Brad's Tropical Paradise

Trimming agaves without hurting yourself

2026-10-01T16:51:18.905-07:00

Agaves are beautiful, and deadly. The safest thing to do if you need to trim them is to hire a professional, which is what I did for the front yard, where I have a full size agave. But here in the backyard there are only miniatures, and I really want to do it myself.

I've had this garden for over thirty years, and the miniature agaves that I planted have done well. They're now big miniatures, kind of like jumbo shrimp. They aren't the gigantic type, but they're still big enough to require a fair amount of work to trim them. Luckily, it only has to be done every few years, they grow slowly.

A heavy-duty razor-sharp blade, welding gloves and eye protection

In addition to having a beautiful garden, my goal is to not hurt myself. If you've ever been around agaves, you know that the needles on the tips are deadly, even if they're small. And not only do they have sharp needle ends, they have serrated edges, which are also deadly sharp. So I invested in some welding gloves this past year. The juice from these agaves can sting skin very badly so I also invested in some lightweight clothing with long sleeves and long pants. No skin is exposed except my face and I'm careful not to touch my face with the gloves. And yes, I wear safety goggles - the last thing you want is to get that juice anywhere near your eyes! Did I mention how deadly these plants are?

Agaves

I approach doing this as if it were some kind of military campaign. I study the terrain, and attack certain areas before moving on. I did about a half-hour today, which is enough for now, and I'll fall back and regroup for my next attack tomorrow.

Beginning the process of trimming an agave

2026-09-27T14:38:25.532-07:00

It's been a very long, hot summer here in the Phoenix, Arizona area but it's finally beginning to let off a bit, and it's time for me to begin the process of trimming my agaves back. And it's a process that will take some time, but that's fine, because my garden is a labor of love, this is my backyard, I'm retired, and I have all the time in the world.

The very first thing that I did was to roll my portable garbage can from the garage into the backyard. It's narrow enough to fit through my patio door, so I can roll it through the house (mostly through the kitchen, and into the garage). I will later transfer the cuttings into the actual garbage can, which I will put out to be picked up on Tuesday mornings (or Monday nights). Here's what it looks like:

Portable garbage can. Tall, but narrow.

The next thing that I did was to protect my skin by putting on a long-sleeved shirt. You don't want any of the agave juice to touch your skin! I also have some nice super-dooper heavy gloves (they're actually welding gloves) that I got just last year. I also wear eye protection. You REALLY don't want any of the agave juice to touch your eyes!

Tools for trimming agaves

I got a nice heavy-duty blade last year and it works great. It's razor sharp, so I use it with care - I like having ten fingers! And here's what the summer heat did to the agaves (pic below), which looks very sad, but after some trimming they'll be fine - there's strong growth in the center, and that's what matters.

Agaves after a long hot Phoenix summer, needing some trimming

I have a lot of agaves in my backyard, and they're all strong growers, so this project is gonna take some time. I'll let you know how it goes.

Using coffee grounds in the garden

2026-09-08T15:36:19.027-07:00

I discovered how great coffee grounds are for my garden many years ago when I was planting tropical plants into soil that needed to be amended. The price was right - free, and it occurred to me that the coffee grounds were put to better use by making my garden more healthy than if they were just thrown into a landfill - which is what happens to trash (and here in suburban Phoenix there are a lot of coffee shops so there must be a lot of coffee grounds being thrown away!).

Coffee grounds in bags

My girlfriend discovered this while visiting Starbucks, who fills up bags and lets people just take them away for free. You can also just ask your local coffee shop if you can have some of the coffee grounds that they're gonna throw away, just grab a trash bag and that's all you gotta do. If you're self-conscious about it, don't be, coffee places always know about this - and if for some reason you're talking to someone who just started working there that day, just show them a little grey hair and some wrinkles on your face and they'll believe that you know stuff about gardens.

Nowadays, now that my garden is established, I still use coffee grounds, just because it looks nice, and acts as a natural mulch. Of course it works into the soil, and in the meantime it makes the garden smell like a coffee shop.

Highly recommended!

Gardening when it's over 100 degrees

2026-06-28T18:06:03.311-07:00

It's June 28th, and it's hot out there! But this is Phoenix, and it gets over 100 degrees every summer, so it's kinda like being in Minneapolis (where I grew up), where the weather is extreme in the other direction in the winter, we just prepare for it. But this year I've finally figured out how I can do a bit of gardening in the summer without getting sunstroke.

No, I'm not gardening at night (although I've heard of people who do that, with some strong artificial lighting), but I'm waiting until the yard is mostly in shade. The younger version of me was wise enough to buy a house with an east-facing backyard, and that makes all the difference in the world.

Over 100 degrees in the shade

I'm also working in about fifteen to twenty-minute intervals. That is, I'm not staying out there for hours and hours in the heat, which would take all of the fun out of tending to my garden. This past winter and spring I did a fair amount of heavy work (see my previous blog posts if you think I'm kidding), but now that it's summertime it's just a question of my wanting to go out and putter a bit.

I've been chipping away at the med palm, which is a strong grower. My goal is to cut back as much as possible, knowing that it will come back beautifully, and full. It'll look a little sad for a month or so while I chip away at it, but by fall and winter it will be absolutely glorious - the centerpiece of my garden.

