I doubt any of you can help me plant any subtropical plants that will live in Sunset zone11.
It is desert with high winds, my house faces North, we get highs as high as 117 but the norm is 102 in the hot months, in a heat wave hotter, with 0 humidity usually then and very cold winter/spring nights. It will be 80 in the day and 32 in the night.
Is there one tough nut in that world of subtropical plants or a good clone to a tropical looking plant that is very hardy. I am going with some raised planters and making some more lasagna beds but even then is there something I could microclimate or pot that would do well? It is hard to plant anything in the ground anyway in this yard of mine because it has caleche, hardpan soil and lots of minerals and calcium in the water.
Just bury me and maybe you can plant a tree over me that will take off.
I need some ideas and Tropicana said try yall.
I was convinced to post this question, but I doubt any...
Hellnz11, Do you any shade under trees or house? Can you water once or twice a day I mean lots of water for large pots? jerry
I do have a lot of Mulberry trees that have shade under parts of the tree at different times of the day. I have a new microclimate area on the East side of my house.
I could use a lot of those water crystals but I won't be home in the mid day to water more often. I can put up structures with shade cloth or lattice etc.
Have an idea? I am zone 8b or 9 as of recent but I don't think it is 9.
I have some elephant ears and some other tropicals that i would like for you to try. It would be in a month be fore they would be ready.Something to think about. Jerry
Elephant ears. Ok I can try that. I think it would be good. What are you thinking, in a pot or in the lasagna bed in a shaded corner between a east wall facing west and a south wall facing north. It gets shade from the wall itself and the south wall has a huge Garage behind it and eucalyptus trees next to that and that is all backed up to my new lasagna garden that finally decomposed? Do they take the cold? What about any banana varieties?
Thanks I am excited to try new stuff since I am building all these raised planters for the stuff that needs drainage, since my soil sucks
I think an investment in a large pachypodium would be well worth the return, but I am not sure if you are doing this for the enjoyment of being a zone pusher. Not evergreen, of course, but a very tough plant that would perfectly tolerate your conditions. Just my five cents! F4F
My friend Tropicana told me to post it here. I said it is hard to grow here period without a lot of money and fuss and a lot of planning. I mentioned that I was so jealous of you all for your ability to grow subtropical plants. She said you all are a wealth of info and if there were a way you'd know it.
I actually have had a few subtropical plants that haven't died but didn't really take of either. I was a zone pusher before but now am searching for any attractive leafy or big flowery plants that don't usually like the desert that I can make live here even if I have to pot and move them in doors in the winter, but it is so dry here. I may try water garden. I will look up these plants and see where I can plant them. If I knew what they needed to live I could make a little feax outdoor room or something. I need a greenhouse.
Well, the pachypodium would do well in your conditions without being a zone pusher. Not sure if that came across. Thevetia is one thing I would throw out there, I know it will take the dry but not sure about the temp. fluctuations or extremes. Have you tried the SW gardening forum?Seems to me that those folks would have the best first hand experience with your conditions. Good luck!
Move LOL!
Sorry had to say that after hearing those temps and conditions. Which may actually be worse than mine. I don't think anything really with large leaves will survive for you unless your able to protect it from the dry winds and heat. Your best luck is going to be heat tolerant plants yuccas and cacti. If your going to go for it anyways and try cannas or Colocasias. Here is my theory on how to grow them. Find a area with the least wind dig you a pond or bog and grow them directly in the water. They should do better at keeping hydrated than anywhere else. Building a microclimate is possible but is also a challenge. If your interested in building a microclimate around a porch or small area let me know I can give you more info if you want to go that way with your tropical garden.
Here is proof that growing plants are in my genes. This is my uncles yard.
As far as palms. I would think the Mazari palm, nanorrhops ritchhiana might work. It's from Afghanistan. You might try a Canary Island date palm, phoenix canariensis. I would think things that grow in Las Vegas would work for you.
Check http://moonvalleynursery.rtrk.com/coupon/?scid=409662&cid=158805&tc=08030721321943395&kw=696673:12063&dynamic_proxy=1&primary_serv=moonvalleynursery2-px.rtrk.com&se_refer=http%253A%252F%252Fwww.google.com%252Fsearch%253Fsourceid%253Die7%2526rls%253Dcom.microsoft%253Aen-US%2526ie%253Dutf8%2526oe%253Dutf8%2526q%253Dlas%252Bvegas%252Bnursery , and any other nurseries in similar sunset zones for ideas.
I know caleche and hard pan are terrible. It's like amending concrete. For those of us unfortunates who live outside ideal zones, what grows for us is hit and miss. Sometimes more miss than hit. :(
When I was looking up Afghan plants, I saw acacias and mimosas mentioned. Searching in those might yield a few surprises. Poincianas? Pride of Barbados? You mentioned eucalypts. Southern Australia and South Africa no doubt have plants that might work. Screw pines, pandanus furcatus? Euphorbias? Check also http://www.desert-tropicals.com/
-Joe
Dawn, sounds like you have gotten hopefully some new ideas
Agaves get really huge and can look cool, and I'm thinking that with a little amending to your soil, I'm sure the really tough bulbs like crocosmia, crinum, agapanthus varieties are worth a try
what about echiums?
are there any native plant societies or public gardens near where you live? that might be a possibility
There are some really cool agaves...great variegates too. They certainly could withstand the wind!!! What about Cereus? I have seen geraniums growing high up on Moana Loa...same conditions as yours. Scotch Broom....it will grow anywhere!!!
