Brad's Tropical Paradise

It's February 28th here at The Tropical Paradise, and it's been one of the coldest Februaries I've seen in twenty years. But this morning there is hope. February is usually a time of blooming flowers, and planting, but it hasn't been true this year. I am hoping to see my February flowers bloom in March. And I am still holding off on planting that big sago palm that I have in the courtyard. Cold air temperatures mean cold soil temperatures, which can be fatal to a plant like a sago. The forecast is to be much warmer this weekend, and I believe it. Summer usually comes on very strong here in the Sonoran Desert. It won't be long until we are remembering these cool days fondly! By the way, the little plant there on the tiki bar is a cycad, a dioon spinulosum . I got it for cheap at a Home Depot in Los Angeles. It requires the same care as a cactus or a succulent in a pot, just sneeze on it every once in a while, that's all. It's overwatering that will ki...

If you're wondering if a Dioon spinulosum can be grown in the Phoenix area, yes it can. I've had several here in The Tropical Paradise for many years. A Dioon spinulosum, by the way, is a relative of a sago palm ( cycas revoluta ). They are both cycads, which are ancient plants that give a nice "ferny" look to your garden, but are much tougher. And besides, real ferns won't grow in the Phoenix area, I've tried. You won't find these at local nurseries here in Phoenix, but they are common in Los Angeles. In fact, in  Southern California you can find them sold everywhere, so they are not exotic plants. So, the next time you're at Disneyland, or in San Diego, stop in at the local Home Depot and get a nice big one. Unlike rare and exotic cycads, they are not expensive. And, like all cycads, they grow slowly, so buy the biggest one your budget can afford. Like all cycads in the Phoenix area, they prefer a bit of shade. But can get pretty big, so give ...

Like all plants, the trick to keeping an indoor palm tree healthy is to give it water. It's sometimes frustrating because a lot of time you don't know if you have given it too much, or too little. In the gardening world, this is what is known as a plant's cultural requirements. And, unfortunately, if you just ask the cashier at Home Depot how to care for a plant, you may as well take it directly to the dumpster right after you pay for it. Knowledge is power. And it's life for your plants, so do your homework. For this Kentia palm, I not only got advice from Kevin Williams in person (he lives here in Phoenix), I read his book. It's also a good idea to learn a bit about where a plant lives naturally. Luckily, this was also covered in Kevin's book . The Kentia comes from The South Pacific. The weather there is tropical, like your house. The temperatures never get below the fifties or above the eighties. Sounds nice! You can get another clue from the soil th...

If you have miniature palm trees, such as pygmy date palms, chances are they got hit pretty hard this winter by the cold. If you're wondering what you should do now, towards the end of February, 2013, well, my advice to you is to get started on the trimming. It's going to take several stages, but the outer ring of very badly damaged leaves can be safely trimmed off now. As you can see on this Phoenix rupicola x reclinata , the outer leaves are still brown and sickly. They will look like that, and get worse, and will need to be trimmed off. The new growth is in the center, and it will be green and healthy. I've done a bit of trimming and will come back to it a few more times before summer. If you have planted them correctly, on a slope with free-draining soil, you can water them as much as you want. But that really won't do much. What they need is warm weather. This is Phoenix, so I'm pretty sure they will be getting quite a lot of it very soon! By the way, i...

Sago palms ( cycas revoluta ) do well here in the Phoenix area, but there is a trick to planting them. They love the heat, do best with a little bit of shade, but they hate the heavy clay native soil. So the first step is to dig a hole and get rid of the native soil. I've removed it and filled some buckets which I use to fill in elsewhere that I need that type of soil, which, when it dries, is as hard as concrete. After the hole is dug, it is refilled with a mixture of potting soil and volcanic pumice. I get volcanic pumice here in the Phoenix area at Baker Nursery. Don't expect to find it at Home Depot or Lowe's. It allows free draining of water so that the roots don't rot, which will kill a sago palm. So, fill the hole with the mixture, and be generous. You eventually want the area to mound up a bit. Whatever you do, don't plant a sago where water will stand. They like water, but they don't like standing with their "feet wet". In the photo of t...

