The Victorians fell for them. Now we have, too.  Tropicals. Many bring not only exotic blooms but colorful, even flamboyant foliage to the summer garden.

Tropicals are lush and architectural. These plants aren’t shy, and unlike many that wilt in our heat, tropicals are at their best.  Hybridization has stirred new interest in more familiar types. Coleuses, for example,  display every leaf design imaginable, and there are cultivars for sun and shade.  Cannas, too, are more striking these days, and those with colorful, striped foliage add vertical interest at the back of the bed.  

Gingers, which vary from inches to several feet in height, are a must in the summer garden. The tall shell gingers and fragrant butterfly gingers are longtime favorites here, but more recently other genera of root-hardy gingers are available. The peacock types, with large, variegated leaves and daily flat, iridescent blooms,  are excellent low-growing groundcovers in summer shade. Add height with the  complementary Persian shield, a perennial tropical with purple, green and silver foliage. The hidden gingers carry the tropical look well with large, pleated leaves and are ideal companions with fragrant plumerias. Spiral gingers have foliage arranged along a stiff stalk that winds as it climbs to its mature height. Midsummer, the stalks sport a brightly colored cone.

Most tropicals are easy to grow. Check the moisture needs of those grown in containers daily during the summer as the soil dries quickly in the heat.  Frequent watering also leaches nutrients from the soil, so adjust fertilizing schedules accordingly. Tropicals benefit from applications of a balanced formula, such as an 8-8-8. You will find special formulas for long-flowering tropicals such as hibiscus (which prefers more potassium than phosphorus) and plumerias.

We stock a large variety of tropical plants year round, but have the largest selection during the warm, spring and summer months.

Add a root-hardy banana, blue butterfly bush (Clerodendrum ugandense), the flashy scarlet pagoda flower (Clerodendrum speciosissimum) the highly fragrant angel’s trumpet (Brugmansia), an exotic rangoon creeper along a sturdy trellis, and  pots of tropical hibiscus in a wild array of colors to flush out the tropical garden.