Making slow and steady progress trimming the med palm. Look! You can see the plastic snake again (keeps birds away, so they won't dig up the garden)

Tending to my garden is a labor of love, and I'm not being paid by the hour (or at all!), so doing just a bit every evening is fine for me.

Update July 7th - slow and steady progress - it's now getting to be over 110 degrees every afternoon, so I'm waiting for full shade and keeping to the fifteen-minute schedule (no more!).

I'm going so slow with the trimming that even though I'm cutting back as much as possible, it's growing back already

Tricks for having a tropical-looking garden in Phoenix, Arizona

2026-06-17T18:45:16.491-07:00

I live in Glendale, Arizona, a suburb of Phoenix, and have had a tropical-looking garden for many decades now, and I really enjoy it. There are a few tricks to it, because this is an extreme climate, where the summer temperatures regularly get to over 110 F.

First of all, and let's be clear here, actual tropical plants won't be able to live here. So if you've gone to the garden center and bought plants that require a lot of humidity, like ferns, you can expect to enjoy them for a few weeks, maybe months, and then you'll just watch them die as the heat comes on.

By the way, I'm writing this at 6:30 pm on June 17th, and it's 110 in the shade. Well, it might be only 109, but it's just crazy hot. Here's a pic I took of the thermometer on the patio that I took a few minutes ago.

110 F in the shade

And that's the first trick that will make a tropical-looking garden successful - shade. When I bought this house I made sure that the backyard would get afternoon shade, which was great for the plants, especially the cycads (those are those ferny-looking plants you see there) but it was too shady for grass so I had artificial turf installed.

Let's talk about artificial turf - it cost me a lot of money, and I had it installed by pros. It still looks great nearly twenty years later, and all I have to do is go out a few times a week and blow the leaves off of it, and into the garden (where they become mulch). If you make the mistake of installing it yourself, it'll get all wrinkly, and look terrible in no time. And if you're thinking of putting in hardscaping (like bricks or concrete), think again - that stuff will just raise the temperature as all they do is reflect heat - my artificial turf isn't as cool as real grass, but it doesn't reflect heat like hardscaping.

Another trick I've been using for decades, very successfully, is an inexpensive battery-powered watering system. I'm a technology person, but in this instance I've kept it simple, and analog. There were times when I thought that I would put in something more substantial, but I've always decided against it. The timers are just plastic, so they need to be replaced, and doing that forces me to keep an eye on the system. I don't know how many expensive systems I've seen that have stopped working and then you're stuck. I can replace the timers easily, and I'm not very mechanically-inclined.

Inexpensive battery-operated water timers

I like my garden, but I try to stay out of it in the summer, and enjoy it mostly in the winter, fall, and spring. Summertime in Phoenix is like wintertime in Minneapolis (where I grew up) - ya just hunker down, and hang in there!

I hope this helps.

Growing cycads in Phoenix for a tropical effect

2026-06-05T18:39:54.645-07:00

I like the look of tropical plants, but here in the Phoenix, Arizona area it gets too hot in the summer for most of them - believe me, I've tried! The truly tropical plants that I've tried to grow here have just absolutely cooked, even in the shade, or just dried out, because, unlike in the tropics, it's not humid here.

But something that has worked, for decades now, has been the use of cycads. And if you're not familiar with the term cycad, it's not surprising - they're a type of plant that looks kinda like a miniature palm tree, and kinda like a fern, but they're neither. In fact, the most popular cycad is usually called a "sago palm" (cycas revoluta).

The cycads that I have the most of, and do the best in the heat (although they do require shade) are a type called "dioon" (dioon edule). You won't find them at most garden centers, but you can find them. These plants are from Mexico, so if you ask around in the Phoenix area you'll find them. Be prepared to be surprised at how small they are, and how slow they grow, which makes them expensive. They're miniatures, and I've had miniatures here at the Tropical Paradise so long I guess you'd call them big miniatures, like jumbo shrimp.

They require regular water (they aren't cacti!), but be sure to plant them on a little bit of a slope, if they sit with their feet wet their roots will rot (ask me how I know!).

The cycads here add to the tropical effect, which I try to help along with a thatched umbrella, and other "tropical-looking" plants that can take the heat, like agaves. Highly recommended!

Wiener dogs are highly recommended, too!

Settling in for the summer in Phoenix

2026-05-28T06:23:47.022-07:00

There's no doubt about it, the summer in Phoenix in wicked hot. And trying to go out there and do gardening, beyond pulling a weed or two, is about as crazy as going out in the middle of winter in Minneapolis (where I grew up) to plant a daisy. Ya gotta just settle down.

It's May 28th, although it's not technically summer yet, believe me, here in Phoenix it is. So other than checking to see that my automatic watering and misting system is working, there's not much to do for the next couple of months.

So I'm hunkering down for the summer. I have artificial turf, which is the best investment I've ever made, and all it needs is some gentle blowing every once in a while, and of course I have an automatic watering system. I've known people who try to have gardens in Phoenix without an automated watering system, and I suppose if you're tougher than me you can drag a hose out when it's one hundred degrees, but it ain't for me.