It's been a cold winter here in The Tropical Paradise and the freesia are just starting to bud in the third week of February. If yours are starting to do this, and you are wondering "are they supposed to do that?", yes, they should. The flower stem begins to bend at an angle and the flowers themselves will appear facing up along where you see the bud forming. And if the stalk is already starting to tip over, even before flowers, you need to stake it. I bought some thin bamboo stakes at the dollar store and have tied the stalks already. Freesia from last year that I didn't stake. They fell down! Freesia are very heavy bloomers and very top heavy, so I may need to add another tie to the stake at some point. This particular plant is right near where I sit in my chaise-lounge, a nice sunny area. Freesia are beautiful and fragrant, too. They do well here in the Phoenix area. Should starting to bloom in a week or so.

I just noticed some new freesia buds a few minutes ago, and I went and staked them. I planted these two years ago, and while they are beautiful, they are also top-heavy when in full bloom. My enjoyment of the flowers started up high and then fell down as they dropped their faces into the mud. This year, I am prepared. I bought some thin sticks of bamboo from the dollar store, tied the buds gently but firmly to it, and am hoping that this year will be better. I am pleased by the color of the bamboo stakes. In fact, I had to draw a little red arrow to help you to see it in the photograph. Unfortunately, the plant ties are not quite as invisible, but it's important for them to be flexible, so don't be tempted to use wire or anything like that which might "decapitate" your flowers. Freesia blooms from last year If you're wondering why flowers don't tip over in the wild, it's because they haven't been hybridized to create those amazing, huge flo...

Tropical plants love rain, but they really don't get much of it in your house. Sure, watering and feeding them is fine, but there is a neat trick that they will really love - giving them a shower. No, don't take them into the bathroom, take them outside on a rainy day. Of course, it should be a gentle rain, like the one falling right now. You don't want to put them during a heavy rain, or heavy winds. But giving them a shower in a nice warm rain is perfect for them. It's about 52 degrees (11 C) right now, which is just perfect. And the rain is gentle. So if you're reading this at 8:30 am on February 20th in the Phoenix, Arizona area, go ahead and put your tropical plants out for a shower. They will love it. This is a Kentia palm, which is especially easy to do this to. Note that it is still in the planting pot, which sits in a decorative cache-pot in the living room. The cache-pot stays there, and the plant, and planting pot, are easily transported outside i...

It's February 20th, and there is a light rain falling right now. It's a gentle rain, what I have always called a "Christmas rain", which is typical for winter here in the Sonoran Desert. There are two rainy seasons, one in winter, and one in summer. The summer rains are violent thunderstorms, however. Contrary to popular belief, a desert isn't defined by heat, it's defined by dryness. The Sonoran Desert is pretty much what people imagine when they think of a desert, blazing heat in the summer, and very, very dry. But because of the rains that we do get, it's a beautiful desert. If you've ever looked at the photos of "Arizona Highways" magazine, you know what I mean. Just west of here, in California, the desert is much drier, less colorful, and more bland. This should be the last of the winter rains. My plan is to plant my new sago palm ( cycas revoluta ) after the weather warms up. This rain is falling on it out in the courtyard in the ...

My new Kentia Palm is all settled in. As you can see, it's getting indirect sunlight, which it likes, and a wiener dog sleeping underneath it, which I like. It's an amazingly healthy plant, so much so that it hardly looks real. But, unlike plastic plants, it is, and although you really can't see in a photo, its being real makes all the difference. Fake plants, like like fake rocks, look terrible, and anyone can see the difference. To make a plant like this work in your house, you need to give it room. It shouldn't slap people in the face as they go by. My house has high ceilings, so it will be able to grow here for quite a while. Yeah, you can get these at Lowe's and Home Depot, but not as nice as the one I got from Valley Palm Company here in Phoenix. An indoor plant has to look good right away, unlike the ones outside, which can wait a season or two.

