Brad's Tropical Paradise

There is no better climate in the world for cycads, such as sago palms, as Southern California. When I lived there in the 1980s, I didn't pay attention to them, but as I visit often, I am amazed at how well they do. In fact, if you just drive around South Pasadena, you will be amazed. If, however, you are moving away from Southern California to the Phoenix, Arizona area, you may be wondering if you can bring your cycads along. Yes, you can. Sago palms do great in the Sonoran Desert, they just need a little extra care. And the really good news is that sago palms transplant easily. They have a shallow root system, and, like bulbs, they store a lot of energy in their trunks. In fact, you can ship them with no roots, and you can leave them sitting around out of the ground for quite a while. So here is the process: It's best to transplant in the spring. You don't need to acclimate them or anything, the weather in Southern California and Phoenix is about the same in March...

All plants need food and water. Tropical plants, especially here in the desert, definitely need it. In addition to using dry plant food, it's good to feed your plants through the leaves, with a mixture of water-soluble plant food and water. For many years I did this by filling up one of those hose-end sprayers with something like Miracle Grow and watering everything. A few years ago I moved the hose to the other end of the garden and realized that I didn't do the foliar feeding as often, as it was more of a hassle to do it. Dragging a heavy hose around is a real drag for me, especially with my bad ankle! But I bought something on impulse yesterday at Home Depot, a two-gallon plastic watering can. At first I thought I would take the "rose" off of the end, but when I tried it, I was surprised. It really does do a nice little shower of water! It takes some practice, you have to be sure not to over-fill it, or it will spill out when you tilt the can, but it really d...

It's July 26th and the Elephant Ears are coming back strong. I have to admit that I was worried for a while, as the January frost knocked them completely to the ground, and I didn't see even a bit of growth for a couple of months. But they are coming back! The leaves get about twice as big as this normally, so I am hoping for more rain, which this area gets consistently in July and August. These are thunderstorms, which a local DJ jokingly referred to many years ago as "monsoons", and the term is now used in all sincerity by people who, I guess, have never seen a real monsoon. Just to the left of the tip you can see one of the mister heads, because these plants love moisture. And since we don't really get "monsoons", but only occasional short bursts of rain, I keep the misting system on. It mists every six hours for 15 minutes. This year I put in some stepping stones and will be thinning out the elephant ears. In the past I just let them grow, bu...

I had artificial turf installed here at The Tropical Paradise seven years ago. I resisted the impulse to make it a putting green, or anything goofy like that. What I wanted was the look of green grass, and that's what I got. I am very happy with it. One of the advantages of artificial turf is that you never need to mow it. Today it will be over 100 degrees and it rained last night, so a lot of people will either go out and try to mow their wet grass, or more likely, let it get terrible and scraggly. Even when I was much younger, doing this kind of stuff didn't interest me. And yes, the rain seeps through it. It's perforated, so Macintosh, the good little wiener dog, can piddle on it. The "grass" is always neatly trimmed, so there is no danger of stepping in her poop, although it is very small. I go out with a pooper-scooper every day, and when it's not raining, I hose it down every once in a while. If you're tempted to get artificial turf, do so. S...

Even though they look like they should be related to palm trees, cycads, like this dioon edule , are more closely related to pine trees. And like pine trees, they cone. Cycads are a very ancient type of plant that hasn't really changed much since the days of the dinosaurs. In addition to not having a flower (flowering plants hadn't evolved yet), it is dioecious, that is, there are male and female plants. And since most plants do flower, and most have both male and female parts on the same plant, it has given them an advantage over more primitive plants. This particular cycad in my garden is a coning male. Yes, you can tell the sex (gender) of a cycad by the shape of its cone. And in order for there to be more baby cycads from this daddy, there would have to be a female coning at exactly the same time. You can see the evolutionary disadvantage of being a dioecious plant! This lonely guy has coned three times since I've had him, but I've never seen a double cone b...

The definition of a weed is a "plant out of place". In the wilderness, there are no weeds. In a garden, particularly one here in the Phoenix area after a rain, there are a lot. And a garden is a tamed piece of ground, with plants in a particular place, so weeding is part of its care. It's no skin off my teeth, but it always bugs me to see people out there digging up weeds. Maybe I am reminded of kids who had to do this as part of their chores, maybe I am thinking of the sore lower backs that this causes. And maybe I am thinking that digging up weeds just disperses them and makes more weeds. No, I don't pull over my car and say to someone who is doing this, "hey, you are an idiot!" and I suppose it's just as well. So it feels good to just write it here. I use Round-Up. It's not a poison, it blocks photosynthesis. That is, you spray it on the leaves of any plant, and the plant is unable to use sunlight to grow. It does not poison the soil, or you...