It's a little after six am right now, and as you can see my backyard faces the rising sun, which is as cool as it gets here (but still hot!). My garage door faces the setting sun, and that configuration is something that I wanted when I bought this house with plans to have a garden in the backyard. It's worked out well, but even early in the morning that blazing sun is brutal!

If I do need to do anything in the backyard I'll wait until there's full shade, which is very late afternoon nowadays. Even then it's terribly hot, so I won't be "puttering" out in the garden, just taking care of what needs to be done, doing an inspection, and then going back into the house with the dogs and the air conditioning.

A younger version of me set this all up, and I really appreciate his hard work.

Getting a second bloom from snapdragons

2026-04-19T17:56:00.000-07:00

I understand that annual flowers are a temporary thing - they grow and bloom for a season, and that's it. So when the snapdragon that I planted in December stopped blooming about a month ago (it's April 19th today) I figured that it was time to pull the plant out - and then I Googled if there was a way to get a second bloom, and there is - simply cut the plant back. So I did.

It looked pretty sad for several weeks after its "haircut", and I figured that I had nothing to lose, and then I started seeing new blooms. Today the plant is kinda leggy, and not as pretty as it was during its first bloom, but it's blooming, how about that?

Doing something like this reminds me how important it is to be vicious with the clippers. Cutting plants way back takes some guts, but I figure that if little old ladies can do it, I can do it.

So there ya go, if your snapdragons are finished blooming and want to start producing seeds, get your clippers out and be brave - snip, snip, snip! With a little bit of time, and some water, you should get a second bloom.

Update April 24. Still blooming!

Snapdragon in bloom

The strange way that a sago palm grows

2026-04-14T11:50:00.000-07:00

If you've been waiting for your sago palm to grow, you may be becoming concerned - but don't worry, it's just that it's not a palm at all, it's a cycad, and they grow in an unusual way, called "flushes", usually only once a year.

I've had cycads here in the Tropical Paradise for many years now, and mostly they just sit there not growing at all. When they start to grow it's exciting, and my sago palm (actually it's a cycas revoluta) just started showing a bit of green in the middle, so it's on its way. Here, I'll zoom in on the center to show you what the beginning of a flush looks like:

Flushing sago palm

It's April 14th, and here in the Phoenix, Arizona area it's starting to warm up (summer arrives early around here!), and that's when your sago palm will flush.

After it flushes, which means growing the new season's leaves, it will wait patiently until next year to flush again, and you need to be patient, too. Every once in a while I've seen one of my cycads flush twice in a season, or even three times, but that's very rare.

Cycas revoluta, commonly called a sago palm

While the plant is flushing it's best to leave it alone, and be sure to leave last year's fronds on to protect the soft young ones (which can be easily damaged until they're finished growing and have hardened off).

And so if the weather is warming up where you are, and you have a healthy plant, it will start to flush. I suggest wandering around your garden and looking at the middle of your cycads. When you see even the tiniest bit of green, hang on, the flush will grow fast!

Update April 16th (two days later) Growing strong!

Flushing sago palm

Update April 19th (five days later) Good strong growth, this is a healthy plant!

Flushing sago palm. Remember that the new leaves are soft and vulnerable to damage, so keep the old leaves on to protect them

Update April 24 (ten days later). Flushes grow fast! The leaves are still soft and prone to injury, so make sure that nothing is touching them during this time. If they get deformed while growing, they'll stay that way when they harden.

Ten-day-old flush on a sago palm

Update May 3rd. Flush complete!

Sago palm full flush

Preparing for next year's iris blooms, by hiding the leaves under petunias

2026-03-26T05:51:00.000-07:00

It's March 26th, and here in the Phoenix, Arizona area the heat is already coming on strong, and that means that blooming season is coming to an end (it gets just crazy hot here in the late spring and summer!). Of course, being a thrifty gardener, I'd like to see the irises come back next year and I'll tell you what I'm trying to achieve.

As you can see, the iris plant is surrounded by petunias, which are growing strong and thick, and which will enable me to gently roll up the iris leaves as they die back, tie them up with a rubber band, and then tuck them in under the petunias so I don't have to look at them. Of course, you never, ever cut back the leaves at the end of the season, because that's what puts energy back into the plant for next season.

Now that I've trimmed the bloom off, I folded down the first set of leaves and wrapped a rubber band around them, tucking them in under the petunias. They will begin to die back and put energy into next season's flower, and hopefully the petunias will stay full enough to cover the browning leaves (so I don't have to look at them). Here, I'll show you what it looks like now:

Iris leaves folded down and held in place with a rubber band

Closeup of the folded-down iris leaves with rubber band

Long view of the iris leaves with the petunias. The next step will be to complete the folding of all of the iris leaves until nothing is really visible except the petunias.

Using the Pop fly trap - first impressions

2026-03-21T17:23:00.000-07:00

I got a Pop fly trap today for my garage, and I like it. It's really not all that different from the fly traps that I had been using in the past, but there are a couple of differences that I really like.

