GARDENING : At Home in the Tropics
When you enter Stanlee Phelps’ yard in Laguna Hills, you feel as if you’re suddenly in a tropical paradise. “People have said that my yard reminds them of Hawaii,” says Phelps. “It’s true. Whenever I go out and look at the palm trees swaying in the breeze, I feel like I’m on vacation in Maui.”
Creating a tropical landscape is easy in Southern California, according to Jeffrey Garton, a partner in the full-service landscape firm Paradise Designs in Dana Point. “We have a fabulous climate that’s very conducive to tropical plants,” he says.
Not only do tropical landscapes make you feel as if you’re basking in aloha sunshine, they are easy to maintain and fun to create.
Before you begin installing your tropical landscape, sit in your yard and really analyze it, suggests Diane Grace, manager of the Pay Less Drug Store nursery in Rancho Santa Margarita and manager of a landscape maintenance business.
“Look around and ask yourself, ‘How would I like my tropical garden to be set up? What would I like to see?’ I’ve found that when clients do this they become very creative,” says Grace, who is Phelps’ gardener.
As for what to plant in your tropical landscape, there are a number of basic plants such as palms, ferns and tropical flowers.
Palm trees vary greatly in their type and size. Some have giant fronds, others thin; some grow to only to three feet while others top 100 feet. Because palms vary in their looks and growth habits, it’s important to use caution when choosing them.
Other trees that help create a tropical-looking environment are coral and floss silk trees, ficus benjamina (the weeping Chinese banyan) and the jacaranda, which has soft, ferny leaves and pretty blue blossoms.
Carrotwood, which is also complementary to the tropical design, is used frequently. It is a medium-sized tree that has a root structure that, according to Garton, does not cause underground root problems.
Ferns also add a nice tropical accent to a yard. Grace says there are hundreds to choose from and advises some care when making a selection.
She recommends choosing outdoor ferns that require partial shade.
Garton suggests trying the dicksonia or Australian tree fern, as well as the ternstroemia (an evergreen shrub that complements palm trees), the star jasmine, any of the agapanthus, azaleas, and sun begonias (which have a red and green leaf and pink flowers with a yellow center). Even impatiens make an attractive ground cover display, as Phelps discovered when she planted them in shady areas of her yard.
When planning what to include in a tropical garden, Garton also stresses the importance of contrast in size and color.
“For instance, you would want to place a large-leafed banana tree right next to a small thin-leafed pygmy date palm,” he says. “Variation in color is also important. You can make a big statement by combining light greens, dark greens and burgundies or reds.”
Many ferns and palms contain a variety of greens, while the red-leafed banana tree adds a nice splash of red. Garton also suggests using the bougainvillea for contrast because of its variety of colors. Gray-leafed pittosporum crassifolia is also a nice plant that contrasts well with greens. And there is the popular bird of paradise, which comes in large and small varieties in a number of primary colors such as red, yellow and blue, as well as orange. Once you make your plant selections, you will want to decide on the placement of those plants. When doing so, Garton suggests starting with the larger items such as palms and filling in with other plants.
Grace warns against lining all of the palms along the back of the landscape and terracing down from there. “This won’t give you a lush tropical look,” she says. “You need to create a three-dimensional effect by placing the taller plants forward and putting low-growing plants such as ferns in the back. Not only does this look more lush, it takes less plants to fill up the same space.”
Garton says palm trees will not help create privacy because their foliage is on their tops, which will continue to grow upward, eventually screening out nothing but the sky.
You will also want to avoid putting palm trees too close to the house, because they can get caught up under the eaves when growing, or too near a sitting area, because palm fronds may invade the space.
When deciding on the placement of palm trees and other tropical plants, also keep the wind in mind, because it can be damaging to many plants.
“Tropical trees and larger shrubs don’t do well in the wind,” says Garton. “For instance, the red-leafed banana tree’s leaves can easily be serrated by the winds. This is also true of the king palms and the large birds of paradise. Although you can always cut the damaged parts off, many of these plants only have a few leaves or flowers and take a long time to grow others. Place such plants in a protected area of the yard or group them together, which will also offer some protection.”
Frost is another element that can do damage. Some sensitive items include the banana trees, tupidanthus (which is a large shrub that grows into a tree) and the pseudopanax.
Grouping frost-sensitive plants and placing them under or near other more hardy plants protects them. If a frost is expected, you can even drape bedsheets over the plants for a night.
Before planting a tropical garden, Grace says to properly prepare the soil by placing a layer of bone meal on the ground and working the soil very deeply. She also suggests adding good compost and peat moss.
When planting, she says to make sure that the hole for the plant is larger than the root ball, giving the roots room to expand and take hold.
Overall, a tropical garden requires less maintenance than more traditional gardens. One reason is that there is very little leaf litter to clean up, and the plants are generally pest-free. At times they can succumb to an aphid or mite problem, but this can be easily solved or avoided by keeping the leaves rinsed off.
“People usually think that my yard is a lot of work,” says Phelps. “They’re really shocked when I tell them how easy it is to maintain.”
Regular watering of a tropical garden is necessary, although you don’t want to over-water, since this can cause the leaves to turn yellow and can kill the plants.
Fertilizing a tropical garden should be done on a regular basis, says Grace, who recommends adding peat moss around each plant’s base in spring and fall, as well as bone meal in spring.
Other landscape additions that can further enhance a tropical look include tiki lamps and giant rocks. “I have a few synthetic rocks that are hollow inside that are really attractive,” Grace says. “Many people think they are real.”
There is even a really attractive rock fern, which grows in between rocks and will climb over them.
Your tropical garden will also look great at night with some lighting, because palms are so stately and often have large leaves. You can backlight your garden or light it from below. If your garden is set against a wall, you can even direct lights at your plants to create a silhouette display.
