Brad's Tropical Paradise

Sparaxis in bloom

2012-03-02T11:22:00.000-08:00

It's the first week of March here at The Tropical Paradise, and the sparxis are starting to bloom a little more. The freesia appear to be waiting to bloom until much later than I had expected. They are blooming out in the front yard, but not much in the backyard. The freesia are the clumps that you see on the left, in front of the sago, and off to the right. The sparaxis are just above the tip of my right foot.

Not yet what I would call a profusion of flowers! But we will be patient.

Report on Sparaxis

2012-02-27T09:05:00.000-08:00

In addition to planting a lot of freesia this season, I planted sparaxis for the first time. To be fair, being compared to freesia is pretty harsh competition, because freesia is absolutely beyond belief beautiful, both in the leaf structure and the profusion of blooms.

Here are some stray thoughts on sparaxis. I am finding that the majority of them haven't bloomed and the leaves are already starting to look ragged and yellowish as if they are beginning to die back. This flower (pictured) is in an area that I hadn't originally set aside for sparxis, having more shade and more water. From what I had read, sparaxis does well in hotter areas with sandier soils, but it doesn't seem to be the case here. The temperature here is still cool, but getting warmer fast, and I fear for the ability of the sparxis in the hotter areas to have a chance to bloom at all this season. Well, I'm experimenting mostly.

Another consideration with sparasix is that the flowers close at night, unlike freesia and daffodils. If you are interested in having a garden that displays well at night, night-closing flowers aren't a good choice. I've made the mistake of planting flowers that close at night and then going out to see how they look displayed by the Malibu lights. Not good.

Additionally, sparasix blooms begin with a thin, brown papery covering that really isn't that attractive close up. I guess these are field flowers, meant to be seen from a distance. And they aren't freesia!

Propping up freesia

2012-02-27T08:47:00.001-08:00

One of the disadvantages of a plant that flowers profusely is that they tend to tip over. This freesia started with a disadvantage as it was already growing pretty much sideways, toward the south, even before it started to flower. When the first flower appeared, the whole plant tipped over sideways until the flower was almost touching the ground. The solution is a small prop, or crutch, which you can see at the bottom of the picture.

The prop is made of a small twig from the tree, and just trimmed into a crutch shape. One end is pushed into the ground, and the other end holds up the plant towards the bottom. As the alyssum grows in, it will hide this little bit of trickery.

And that's how it's done!

Planting for fragrance

2012-02-26T09:09:00.000-08:00

One of the things about a small enclosed space like The Tropical Paradise is that it captures and contains fragrance. When the flowers are blooming, the smell is wonderful. And so it's wise to consider fragrance as part of garden design. I just walked outside this morning and my first impression was the fragrance of flowers!

Because of the nature of the small space here, confined by block walls, the smells linger. That means that hyacinth, freesia, alyssum, and other fragrant plants are so effective here. But there is a drawback to this type of space. Bad smells linger, too. I am very careful to clean up right away after my dog! I have a few neighbors who go outside to smoke, which is nasty, and that smell lingers, too. I also planted some *deserty* types of flowers here many years ago that gave off an unpleasant musty smell. They had to go! Also keep in mind that that wonderful fragrance, and color, of your flowers attracts bees. They don't bother me or the little dog, but they are there, and if they make you nervous, maybe you shouldn't plant flowers.

The flower show is just beginning here at The Tropical Paradise. It should be very nice until April, after which the heat will come on, and the show will be over for the season. You can start planting again in September.

Replacing watering system parts before they fail

2012-02-25T15:17:00.001-08:00

There's an old saying that goes, *if it ain't broke, don't fix it* and I tend to disagree. I saw a documentary many years ago about the, uh, sewer system underneath Manhattan. They have been, for many years now, replacing component parts before they fail, based on a schedule. Their engineers know how long each part of the system should last, and it is replaced before there is a catastrophe. The people of Manhattan don't know anything about this, of course, they just think that a system that is nearly 300 years old is still functioning.