There are two watering systems here at The Tropical Paradise. One is a low-pressure "drip system" that waters through spray heads that are discreetly placed towards the back of the planting areas, and the other is a misting system, which you can see in operation in the photo. They are both ordinary, inexpensive, systems that I got at Home Depot. If you have ever visited an outdoor patio at a restaurant in Phoenix, or Palm Springs, you have seen overhead misting systems. When they are working correctly (and not just dripping on you) they are wonderful as they actually reduce the ambient temperature. This is great for people and plants. And the plants especially appreciate the added humidity in the air. But instead of overhead, my misting system line runs underground. I've never heard of anyone else doing this, so I can't recommend that you visit your local Home Depot and tell them that you want to install an underground misting system. Just tell them that you wan...

Container gardening is a wonderful way to surround yourself with the beauty and joy of live plants. Unfortunately, here in the desert, many times it's just a view to a kill. The plants look great at the store, and all you get to do is to watch them slowly die. And sometimes not so slowly. But it can be done successfully here in the desert. And your goal is to make things as easy as possible on these poor plants that have to live out there in the terrible heat. I've made a lot of mistakes here at the Tropical Paradise and had given up on having plants in containers, but I'm trying again. Here is what I have learned: • Avoid ceramic pots. Yeah, the plastic ones aren't quite so elegant, but putting a plant in a ceramic pot here in the desert is the equivalent of putting it in the oven. The heat dries out the soil, and the roots. Get a plastic pot. And be sure to get the kind that has the little "plate" on the bottom to hold overflow. Water running out of th...

Cannas give a great tropical feel here in the Phoenix, Arizona area, but they require some work, and you need to be brave! After the major heat wave suddenly hit a few weeks ago, the cannas got badly sunburned. But I'm brave, I went out when there was a bit of shade, and I chopped them down until just a few were left. And this is what they do when they come back! Cannas are grown for their gorgeous foliage, not flowers. And since they grow back so fast, you can cut them back as hard and as often as you want. They also like a lot of water, and plant food. I just poured some fish plant food at the base of these plants (stinks like crazy) and they seem to like it. The variety that I have here are called "Tropicannas". The foliage goes from a deep purple to a green, and is more purple the more shade it gets. And the best leaves are the new ones. I chop the old ones off pretty quickly. If you don't do that, cannas, unfortunately, can look pretty ratty. So when you ...

Once a sago palm ( cycas revoluta ) reaches a certain level of maturity, it starts to create pups. Like agaves, these are little plants that are exactly the same as the parent plant, only smaller. And yes, you can trim them off and grow them into new plants. This is how to do it. Cut them off from the parent plant with a sharp knife. If there are any roots at the bottom, try to save them, but chances are there won't be any. That's not a problem. The next step is rooting them. Douse the cut part and the bottom of the plant with some garden sulfur and some rooting hormone powder. Rooting hormone powder is pretty easy to find at your local Home Depot. I had to go to a real nursery to get garden sulfur. Anyway, the idea is to keep the little plant from rotting while giving it time to grow its own roots. Sago palm pups being rooted Bury them fairly deep in some free-draining mix. It should include volcanic pumice, if you can find it, and if not, you can use perlite. I ...

I just finished installing the Toro timers a few minutes ago, and I had forgotten how nice they are. I had been using them for the past twenty years here at The Tropical Paradise until I was enticed away by the "pretty face" of the Orbits, which failed, three times. In Orbit's defense, I must say that their customer service is excellent. But their engineering is terrible. Hopefully it will get better. Yes, they burst without warning and make an awful mess of gushing water. Don't buy those. Anyway, the I ordered the Toros online from Home Depot. They run on batteries (I buy the super-dooper Lithium kind), and they are so easy to use it's absolutely ridiculous. No, there is no digital readout, no you don't have to set the time, or any of that stuff. You turn one dial for frequency (how often) and duration (how long). It's a little before 2 p.m. now so I have the watering system set to come on for twenty minutes every twelve hours (it's hot here right...

I got an inquiry yesterday morning about a sick sago palm. I immediately diagnosed all kinds of emergency procedures, but later that day when I saw the photo, I realized that it was not an emergency. This sago just needed to be fed. If your sago palm ( cycas revoluta ) is just starting to look sickly, sad, or ratty, don't worry. Although these plants will do fine with neglect, if you want that beautiful look of full, green leaves like you see at the fancy resorts, you will have to feed it. But just a little. So, here is the procedure for making this plant grow strong and healthy • Trim away most of its leaves. Be brave! They look kind'a ratty, anyway, don't they? Leave the center ones, about three or four. Those will be cut away with the next flush of growth next season. • Put it in a larger pot. It doesn't have to be all that much larger, as sagos don't mind crowded roots, but it's possible that more years have gone by than you care to count. And don...

