Brad's Tropical Paradise

If you have a beautiful and inviting backyard, people will want to go there. They may want to go look at the plants, but they will probably just want to relax and "soak it all in". And for that, you will need a place for people to sit, and to put down their stuff. That is, tables and chairs. Unfortunately, so many times it becomes a treacherous trek, walking over and around obstacles. So you will need to design it with a little care. Here are some thoughts: • Make it obvious where people should walk. If your garden is a confusing mess of plants scattered all over the place, don't get upset if people walk on top of them. And if all you have is a tiny path of "stepping stones", then you might as well have a sign that says "keep out" of your garden. People hate walking on stepping stones. Making your guests do a "tight rope" walk is no way to have an inviting garden. Give people a place to walk that doesn't include acrobatics, like a go...

If you have tropical plants, such as cannas, here in the Phoenix, Arizona area (or any desert area that gets below freezing in the winter), it's best to give them some protection. No, it doesn't snow in Phoenix, and compared to where I grew up, in Minneapolis, the winter temperatures really don't get all that low. But anything below 32 degrees F (freezing) can damage, or kill, your tropical plants overnight. So this is what you should do: • Keep an eye on the overnight lows. Overnight is the dangerous time for your tropical plants. The desert air is extremely dry, and when it gets cold, it can really hurt your plants. So look for the number 32, and if it's gonna get colder than that... • Put out frost clothes. Old sheets will do. You don't need to go spend a bunch of money on expensive "frost cloths". Just don't ever, ever, use plastic! My tender tropicals are all in my backyard, near where I can get to them quickly, drape them gently at night,...

Like all people who take pride in their garden, I want people to look at it, but not walk through it. No, I'm really not one of those cranky old "get off my lawn" guys, but my garden has a lot of plants that I'd really rather people not step on, and it also has hidden areas with watering heads, which are easy to accidentally kick, and break. Walking up into a garden is practically irresistible to most people. I've been to many public gardens that have signs that tell people to stay out, but really, nobody pays attention to those signs. People who know that they should not walk into gardens also know that they should not stroll across someone's dining room table, and for the rest of the people, since they ignore signs (which look ugly anyway), you have to do design. I've been refining the design of my front garden for years as I watch people stroll up into it, stepping on plants that are too small too see yet (like bulbs), and kicking watering heads ...

Euphorbias are a type of succulent that does well here in the Phoenix, Arizona area. I have a lot of different varieties here, but my favorite one by far is one I call "Fire Sticks". If you live in the desert, they are a great way to have an easy-to-care-for plant with a lot of visual appeal. But there are a few things that you need to know: • Not all Euphorbia varieties will turn red like this. The smartest thing to do is to get one at your local nursery in the winter and look at it with your own eyes. Most of them stay green year-round, but this variety gets its color from a little cold stress. • You can plant them from cuttings. All of my euphorbias, including these Fire Sticks in my front yard, are grown from cuttings. They almost as easy to grow as cactus that way, you just stick them in the ground, and they will grow roots. My experience has been to plant them at about 1-2 feet high, no more, no less. I trim the lower branches off, and stick about four inches of ...

African Spear Plants are great plants. They're succulents, similar to cactus, and they can be grown from cuttings. That is, you can break off a piece of them, stick it in the ground, and they will grow a whole new plant, very readily. I have a lot of them here, and they're all from cuttings. Of course, many of them failed, which is how I learn stuff. And what I learned was to look at the "pleats". If you've ever seen a saguaro cactus, you know that its pleats expand and contract depending on how much water it's getting. In dry times, the pleats deepen, and when the plant is getting the right amount of water, the pleats expand. So keep an eye on the pleats on your African Spear Plant and you'll know if it's healthy, or if it's dying. If you've done everything right, and you have planted the cutting in well-draining sandy soil, and watered often, it should take just a few weeks for the plant to take root. In the meantime, you will see it s...