Tropical Gardens with Hardy Plants

[ Edited by: Swanky 2005-09-02 21:01 ]

On 2005-09-02 11:17, TIKIBOSKO wrote:

I’d like to quickly chime in on the growing coconuts in So Cal question. There is a mature (but not fruiting) palm on 101, all the palm guys I’ve spoken with attribute it’s survival on the “perfect microclimate”. The way it was described to me was; it is up against a wall were it gets radiant heat and its roots are going under a sidewalk/road (a lot more heat).

Excellent idea! Maybe I'll give that a try - the winters did in both my coconut palms.

I can relate to the roots growing under the sidewalk. My non--fruiting bananas have ruined my sidewalk by seeking heat (and when my HOA finally learns of it, I'm also going to be in hot water).

On 2005-09-02 11:17, TIKIBOSKO wrote:

I’d like to quickly chime in on the growing coconuts in So Cal question. There is a mature (but not fruiting) palm on 101, all the palm guys I’ve spoken with attribute it’s survival on the “perfect microclimate”. The way it was described to me was; it is up against a wall were it gets radiant heat and its roots are going under a sidewalk/road (a lot more heat).
The problem with growing coconut palms here is our long winters, it stays cold for almost half a year, which slowly kills the plant and they need continuous heat. Some plants are able shut down and start growing again next spring but not this one, I have seen many people try and the plant always dies. They are truly a tropical plant, if you really have to have a coconut looking plant there are several species of palm which are related to coconuts and can make it in our area.

My very best Alohas

Bosko

I'm sure that's probably why my palm has survived and my Mum's did not. My balcony is covered on the sides, and has a roof. It receives a lot of radiant heat from the glass window/door and I leave the blinds open all the time, so more heat gets out of the house to the balcony during the winter. The tree that was at my parent's house was definitely too exposed. I thought the extra sun would help it do better, but once it got chilly, that's what did it in.

Who needs coconutpalms anyway?

p.s. that's not bamboo.

Tiki Rotterdam wrote:
p.s. that's not bamboo.

It took me a second to figure that one out since I was concentrating on the tiki in the background. Anyone up for a Holland Home Tiki Bar Crawl featuring Tiki Rotterdam's place? HAHA!

are they Japanese Elm ???

Here are pictures taken at Pablus studio. These are some freakin big elephant ears!

I got my grow lights for the basement. Found the 2 4' lights and fixture on Ebay for what I would have paid for just the 2 bulbs. I am going to hang them and make a space for the tropicals to come into the basement for the winter this weekend. My indoor tropical gardens are in process!

Quoted "It would be cool to have a removable greenhouse made from corrugated clear plastic. You could assemble it in the winter and remove it for the summer. Kind of a lot of work, but the palm might do well and eventually bear fruit! "

Your sliding down a slippery slope with this one!!

Many otherwise apparently normal people go mad on palm trees. Attempting to grow coconmut palm tree in south cal is the first symptom. Licualas are the second symptom.

Try slicing a large diamter plastic sewer pipe lentgthwise hinging the two halves. Then glue in insulation and snap around the trunk to protect from the cold. Electric heating cord wrapped around the trunk and also buried in the ground will also help.

In the end the long winter will get it almost 100% of the time

Good luck.

PS Kentias are your closest look a like. Chilean wine palm, jubeaopsis caffra, and parajubea coccoides are the closests relatives to the coconut.

Here's a picture of our Musa Basjoo banana which we wintered over outside last year here in Missouri. It is now even bigger than this! Just mulch it well and uncover it when it is warming up in spring. It is about 15' tall now and has 11 distinct shoots. If you are serious about growing this you MUST amend your soil with peatmoss, perlite and sand and feed with a high nitrogen fertilizer throughout the growing season. Water them a LOT.

8FT, when did you get/plant it? Spring? Something to look forward to here in our 7 zone in TN.

Swanky, we got this and planted it in June 2004. It will do fine as long as you mulch it very well for winter. Wait until the frosts have killed the current years growth.
Next Spring you may think it hasn't survived the cold but just be patient because it will come back and get bigger each year. If you have the space in your yard you really should get some of these! Here's some more pictures as it got larger this summer.

