Tour of A Tropical Concept Nursery

Hummingbird feeding on nectar of banana blossoms.

Wow!  Look at all of those
bananas!

In September I went on an awesome tour of A Tropical Concept Nursery in Phoenix.  What a place!  It is a unique combination nursery/jungle/bird rescue/animal rescue and all around fun place to hang out and talk tropical plant care, bird care, and even pot belly pig care.  There I found the biggest and healthiest banana trees and plumeria I have ever seen in Arizona.  The owners, Kim and Danny Vallen, and their employees, were so friendly, helpful and knowledgeable about tropicals. You can tell this is not just their day job, it is their passion!

Kim gave a very informative demo on planting a Mango tree.  She used a 50/50 mix of native soil, and organic mulch. Then she watered well, added vitamin B1 to prevent transplant shock, and then added a thick mulch layer of just straw.  Kim advised against using wood chips as mulch because they heat up as they break down.  She also advised to pick flowers and fruit from young trees to give the plant a chance to focus on developing roots.  Makes sense!

Owner, Kim Vallen, giving a demonstration on how to plant a Mango Tree.

Largest and healthiest Plumeria I have ever seen in Arizona!

The resident rescued pot bellied pig and her piglets!

A Tropical Concept friendly employee (the handsome bearded human, not the Macaw)
helping out a customer at the tour in September.

The exotic birds that will be visiting during this Saturday's tour!

A Tropical Concept is giving another tour this Saturday, and raffling off 2 Starfruit plants!

A Tropical Concept Tour/Demo/Raffle/Birds - Saturday, October 28 at 11 AM - 1 PM - tour at 11:00am. Since winter is coming, we are going to demonstrate a couple of ways to protect your trees from the winter cold. Then a 7gal starfruit and 3g starfruit  will be raffled off.  So come and mingle and talk birds/plants, and have some cold beverages. Feel free to bring the family, your kids will love it.  Feel free to bring your parrots or birds to the event and show them off. Randal Allyn from Az Exotic Bird Rescue will be bringing some of their birds they have, its going to be great!  A Tropical Concept Plant Nursery, 4302 S Central Ave, Phoenix, Arizona 85040

Passion Fruit flowers!  Big and beautiful :-)

Happy geese and ducks at home in their pond.

For a couple of years now I've been working up the courage to try to grow tropicals.  I slowly built up my wish list after seeing what Jay Barringer grows in his food forest, and watching his videos.  Kim's no-nonsense approach to planting and caring for tropicals has encouraged me to take the plunge!  When I called A Tropical Concept with my wish-list I figured they would have maybe 2 or 3 out of the 4 plants on my list, since I was looking for very specific types of mango.  They had ALL of them!

My recent purchases from A Tropical Concept - 1 Miracle Mango, 1 Pineapple Pleasure Mango, 1 Pineapple Guava, and 1 Black Sapote!

My hard-working brother Patrick planting our new Miracle Mango
in our north facing atrium, surrounded by star jasmine and
arabian jasmine.

The Pineapple Pleasure Mango went into a pre-dug hole in
an area that gets morning sun and is protected from wind.

The Black Sapote will be planted under filtered light, surrounded by
other trees to protect it from afternoon sun.

My new Pineapple Guava will go into a pot for now,
until I figure out where it wants to live in my
increasingly crowded backyard jungle ;-)

I bought these 3 weeks ago and they are all doing very well!  Thank you Kim and Danny for all of your help!!!