Brad's Tropical Paradise

As of today, February 29th, 2020, I'm hoping to rescue some ailing rubber tree plants, which were languishing at the office of the Woman in my Life, and she brought them over here. I'm in the Phoenix, Arizona area, and while the weather is still mild, the outdoor sun can be very harsh, so I put them in the garage. They'll be fine there for another month, until even the garage will be too hot for them. If I left them in the garage all summer, they'd cook! I'm looking for new growth and I think that I see it, although it might be my imagination at this point. You need to look at the top of the plant. That red spear will become a leaf if the plant is alive and growing, and it will get dark and hard if the plant is dead, or if that particular branch is dead. I have two plants in the garage, and one of them showed definitely signs of a dead branch, which I cut off a few days ago. If you look closely at the leaves on the plant on the right you can see som...

Petunias do great here in the desert. They grow and bloom profusely all winter, and I've planted them year after year. This year, however, because of the puppy, I've planted them in a pot, not in the ground, and while the plant is strong and healthy, as you can see, there are no blooms. The reason for that is the plant isn't getting enough hours of sunlight. Sure it's getting sunlight right now, in the morning, but very soon the patio will go into shade. Good for people, not so good for blooming flowers! If this is happening to you, the solution is easy, move the plant out to where it will get more sunshine. For me, this creates a bit of dilemma. Petunias need regular watering, and with my wonky ankle it's best for me to keep the plant close to where I can get to it easily, to keep it watered. I water it twice a week, even in the cool of winter, and it loves it. By the way, the cool of the winter here in the Phoenix area means highs that can reach in...

I like dogs, and I like gardens, and often they just don't mix. Dogs can be rough, and can turn a backyard into a dead zone very quickly, even little dogs. But my garden just wouldn't be the same with a dog, and my preferred breed is the dachshund. No, I don't recommend dachshunds, unless you've had experience with them - and I have, more years than I care to admit. Yes, they're small, but they're bred to dig, and can be very difficult to train. You will often see funny videos of dachshunds after they've dug a hole half-way to China. Funny in a video, not so funny IRL (In Real Life). I got my first doxie when I worked from home, and now that I'm retired I can keep an eye on the pup, who just turned one - that's her up there. The yard belongs to her - she can scamper around anywhere she wants to, and she can also, uh, "do her business" anywhere she wants to in the yard (we're still working on learning not to soil inside of the ...

The first time that I heard the concept of having a quiet garden, I really didn't understand. Plants, after all, tend to not make a lot of noise, you know! But once I understood what it all meant, I embraced the concept. I'll see if I can explain. Yes, of course your plants aren't going to make a bunch of noise, but how you care for them just might. And it all depends on what plants you have, and how you maintain them. I just love to sit out in my garden in the morning and in the evenings. I have no grass, that's artificial turf that you're looking at there, and few of my neighbors have grass, either. And that means that as I sit down with my cup of coffee in the morning, or my glass of beer in the evening, the serenity isn't ruined by the roar of a lawn mower. I also have no plants that require a lot of trimming, like with power hedge trimmers. Another unpleasant sound! The trimming that I do is done with clippers, which is a pleasant sound, and I really...

Although it's still chilly today, in February, I guarantee that it will be HOT here soon. I live in Glendale, a suburb of Phoenix, and just as sure as you can guarantee snow in Minneapolis, you can guarantee hot weather in Phoenix. So the idea is to start to prepare for it, before you need it. I have several suggestions for you, the best of which is to time-travel back a couple of decades and plant some nice shade trees. I was fortunate to move into this house ten years after some tiny trees were planted, and over the years I've been here they've grown, and in addition to shading the house, they shade the garden. In fact, I have so much shade here that the backyard is often chilly in the winter, and my wiener dogs have to run out there and enjoy the sun when they can! On a more practical note, there are things that you can do right now. I strongly recommending putting in a low-pressure watering system - you really don't want to be out there dragging a hose around...

My garden in the desert is an oasis, which means that I don't plant any cactuses (cacti?) there. Well, kinda, I like agaves. And I strongly recommend them, but you gotta know what you're doing or you'll make an awful mess of things. The first thing that you'll need to do is your homework. Go visit some gardens first, don't go charging into your local garden center and start grabbing the first thing you see. Agaves come in lots of different shapes and sizes, and what I have here are miniatures, and that's what you want. If you don't do your homework, chances are good that you'll buy one that will look fine for a couple of seasons, and then turn into a monster that creates a serious problem for you. I've seen monster agaves patches that are so deadly that the only way to get rid of them would be with heavy equipment, and that can happen in just a few seasons. So calm down, take a breath. If you live in the Phoenix area there are a lot of wonderf...