Brad's Tropical Paradise

In the past couple of years I've added a lot more rocks to my garden. This is out front, and of course there's the 1/2" gravel. I've also added some nice "craggy rocks", like the one in the foreground, which in addition to being a nice accent to the garden, protect the little plastic sprinkler heads from being kicked (accidentally, usually by me). But my latest addition is more river rocks. My goal is to make a smooth transition from the river rocks to the 1/2" gravel. So I will need more smaller river rocks (the smooth ones). I just added the big one you see there, and while it's a smooth river rock (not a craggy rock), it's big enough to have some personality, and it will be fine there, especially as I add more smaller rocks around it. In addition to looking nice, the river rocks help hold in moisture, and discourage the local cats from, uh, "doing their business" under my palm trees. I will probably go back to the rock store a...

It's the first week of December, and here in the Phoenix, Arizona area, winter started suddenly two days ago, with a drop in temperature. And it's a reminder that winter really is on its way here, and there are a few things that you need to do for your garden. The first thing to do is to change the frequency of your automatic watering. I just changed it to weekly, and by the end of December I'll turn it off until the end of January. The air temperature really isn't all that chilly, but the ground is, and plants really don't like standing with their feet wet and cold. That can rot them! And you really don't want any new growth right before it gets cold, except for your annual flowers, which you should be hand-watering. Another thing to be thinking about is frost cloths. No, you don't need them yet, and you may not need them at all this winter, but if there's a frost warning, and you have tender tropicals, it's wise to have some sitting out wher...

Agaves are wonderful plants for the desert. They aren't quite as tough as a cactus would be, but they're close. They need additional water, and don't mind a little bit of shade, and with some care they can be some of the most spectacular specimen plants in your garden. They are, of course, like most plants that do well in extreme climates, kinda weird, but it's OK if you understand them. And one thing they do is send offshoots, called pups. If you see a miniature version of your agave growing close to it, it's a pup. That is, it's grown out below the soil and popped up creating a whole new plant. You know, like a clone. And that can be a bad thing, or it can be a good thing, depending on what you do. Pups are bad if you have neglected your agaves for years and lots of them have grown in clumps around it, creating a dangerous thicket. If that's happened to you, you need some heavy equipment to dig the mess out. But the good news is that agaves grow slo...