Your area sounds similar to mine but it definitely gets 117 here and often and it doesn't normally ever freeze in the winter but last winter it did. Tropicals do have a heat limit and love humidity. That is something I learned because normally you just hear about cold temps being a problem. Be very careful about large pots and lots of watering in the summer~ if your plants start going dormant from the heat (and some of mine did and came back in the fall) do not keep watering or they will root rot.
In retrospect, I think they all would be better off in the ground.
Here it is a dry desert with lots of wind. I am still growing most of the same stuff I did in a subtrop. climate before but yes it is much harder to do... In the summer I construct a shade house and have misters. Many things that take 'full-sun", do not here- its afternoon shade. You may need to add a frost blanket or other means of protection in the winter.
So far things that have worked are edible bananas and zebrina banana. The esentes hate the high temps and died a horrible death lol because I didn't know to get them out of the heat. Cannas have done well. I grew gingers and monstera deliciosa, a few diff. split leaf philos, variegated rubber trees, brugs, in full shade on the patio. Maid of Orleans jasmine and night blooming jasmine (cestrum nocturnum) did good and flowered fine in the shade. Funny the cestrum nocturnum flowers in December here (did it twice so far lol).
Allamanda, plumeria, adenium, tropical hibiscus, and cape honeysuckle did okay with morning sun/aft shade. The landscape types of trop. hibiscus seem to be hardier and can take more sun. Roses need afternoon shade here too. Of course cactus, bougainvillea, and succulents do great here. It is best to water when the sun is down, either late night or early morning. The plants like to be misted in the evening too, not during the heat of the day. The same goes for fertilizer etc.
That's my misadventures of desert gardening lol. I hope some of this might help you or give you some ideas to try. My dh and I have been medical travelers and gardened all over the country..This is def. the most challenging place we have lived for plants!
Oh I had my first Philo here and it went through the hot summer months and the winter and it looks great, it was a little stressed in Late August but yeah.
I have a microclimate with a huge cargo container as a shed and doubles as a wall for a garden blocking morning sun and the house is close enough to block out some of the afternoon sun, there is a big carport blocking wind and shading some plants in the corner and there are two fruitless mulberry trees there too. I left some areas in the direct sun but put a little sapling sink tree in the sw corner to filter some light in the afternoon, but want roses so I need sun.
I do have luck with Cannas if I dig them out in the winter. I sometimes flood in a bad winter(rare). We can grow several mentioned easily like mimosa and acacias. Palms are more risky unless it is fan or windmill palms, but some are possible in a Mircoclimate and tons of mulch. Risky though if they freeze after several years and fall over one day.
Canary Island date palm, phoenix canariensis. Are risky but I have seen both in Lancaster and Palmdale occasionally in a commercial area that planted very large trees. Queen anne Palm too, usually freezes but there are a few survivors.
Shoestring Accacia loves it here and silver dollar gum and a few other Eucalyptus varieties.
Some of the plants I need to look up though.
I have my new microclimate to play with this year and hope to try some of these. Thank you all sooo Much!!
Hang in there! Stop back here frequently for support. :) It's trial and error, but there are successes to be found. Taking into account variabilities like soil, precipitation, temperature, and lighting, each of us has a unique combination of microclimates that can be exploited. I suggest for every few things you plant that are suggested, you pick one thing you fancy as an experiment. You might be surprised. It's an art as much as a science.
I have been eyeing my furnace exhaust. It's an area about a foot in diameter that gets a constant supply of warm, humid air all winter. If I could diffuse that air it could potentially provide a small microclimate for something that was root hardy, maybe a ginger.
From your climate I am also eyeing desert willow, which I see from its plantfiles page that someone is successfully growing in several locations in 5b/5a. It's funny how we all seem to envy someone else for what they can grow, but to me it's also amazing how little each of us really knows about what is growable in our area. With a little research, we can really expand our possibilities. With the expertise of a few of our regulars you've taken a good step by bringing up this topic in here.
If it's cost-effective, I might suggest you look at putting in raised beds for your tropicals on top of the caleche/hard pan. You could investigate online about making raised beds on concrete slabs. The setup might be similar, with slightly better drainage for you than for beds actually sitting on concrete slabs. The plus is you can create your own soil, a custom mix for each bed, and it would be easier than spending several days outside with a pick-axe scratching at the ground.
-Joe
Oh Joe you are singing my song. I started my first lasagna bed last year and it is ready to go mostly. A few spots linger with straw but it is mostly good and has worms and wire under for gophers.
I found out a few weeks ago that a block making factory that is about 15 min. away, gives you free blocks, that are part of the forms, they lob off. They are useable so it will be raised beds galore now that I have access to this. In some of the yard I will just build planters and try to compost it as you said, maybe tweaking the ph and all as you stated for different types of mix. One will be with desert mix for succs and cactus too, though I am not a fan of all these plants.
Desert Willows do great here. It is weeping willows and globe willows that I love most though and I had two giant ones in Lancaster, which is a few miles away in the same typa area, but here in the rock bed, they don't do well without a regular times water system and some more soil ammending. I killed two already which sucks, they make such a microclimate for some shade lovers like Algerian Ivy. I will get a few desert willows, they are pretty. Palo Verde's do good here and Paulownia too, which are pretty.
Plants that do good in Vegas can do good here too and I have posted a lot on SW forum because some of their stuff does good here. It is prettier there though and a different zone, it does'nt get the cold that we get there and much more rain with the mansoon.
I will check in now and again and let you know what is working or not.
Thanks, you don't need to keep posting, unless you think of something you really want to share. Thank you all again and to you Trop for bullying me into this post. lol