Brad's Tropical Paradise

It's October 25th here at The Tropical Paradise in Glendale, Arizona (a suburb of Phoenix), and I am noting the changes of shade/sunlight in the garden. This area, in the Outback, is getting a lot more sun now that the sun is lower in the southern sky. In the summer, this area is wonderfully shady, which helps the plants during the heat of the desert, but in winter, as you can see, it's sunny. And that's a good thing, because it will give me a chance to do a summer garden, with flowers that need a lot of sunlight. I trimmed the bottom fronds off of the Dioon Spinulosum (the fern-looking plant in the center), and it revealed a lot of new open ground. And looking at this area this morning, I have changed my mind about how well annual flowers would work there. A couple of months ago I wouldn't have considered flowers, as this area was in deep shade. Now I see that it will get a lot of nice winter sun. Vinca So, I'm off to Home Depot for more vincas. I'v...

A friend of mine recently needed to remove a sago palm which has grown too big for its space, and he was kind enough to give it to me. It's great to have friends like that! I gave him instructions on how to remove the sago palm so that I could plant it bare-root , which I did last month. And there was the bonus of a lot of little sago palm *pups*, too! Sago palm pups are little the little plants that all cycads (like sago palms) grow along their trunk after they have reached a certain maturity. Most people just cut them off and throw them away, but if you don't mind going to a little extra trouble, they can be saved and turned into new plants. The first thing that you will need to get is Volcanic Pumice. I bought a bag of it for twenty bucks at Baker Nursery in Phoenix yesterday. This stuff isn't easy to find - I've never seen it at my local Home Depot, or maybe I haven't looked hard enough. I use it along the top layer of my big pots (as you can see) more for...

I moved to Phoenix when I was 19, and, uh, I'm not 19 anymore, and I have never, ever, seen a mosquito problem here until this year. So, in addition to telling everyone that that's why I left Minnesota, I am doing something about it. Something that is really working for me is Repel 100 (no, they don't pay me to mention their product, I wish they did), which I got at Target last week. It comes in a small spray bottle, and you just spritz a little bit on yourself and then rub it all over your skin. Yeah, it smells kind'a bad, and feels greasy, but it works. And the reason that I know it works is that if there is an area of my skin that I miss, I get bit. Or if I go outside for just a few minutes without it on me, I get bit. And once it's on me, I can go out into the garden, watch those nasty little skeeters just fly by, and stay out as long as I want. The mosquitos this year were caused by the enormous amount of rain that we got here recently. If you have mosqui...

It's mid-October here at The Tropical Paradise, and most of the annuals, like this Vinca, are doing well. And the best thing that you can do for your annuals that have been in the ground for a week or two, is to cut their heads off. Really. Yes, trim the top inch or so down. Yes, that will trim away the flower blooms, but it will also make the plant bushier so that there will be more blooms. This plant is coming back so strongly that I can't even see where I did the cut a few days ago. I've tried cutting the heads off as I planted, but in my opinion that just stresses the plant. So I give them a week or so, make sure that they're growing, and then, chop! Off with their heads! Phoenix has had a lot of rain this season, so the annual flowers should be more spectacular this year than they've ever been. Don't be afraid to cut them back. They'll grow! Vincas, like this one, will bloom continuously all winter, and through the early spring, until they com...

Like most people in suburban houses, I don't use my front door much. I enter and exit through the garage. And because of that, my courtyard gets neglected, because, well, out of sight, out of mind. But I've been trying to get better this past year, as I've got several plants in pots there. But even with the best of intentions, my courtyard doesn't get the care that the backyard gets, so it really has to have tougher plants, that do better with neglect. I've tried a lot of things, and failed mostly, so this is what I've learned: • Plant in really BIG pots. For scale, my dog's legs are nearly two inches long, so you can get a feel for how big these pots are. I got two that are ceramic, and the one that you can just barely see back there is plastic, although it's the same color. And they're filled with a lot of potting soil. I've tried using smaller pots, but they dry out way too quickly. • Put pots in the shade. Putting them out in full sun...

