Brad's Tropical Paradise

Dang, it's hot out there! It's June 24th, and as I write this, at 11 am, it's already 100 degrees here in Glendale, a suburb of Phoenix. So, I probably won't be spending much time outdoors, but my plants have to! Since I love the look of tropical landscaping, I've resisted planting cactus, or just having rocks. And while I've added some agaves, as you can see, I'm the happiest with my cycads. Those are the fern-looking things there. Or the things that look like little palm trees. If you're not familiar with cycads, it's not surprising. I've had them here for twenty years, but I rarely see them in Phoenix. They tend to be plants that are owned by kind'a kooky collectors, some of which I'm proud to say are friends of mine. The most common cycad is called the "sago palm". They're not really palms, nor are they ferns, but I really don't care. I just like the way that they look. The ones in the photo don't really...

This tiny area of my garden is very important, as it's right near the patio door. And that means that, in addition to getting the type of afternoon shade that cannas require here, it's also an area that has a very hot microclimate. And that means that just about everything that I've tried to plant at the base of the cannas has been killed by the intense summer heat. And that's made the base of the cannas look unsightly as usually all that's been there is dirt and dying plants. But the haworthias are doing fine there (they're the ones that kind'a look like aloes) so I've added in more and I've also added in the grey rocks which create a frame for the cannas and a backdrop for the haworthias. The brown rock in the foreground is more of an eye-catcher, as it's petrified wood, but the grey rocks are just background rocks. What I'm trying to do here is to balance the large scale of the cannas with the small scale of the haworthias. When you...

If your lawn looks terrible, either because you aren't giving it enough water, or enough attention, and you are considering getting rid of it, I strong encourage you. If you're thinking of paving it all over, or pouring concrete on it, or using gravel, I strongly discourage you. Grass looks beautiful. When it's green and nicely trimmed, and edged, and fertilized, and watered, and all that. When I first bought my house, twenty years ago, I spent a lot of time, and money, and water, on my grass. Then about eight years ago I had artificial turf installed. It was the best investment I ever made. This is what it looks like this morning, and as you can see, it still looks great. I've had people walk on it and not even realize that it wasn't real grass until they reached down to touch it. And since I'm so happy with my artificial turf, I've become quite an advocate for it. And it you're thinking of it, here are some stray thoughts: • Have it profession...

I have a lot of aloes here at the Tropical Paradise, but right here, next to the patio, has been a problem area for a long time. It gets shade in the afternoon, and is actually kind of boggy and cold in the winter, but in the summer, even though it only gets morning sunlight, the reflected heat from the flagstone path has caused many plants to just burn to a crisp. Yikes! It's hot out there! But I'm experimenting, mostly, and a couple of years ago I discovered Haworthia. No, I had never heard of Haworthia, either. They're the little pointy plants there that kind'a look like aloes. But, to my amazement, they like it there. They grow by clumping, so I'm still waiting for them to fill into the area. I've also added some euphoria (that's the tall stick-looking plant, and they seem to combine well. So, you can plant them small, and they will grow together, kind'a like ground cover. Behind them, as you can see, are the cannas. I like the cannas, and t...

About a year ago I went to go have lunch with a friend in Scottsdale, and since I got there way too early, and it was a beautiful day, I walked around some of the most architecturally-beautiful condos that I have ever seen. They're on Scottsdale Road a few blocks north of Camelback, if you want to go see for yourself. They are really quite amazing, especially if you're interested in gardens. I'd seen photos of the building, and gone past it several times, but this time I wanted to see it up close, so I walked around. My first impression was positive, to see all of the beautiful plants, and then I was overwhelmed by the noise. Hopefully I visited on a rare day, as the roar of machinery cutting and blowing was tremendous. I got to wondering how the people who lived there could stand the noise? Then I realized that most of the people who lived there never actually used the outdoor spaces, they just admired the landscaping from their windows. But I like going outside, an...

Hidden away in a little Phoenix neighborhood is a cluster of some of the most beautiful, and rare, palm trees in the world. They are called The Black Sphinx Palms, an unusual variety of Phoenix dactylifera . What makes them unusual and rare is the fruit, which is unique to this variety, but what makes them beautiful is what anyone can see in the neighborhood where they have been growing for over 70 years. And they are found nowhere else in the world. I visited this neighborhood recently and I can truly say that is well worth the trip. These giant beauties create a canopy that makes this neighborhood absolutely magical. A few blocks away, where the palms no longer stand majestically, the magic vanishes. These heirloom trees make this neighborhood, and it wouldn't be the same without them. If you want to visit this neighborhood, go south on 44th Street just below Camelback and look for the biggest cluster of the biggest palm trees you have ever seen in your life. You can't...

On the eastern slopes of the Tropical Paradise I have one of my oldest plants, a dioon edule cycad. It's been there for about twenty years, and as you can tell, they don't grow very fast! As cycads go, it's mature, but, hey, they're miniature plants! It has gone through its reproductive cycle a couple of times, which means that in some years instead of producing leaves, it produces cones. They're botanically interesting, but really I would prefer leaves. They only grow once a year, in what is called a flush, and I'm still waiting for this one to start growing this season. It turns out that this plant was planted exactly right - which I wish I could take credit for, but I didn't know. As you can see, it's at the top of a slope, which allows it to take all of the water it needs (which really isn't much), without getting too much. The only cycads that I've killed here are ones that stood with "their feet wet" and rotted their roots. ...

