Brad's Tropical Paradise

If you've planted a sago palm (technically called a cycas revoluta ) recently and it doesn't seem to be growing, don't worry, they're weird. Sago palms are part of a group of plants called cycads. Cycads are an extremely ancient type of plant, which existed before flowering plants. You know, back in the day of the dinosaurs. Like a lot of weird plants and animals, they have survived to this day, in spite of the fact that they never quite "got with the program" of how most plants grow. Cycads grow in something called "flushes", usually only once a year. That is, they sit doing absolutely nothing for eleven months of the year, and then all of they start putting out leaves, which usually only takes a couple of weeks to complete. It's kind of fun to watch, and it's why cycad collectors, like me, are always thrilled to see the little tiny bit of growth that you see in the photo up there. It's a flush! We post the photos on our Facebook ...

My African Spear Plants (Sansevieria Cylindrica ) are doing great here. I planted them all from cuttings, given to me by a plant friend who is an expert on Sansevierias (which are related to those common "snake plants" you see all of the time. They're succulents, and you can actually see the pleating contract and expand, the same way that you see it on saguaros. This morning I transplanted a cutting to a pot. I've transplanted cuttings all over the garden, and it's easy. You don't even need to get any roots. As you can see from the picture above, these plants produce a lot of offshoots, or pups, like agaves. So to take a cutting, simply cut one of the pups at the base. Do a nice clean cut and set it aside for a day. You can use some rooting hormone if you have it, but it's not absolutely necessary. Then plant it in some potting soil. Like a cactus, this plant stores water. You can actually see the pleats as the plant drinks the stored water. An...

Although I call my backyard the Tropical Paradise, it's just an illusion. This is the Sonoran Desert, after all. There is so little rainfall that it's a great place to play golf, just like Los Angeles. In the tropics, you know, it rains a lot. So no, you can't grow tropical plants here, or in Los Angeles, the way that you can in the tropics. But you can create an illusion. Here are some of the things that work here. • Water with a low-pressure "drip" system. Water is precious in the desert, and expensive. The water that I apply to the plants in my garden is very carefully measured out. It's an ordinary drip system, with risers that spray to very precise areas. If a plant isn't growing somewhere, no water goes there. At all. • Amend the soil. Here in the Phoenix area, I like to say that my plants aren't planted in Arizona, they're planted in holes in Arizona, in potting soil. And that potting soil is the kind that you use for indoor plants,...

Here in the Sonoran Desert, it's dry. And that's a good thing for people who want to play golf, as it's very comfortable for people. But plants prefer humidity. And here at The Tropical Paradise, I've been giving my plants additional humidity for over twenty years with an ordinary misting system. You know the kind of misting systems that I'm talking about. They're the ones you usually see on patios of restaurants, spraying everywhere, and trying to convince people that they can sit outside when it's over 100 degrees. And while I can't say that it makes it comfortable enough for people, the additional humidity is welcomed by plants! Here is what I have here: I started with an ordinary misting system from Home Depot. I've since extended it, by buying more 3/8" line, and more connectors. Since it's buried just slightly under the gravel, I found out very early that having the misting heads right on the ground isn't a very good idea - ...

If you're interested in Phoenix history, like I am, and are a tree-hugger, like me, you know that certain trees are only seen in very old, untouched parts of town. And one of those trees is a Tamarisk, or Salt Cedar. Apparently the Tamarisk tree was a mistake. It was planted beginning in territorial times, and the trees had become a serious problem within a few decades. Nowadays they're considered an invasive species, and clog rivers like the Hassayampa. So, when you see a Tamarisk tree in the Phoenix, you are seeing something that was probably planted before the 1950s, maybe even earlier. By the mid-twentieth century, people in Phoenix were wising up. And the next time you see one of these trees in real life, walk up to it. Its leaves kill everything below it. There's no chance of growing anything but dirt underneath a Tamarisk. So, no, please don't plant a Tamarisk tree in Phoenix. They are messy trees that infect Arizona's waterways. But if you see o...

If you're like most people, you learned about the birds and the bees when you were a kid. That is, bees pollinating flowers, and birds, uh, singing, I guess. Can't say I ever really understood all of that. For plants, that is. And it wasn't until I started learning about cycads, like sago palms, that I really ever gave much thought to the reproductive processes of plants. Since this is the internet, I won't use the "s" word. I don't want the Google bots getting confused about what I am writing about here! But that's what I am going to talk about here today. Stop that giggling back there, please! Cycads are in that rare group of plants that have two genders. Yep, a cycad is either a girl plant or a boy plant. Of course, most plants on planet earth have both male and female parts, but cycads are like people, and in order to reproduce they need to do the same thing that people need to do - they need to be nearby a plant of the opposite gender at ex...