Stocko Tropo

Stocko Tropo I’m here to document my successes (and failures) trying to grow tropical plants in Newcastle, Aust

Thinning out the Heliconia Richmond Reds at the request of the boss .lecker To be fair, they were hanging over the pathw...
17/03/2026

Thinning out the Heliconia Richmond Reds at the request of the boss .lecker To be fair, they were hanging over the pathway. It hurts to chop out some happy healthy plants, but I can rest assured that they are going to a good home.

Aquatic experiment time.To me, one of the most spectacular tropical plants is the Lipstick Palm (Cyrtostachys renda). Bu...
01/12/2025

Aquatic experiment time.

To me, one of the most spectacular tropical plants is the Lipstick Palm (Cyrtostachys renda). But, being ultra tropical, it will never grow in my garden, but that won’t stop me from trying to grow one in other ways.

In what is purely an experiment, I’ve set up a heated fish pond and sat my palm directly into the warm water. Lipstick palms are often found growing in very swampy conditions in their native habitat, so I feel confident that it will be happy growing in the pond. I think I’ll probably still have to bring it inside during the winter, but I’ll just keep an eye on how the palm is looking before making that decision.

An added bonus is that the kids get a bunch of new pet fish which will live in the pond, and hopefully fertilise the palm.

The East Australian Current. This stream of warm water flowing down from the tropics is what helps to keep my coastal cl...
09/07/2025

The East Australian Current. This stream of warm water flowing down from the tropics is what helps to keep my coastal climate relatively warm and stable, as well as increasing the humidity.

At more than 22°C, it is much warmer than the average winter air temperature. I don’t think that the water temperatures have a huge impact on the daily maximums, but it certainly keeps the minimums in the double digits in my back yard.

My coconut palms seem to appreciate the warmer minimums. They are currently showing almost no sign of cold damage.

I bought this at a nursery labeled as palm vine. It’s obviously not a palm, but a variety of Rhaphidophora, most likely ...
08/07/2025

I bought this at a nursery labeled as palm vine. It’s obviously not a palm, but a variety of Rhaphidophora, most likely Rhaphidophora neglecta, native to NSW and only known from cultivation in the Sydney Royal Botanic Gardens. It’s a really cool looking plant which, according to the guy at the nursery from where I bought it, strikes easily from cuttings.

At the moment I’m trying to train it up the trunk of my avocado tree. It’s growing really rapidly, but isn’t clinging to the trunk like I’d hoped. I’ll probably make some cuttings and try it in a few different locations.

17°C at 8am - what winter?
23/06/2025

17°C at 8am - what winter?

This bunch of Blue Java bananas became a casualty of the East Coast Low currently affecting my area. I had it planted up...
20/05/2025

This bunch of Blue Java bananas became a casualty of the East Coast Low currently affecting my area. I had it planted up against a high fence to try and protect it from the strong southerly winds which we often get at this time of year. The problem is that the Blue Javas tend to grow taller than the 3m of protection from the fence.

This is the second bunch I’ve lost due to snapping of the psudo-stem. I might have to stake the next bunch up to offer a bit more support. It’s disappointing, but they grow fast so I can hope to have another bunch by the summer this year. Apparently Blue Java bananas taste like ice cream, although I’m yet to find out.

I was given a ziplock bag full of shot Atherton Palm (Laccospadix australasica) seed. I’d never come across this palm be...
16/05/2025

I was given a ziplock bag full of shot Atherton Palm (Laccospadix australasica) seed. I’d never come across this palm before, but I was stoked to receive the seed. I put a bunch in tube-stock type pots, but ended up putting most of the seed into a styrofoam crate - cue a small box of palm seedlings disguised as a lawn.

Atherton Palm is native to the Northern Queensland rainforest, but is apparently very cold tolerant.

From what I know of its growth habit, it is pretty similar in form to a Kentia Palm, but is smaller and often clumping. Something that sets it aside from other similar palms is a tendency to shoot a striking red coloured new frond.

I don’t know why it’s not a more common garden palm in Australia, because it seems like it has the looks and easy growth that should make it popular.

I don’t know what I’m going to do with 100+ Atherton Palm seedlings, but I’m sure I won’t have much trouble offloading them.

📸 of the grown palm is by Darryl O’Connor from the Palmpedia website.

I have pretty limited space in my garden, so when I put in a new plant I like to find something that is productive as we...
15/05/2025

I have pretty limited space in my garden, so when I put in a new plant I like to find something that is productive as well as interesting to look at. I have a spot in an area of in my garden that always seems to be waterlogged. I had a grevillea growing there, but it didn’t seem to like having wet feet.

When the grevillea was beyond saving, I decided to pull it out and put in some sugarcane. The sugarcane doesn’t seem to be worried about the wet soil, and has a similar growth habit to the pandanus next to it. I like the similarities between the strappy leaves, but the contrast with the colouring. I feel like it also makes a good, easy to control substitute to bamboo.

When it inevitability starts to fill out the space I will harvest the cane and try and figure out a way to extract the juice. I know that the cane also makes for good mulch.

It’s an easy plant to propagate via rhizome separation.

Living close to the coast has its advantages and disadvantages when it comes to gardening. Being surrounded by a body of...
13/05/2025

Living close to the coast has its advantages and disadvantages when it comes to gardening.

Being surrounded by a body of water helps to regulate the temperature through the seasons, increase humidity and eliminate the risk of frost. Because the ocean temperature stays relatively stable and doesn’t really drop below 18°C in the winter the temperature in my yard rarely drops below 7°C, and in the summer when the water can reach 25°C the humidity is usually pretty high, thus reducing the stress on the garden. It’s not uncommon in January and February for the dew-point to hit 25°C - which is pretty tropical.

The main downside is the salt laden sea breeze blowing down my street in the summer. Some plants, like my coconuts and pandanus, thrive on it, but most things in the south eastern corner of my front yard get knocked around by it. My Poinciana and Loquat trees both get stunted in the summer on the side that faces the salt spray, and I’ve noticed the apple and pear trees in my courtyard only grow as high as the fence line before that die back.

The trick is to find a microclimate in the yard that works for what I’m looking to plant. For the most part, I’d consider my climate very much sub-tropical.

I was looking for some tropical shrubs for my garden and two of top results from google were Ixora and Brazilian Red Clo...
10/05/2025

I was looking for some tropical shrubs for my garden and two of top results from google were Ixora and Brazilian Red Cloak (Megaskepasma erythrochlamys). I already have a few Ixora so I went searching for the Brazilian Red Cloak. I managed to buy a small plant from a nursery online. It lived in a pot on my back deck for a year or two until I found a suitable spot in the garden. It looked nice in the pot, but didn’t thrive and never flowered. About a year ago I put it in the ground and it took off. It quickly grew to about 2m tall and flowered prolifically. I’m now slightly concerned it might take over the garden bed, although I’ve seen them pruned into a small tree shape, which might be an option. As you can see from the photo, it’s already started to grow over my Heliconia Garden of Eden.

I think it would be easy to grow more plants from cuttings. It has fibrous stems, sort of like a geranium, and would probably root easily. This is something I’ll try next spring.

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Stockton, QLD
2295

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