If your sago palm (cycas revoluta) has been showing small, yellowish, stunted growth instead of the beautiful green leaves it used to have, it is a sure sign that it is drowning. That is, it's not getting good enough drainage, and it has been standing with "its feet wet". Sagos can stand this abuse for only so long. It is slowly dying. You need to do something right away. There is a solution, but it will take some work, and some patience. First of all, it has to be taken out of the ground and replanted. But before you do that, give a gentle tug on the innermost leaves. If they pop out easily, the plant is rotted to the heart, and will die. Get rid of it, it probably smells bad. If it passed the "tug on the leaves test", try just giving the plant a yank out of the ground. The yellowish stunted leaves means that too much water has rotted the root structure, so it should come out of the ground fairly easily. If it's still hanging on pretty strong, that...

Cannas are great, but unfortunately they can get looking ratty pretty quickly. We had a serious heat wave here in the Phoenix area recently, and the cannas here got pretty badly beat up. That's the bad news. The good news is that, if you are brave, you can chop them down viciously and they will return like crazy. Cannas are grown for their foliage, not their flowers - although they do flower. So when the foliage started to getting all sunburned recently, I chopped off as much as I could. Then I watered and fertilized the cannas, and stood back. They grow fast! If you want to grow cannas here in the desert, find an area that gets afternoon shade. This area is near the house, which shades it after about 2 pm. Give them as much water as you want - cannas are practically water plants, you can't over-water them. I use the moisture-holding crystals to help keep the area around them consistently wet, and to reduce my use of water (water is precious in the desert!). They are plan...

I've had my Kentia palm here for over five months now. When I first got it, in February, the weather here in the Phoenix, Arizona area was mild. But that mildness started wearing off by the end of May and now, on July 2nd, it's over 100 degrees (almost 38 C) out there. And that means that the air conditioning is on just about all day, and even at night. And to me, air conditioning is the real test of an indoor plant. Believe me, I'm glad to have A/C, but it is very drying to both plants and animals. Doesn't really bother me all that much, but most tropical plants have a preference for humidity. Trust me, it is not humid here, either inside or out! And so I'm pleased to say that there has been a lot of new growth on the Kentia, which is a slow-growing palm. It's a good thing I have tall ceilings! Although the growth seems to coming from closer to the bottom, which is nice, giving a nice, full look. I have been following the advice of  +Kevin Williams  , w...

There are actually two watering systems here at The Tropical Paradise, one is a low pressure "drip" system that sprays water out from spray heads, and the other is a misting system, which also adds water and increases humidity. The reason I call it a "secret", even though I'm telling you here, is that it virtually disappears once it's in place. I know, because I have, uh, accidentally stepped on these things! It's just an ordinary misting system, like the kind you see on patios of restaurants in Phoenix, with one rather expensive modification. The expensive modification is the riser, which is made of copper. These things should be made of solid gold, the amount I have paid for them! I get them online, as they are rarely available at Home Depot. They are about four inches tall, and although they start out bright and shiny (they're copper), they dull down very quickly and that's what helps them "disappear". By the way, if you don...

I had an Orbit watering timer fail again yesterday. It was a replacement for the one that failed a couple of months ago. At that time, I contacted Orbit and they assured me that it was a failure of a seal inside of it, so I returned it to Home Depot and got another one. I had really liked the Orbit timers. They were easy to use, and had nice big lettering that I could easily see without my reading glasses. But two failures in as many months is a clear sign that I shouldn't be using them here at The Tropical Paradise. I suspect heat, which has been intense. But I have been using battery-operated timers here at The Tropical Paradise for years and it always gets hot in the summer. Besides, the last one failed before the really serious heat came on. And it gets worse for Orbit. When the unit fails, it pours water out all over the place. I really wouldn't mind if it would fail by not working, but when it fails by releasing water at a tremendous rate (luckily it happened yester...

I will be the first to admit that the desert gets hot. It does! But what we have had here in the Phoenix area for the last couple of days has been absolutely ridiculous. The temperatures have been getting up close to 120, and even this early in the morning (it's 6:30 am), it's 90 degrees. Needless to say, the cannas were looking terrible. Even in a shady spot like this, they still get a fair amount of morning sun, and were getting sunburned. The solution, fortunately, is easy. I just laid out a tarp and am cutting them back down to the ground. Where I see some strong, young growth, I am leaving the stalk. But there really isn't much. After I've done the cutting, I will clean up and apply some fresh potting soil. The area will look bare for only a few days - cannas grow fast! Just add water! Excuse me, I want to get out there and do more trimming. Before I get sunburned! This is what the area will look like until the cannas grow back in a few weeks