Creating a tropical paradise in the desert

-
Every once in a while I hear from someone who is converting their landscape to a tropical effect. Many times they are essentially working from *a blank slate*. And while, yes, you can do a tropical landscape in the desert, at first glance it hardly seems possible.

The best place to start is to think *oasis*. So if you have a large property, don't try to create Disneyland, create an oasis. That is, start small. Isolate the area right nearby your patio and focus on that. Here is the best way to go:

• Create some slopes. Whether you have to bring in dirt or move some around, get rid of the completely-flat, *pool-table* look. For me here at The Tropical Paradise, this happened (as most things have) accidentally. The entire backyard was covered with 1/2-inch gravel, which, when I found out I couldn't sell it, or even give it away, I piled up. Some of my plants are on the tops of slopes that are several feet above the basic ground level.

• Amend the soil. In fact, don't even plant in the desert soil. Dig it up and move it. Plant in potting soil. I've gone though about a million bags of the stuff. And I mixed in a huge amount of coffee grounds, which I got free at Starbucks. I started by picking up the little bags, and then I would go to the counter and ask them to fill up a big trash bag for me.

• Put in a watering system. If you live in the desert, and you think that you're gonna get out there and hand-water with a hose, you are kidding yourself. I put in a simple low-pressure system. You can get them at Home Depot.

And may I suggest that you leave room for people? For a table and chairs? A tropical oasis is naturally attractive to tired and thirsty desert travelers. No, it's not actually any cooler in The Tropical Paradise, it just feels that way.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How to tell if your cycad (sago palm) is alive or dead

-
Image
Cycads are strange plants. They're beautiful, and look like small palm trees, or large ferns. They grow very slowly, and can be very expensive, even common ones like "sago palms". But sago palms, in spite of their common name, aren't palms at all. They belong to a group of plants called cycads. They are wonderfully weird, and grow in strange ways. And sometimes they lose all of their leaves. Of course, if it were a palm tree that lost all of its leaves, you would know that the plant was dead. But it's not true of cycads. So don't dig that cycad up and throw it away! Not yet. If you've recently transplanted a cycad, and the leaves have all faded away, hang on. Take a look at the top center of the plant, at what I call "the pucker". There you will see some stubby, soft fronds, no more than an half-inch or so. At least that's what you should see. That means that the plant is still alive, and has dropped its leaves to focus on building r...
Read more

Rooting sago palm pups for more plants

-
Image
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 ...
Read more

Growing sunflowers from Pennsylvania in Arizona

-
Image
It's October 21st, and I just received some sunflower seeds from a friend in Pennsylvania. Their season is ending and the season for planting here in Arizona is just beginning, and I'm kinda wondering if the seeds are wondering what's going on? It's spring again already? If you're new to the Phoenix, Arizona area, and are from back east it must seem kinda strange that fall and winter is our flower season, but it is. By springtime it will start to get so hot here that the flowers will die, and of course back east the season is just beginning.  Sunflowers growing in Peoria, Arizona, about a mile from where I live I've seen sunflowers blooming around my neighborhood of Glendale, which is a suburb of Phoenix, in the winter, and although I've never grown them I understand that they're easy to grow. I guess I'll find out - I learn best by doing! The seeds arrived safely, and it's my understanding that they were still connected to the spent flower (I do...
Read more