Brad's Tropical Paradise

In addition to being beautiful and varied plants that do well using very little water, succulents have the advantage of being easy to transplant from cuttings, and pups. In the last year or two I've been getting a lot of cuttings from a friends of mine. His plants are doing so well that really all he is giving me is the trimmings. And that's because succulents do so well that they send off offshoots, which I call pups. It's kind'a like bulbs multiplying, except that it happens above ground. So, instead of throwing the trimmed plant material into the dumpster, my friend puts it in bags and brings it over here. I'm experimenting mostly, and while I have had mostly failure doing this, the successes have been spectacular. This is what I have learned: • Prepare the planting area with free-draining soil. Here in Arizona I like to say that my plants aren't really planted in the ground, they're planted in holes dug in Arizona and filled with potting soil. •...

Cannas do great in the Phoenix, Arizona area. I've had them here at The Tropical Paradise, which is in a suburb of Phoenix, for many years now. They really do give a tropical feel, but like growing anything non-native in the desert, it takes a few tricks to make them look their best. This is what I have learned: • Plant them in shade. Morning sun only. My backyard is on the east side of my house, so they do best close enough to the wall so that they get afternoon sun. Even then, in summer you can expect a little bit of sunburn. It does get hot here! • Give them a lot of water. Cannas are practically water plants, you can't overwater them. The area where they do best was practically boggy when I had grass there, many years ago. I also add in some of those polymer moisture crystals, which you can get at Home Depot. • Fertilize them. These are tropical plants, so they need to be fed. At least that's how I look at it. In addition to adding slow-release dry fertilizer ...

After my accident (please don't ask), many years ago, just taking care of the garden was extremely difficult for me. I had artificial turf installed (which I love) so it's not like I had to mow the grass, but I still had to (and wanted to) take care of the plants. I've made some great improvements over the years, but for a long time simply walking, bending and stretching was a lot for me to do. Luckily, I love my garden, and it has always been a labor of love. No, I was never out there jumping around, and I'm still not, but many times simple movement is the best medicine. Since I live in the Phoenix area, and it's March, it's a great time to be outdoors. It's in the mid-seventies most of the day, which is very comfortable. And so I've set up a physical therapy area out in the garden. This is what I have so far: • An extra-thick yoga mat. It's underneath the towel and the pillow (which is an outdoor pillow so I can leave it outside). • A sma...

If you're wondering if beautiful old sago palms like the one pictured can be rescued and transplanted, rest assured that they can. This sago is on a property in the Phoenix area that is about to be developed and it would be a shame for it to just be cut down and tossed. In terms of value, this tree would cost several hundred dollars at a nursery. But aside from its monetary value, it just seems an awful shame for a beautiful tree like this to end up thrown into the dumpster. So you have a couple of options • You can call nurseries to see if they will go out and dig it up. But don't be surprised that, even though these are valuable plants, the cost and effort may not be viable commercially. I'm not criticizing here, it's just that a crew would have to go out and get it. In addition, the plant would have be planted in a box and re-rooted before it would salable, which would take at a minimum a year. And so you can see that the profit margin would probably be mos...

One of the tricks that I use here in my garden in Glendale, Arizona (a suburb of Phoenix) is a misting system. This is in addition to the low-pressure drip watering system. It's just an ordinary misting system like the kind that you see on patios of restaurants, except that instead of being mounted above, it's buried underground. The trick to getting it to work is to use risers (like the one in the foreground). I started with cheap plastic ones and then invested in copper ones that start out shiny and then dull down to become practically invisible (I know - I've stepped on them more than once!). The line itself, which is plastic, runs all around the garden and is attached to a battery-powered timer and a filter. It's late March now so I'm going to increase the frequency that the misting system comes on, which lasts for about fifteen minutes each time, several times a day. In the middle of the summer it comes on a lot more often, and in winter it's off. B...

Irises (irii?) do great in the Phoenix, Arizona area. I've had them here in Glendale (a suburb of Phoenix) for many, many years. There are, of course, a few tricks to getting them to look their best, and this is what I know so far: • Plant them in full sun. Like all blooming plants, they need sunlight to bloom. This does, however, tend to make them dry out here in the desert, so another trick is to... • Plant them at the bottom of a slope. Iris are practically water plants, you can't overwater them. The area where this clump is blooming this morning is an area that collects water, both from the hill behind it, and slightly from the gentle slope in front of it. So give them a lot of water, as much as you want. In fact, this area started getting depressed last year from standing water, so I put some flagstone there. Which lead to another trick.. • Plant them where you have access. These plants are right on the edge of the garden where I can attend to them with ease. The...