When it comes to my watering system, I tend to take a very proactive approach. The temperatures here in the Phoenix area get well above 100 degrees in the summertime, and stays there for months. Any system will feel the strain! So this spring I am replacing a lot of the moving parts of my watering system. That includes the timers, the gaskets, the pressure regulator, even the the 4-way connector. I've inspected this stuff, and it looks like it's been through WWIII.

The weather right now is beautiful, so this is the time to do this type of maintenance, not when it fails in the middle of the summer!

Sparaxis in Arizona

2012-02-25T12:35:00.001-08:00

I had never even heard of Sparaxis until I ordered some bulbs from Easy to Grow Bulbs last October. But my motto is that I am *experimenting, mostly* and they looked like they would do well here. Like a lot of the plants here in The Tropical Paradise, they are native to South Africa.

I guess that I was expecting them to be more like freesia, but they're not. The bulbs were much smaller, and the foliage isn't quite as lush. In fact, it tends to get a little yellow and I've trimmed some of the foliage just for looks. But the idea was to create a more natural look at in the hotter and dryer parts of the garden, so it should work out. The first bud is just forming, as you can see, and it appears to be covered with a thin, papery covering. Interesting! The colors should be spectacular, and the shape should be more like a daisy. I will keep you informed!

Where to plant a shade tree in Arizona

2012-02-24T12:42:00.002-08:00

If I could go back to when this house was built, and plant a tree in the backyard, I would put it right where mine is. Yeah, I'm lucky. The tree that I have in the back yard, an olive, is planted in the southern half of my backyard. When I bought this house years ago, and the tree was small, it really didn't give much shade. But now it does!

I'm no astrophysicist, but I know where the sun is here in the northern hemisphere. It's in the south. It's never really overhead, and even in the middle of summer, it's still a little bit in the south. So, naturally, the shade from a big tree falls to the north. So, if you are trying to get shade in your yard, plant your shade tree in the southern part of your yard. Well, not too close, as you don't want the branches hanging over into your neighbor's yard. Say about 15 feet away from your property line.

On the other hand, if you plant a shade tree in the northern part of your backyard, it will shade your neighbor's yard, to the north. They may appreciate this, or not. As you can see in the picture as right, my backyard gets a lot of shade from the tree. As the year goes on, of course, the shadow will get shorter and shorter, until the summer solstice, and then it will lengthen again. And I will always have some nice shade!

By the way, the number one plant that causes allergies here in the Phoenix area is bermuda grass, and I have none. The turf is artificial. Olive trees are not to blame! - but don't get me started on that again!

The time to spray to stop olives

2012-02-20T08:54:00.000-08:00

If you have an olive tree, now (February through March) is the time to have it sprayed to stop it from fruiting. When my trees were smaller, I did it myself, and in later years I hired the son of a friend of mine to get up on the roof and spray the trees. Last season, I failed to do it, and the amount of olives was just terrible! So this year, I marked on my calendar to arrange to get it done at the beginning of February.

This is turning out to be much more difficult than I had imagined. Olive spraying is a specialized business, and there seems to be very few companies here in the Phoenix area that do it. The company that was recommended to be was so overwhelmed that they were unable to keep up with their requests. After several polite inquiries as to when they could do it, I ultimately got an email that said that they had so many other customers they really didn't know. So I tried contacting other olive sprayers by doing a Google search. One company did respond very quickly, even emailed me a contract, which I signed right away, but I have heard nothing more from them about when they plan to do the spraying. I will keep my fingers crossed! Another company called me five days after I had contacted them, really just to say that things were *crazy* and that they were just trying to return phone calls. Again, no exact price, no firm commitment from them.

If I find a company that will spray my olive trees, I will be pleased, and I will recommend them here. So far, it doesn't look good. I won't mention the names of the companies that couldn't help me, but I will let you know if I find a company who can. If you're an olive-spraying company here in Phoenix who is looking for more customers, please contact me and I will promote you here.

Update 2-23-2012 - I sent a gentle *how are you coming along on scheduling my olive tree spraying?* email to the company that I signed the contract with a week ago today. I did get a response right away, but I was left with the feeling that they think that I am in a rush. I am not in a rush, I would just like to know that they are going to be able to do it. I've had all types of repairs done to this house over the years, and everyone else seems to be able to tell me when they can get to my house. I will keep you informed!

