Beginning your Tropical Paradise
• Plant a mesquite tree. No, not along the edge of your property, where I mistakenly planted a tree, which got too close to the wall, etc., but in the center of the property. And, no, not a nasty thorny one like a palo brea, a beautiful mesquite. Every time I visit somewhere that has a nice mesquite that has been cared for, I see the kind of perfect dappled sunlight that protects tropical plants and still allows the sunlight in. And they never are harmed by heat or cold here. If you're tempted to plant a ficus, go look at the frost of '07 and see how many died, and the ones that lived were practically stripped bare of leaves.
• Vary the height of your plantings. A tropical paradise is not a bean field - planting on flat ground not only looks terrible, it's bad for the plants. This was a happy accident for me as my backyard was filled with gravel when I moved in, which I found out I couldn't even give away. I shoveled it up in piles and that was the best thing I could have done - it created not only visual interest, but great drainage for the plants.
• Think small. This is an oasis, not a trackless jungle. If you have a backyard of 8,000 square feet, zone most of it as xeriscape, and make your oasis small. I lucked out here again as I have a very small property. My entire lot is less than 8,000 square feet and there is a house taking up most of the room. I'm not very good at math, but I'm guessing my backyard is, uh, well, pretty small.
• Get a pro for a water feature. I made the mistake of trying to install and maintain a tiny water feature a couple of years ago. Big mistake. The filter clogged all of the time, and it was a constant hassle. Finally I got rid of it. What I learned is that the larger the pond, the easier it is to keep clean. The ground here is like concrete, so hire someone to dig a nice big pond, if you choose to go with a water feature. They are gorgeous if you can afford it, miserable if not.
• Install an automatic watering system. My plants are watered through a "drip line" that has been modified with sprayer heads. If I had it to do all over again, I would have had a system that sprayed the area thoroughly, and was not reliant on the cheap battery-powered timers I have been using for years. Probably in the long run I've spent more money, and certainly more time, than if I had done it right to begin with.
• Allow access to your plants. The best advice I ever found was to design as if you were doing a "perennial border" - not more than six feet wide. This allows you to reach into the garden (assuming you can reach three feet) from either side, and never have to walk in the garden.
• Design paths. If you don't have decent paths, you (and your visitors) will have to walk in the garden. You should never walk on the garden. Stay on the paths!
• Don't plant grass. OK, to be fair, this option wasn't available twenty years ago, but growing grass here in the valley is a major pain. To make it look nice in the winter, you have to over seed, which is a mess. Put down artificial turf. I did it in 2006 and it's the best investment I ever made.
Yes, you can do this here in the valley. If you have any doubt, go visit one of the fancy resorts, like the Phoenician. The desert here has always been an instant paradise - just add water!
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