The Phoenix, Arizona area is a great place for sago palms ( cycas revolutas ). They can take the heat, with a little shade if possible, and they can take the cold. The only thing that they can't stand is the heavy clay soil. So the first step in planting a sago palm is to get rid of the native soil. If you don't have access to heavy machinery, and you need to dig a sizable hole by hand, I recommend this trick - dig, fill with water, dig. You start by digging a little bit and when you hit dirt that is as hard as concrete - and you don't have to dig very far, fill the hole up with water and wait a day. Yeah, this takes a while. The clay soil must be removed from the hole, not only for the width of the roots, but to allow the plant to grow. If you can dig a nice big hole, and fill it with potting soil and volcanic pumice, the plant has a good chance to live and flourish. If the hole is small, it will probably still live, but it really won't do very good. Sago palm ...

I got a visit from a fellow member of The Arizona Palm and Cycad Association yesterday afternoon, who had gotten an Aloe Crosby's Prolific ( Aloe nobilis x A. humilis ). This is a miniature aloe that pups profusely, so I pulled out a lot of pups and we split the cost of the plant. Normally, I prefer plants that do not pup, but in this case I am going to create what I am calling a "thicket". The goal is to combine visual interest with a discouragement of feet stepping where the garden is supposed to look like it ends. I've been working on this a long time! Ground cover itself failed miserably here at The Tropical Paradise, so this will be a trick to try to create a low "ground cover" that should actually do well here. As you can see, I spread them out evenly. Once the plants start to grow, they will pup and spread, and I will need to thin. This is in an area with partial shade, not in the full sun, as aloes, although they are tough, really don't l...

Iris is a great plant for your tropical paradise. Unlike most other bulbs, it's foliage always looks good. It is, after all, just a type of grass. The only difference is that it is a very big grass, and it blooms. If you've had some in the ground for a while, it probably hasn't bloomed, and it won't, unless you do something about it. The trick is to subdivide the clumps. If you take a look at your iris and they leaves are all smooshed together, that's a problem. Not only will the foliage look ratty, there will not be any flowers. Fortunately, the solution is easy. Get a nice sharp trowel and cut down in-between a clump of leaves. Dig all around it, you don't need to get any dirt, and pull up the clump. You should see a big of bulb there (actually it's a rhizome if you want to get technical) and some roots. If your clump of iris has been neglected for many seasons, you can get a lot of them. I add a little Osmocote® and some water crystals to a small ...

As I was setting out Amdro® for fire ants yesterday, I got to thinking about how I have a great interest in flora (habitat) while my brother, wildlife illustrator Roger Hall , has a greater interest in fauna (wildlife). And that put me in mind of our recent visit to the zoo. Don't get me wrong, I like the animals at zoos a lot. But if you're interested in fauna, like I am, there is a lot more to see at the zoo than just the animals. Animals are not just shut up in cages, they are surrounded by natural-looking environments, which includes trees, flowers, and bushes. And so when I saw that the palm trees at the zoo were untrimmed, I was thinking, "wow, they should trim those - untrimmed palm fronds are home to wasps, scorpions, and other dangerous critters." But to be fair, it's a zoo. Where, exactly do you draw the line of animals that are "pests"? Are mosquitos not wildlife? Bees? Wasps? Do you destroy the habitat of every animal that annoys you? ...

I don't get many visitors here to The Tropical Paradise, but I usually watch them walk to see how my design is working. Unfortunately, my design for The Outback was a failure. The idea was to create a space that said "this is not part of the trail", but I have to admit, it still kind'a looked that way. Good design should never have a "do not enter" sign, but it should be just as clear. His suggestions, which I am working on right now, included removing the last pieces of the trail, and putting in more cactus. I am excited about developing this part of the garden, and I am going to move in more aloes, agaves, and succulents in general. Don't know if I will go as far as real cactus, that always seemed to be a poor mix with "tropical". But, as you can see, it still looks like an area to walk in, so I have more work to do!

I've had the Kentia palm for a couple of days, and I really like it. In fact, Macintosh, the good little wiener dog, likes sleeping under it. That was her space before, but there is room to share. Kentias are also called "Parlor Palms" and have a nice, elegant, old-fashioned look to them. I've studied old photos of them in places like Buckingham Palace and they really are regal. Today I went and looked at decorative pots, but didn't see anything I liked. According to Kevin Williams , the Kentia palm expert, these plants do better if left in the original containers, so the pot on the outside is really just for decoration. What I am looking for is a more casual tropical look, but you can also increase the elegance of a Kentia by putting it in a classic urn. Urns add to the height, so be sure your ceiling is high enough. I would say that the pot it's in now is the right size, and the right color, I would just like to find something with wicker or bamboo t...