First of all, it doesn't need to hang in order to work, so I can just set it somewhere and not have to worry about figuring out where to hang it - the top (where the flies fly in) stays up on its own. A small detail, but nice. And that leads me to another thing that I like about it, I can refill it easily with an ordinary small watering can. So when it dries out (which it will) I'll be able to fill it, and see what I'm doing.

It's been in my garage for a few hours and it's caught one (1) fly so far. My experience with this type of trap is that it starts out slowly and before you know it there's a crowd. And, flies being what they are, the smell of dead flies (which happens fairly quickly) attracts even more flies. Uh, don't use this indoors, it's kinda gross. But that's the world of flies!

Flies fly in, but they don't fly out!

If you're not familiar with this type of fly trap, it works because flies can fly in, but apparently they can't figure out how to get out, so they just stay there. There's no poison, and it seems a humane way to deal with flies - they get to hang out with their friends and relax there for the rest of their lives.

It looks like this is gonna work just fine, and unlike the fly traps I'd used in the past, it looks like I'll be able to reuse it next year. I'll let you know how it goes.

Update March 30th: Oddly enough, I wasn't getting many customers in the garage although it was stinking up the garage like crazy, and wondered if it could be defective or something, so I moved it into the backyard, and right away I got a lot of flies! It's stinky, and not very pretty, with a bunch of dead flies in it, so I put it way over on the other side of the yard, hanging on the back side of the tree. Working great!

Plenty of flies caught!

It's unsightly, and smelly, so it's best hidden away. Phoenix the wonder dog can smell it from here, but I can't (it's hanging on the other side of the tree).

Update April 8th. Plenty of customers! I just added a little bit more water, and I suppose once it gets full I'll just let it dry out for the next season.

Flies check in, but they don't check out! Very stinky so it's well away from my patio, and my neighbor's

Caring for an agave garden in Phoenix, Arizona

2026-03-21T14:30:00.000-07:00

It's March 21st and I'm working my way around my backyard trimming my miniature agaves, which are now big miniatures (like jumbo shrimp!). Of course I never planted any full-size agaves in my yard, and if you did, the only thing that I can suggest is to pay someone to remove them (and be generous if they've gotten really big and have all grown together). I lucked out by meeting a bunch of agave experts many years ago who taught me what was what.

Agave parryi var. truncata

I just love the blue of these agaves, and the wide shape of the leaves (fronds?) which gives what I consider a sparkle to the garden. And for the most part you can ignore them as far as trimming is concerned, especially if you get the right kind that doesn't pup much, and are miniatures (again, thank you to my agave expert friends!), but at some point you're gonna need to do some maintenance, which is what I started doing a few days ago.

To protect my hands I use light-duty welding gloves, and to protect my skin I wear a long sleeved shirt and long pants (and of course eye protection!).

Welding gloves

And even with all of that protection I still felt kinda itchy (it may have just been the heat) so I just jumped in the shower.

There are a few more left to go, but I'll save them for another day!

Update - the next day (March 22): trimmed more agaves, the ones farther up the hill, and was even more cautious with my protective clothing, this time tucking my shirt into my pants, and making sure to not take off my shirt and gloves until I was completely done, and then I immediately rinsed off in the shower. Will do more another day!

Hillside agaves trimmed, also some small pups removed

Trimming agaves while wearing welding gloves

2026-03-20T16:53:00.000-07:00

I have a lot of beautiful miniature agaves here in the Tropical Paradise, which all were given to me by my agave collector friends many years ago, when they were teeny-tiny. They're still small, but they're now big miniatures - you know, like jumbo shrimp, and this year I decided to give them all a nice trim (which they've needed for years).

The tools that I'm using are: a nice big sturdy blade (which I just sharpened) and some light-duty welding gloves. And it's the gloves that are making all of the difference!

Blade and welding gloves

Of course I'm also wearing my eye protection, and a long-sleeve shirt and pants (no shorts, even though it's over 100 degrees out there - even in the shade - you don't want to get the agave juice on your skin, it hurts!). This is the Phoenix, Arizona area, and it's the first day of Spring.

Agave recently trimmed

When these agaves were very small, I would just dig them up, trim them and replant them - but those days are over. This was a lot of work, but at least I didn't give blood, thanks to the welding gloves.

Agaves and a wiener dog

Watching an iris begin to bloom

2026-03-20T11:31:53.251-07:00

Although I really like the foliage of iris plants, I have to admit that the blooms are the fun part, and I've been watching this one as the bloom stalk grows and grows, which happens very quickly.

Irises and petunias

As you can see, there's no indication of what color the flower will be, but I got the bulb from a very reputable grower so I'm confident that it will be a beautiful golden yellow. It's March 20th, the first day of spring, and hopefully by tomorrow it will begin to gently open so that I can see the color. I'll let you know by updating this blog post. See ya tomorrow!

Update the next morning (March 21): Still not open, but I can definitely see that the flower will be yellow.

Iris bloom stalk

Closer view of the iris just before it starts blooming

Update March 22: It's definitely going to be beautiful! But since the temperatures here have already hit the 90s, and even the 100s, I can see that the plant is starting to feel the strain, and the leaves are already getting a bit pale. I figure that right after it blooms the leaves will begin to die back, and my plan is to tie them together with a rubber band and tuck them under the petunias (you never cut back the leaves of an iris if you want it to rebloom!). I'll let you know how it goes.