Update 2-28-2012 - As February comes to a close, I still really have no idea when or if I will get my trees sprayed. I just re-read the last email that I received from the company that I signed the contract with on February 16th, and it said that they were *trying to get everyone done before the end of March*. Unfortunately, if you wait until the end of March to spray your olive trees, it will be too late. The flowers need to be open to allow the fruit stop to penetrate. After March, the flowers will be already be dropping and the fruit will set, and you will have another season of a huge amount of messy olives dropping everywhere. I now have just a few weeks left before I will need to create a *plan B*, which will mean buying the fruit stop at Home Depot and hiring someone to help me spray.

Repairing a 1/2" water trunkline for a drip system

2012-02-19T08:54:00.000-08:00

I've had occasion to repair the 1/2" water trunkline on my system a few times. It happens mostly when I, uh, dig through it accidentally, which I did a couple of days ago, while moving some daffodil bulbs. These things happen! There are a few ways to repair this type of damage, and I've tried them all, which is why I do it the way I am going to describe.

Even though this is a low-pressure system, it is still under pressure, and a leak is the least of your concerns. A water explosion is more likely whenever there is a breach of the system! So don't even think about being sloppy on this type of repair! I've used the simple compression-type repair tubing, but they really don't work. The best thing to use is this system that I found at Home Depot (pictured). In order to do this right, you will need two assemblies and a short piece of 1/2" tubing.

Cut away the damaged tubing and slide the connector over the existing tubing. There is a nipple that fits in snugly, and the connector tightens it up. Do the same for the other side and for the tubing in-between. If you get it wrong, just recut and try again. Your goal is to have just a tiny bit of *buckle* in the line (not so much that it pinches) so that the whole system is self-bracing. You certainly don't want it to *not quite reach* or it will come apart! Done correctly, it's a very sturdy repair, and I've used it to expand the line, too (which is really what it's for).

Even though I'm sure that I've done everything right this morning, I don't trust it until I see it work for a while, so I will leave it uncovered for a few days. After that, it gets covered up, and hopefully I can forget about it!

Freesia blooming in Arizona in February

2012-02-14T13:26:00.000-08:00

It's February 14th and I just noticed the first flower of the freesias that I planted in the front yard starting to open. Now that's actually happening, it's pretty impressive. When I planted them, last October, I watched the video at Easy to Grow Bulbs that explained how many flowers there would be. And it should be pretty amazing in a few weeks. Each bulb has about four stems, each stem has about 12 flowers. And I planted a LOT of bulbs!

As I expected, the plants getting the most sun are blooming first. My front yard faces the setting sun, and is very, very, hot in the summer, so it's the best for spring-blooming flowers. In the backyard, where I have more freesias planted, some haven't even started sending up stems. But they will!

I expect to see these plants flowering in profusion throughout February and March.

The first freesia flower buds of the season

2012-02-07T12:19:00.000-08:00

It's the first week of February here at The Tropical Paradise, and I am beginning to see the first flower buds of the freesia that I planted last October. Freesia is a beautiful and fragrant flower, and is easy to grow here in the Phoenix, Arizona area. It's too late now, of course, to plant them, but put a note on your calendar for September or October of this year.

Other than getting the timing right, which is to plant them in September or October, freesia need no special care. That is, you don't have to chill them or anything, just put them in the ground (I always add a little slow release plant food) surrounded by plenty of potting soil. Actually the trick to getting just about anything to grow here that isn't native to the Sonoran Desert is to remove the native soil and replace it with potting soil. I often say that my plants aren't really planted in Arizona, they're planted in holes in Arizona filled with potting soil!

I purchased these bulbs from Home Depot. Here is a picture of the package (at right). There is a mix of colors, so I really don't know what colors the flowers will be!