It's February, and it's time to do a couple of "invisible" things to the garden that will keep fire ants away and prevent weeds. That is, applying Amdro and Amaze. If you've ever been out digging in the garden and suddenly realized that your hands and arms are on fire, you have been stung by fire ants. Not only do the stings hurt a lot, they hurt for a long time. So many years ago, I discovered Amdro. You get it at Home Depot - I get the small size - and spread it out by shaking out the granules all over the garden. It isn't a contact poison, it's picked up and carried to the mound. The reason I know it works is because there have been seasons when I have forgotten to do this! It's the same with a weed pre-emergent. The only reason I know it works is the number of weeds I've gotten when I forgotten to apply it. I got a nice big bag of it at Home Depot yesterday and scattered it out all over the place. After it's scattered, you gently wate...

I just got a new Kentia (Parlor Palm, Sentry Palm, Howea forsteriana ). At first the idea was to put it in the far corner of my dining room, but after consideration, I have given it "star billing" next to the piano. For whatever reason, even though I enjoy gardening outdoors, I have not had a single living thing (unless you include Macintosh, the good little wiener dog) in the house for many years. My conclusion, of course, is that the air is too dry because of the air conditioning, which is an absolute necessity here in the Phoenix, Arizona area from April until October. But Kevin, who lives and breathes Kentia Palms, and has spent a lifetime becoming an expert on them, assures me that they will do fine. In fact, the information sheet that he gave me specifically states that they will do fine with air conditioning. I sure hope so! As you can see (and I will need to add a bit of moss to hide the fact), the plant is still in the original black pot that it grew in, and th...

Even though The Tropical Paradise has an automatic watering system, it's important to have access to water with a hose. The hose bib for the backyard is conveniently placed in the northwest corner, and I used it for many years. The problem with that convenience is that is was very visible. Still, plants gotta have water, so I put up with it. A couple of years ago, I got rid of the hose in the backyard, got a really, really long hose, hooked it up in the front courtyard, threaded it along the side yard, and started using that. I had an ugly short hose hung on the back of the olive tree that somehow I had convinced myself was not visible. It was - and the more I worked on The Outback, the more I saw it. So this morning, I got rid of it. I will get a hose reel that will be tucked away around the corner of the house, and when I need to water the garden with a hose, I will use that.

Now that I have removed the path, which was falling apart from neglect, I am sharpening up the southeastern slopes of The Outback. The path, which was becoming dangerously close to the agave, is now gone. I have added two plants with vertical interest, including a rhinoceros horn, which did well in the heat and the recent frost, and will help to define the area. Ultimately the plan is to add more potting soil behind the pointy rocks and create something of a "raised bed", which I have done elsewhere, and try to get some small plants, such as aloe and Haworthia, started there.

The area by my bedroom window, which I have now renamed "The Outback" is a low-maintenance area. In fact, this morning I realized that I hadn't done much to this area for several years now. It needed a good cleanup after the frost! A technique that I have resisted for years is using a tarp. I think it's because I've associated it with overly-agressive trimming which creates those sad-looking landscapes at schools and most office buildings. It is, however, a brilliant technique when you have a lot of stuff to haul away! My "tarp" is just the frost cloth that I was using in January. It's extremely light, which is a benefit here, as a heavy tarp would just be, well, heavy. The trick is to lay it out on the ground next to where you are cleaning up, dump the stuff on it, roll it up, and take it to the trash. This area looks very bare now as many of the plants have been cut down to the ground, including the cannas and the purple plants (formerly kn...

The southern area of The Tropical Paradise I originally called phase II, but it never really developed. I have planted many things, most of which have failed over the years. So I have decided to just treat the area as The Outback. An Outback is an Australian term, and it should not be confused with a rubbish heap. An Outback is a wild area, not intended for close-up viewing, but it should have its visual interest, but only to be seen either from a distance, or by doing a bit of a walkabout. An Outback should not have a paved road, so the first thing that I will need to do will be to remove the flagstone. A path like this invites people to walk, but over the years the roots of the olive tree have made this path unstable. It needs to be condemned. Of course, I will still need to be able to walk through The Outback, but it will be a more rugged terrain. I will need to replace the large flagstone in the foreground with something of a barrier. I am thinking that pointy rocks will wo...

