they stop blooming. The solution is to dig them up and replant. Here is how you do it. • First, cut all the foliage away. Leave only an inch or two above the ground. Give all of the plants the severest haircut that you can and get rid of the leaves. • Get a shovel and dig up all of the bulbs. Yes, it takes hard work - and confidence! You will find that the original bulbs have multiplied like crazy. Dig them all up and shake off the dirt. You can leave the roots on or take them off, it doesn't matter. • Sort out the bulbs by size. Believe me, you will have plenty. You really...

I ordered the Sparaxis Big Party Mix from Easy to Grow Bulbs yesterday, and I got out and started to prepare their future home in the garden. I don't know anything about Sparaxis, just thought that they looked nice on the site, and a little bit of research told me that they should be happy here at The Tropical Paradise. From what I have read, they like a nice warm, sunny area, and I have just the place for them. In fact, I've tried to grow lots of stuff there and it just fails, so it would be great if something would succeed there. It's in the southeast corner of my garden in an area that gets very little shade. I have a Phoenix rupicola x reclinata  palm tree planted there, which is doing well, and some companion plants would look nice. From what I have read, Sparaxis are from South Africa and like it dry and hot, which is what we have here. South African plants, like Cape Honeysuckle, and several of my cycads, also like it here, so I have high hopes. The most imp...

Now that I am getting germination of the seeds, I have moved the seedlings out into the sun. The temperatures here in the desert have cooled off considerably in the last day or two, so the seedlings are in no danger of burning up, as they would have been just a week ago. In fact, they need to get out into the sun, or they will be spindly and *leggy*, stretching themselves out. Another task that needs to happen now is to do some thinning, and replant seeds in the cells that are empty. I used a sharp-pointed scissor, but I also found that I could use my fingers very carefully. It's best to take the cut-down seedlings out of the cells as they can encourage disease as they rot. I put them out into the garden where they will dry up in a matter of minutes. As I've developed more confidence in the germination rate, I am being more careful with my seed planting. I am actually trying to plant one seed at a time. With the lettuce seeds, which are fairly big, that's pretty easy. T...

Gardeners are, by nature, nurturing and caring people. They love to see things grow, and watching over the *little ones*, encouraging with word and gesture. If you are a successful gardner, you know that your attention sometimes borders on the obsessive - worrying if you have done enough. Gardening is not for the *set it and forget it* types. And I believe that is it because of that nurturing spirit that many gardeners fail. And that is failing to thin out your seedlings. When you sprinkle out seeds, they seem so tiny and the space to fill so big, but that doesn't last. Common sense tells you that each carrot plant is going to need space to grow, but that doesn't make the thinning process any easier. Like most amateur gardeners, I have often been reluctant to thin out my plants, with the result of overcrowding and poor performance. This year will be different! This morning I started some serious thinning of the carrots. They were planted in mid-August, and it's now Oc...

A challenge that I hadn't thought about here at The Tropical Paradise when I started sowing seeds directly into the garden was the ability to identify seedlings from weeds. I'm sure that more experienced gardeners knew this! I'll tell you what I am discovering. Since I have been watching the seeds sprout in the past couple of weeks, they all seem to look about the same when they have only the first two leaves. It's when the next set of leaves shows up that you seem to have something of a chance to really identify these little critters! At left is a lettuce seedling, about a week old. The beginning leaves don't look like much, but the next set looks like, well, lettuce. Cool. To give you an idea of how tiny they are, take a look at the olive next to it. And that's no jumbo olive! I am also finding that some seeds germinate, poke their little heads into the world, and then disappear the next day. This is in a shady area that stays pretty wet, and that seems ...

I planted some  Home Depot Single Mixed Freesia this morning. The package contained sixty bulbs, and I planted them in groups of threes and still have a few left over. I will find another place to plant the rest. Freesia has nice tropical foliage, and it will bloom in the spring. I've planted freesia here in The Tropical Paradise before, and they do grow well here in the desert, but I did it wrong before. One thing that I did wrong was to plant them where they didn't get enough sunlight in the winter. Flowering plants need sunlight to bloom, and where sunlight falls on your garden changes with the season, so pay attention to the light and shadow in your garden. Another mistake that I made was to plant the bulbs all alone. Freesia looks best in groups, like in the picture on the package, so put several bulbs in one hole, just barely touching each other. I did groups of three today, but I'm sure that you could do more. A single freesia plant is elegant, perhaps in a cors...

My Canna Tropicannas are doing very well this year. They were badly frozen last winter and I cut them all to the ground, and, as you can see, they came back. The one next to me is about seven feet tall, as I am just under six feet tall, which is how most guys who are 5' 10" describe themselves. This corner really is getting to be a jungle, which is what I have been aiming at all along. I wish that it looked like this all year long, but I would have to be in Hawaii! Still, it's nice to be able to get this for half a year in Phoenix.

Iris are wonderful here in the desert and grow very well. I like the long, tropical, strap-like leaves, and while the blooms aren't very long-lasting, they are continuous. So much so that when they do start to bloom, you have to get out there and trim them a lot. A labor of love! This year I have planted a Tall Bearded Iris called *Firebreather*, which I found at my local Home Depot pretty cheap. I saw them online sold as a single bulb for twice the price I paid for two. I bought four of them and planted them on each side of, and in front of, my Phoenix rupicola palm tree. It's the beginning of October here so this is the best time to plant iris. The leaves will start to grow right away, and the blooms will appear in the spring. Tall Bearded irises are re-blooming, so all you have to do to get blooms next year is to let the leaves die down a bit, which will happen when the weather begins to heat up again, cut the dried leaves back, and leave them alone. They will multipl...

Cannas are grown mostly for their beautiful, lush, tropical foliage, but remember that their flowers are very attractive to hummingbirds. If you want to attract hummingbirds, remember that they like red and orange flowers, tubular shapes, and water. Your cannas will supply this throughout the *tourist* season - all during the nice weather here in the Phoenix, Arizona area. Canna flowers don't last very long, so it's best to keep an eye on the blooms and clean them up after they flower. But more blooms will come along right after that one! Sorry, I was too slow with the camera to take a picture of the hummingbird, but he or she will be back, I'm sure!