I like cycads. And when I tell people that, usually they say, "what the heck is a cycad?" Of course, this hurts my feelings a little bit, because they're my favorite plants, but I guess I understand. A cycad is a plant that looks like a little palm. A "sago palm" is a cycad. A cycad can also look like a fern. But cycads aren't palms, or ferns. But really, I don't care. I wanted a tropical look to my garden, and since ferns don't grow well in the Phoenix area, and palms are too darn big, I discovered cycads. If you go shopping for cycads, expect some blank looks. Most of the hard-working people at garden centers have never even heard of cycads. It's best to just ask for sago palms. But if you want the plants I'm showing in this picture, you will need to find cycads, and a place where people know about them. Be prepared to speak some Latin! The cycads that you see there are dioons . The ones in the foreground are dioon edules , and t...

Sansevierias, just like cycads, agaves, and aloes, produce pups. That is, plants that grow directly from the mother plant. And I've noticed that my agaves and aloes will often send a runner out for quite a distance and then a pup will appear. Sometimes the pup will be in a good location, and I'll leave it alone, sometimes it won't be, and I'll dig it up to plant elsewhere. But it wasn't until this year that I saw some very mysterious runners that kind'a looked like the Loch Ness Monster coming from some sansevierias. I started planting sansevieria last year that were given to me by a fellow member of the Arizona Palm and Cycad Association. By the way, the most common sansevieria is called a Snake Plant, which you see all of the time indoors. When I was a kid it was called Mother-in-Law's Tongue. According to my expert, the runners were bumping against something and hadn't yet begun to turn back up towards the light. I dug one out, just to see,...

Here in the Phoenix, Arizona area it's very hot and dry. Well, usually - we do get thunderstorms in the summer. But mostly the stereotypes you've seen of Phoenix are true - it's a desert after all, and a very hot and dry one. And that's part of the reason that I wanted to create an oasis here. I've made a lot of mistakes over the years - my motto is "I'm experimenting, mostly" and there are a few things that I've learned that you gotta do to have your own "tropical paradise". Here they are: • Shade. This photo was taken in the morning, and that's the only time that my backyard gets this type of sunlight. Shade is provided by the olive tree by late morning, and by my house in the afternoon. You are looking north in this photo, and the sun is coming up to your right. • Automatic watering system. I've seen people try to keep their plants alive by dragging out a hose, but it really is the wrong thing to do. Your enthusiasm m...

It's typical of the Phoenix area to get rain in the summer. They're thunderstorms, and they're usually called "Monsoons". As an old desert rat, I love the thunderstorms. I shot a video this morning, just as it was beginning, but it really doesn't do it justice. You have to feel it, and smell it, to understand. If you live in the Phoenix area, you know. Brad draws custom cartoon illustrations for publications, blogs, presentations, anything you want. You can contact him at his website  BradHallArt.com

If you live in the Phoenix area, you have seen what is commonly called a *Pineapple palm*. It's Latin name is Phoenix canariensis , and it's similar to a common date palm, but its leaves are greener and the trunk is usually seen as short and squat (you know, like a pineapple). They are gigantic trees, and most properties are too small for them, even when they're young. And older specimens are not easy to find around town. But here's one (in the center) at the historic Sahuaro Ranch in Glendale, which is at 59th Avenue between Peoria and Mountain View (just south of the Main Library). This ranch is well over 100 years old, but I really don't know how old the palms are. They're certainly much older than anything other palm trees planted around here. And if you're looking for the *pineapple* shape, well, this one is just way too tall. They grow fairly slowly in the Phoenix area, but you can see more that look like this in Southern California, where they ac...

Even though my cycads are the stars of the show, I like to give them a good supporting cast. A couple of years ago I started adding agaves, and I am very pleased at how they look with cycads. Here you are looking at an Agave potatorum cv Kichijokan (Syn Agave verschaffletii) in front of a dioon edule cycad. I like how the shape of the agave makes a nice compliment to the tropical look of the cycad. Here are a few stray thoughts about agaves: • Agaves are beautiful, but deadly. Plant them well away from where anyone might bump into them. The tips are sharp as needles! • Choose your agaves carefully. Do your homework, don't just go to your garden center and pick up something that might look good in a pot. Some grow to be ridiculously enormous while others stay small (like this one).  Yeah, be prepared to pay a premium for that kind of plant. Small plant + slow growth + beauty = an expensive plant! • Give them some water. Agaves can live out in the hot sun, but they ap...

It's the first of June and, as usual, it's heating up fast here in the Phoenix, Arizona area. I've been fiddling around with this area of the garden this morning, which I call the Aloe Garden (although there are agaves, sansevierias, and cycads there) and added a little bit more potting soil and then covered it up with mulch. The mulch, by the way, is supplied free to me courtesy of the olive tree. Next to shade, mulch is the most important thing to have in your garden to conserve water. Whatever you use, bags of chipped up wood from Home Depot, or just, like me, the leaves from your tree, just do it. It not only helps conserve water, but it helps to keep the plants, and their roots cooler. Not cool, it's over 100 degrees out there! But cooler. Worx rechargeable blower . Very light, and no cord, for blowing leaves off the artificial turf, and into the garden for mulch. I use a small rechargeable electric blower and I blow the leaves off of the artificial turf...

As compared to other, more rare cycads, sago palms (cycas revoluta ) aren't really all that valuable. Yes, they're expensive as compared to ordinary palm trees, but that only because cycads grow so very slowly. So, if you have the opportunity to rescue a big old sago palm, I'd say go for it, but be prepared to find out that it's a lot of work, and that you'll probably have pretty much just a telephone pole for a couple of seasons as it settles in before it really looks like anything. I've rescued cycads before, but never anything as big and old as the one I just got this past weekend. It's a little over six feet tall, which isn't very big for a palm tree, but is very big for a cycad. I've only seen ones this big in botanic gardens, or in very old properties that have been very carefully cared for. This big dude (or dudette - I don't know yet, cycads have two genders, like people - really.) was on its way to the landfill on a very old prope...