Watering The Tropical Paradise

2012-02-03T10:07:00.000-08:00

The main reason that The Tropical Paradise uses so little water is that there is no grass. Instead there is artificial turf. And the plants are selectively watered using a low pressure drip system which has sprayer heads attached to the end of the tubing. Each one of these sprayer heads is mounted in such a way to allow them to spray over a very precise area, some with a 90-degree sprayer head, and some with a 180-degree sprayer head.

The main trunk line for the water, which is 1/2", sits above ground and is only hidden beneath the gravel close to the wall. The individual tubing, which is called *spaghetti tubing* is 1/4", runs down to the area to be watered.

So, if you want a tropical garden, and you still want to conserve water, you can!

Sharing your garden with your best friend

2012-01-30T09:38:00.000-08:00

I resisted getting a dog for a long time, because in my experience they don't mix well with gardens. the decision that I finally made for my miniature Tropical Paradise was to get a miniature dog, a tiny little dachshund. It has been quite a challenge, and it has cost me a fair amount of time and money, but I'm glad to have her here.

I have done a lot of things to accommodate my dog, and the first one was to have a doggie-door installed. My dog is so small that this door doesn't present any kind of security hazard, but I can't recommend one for a bigger dog, as those can be big enough for bad guys to fit into. Well, skinny bad guys.

You will also see that I have added steps below the door. My dog is a dachshund, and has a very fragile back, which gave me quite a scare a couple of years ago, as her back legs were paralyzed for over a month. She got better and I made sure that her world was as safe as I could make it. If you are going to do this, do not be tempted to build a ramp. A ramp is for wheels - stairs are much easier for the dog to navigate, slowly if she needs to. A ramp is the worst thing that you could do.

The obvious advantage of getting a small dog is that they are, well, small. One of the disadvantages of small dogs is that they tend to be nervous, and yappy. My dog is allowed to come out and bark a couple of times, to announce herself, but then it has to stop. A peaceful garden and a barking little dog do not go together! The best tip I ever got to convince a dog from barking is to use a small squirt bottle with water. When your dog makes the connection between barking and getting squirted, all you have to do is to show her the bottle and she will stop. Dogs are smart - all you have to be is a little bit smarter. By the way, this is how I taught her not to dig in the garden, too!

This garden, and my dog, are appropriate for a quiet middle-aged guy like me who works from home. At first, I took care of her. Now she takes care of me!

Creating a tropical oasis effect with cycads and miniature palms

2012-01-29T08:38:00.000-08:00

To me, there is nothing more soothing than the look and sound of palm trees. They are the first thing that you think of when you imagine an oasis, and just the sight of them seems to cool down a hot day. Here at The Tropical Paradise in Glendale, Arizona (a suburb of Phoenix), I have created my own little oasis in the desert. Like any good oasis, the best ones are mirages, and it takes a few tricks to make this illusion work here in the desert.

The first thing that you have to do is to think small. Whatever you do, you don't want to plant full-size palm trees right next to your patio. Your neighbors a mile away will enjoy the swaying palm leaves, but you will be staring at a telephone pole! So, here is the best trick I learned - when I first started experimenting with tropical plants, I was introduced to cycads. They aren't palm trees, or ferns, but they kind of look like them, they stay small, and they give a wonderful tropical feel to a miniature space. The most common type of cycad is a *sago palm*, which you can get at any nursery, home center, and even at some grocery stores. Yes, they are going to be more expensive than a same sized palm tree, but the point is that they are miniatures. They won't turn into telephone poles in a few years. The cycad that you see in the center of this picture is a little rarer, but they do fine here in Phoenix in a little shade.

There are miniature palm trees, too. I have several dwarf date palms (Phoenix robellini). And there are more, such as the Indian Date Palm (Phoenix rupicola). Whatever you do, don't get a Canary Island Date Palm, or a common Date Palm or a Mexican Fan palm. Those are the common ones that you see around Phoenix that become gigantic. They're cute when they're small, but they don't stay that way.

Don't waste your money on ferns. No matter how much water and humidity you try to give them, they won't make it here. I've experimented with all types of ferns, including tree ferns, and they all died. The *ferns* that I do have here are the cycads!