Of all the hidden secrets that I've learned about having a lush, tropical garden, fertilizer is at the very top. Tropical plants, like palms and cycads, do better with fertilizer. I always plant them in rich potting soil, with plenty of fertilizer, but since I've had this garden for many, many years, it's important to keep fertilizing them. It's mid-March and this is a good time to start thinking about fertilizing your palm trees and cycads (sago palms). I use a lot of different types of fertilizer, but this year I'm also using those big spikes that you pound into the ground with a hammer. I've done this in the past and made a mess of things, but this time I actually read the directions, and it's working great. Here is how you do it: • Water the area first. You don't have to haul out a hose, or use a lot of water, a little bit from a watering can is enough. • Put the little plastic cap on and pound it most of the way in with a hammer. Then take t...

If you have a garden, you know that mulch helps retain moisture, keeps your plants' roots cooler, and overall is a pretty darn good thing. This is especially true if your garden happens to be in the desert, like mine is. My garden uses a lot of mulch. Luckily, for me, I get it free. It rains down continuously from my trees. If you're fortunate enough to have a tree that sheds year 'round, you're in luck. Oddly enough, I see a lot of people in the Phoenix area gather this precious material up in bags and put it in their garbage can, where it goes to add more waste to a landfill. Not only is this a frustrating waste of time, it's a waste of precious resources, including water. So, stop vacuuming under your tree. Let the mulch accumulate. I use a lightweight rechargeable blower to clear off my sidewalks. Yeah, it's so lightweight I just took the photo by holding it with one hand. And it's rechargeable, so you don't need to drag out an extension cord. ...

I have plenty of plain green euphorbia growing here at The Tropical Paradise, and this weekend I added another variety, the kind that has the orangey tops, call Fire Sticks or Sticks of Fire. I have to admit that they are pretty cool. Since I'm experimenting mostly, I had never even heard of a Euphoria before last year. I had gotten them as cuttings from a couple of my plant friends. So I stuck them in the ground all over the property and waited to see what they would do. They did great, taking root and growing just about right away. And I didn't see any frost damage this past winter, even though we got a couple of good frosts. The one in the photo is in a great spot visually, but I'm not convinced that it will like that spot come summertime, or in the winter. It's a sunny area, which may be too much here in the desert, and it's also at the bottom of a hill, where cold air flows in the winter. I'll let you know how it does.

It's March 7th and the iris are starting to bloom here at The Tropical Paradise. I live in Glendale, Arizona, which is a suburb of Phoenix, and have been growing iris (irises? irii?) for many years now, and they do great. Of course I've made a lot of mistakes along the way (I'm experimenting, mostly) and here is what I have learned: • Plant the bulb (actually it's a rhizome) shallowly in an area that will get plenty of sun and where you can count on water to puddle a bit. Iris need sunlight to bloom, but they also love to have *their feet wet*. Mine do best at the bottom on the little hill there on the west-facing side of the yard. Lots of sun, and plenty of water. Water them as much as you want, they're practically water plants. • Keep them in an area that is easy to reach. That is, don't plant them way out where you can't get to them easily. Iris blooms don't last, and look ratty very quickly. After the bloom, cut the stalk to the ground. I keep ...

Freesia does great in the Phoenix, Arizona area. I've had this clump, which I purchased from  +Easy to Grow Bulbs, Inc.  in 2011, come back year after year. They're called Sunset Sisters, by the way. But freesia take some care as they start to bloom. The most important thing is to stake them. The blooms get top-heavy, and start to tip over. I learned that the first year! I get bamboo stakes at the Dollar Store and tie the stalks with green flexible gardening tape. The next thing that you need to do is to remove the spent the blooms. Freesia bloom in sequence, so by the time the last flower has bloomed on the stalk, the first one is looking pretty sad. I just gently pull them off. In the photo the blooms have just begun, so it will take a few days to get to that point. I also water and fertilize them generously. I stick houseplant spikes in the ground, and also water them with Miracle-Gro. Freesia are plants for fussing over. Every year I think that they're gonna b...