Iris about to bloom

Update March 23: It's been just crazy hot for the past couple of weeks here in Phoenix, but the heat wave is starting to break, and hopefully the temperatures, while still hot, will return to our ordinary seasonal weather. The iris bloom is doing fine!

This iris bloom is gonna be gorgeous!

Update March 24th: Just about full bloom.

Iris near full bloom

Update March 25th: Full bloom

Iris in full bloom

Closeup of the iris bloom, March 25th

Trimming an agave safely

2026-03-19T13:23:00.763-07:00

I have a lot of beautiful agaves here, and a couple of days ago I went out to do some trimming and got in trouble. No, I didn't sustain serious bodily damage, but I did get poked by just brushing past one of those razor-sharp spikes, which not only hurts like the dickens, it itches. And also, like an idiot I sat on where some of the trimmed pieces had been, in shorts, and it burned so bad that I had to rush into the house and thoroughly rinse myself off. Yikes!

Agaves and a cycad

But I'm older and wiser now so this morning I bought some light duty welding gloves, just tried them out and they work just fine. But calm down there, I don't mean that I could be careless, or grab the fronds with my hands, but at least if I brushed past some of those sharp edges I wouldn't get stuck, or scratched. I guess if you're careless enough you can get hurt, but I think I've learned my lesson! Here's what the gloves look like;

Light-duty welding gloves

I got that at my local hardware store, and there were super-dooper heavy-duty ones, and two lighter weight ones, and I picked these. In the past I've been able to use the kind of gauntlet gloves that people use around roses, but the agaves have gotten really big, and I don't need to do anything fiddly with my fingers, just hold onto the handle of the blade. Speaking of which, I bought a file to sharpen it the blade. Here's what it looks like:

Blade and file for sharpening

The helpful hardware man at the hardware store simply called the file by its correct name, which I won't use here for fear of offending the Google 'bots, but it's a term that people used to use for someone who was born out of wedlock. And seriously, it has that word on the package! So I sharpened up the blade, and as far as I could tell it really wasn't that dull, it's just that agaves are really, really tough.

I also wore my eye protection glasses, and long sleeves and long pants. Trimming agaves is no place to expose a lot of skin, or get the juice sprayed into your eyes - those plants can be deadly! And of course my wiener dogs helped.

Wiener dogs

Cshidworld cordless leaf blower first impressions

2026-03-18T16:42:57.216-07:00

I got a Cshidworld cordless leaf blower today and I like it. It may, or may not be right for you, I'll just tell you why it's perfect for me.

I have a tiny yard of artificial turf surrounded by miniature plants, and so I wanted something that was small and gentle, and this one really is. If your yard is the size of a football stadium, and you need a huge amount of power, this little blower ain't for you.

But it's more than enough for my yard, and it even has a much gentler setting which I'm really liking, for doing some fine "polishing" along around my plants. And I call it polishing because instead of kicking up a dust storm and making a huge mess, you can set it to a low setting (there are two).

Off

High

Gentle

And so I can blow away the leaves quickly from the artificial turf, and I can do some gentle polishing around the plants, like my iris and petunias combination. Here, I'll show you:

Using the gentle setting on my petunias and irises

I got it online at Walmart, and I have to admit that I had no idea what it said, so I had to go back to my "purchase history" page to get the name to tell it to you, which apparently is Cshidworld - and I have no idea what that means.

But I guess it really doesn't matter. It's as light as a feather, and even feels a bit flimsy because of that. I know that it'll work just fine for me, but I wouldn't want to use it in front of some serious hard-working landscaping men who use big, heavy equipment. I got mine in yellow just because my older blower (which died after a long and useful life) was green. I could have gotten green, or red - not sure what other colors they have, but I like the yellow.

Cshidworld cordless leaf blower

20 Volt rechargeable battery

I suppose later on today I'll go see what the name means, if anything. If you know, please tell me. I hope this helps.

Understanding what a cycad is

2026-03-16T12:10:00.000-07:00

I like cycads because they give a wonderful tropical feel to my garden, look a lot like miniature palm trees, and even give a ferny effect - but they aren't palm trees, and they aren't ferns, and require different care than those plants.

Let's start with the most common, and most popular cycad, which is commonly called a "sago palm". And if you're satisfied with that, you can stop there.

Sago palm, cycas revoluta cycad

Sago palms are beautiful, and it's where most people like me are introduced to the fascinating world of cycads. And it's like any other plant that has a name, there's a common name (often several) and a scientific name. And so if you're ready to get into different types of plants that are similar to sago palms, you gotta speak a little bit of Latin, and call it a cycas revoluta. And if you're already panicking that you can't speak Latin, rest assured that you can, I started as a kid with Tyrannosaurus Rex. Presumably I lisped it, and you had to stand back not to get sprayed when I got to the "Rex" part!

Like animals, plants are classified in an extremely complex way. My wiener dogs would be Canis Lupus Familiaris var. dachshund. But really all you gotta know for cycads is two names, like dioon spinulousum. That's what those lighter green cycads are.