Large leaf, tropical looking plants can survive here. I've had Elephant ears here in the ground for years, and canna. They are grown from bulbs, and when it gets way too hot or way too cold, they can be cut down to the ground, and they come back. In fact, I have a lot of bulbs - daffodils, freesia, hyacinth, which give nice tropical-looking foliage - and flowers!

In the picture you see a design waiting to happen. The miniature palm tree in the front left, will grow taller than the cycad, which is a dioon spinulosum, by the way, creating a canopy for the oasis in a couple of years. This area has undergone lots of redesigns over the years, and I think that this one will be the best.

Brass hose connector

2012-01-27T14:11:00.000-08:00

I installed a new brass hose connector to the hose bib in the front courtyard just now. This is a Gilmour Brass 4-way connector, which I ordered on Amazon. It was considerably more expensive than the Orbit one that I had purchased at Target, but what caught my eye is that the handles are brass, not plastic. This sits out in the sun in blazing heat, and the plastic just breaks. Hopefully this will last longer.

There are two hoses connected this - one that reaches all the way to the backyard, and one for the front. On the far right is the battery-powered timer, which I have turned back on for the season, beginning with 20 minutes every seven days. As the weather warms up, I will leave the duration the same, but move it up to every four days, and in the hottest days of the summer, it will come on daily. Then it goes back down and then completely off during the winter.

Daffodils in bloom

2012-01-25T09:51:00.000-08:00

The Phoenix, Arizona area is a great place for daffodils. I have several types here, and this one, which is a grandiflora, started blooming at the beginning of January. There is nothing special that you need to do with daffodil bulbs, just put them in the ground - preferably around September, give them a little slow-release fertilizer, and they will start blooming in early spring.

This plant has been in the ground, and blooming, for several years now. When the blooms end, I cut off the stalk, but I leave the leaves alone until they have died back, as they are necessary to put energy back into the plant for next year's blooms.

Backyard view of The Tropical Paradise

2012-01-24T09:20:00.000-08:00

Like most houses in the Phoenix, Arizona area, there is a wonderful view of the backyard because of the sliding glass doors. This side of the house gets good shade because of the combination of the eastern exposure and the overhang from the patio. I don't have any type of covering on this door at all. And it's my favorite view.

I have visited many homes in Phoenix and in California and it just makes me cringe when I see the backyard being used for storage of junk, or dead grass, or, uh, doggie droppings. This is the view that you want to see? I do have a space along the side of the house for garbage cans, miscellaneous junk that I know I'm gonna use someday, but the view to my backyard from here is meant to be enjoyed.

I like it here.

Growing dwarf snapdragons from cuttings

2012-01-22T10:38:00.000-08:00

Here at The Tropical Paradise, I'm experimenting mostly. Even though my garden seems like a success, most of what I have tried has failed. But, it doesn't show, and I have a poor memory for failure so I just keep experimenting.

I have been successful growing some dwarf snapdragons from seed, enough that I needed to cut them back a bit, so I thought that I would try rooting some cuttings. Here they are in a tray in little pots made from the bottom of paper coffee cups. The other plants, by the way, are alyssum. As you can see, the leaves are curling back, which shows they they need water, but they have only been in the pots for a couple of days. From what I've read, you should mist them regularly, and I am.

I tried rooting begonias and cyclamen, and they didn't work. But I never give up. I'll let you know how the snapdragons do.

Update 2-25-2012 - I finally pulled these little guys up. Even after all this time, they still didn't have any roots. I dug out and replanted a bunch of already-rooted dwarf snapdragons, and they are doing fine.

Mid-January in The Tropical Paradise

2012-01-20T07:54:00.000-08:00

It's January 20th here at The Tropical Paradise and all danger of frost is over. This has been the mildest winter that I can remember - although I guess mostly I remember the big freezes of 2007 and 2010! The coldest it got this past winter was in November of last year - and the temperatures have been well above freezing for the lows ever since.

The canna will need some heavy trimming - but it's nice to see it get through the winter without getting knocked down. The lettuce has been growing very nicely - the reason that it's so stubby is that I have been eating it. As soon as it grows back I have another salad!