Agaves, like is Agave Parryi, are virtually zero-maintenance plants. That is, they require about as much care in the desert garden as a piece of sculpture. But there are a few tricks that you can do to keep them looking their best. If you like the look of agaves, like I do, here are some things that I've learned • Do your homework before you plant them. Some agaves get gigantic, not what I want. And some agaves send a lot of offshoots, also not what I want. Not all agaves are the same. Get some expert advice, read the labels. Select with care. By the way, if you want an easy way to know which agaves stay small and don't send so many offshoots, just look at the price tag, they're the most expensive. • Leave them alone. That is, don't overwater. No need to fertilize. Hopefully you planted them in well-draining soil, on a slope. Oh yeah, and keep them well away from where people might be walking. They are as deadly as they look. That's not an illusion, they are ...

Water is precious, especially here in the desert. But if you want to be able to have anything in your backyard in the Phoenix, Arizona area except dirt and rocks, you will have to add water. And if you do it right, the effect is absolutely magical, like an oasis. If you do it wrong, well, all you get is a mess, a high water bill, and dead plants. Here is what I have here: • A low-pressure *drip* watering system. You can get it for cheap at Home Depot, and it's just a way to step down your house water pressure to low pressure to allow a small amount of water to precisely target your plants. Originally, I had *spaghetti tubing* to the plants, but that doesn't work so good, as it gets clogged easily. So I switched over to the tiny sprayers. They're practically invisible, but they're critical to the health of the garden. This is a precision system, which uses very little water, so it's not a *set it and forget it* thing. I check regularly to make sure that the spray...

If you live in the greater Phoenix, Arizona area (which to me, includes from Tucson to Las Vegas and all of the way to Southern California) and are not growing cannas, you are missing out on a lot of tropical beauty. And they're easy to grow, if you use a few tricks. Cannas are practically water plants, so give them a LOT of water! Here in my backyard they do best in an area that gets afternoon shade, and that was pretty boggy when I tried to grow grass there, many years ago. I've had these cannas (which are Canna Tropicannas, by the way) for many seasons here, and they're doing great. So great, in fact, that I have to keep after them all of the time, and cut them back very hard. Cannas are grown mostly for their beautiful tropical foliage, not their flowers. The flowers don't last very long, and can look ratty if neglected. What I always do is to enjoy the flowers for a day or two, and then cut down the entire stalk, right to the ground. It's the new growth t...

It's 9 am on October 4th and I'm out planting Vincas, which are annual flowers. I started planting them late last month, and you can plant them all fall and winter in the Phoenix, Arizona area. And if you're a beginner at all of this, Vincas are a great choice. I've been doing this for a long time now, and I can proudly say that I'm sure I've made most of the mistakes that can be made. And I'm sure I'll make some more! This is what I am learning: • Take your time when planting. Sure, these little plants are only 37 cents each (I just used the calculator on my computer), but they are living things that deserve your care. Just because you can go back to Home Depot and buy a bunch more is no reason to kill them. I give annuals the same VIP treatment that I give all of my plants, including making sure that they are planted in rich potting soil (dig out the native soil and use it elsewhere), and have some slow-release fertilizer at the bottom of their pla...

One of the nice things about bulbs, like freesia, is that they return year after year. It's October 3rd and I've been seeing them start to grow for the last couple of weeks. And now I'm going to do my favorite trick to fertilize them, using the fertilizer spikes that I find at the Dollar Store. I grow a lot of tropical plants here, and I'm a big believer in fertilizer. And my experience is that fertilizers are all pretty much the same. And the worst thing that you can do is to not fertilize your plants! So, I'm always on the lookout for inexpensive, but good, fertilizer. And these *plant food spikes* are brilliant! So, this is what you do: Keep a sharp eye out for the first sprouts, and then put the plant food spikes between them. It's best if they're spaced slightly uphill, that is, between the plants and the watering system. And don't worry about hurting the roots - you will do more damage by not fertilizing them! And a bonus is that these little...

If you've just moved to Phoenix from back east, or are just starting to work on your garden, you may be surprised to find that *spring planting* is done in October here. It's early Wednesday morning, October 2nd, here at The Tropical Paradise, and as usual, I'm looking forward to the the most beautiful weather on planet earth for the next six months. I call it *Chamber of Commerce weather*. You know, mid-seventies, blue skies, perfect for golf. And perfect for gardening! I started putting in annual flowers last month and will continue through October. This year I'm planting vincas, but I've also gotten brave again and planted lettuce. I planted lettuce a few years ago and the snails got 'em, but I've seen cleaned up the area, which used to be very boggy, so hopefully the snails will stay away. The lettuce and vinca area is in front of the cannas, and if you can barely seen them, just wait a few weeks - they'll grow! Daffodils on January 2nd M...