Dioon spinulosum

OK, now that you're ready to use some Latin, here's the really difficult part - these plants are wildly expensive! They grow very slowly, and really never get all that big. I've had these plants for decades and they'll never outgrow the space here in my lifetime (and if the next owner of the house keeps them, not even in their lifetime). And since most people want to buy plants that grow fast and grow big, you really can't blame garden centers for not stocking them. So if you want any type of cycad beyond a cycas revoluta, you're gonna have to look around, and be prepared to pay some big bucks if you want sizeable ones, or be patient while the teeny-tiny ones grow (I've done the second thing as you can probably tell).

If you live in a very hot and sunny climate like mine (I'm in the Phoenix, Arizona area) your cycads will only thrive in shade (yes, I've seen them out in direct sun, but they usually look terrible). They will need supplemental water, but not too much or the roots will rot (ask me how I know!). And of course if it snows where you are they're not a good choice, either.

I hope this helps. Once you start to recognize cycads you'll see a lot more of them, and you'll find more information on the internet (often way too much). Let me know how it goes for you.

Encouraging an iris to bloom by baking the rhizome

2026-03-16T09:32:00.000-07:00

If you're a careful gardener, chances are your irises aren't blooming. That is, if you make sure to bury the rhizome (bulb) very deeply, and always make sure to keep plenty of mulch on top of it - sorry, that's wrong, because iris rhizomes love the sun. So ya gotta bake 'em! I'll see if I can explain, and I'll show you what I'm trying to achieve here.

A few minutes ago I scraped away the mulch from the base of my iris plants, and also trimmed away the petunias to allow more sun to get to the rhizomes. Of course, if I had just been a lazy gardener, there would never have been any mulch, and I wouldn't have planted the petunias around the iris just to look nice, and my irises would probably already be blooming by now.

Luckily for me I'm in the Phoenix, Arizona area where we get a LOT of sun. This area is facing south, so while it gets some afternoon shade, it gets plenty of sun, and by summer time it will actually be too hot and sunny to grow these plants.

Here, I took a closeup pic for you of the baking area, and you can see that I trimmed the petunia plants back and gently scraped away the mulch until I could just see the top of the iris rhizomes.

Baking the iris rhizome by exposing it to the sun

There's another heat wave getting ready to hit this area, so there should be a whole lotta baking going on, and hopefully some blooms. I'll let you know how it goes.

Update the next day (March 16th): It sure looks like this is gonna be a bloom - I'll post more as time goes by!

A lumpy area at the base of this iris plant - hopefully this will be a bloom!

Closer view of the lumpy area of the iris plant

Update March 18: The bloom stalk is beginning!

Iris bloom stalk beginning

Update March 19th: The bloom stalk is getting taller!

Iris bloom stalk

Transplanting a reblooming iris in March in Phoenix, Arizona

2026-03-10T14:14:00.000-07:00

It's March 10th and here in the Phoenix, Arizona area it's already getting hot, and I was looking at an iris that was over in a very hot and dry area of the garden and decided to move it today. I'll see if I can explain what I'm trying to accomplish here.

This is the area nearest the patio, where I can hand-water the annuals, which is great, but it's also the most shady, so for blooming flowers it's really not so great. As you can see, the snapdragons are blooming, but the petunias don't even have a hint of a bloom yet. It's really quite amazing how different the microclimates in the garden are!

The iris bed with a cycad, some agaves, a petunia, and a snapdragon.

I trimmed the iris plant that was over in the dry and sunny area and moved it to the cooler and wetter area. I really don't know if it will grow, but at least I'm gonna give it a chance. Here, I'll zoom in on it for you:

Iris plant trimmed back

I really don't remember who taught me about dividing and transplanting iris plants, but I like the shape of the trimmed back "fan" - and I should be able to see the new growth (assuming it does grow!) very quickly this way.

This is a reblooming iris, so it will create new bulbs (bulblets?) and hopefully this will become an iris bed. I'll let you know how it goes.

Update the next morning (March 11) Even after the move, this iris plant is still growing! This is an advantage to doing the "fan cut", it lets you see the new growth right away.

Iris growth the day after transplanting

Update March 13th: Growing strong! I seriously doubt that it will get a chance to bloom this season, but right now it looks like it'll be established enough to rebloom next year. I'll let you know.

Iris plant showing strong growth after transplanting

The iris bed March 13th

When, and how to transplant a cycad

2026-03-02T14:49:00.000-08:00

It's March 2nd, and here in the Phoenix, Arizona area it's the perfect time to transplant a cycad. That is, it's not cold anymore, and it's not crazy hot yet. So wherever you are, that's the time. And the how of it you may not like, because the best thing to do is to cut all of the leaves off.

You could, of course, try to transplant it with the leaves still on, but my experience is that they all turn brown and look terrible, and really it just makes things more difficult for the plant to re-establish. Yes, cut them all off! When I would hang around with my deep-pocket cycad friends the plants that they would order for the big bucks came without any leaves, and they did just fine. Still, it must be kinda disconcerting to receive what looks like a dead brown bowling ball in the mail after you've paid all that money. But that's how it's done! And I found that removing the leaves made transplants go better here in my garden with my less exotic cycads.