This is the first year that I and my winter visitors have really gotten some good use of my backyard in the winter. As you can see, the morning sun comes pouring in, and even though the air is chilly, the sun feels good. I don't really miss the old palo brea tree! There is a place for trees that grow like weeds and have nasty thorns, but not in my backyard. Another thing that makes The Tropical Paradise so appealing on winter mornings is that I can leave the chairs out on the *grass* - which is actually artificial, and my guests can move them in and out of the sun as they see fit. And no cold wet grass! Did I mention how much I like the artificial turf?

I am still growing coleus and some annual flowers indoors and plan on moving them out in a couple of weeks. They started from seed, and now I am taking cuttings from those plants and rooting them. Growing plants from seed is a lot of trouble, and I really can't recommend it, unless you just like to putter. And it has made me appreciate the plants that I can get for $1.99 a six-pack at Home Depot!

2012 is gonna be a great year.

Daffodils and a Mediterranean Fan Palm

2012-01-15T09:28:00.000-08:00

The palm tree that I have here in a corner of The Tropical Paradise is a Mediterranean Fan Palm (Chamerops humilis), which is a great palm tree for this type of space, and does well even in climates that get much colder than here in the Phoenix, Arizona area. It is unaffected by frost. Google it and you will probably find pictures of Med Palms with snow on them.

Mediterranean Fan Palms are very slow growing, so buy the biggest one that you can afford. They grow in a bushy shape, so leave them alone, don't try to keep trimming the offshoots. I've seen them around town where there have been constant and futile attempts to trim them up into individual trunks, and they look terrible. Find a nice large space for them to grow in, and leave them alone. They can take the hottest sun and the coldest freezes that Phoenix has to offer with no problem at all.

Even once in a while I wander up there to take out some weeds or fronds that have gone brown, but mostly this palm tree takes care of itself. On the far right of the photo is a sago palm (cycas revoluta), which also requires almost no maintenance, and below it are growing a nice bunch of freesia, which should be blooming in February. The turf is artificial.

Daffodils blooming in January in Arizona

2012-01-14T11:51:00.000-08:00

It's January 14th and the first daffodil blooms are now really beginning to open. I have lot of different varieties here at The Tropical Paradise, and not all bloom this early, but they will soon all be blooming, and will continue to do so, throughout March.

By April the heat of the desert here will be returning and the blooms will fade. As you know, you should never, ever, cut back the leaves of a daffodil until they have started to turn brown, as they need to give energy back into the bulb for the next year. And they will return, as this one has, year after year.

Cycads that do well in Phoenix, Arizona - dioon edule

2012-01-13T10:51:00.000-08:00

There are a lot of cycads that do well here in the Phoenix, Arizona area beside the common sago palm, which, although it is beautiful, is, well, common. If you already have a sago palm or two, my recommendation is to plant a dioon edule cycad.

I've have two types of dioon edules here in The Tropical Paradise, the one you see here, which is dioon edule, var. edule, and also dioon edule var. palma sola.

Dioon edules have a pleasing blue-green color and an interesting recurve in the fronds. The difference between the two varieties is only visible with the new growth. Var. edule leaves begin with a bronzy color, whereas the var. palma sola leaves begin as bright green. That's a palma sola frond sticking in the picture at the far right, by the way. The leaves really are the same color, and look the same when mature. My personal experience is that the palma sola tolerates our full sun better, so that is the one I prefer, and I have more of them.

The cultural requirements for a dioon edule are the same as for an ordinary sago palm. Plant it on a slope, so that it is well-drained, and try to get at least a little bit of shade on it. Cycads are not cactuses, and putting them out in the middle of a desert landscape will make them struggle to live, and they will look terrible. And, while cycads are technically not palms at all, they look like them, and they look great planted near palms. The fronds on the left of the picture are of a Phoenix rupicola canariensis cross palm tree, which was developed by a grower here in Phoenix.

This dioon edule cycad I purchased at Pacific Palms here in Phoenix. I have never seen them for sale at Home Depot or any other common nurseries around town, although I am always on the lookout for them. The palma sola cycads I got from Shady Way nursery in Apache Junction, where they were grown locally. I've had these plants for many years so I don't know if these places still have any left. There are a lot of cycad collectors here in the Phoenix area, so if you're looking for one, I could probably point you in the right direction. Have your checkbook ready, a beauty like this is liable to cost you a fair amount!

