How to create an inviting backyard in a desert community

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Many upscale HOAs in the Phoenix area won't allow palm trees. The overall look of the community is meant to look like it belongs in the Sonoran Desert, which in itself is exquisitely beautiful. Arizona in its natural state is a beautiful place. Just look at how popular the magazine "Arizona Highways" is all over the world.

If you live in one of those communities, you may be surprised to find that I agree with your HOA. When most people think of palm trees, they think of Mexican Fan Palms (Washingtonia robusta), which are a very weedy-looking palm tree and are way out of scale for even the largest home. They are what I call "telephone pole" trees. The same goes for all types of large scale palm trees. You may as well just plant a telephone pole next to your house.

But as nice as natural desert vegetation is, it's really not so nice next to the pool, or by the patio. So my recommendation is to create a tiny oasis. Dedicate most of your property to natural desert plants, but make a small area with miniature tropicals. That's really what my Tropical Paradise is, a tiny space.

A backyard is a private space. There is no need for you to plant giant palm trees to get a feeling of a Tropical Paradise. This is a place to think small. This is about human scale, about creating an intimate feeling.

For me, this limitation was easy because I really only have a small space, as you can see. But I have visited people who have enormous backyards that feel terrible, and it's only because they have failed to divide the space. This is what you do:

• Create your oasis. It should be centered around a small, simple table where people can sit down and put down their beer. If you have invested in gigantic furniture that looks like it belongs indoors, sorry, you have made a mistake. Your backyard shouldn't look like a seating area for the coliseum in Rome. Get rid of that stuff, simplify.

• Plant miniatures. If you live in the Phoenix, Arizona area, chances are you have block walls, like I do. They're six feet high. There is no reason for you to plant stuff that grows higher than that in your oasis.

There. I told you that you could do it!

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