The cycad that I just transplanted is a zamia integrifolia, sometimes called a coontie, which was an ordinary houseplant from Home Depot that I got over ten years ago as a tiny plant, and surprisingly it's survived, and thrived. In fact, it's done so well that it's long since grown out of the tiny space where it had been planted, and this year I finally got around to giving it a serious haircut and transplanting it. Here, I'll show you a picture of what it used to look like:

Zamia integrifolia in 2016

It will have a lot more room to grow now that it's been transplanted, but in the meantime there's nothing much to look at, so I put Boris there as a bit of visual interest.

Zamia integrifolia with Boris, the concrete tortoise

View of the garden at night. The coontie will get a little bit of light, but the star of the show remains the spinulosums, and the revoluta

I also replaced a spray head to be sure that it gets water, so now I'll just hope that it puts down roots this season, and flushes next year. I'll let you know how it goes.

Uplighting the Tropical Paradise

2026-03-02T05:40:00.000-08:00

I discovered uplighting a few years ago, and I really like the effect. It's done with spotlights pointing upwards, and a nice soft light falls back on the area where you can sit and relax. And I've learned a few things along the way, the most important of which is to not overdo it.

There's really no need for me to light up this space as if it were a football stadium, or have searchlights that glare up into my neighbor's windows as if this were a used car lot. There's just enough bounce light on the ground to be able to walk to and from the table - and it's not a dance floor.

Your needs may be different, but this works for me. At first I had a lot of lights, going all of the way to the far side of my yard, but it's not really necessary, and to me it looks better letting the distant area kinda fade away into the night because it really highlights the plants that I want to see. I call it "jewel-like".

What you're looking at in the pic is the view from the patio, which is fully lighted, and is where I usually sit looking out at my dogs sniffing around.

Yes, these are LED lights, and yes I had to bury the wire and plug everything together. But it looks great, and the trouble and expense to me was worth it, because it makes the Tropical Paradise look like a million bucks!

Highly recommended.

Why you should plant petunias and irises

2026-02-26T12:32:00.000-08:00

Something that I learned a long time ago is that blooms come and go, but foliage remains - and that means that most of the time you'll be looking at foliage, not blooms, so it's wise to choose your flowering plants to have foliage that you like.

I like petunia flowers, and I like iris flowers, but more importantly I like their foliage, which is about all I've seen this season - I don't know if the irises are ever gonna bloom, and the blooms on the petunias are very sparse.

But I still like this display - the foliage of petunias has a nice tropical effect, and the foliage of irises goes nicely with that look, too. Flowers are a bonus, and would be kinda nice, but this season I'm not holding my breath - these plants have been in the ground for months, with tender loving care, and while their foliage looks great, well, there's not much flowering action.

If you selected flowering plants based entirely on their flowers for your garden, you may dislike looking at them while you wait for them to flower. But I like the foliage of petunias and irises, and while I'd like to see flowers, I'm OK with how they look without flowers.

Update March 4th: A few more flowers on the petunias, but still nothing blooming on the irises.

Pulling up the sansevierias here in the Tropical Paradise

2026-02-13T16:03:00.000-08:00

I was doing some minor repairs this afternoon (February 13th) to a misting line, and as I cleared away some sansevierias, I realized that they had gotten wildly out of control, so I started pulling them up. Looks like this is gonna be a big job! I'll tell you how I'm doing it, and why I'm doing it.

This plant grows really well here in the Phoenix, Arizona area, and sends out shoots, so I'm not cutting it down (it would all grow back even thicker!), I'm pulling it up. I filled up a trash can already, so I'm taking a break and will get back to it tomorrow.

I'm concerned about the health of the cycads, two spinulosums, a furfuracea, and a revoluta. I've been suspecting that the sansevierias are choking them out, and instead of an attractive ground cover, they're acting as weeds. The stars of the show are the cycads, so I want to look out for them as a priority.

There are watering lines and electrical lines so I'll be going carefully. I think I know how everything goes (I put it in myself), but it's been a long time since I planted the sansevierias, definitely over ten years ago, so I'll watch what I'm doing and go slow.

Of course I know that even if I try to pull up every sansevieria plant, and every shoot, I'll miss some, and will have to go back later when I see them poking their heads up. Such is caring for a garden, which for me is a labor of love.

Update: February 14th: I dug out some more sansevierias, and was able to bring the misting lines close enough to each other to do a repair. I use a brass compression fitting because I don't mind digging around like this, but when I do a repair, I want it to be permanent, and this is!

Brass union compression fitting for repair of the misting line

About half of the sansevierias are dug up already - more later!

Update: February 15th: Just did some trimming of the trunk of the dioon spinulsum, which I haven't even seen in many years. Hopefully taking away the competition for water from the sansevierias will help it grow

Dioon spinulosum cycad

Update: February 17th: I took a day off from this as I found that it was aggravating both my lower back and my legs, but I'm feeling better this morning, and we had a light rain, so I did some more pulling. I found another mister, which I have to be very careful with or it or the riser will break off at the base, and it will become useless. Taking it slow and steady!