Plants need to be organized in your garden as "foreground" and "background" plants. Foreground plants are those that I call a "walk up to it", something that invites closer inspection. If your "walk up to it" plants are tucked away in some obscure place in your garden, not only is their beauty wasted, it invites people to walk up into the garden, which is not good. On this corner, I am trying to apply some of the principles that I have learned. Most importantly, there are clear barriers along the edge - pointy rocks - and I need to put in more. The rocks also give a visual clue as to where things like misting heads are. You can see one in the foreground, but mostly they disappear, which is what they are supposed to do. The stars of this corner are the Partridge Breast Aloe, which is next to the spotlight at left, and the tall thin plant, also a succulent, called Euphorbia pedalanthus . There are more aloes in this garden, and a small agave....

It's February and it's time to start trimming the cold-damaged leaves from your pygmy date palms ( Phoenix roebelienni ). We had a serious cold snap in January here in the Phoenix area, and there is a lot of damage to trim away. In order to do this, trim away as much as you can, all the way to the last remaining few leaves at the center, which should be green. If there are no green leaves at the center, or if the center is mushy, the plant is dead. Palm trees only grow from the heart, so there is no chance that it will suddenly start sprouting out leaves from the sides. Other than that it looks bad, there is no hurry to trim the leaves. In fact, most harm is done to the plant if the damaged leaves are trimmed off too soon. During the last few days of January, those leaves were protecting the heart and keeping it warm. But the weather has now warmed up quite a bit, especially the nighttime temperatures, so it's safe now. You can do it all the way until summer, if you w...

It's February 2nd at 7:20 and the sun hasn't quite hit The Tropical Paradise yet. The sky is still that famous Arizona "sunset" color, which is nice to see first thing in the morning. But in a few more minutes the light won't be so soft. One of the advantages, and disadvantages, of living in the desert is the low humidity. Of course that means beautiful clear blue skies, but it also means very little cloud cover, and when the sun comes up, it's fierce. When I visit Los Angeles, I am reminded of how pleasant it is with the marine layer softening the mornings. I lived in Santa Barbara for a few years, and you could count on it, just about like clockwork, until 10 am. My backyard faces the east, which means it gets afternoon shade, which is perfect for such a sunny, hot climate. The winters here in the Phoenix area are nice, but the sun is low all day in the south, and in the morning. That's why you see people wear sunglasses a lot.

I woke up early this morning and got nice and dirty redoing the wiring on this corner of The Tropical Paradise. It was done by 9 am, and I spent the rest of today waiting for the sun to go down to see how it looked. I am very pleased with the effect, especially the uplighting of this  Euphorbia pedalanthus which was given to me by the Vice President of The Arizona Palm and Cycad Association. The spotlights here are 20 watts, which doesn't sound like much, but out in the garden they are brilliant. The path lights are 11 watts and they not only help illuminate the walking area, they give a nice glow to the rocks. The whole backyard uses two 100-watt low-voltage transformers, which is the equivalent of having two bright light bulbs on in the house. I turn it on and off manually, as there is no reason to have the light burning all night in my backyard. When I first started figuring out how to do garden lighting, I visited the premiere resort here in the Phoenix area, The Phoen...

I wanted to show you what I did this morning, but, uh, it doesn't show. And that's the point. What I've done is extend the wire for the Malibu lights around the perimeter of this corner. The original edge of the garden was about a foot from the house, about where the base of the little palm tree is. And that's where the spotlight that failed last week was. Since I was going to get dirty anyway, I decided to do a nice, clean installation with a lot of fresh wire. I removed the old wire from the transformer, which is hanging off to the right on the wall behind the tiki bar, and guided the new wire out under the rocks. As you can see, I have a new spotlight installed, and since there is more wire now that runs along the edge of the grass, I can put in a path light or two, which should brighten up this area at night. The rocks are doing multiple duty, not only do they show the edge of the garden, to discourage people from walking up in there, they hold down the wire, ...