Garden design - the best way to show off your plants

2012-01-10T12:15:00.000-08:00

I visited the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum last week and got a lot of good ideas for the garden. I'm a Graphic Designer by profession, so design and layout means a lot to me. The correct layout of your plants really shows them off, poor layout just makes them look sad.

The good new is that the cultural requirements of your plants (how much water, sunlight, etc. they need) will encourage good design, which is to keep similar shapes together. This area of The Tropical Paradise gets a lot of sun and has sandy soil so it's a natural for desert shapes. I personally don't have a taste for cactus, which seems wildly out of place in a *tropical* garden, but aloes and agaves seem to work just right.

The first thing that you have to consider is that it shouldn't be all manicured and swept up. A Tropical Paradise isn't, and neither is a desert area. Your garden is not your kitchen floor and you shouldn't treat it that way. And remember that everything counts visually, from the lighting fixtures to the rocks.

In this little tableau, there is a Partridge Breast aloe at the far left combined with three different types of agaves. By the way, before you start planting agaves, check to see if they get really, really big and multiply. If they do, get a different kind! This is a fairly new planting and I want the plants to grow a little bit closer to each other, not look like someone should be hacking through with a machete!

The star of this show is the blue agave on the right, which is a Perry's Agave, which is available at most nurseries here in the Phoenix area. The co-star, on the left is the aloe, which gets just a little bit more shade than the agaves. The small agaves fill in the visual interest. Put the more jagged rocks higher up on the hill (this is an incline of about 20 degrees), and smoother rocks toward the bottom for a more natural look. The green leaves at the top of the hill are freesia, which transitions this area into the palms and cycads.

Desert shapes integrated in the garden

Is January too late to plant daffodil bulbs in Phoenix, Arizona?

2012-01-09T11:22:00.000-08:00

January is not too late to plant daffodil bulbs here in the Phoenix, Arizona area. If you have a time machine, it would be best to go plant them last year in September or October, but you can still plant them now in January.

It's tempting to buy them all grown and blooming, and I saw a lot at Lowe's yesterday, but all you are going to get out of that is to watch the blooming end and the leaves die back. Better to get some fresh bulbs, prepare a planting area in a sunny spot, and watch them grow. The small blooms, like paperwhites, are in bloom now, and will be fading soon, so it would be best to get a larger variety, like King Alfred, that blooms later.

Your daffodils will bloom and grow until it just gets too hot here, which begins about in April. Plenty of time! Also, keep in mind that your daffodil bulbs can stay in the ground all year, and they will multiply, and you will have even more next year! The blooms in this photo are starting on January 9th from bulbs that have been in the ground, and bloomed every year, since 2008.

Cyclamen and begonia in The Tropical Paradise

2012-01-09T08:14:00.000-08:00

My big idea of starting annual flowers from seed is pretty much of a dismal failure, so I went to Lowe's yesterday to find some nice plants to fill in the area in front of the dioon spinulosum cycad. Originally, I had planned to have the lettuce there, but the slugs ate every plant! Darn slugs.

Anyway, I choose a couple of nice small cyclamens. They are very expensive, so look for them in small pots at Lowe's. There's a red blooming one and a white blooming one. The best way to choose a good one when you choosing a plant is to find one that has a lot of buds, but not a lot of flowers in bloom. The flowers that are in full bloom now will just fade away, but the buds will open soon after you plant. But be sure to get at least one flower in bloom - to be sure that you got the right color! Cyclamens are great here in the Phoenix area - they do great in the cold. Well, as cold as it gets here.

In addition, I got a six-pack of begonias. I have never tried them in The Tropical Paradise, but I now have a very shady area because of the elephant ears and cannas. You can barely see them - they are way over on the left in the shade. You can also see just starting to come up - some daffodils, freesia, and a hyacinth. Should be pretty nice by mid-February! By April the flower show will be over as it gets too hot here.