More sansevierias pulled up

To conserve space in the trash can, I'm putting the broken tubers in a trash bag. I can do a bit more later if my lower back and legs don't mind - otherwise it can wait until tomorrow

Here's the mister on the riser, which can be very fragile, so I'll see if I can replace the head without disturbing the riser, which very easily breaks along the misting line. If it remains stable, it will give more moisture to the cycads, and I'll put some pointy rocks around it to keep me from accidentally kicking it

Update February 27th: As I had suspected, this is a big job, and the trick to it is to go slowly, and pull the roots out, which I'm now putting in trash bags.

Did about a half-hour today, which is about all my lower back can take. I will replace the misting line when all of the sansevierias are out. I bought some more brass union fittings at the hardware store, and found some more line in the garage.

Update - February 28th: Filled up two more trash bags - going slow and making sure to pull up all of the tubers. As you can see, I have a big clump there that I may be able to pull out in a bunch, and possibly plant in a pot, but they can't stay in the ground, the roots go everywhere! I'll ponder the pot idea, I have a couple of nice big pots that I could use. I'll let you know

More sansevierias out, hopefully this will be all finished before the terrible Phoenix heat kicks in, it's already getting hot out there, even in the shade!

Transplanted sansevierias in a pot. Note the variegated variety back there in the garden, which isn't so invasive.

Update - March 1st: The sansevierias are all gone now. My next task is to dig a nice deep trench for the misting line, which I will replace. After the new line is in I'll mark it with pointy rocks so I don't accidentally dig into it in the future. Still haven't decided what to plant there. I'll let you know!

The sansevierias are all gone now, and I've decided to completely replace this length of misting line

The misting line has been replaced and tested, and now these rocks will protect the line from my accidently digging into it, after the soil goes over it.

The misting line is now buried and covered over. The next step of the project is to rebury the electrical wires.

Boris the concrete tortoise will keep an eye on things until I figure out what to do with this area. Note the clump of African Spears that I put in the background

Update March 3rd: The cycad garden all cleared out, and ready to grow

The sansevierias are all cleared out and the trash bags are hauled away, and now there's plenty of room for the cycads to grow

Replacing misting heads in the garden

2026-02-07T15:01:00.000-08:00

One of the secrets to keeping my tropical garden here in the Phoenix area growing a little bit better in this terrible heat is the use of a misting system. It's the same kind that you see on restaurant patios to cool the air, with the exception that I have the misting heads mounted on risers. And while the line, and the risers, have lasted for years and years, the misting heads tend to clog up in a year or two - so I keep plenty of spare misting heads around, and replace them when I notice that there's no spray anymore in a particular area.

There was a time when I tried to clean the misting heads by soaking them in vinegar, which would remove the hard water deposits, but unfortunately I found that the tiny hole became just a tiny bit bigger, and that was enough to change the spray from a mist to more of a small forceful spray. You thought I was gonna say that they would just pee, right? Nah, that description is perfect, but I won't say it.

I just ordered some more misting heads, which will be delivered with my next grocery delivery from Walmart. When they arrive I'll inspect the packet and put it with the few remaining new misting heads in a drawer that I keep stuff in on the patio. I suppose I could just change them all out seasonally, and at some point maybe I will.

Closeup of the new misting head on the riser. The riser started out all bright and shiny, and then dulled down with time, and the misting head will do the same thing, making the system virtually invisible

So there ya go, I've had the misting system here in the Tropical Paradise for many years, and I've noticed that when one of the misters isn't working that particular area suffers, so I know it's doing some good. Costs me some time and money, but I consider it well worth it.

Why you should invest in good garden gloves, and replace them often

2026-02-07T10:53:00.000-08:00

I just got some new gauntlet gloves yesterday, and I really like them. And no, the brand doesn't really matter, I just recommend that you get some, and if you have old ones with holes in them, get some new ones. I'll see if I can explain.

Gloves protect your hands, and I use them even though I'm a man. But a lot of men wouldn't dream of doing such a thing, any more than they would be caught dead wearing a frilly apron, or a ballerina's tutu. And this is where buying garden gloves online can be kinda tricky - they're fitted for women's sizes.

I lucked out with these, which were described as for men and women, and ordered a medium. I find that they're a little tight, but I consider it better for them to be a bit tight as opposed to too loose (which was what my old pair was). I wear a men's medium, but a woman's large, so if you look at my gardening gloves, some of them will say large. These gloves are soft and flexible, so a medium is fine. But really, you'd be wise to go to a "brick and mortar" place and try them on.

Like I say, my old gauntlet gloves didn't fit very good, and had clunky fingers, and besides I had worn a hole in one of the fingers which I discovered when an agave pricked me in my index finger. Ouch! It was only a gentle touch, but those things are sharp, and if there's nothing between your skin and that needle, there will be blood (I put a bandage on it, and it's healed up now, don't worry).

As you can see, I have several pairs of gloves, and I even invested in a big floppy hat this past year. I live in the Phoenix area, and I see everyone who works outside, both male and female, wearing big-brimmed hats. But gloves for men is a matter of taste.

In addition to trimming agaves, I find the gauntlet gloves protect my hands and forearms when I'm trimming my miniature palm trees, and my cycads. Highly recommended!