End of summer is here and I will try to save as many plants as I can, but my banana can not come inside. He went from a baby 5" potted plant to being as tall as my roof line. Hopefully lots of mulch and many some burlap as it gets around freezing will help to same him. I also hope that I can take off some of the shoots around the bottom and grow indoors till next year. While on this subject how should I go about trying to save the taro plants? Take the shoots in or wait till plant dies back naturally and same the tuber? Elephant ear I believe I can wait and bring in the bulb, yes?
If you look back earlier in the thread you can see my garden early on, here is a quick couple of pictures of the jungle it became. The neighbors and I were really please with the results. We live in Zone 5. Note the edges of the plants starting to brown from the couple of cold nights we had last week.

I was able to bring the banana in already... it only grew 3 feet and is 5 foot tall now...

This thread needs revival. Spring 2008 and I am excited. Everything has been in the ground a year now in the new house, so, I am hoping for good progress. The first hostas are up and Lots of stuff is in the seed pots. I am driving over to the coast in May with a list and see what kind of hardy tropicals I can bring home and try to keep alive over here in zone 6b-7a. My 3 Trachycarpus Fortunei Palms are happy over winter. Gardenia is good. Bought a small Persian Shield and its waiting in the house until low temps are in the 60s.

I don't have the time, money and green thumb to care for my yard, or I would turn it into a tropical paradise. But it rained a lot in L.A. this year, and things are popping left and right without much doing on my part, so I photographed the ascent to my house this morning. These plants are not "hardy" or the kind of jungley tropicals asked for this thread, but they sure frame the entrance gate to Tiki Island nicely:

I sure wish I wasn't in zone 5. Such a challenge. Nothing happening in my yard right now. Lost of cold mud and leaves. Soon as I can though, I need to rake out the leaves. I leave mine on the garden over the winter to add some protection. Then I'll pull out my cultivator and start working my way into the garden.
My pond is looking sad too..the raccoons have tipped in all the flag stone around the edge and even some off the small falls. Need to add some new water lilies...hmmm....I guess I have alot to do before the plants start spouting.

Yes, Swanky and I are ready to get planting again! Looking forward to seeing the tropical stuff and lots of color - but, we have an area beside our garage that needs some sort of 'filler' plant. We want something evergreen preferably and something that will fit in with the tropical stuff too. Any suggestions? I like plants that are dense, full and colorful - Swanky is leaning towards Rhododendron or Azaleas, I don't like how they look in winter, too sparse... Maybe a flowering evergreen vine on a trellis? Who's got something pretty that's green all year?

Although not really all that tropical looking, how about Pyracantha? ( firethorn) it's evergreen, has small flowers , but beautiful orange berries. Thick and dense can be trained to grow on a trellis. The dark glossy leaves and the tons of cluster of orange berries are very pretty.Only draw back is they have thorns,but I never had to do much past planting them and letting them go. You can usually purchase them already on a trellis so it's easy to have a nice look almost imediately.

Pyracantha overgrown is EVIL SHITE...I had a house that had basically a PYRACANTHA FENCE and it was a bloody (sic) NIGHTMARE..so if you plant keep it under control...it was NEVER the way I wanted it for more than a WEEK

A green vine all year? I use nothing but Lavender Trumpet Vine (Clytostoma Callistegioides). It survived the hard frosts we had a few years ago. Once it fills in it's easy to train and not a lot of work. Another suggestion for planting tropicals if you're in a frosty winter area is to plant your big trees first, let the canopy fill out nicely, after a few years you'll have protection underneath against hot sun in summer and frost in winter. The Royal Tumpet and Scarlet Trumpet vines didn't survive. Sunset Western Garden Zones 8 and 9 here.

Who's got something pretty that's green all year?

We're in zone 6b/7 (North Jersey) and tea shrubs (Tea (Camellia sinensis) do really well for us. They're not colorful, but they are really pretty with shiny dark green evergreen leaves: the leaves don't roll in the winter like rhodies do. A tea shop owner I know in Vermont has them growing on the south side of his building and they do surprisingly well.

I have them mixed in with hardy hibiscus, giant hostas, hellebores, Christmas ferns and other tropical looking perennials (I even have managed to keep astilboides and darmera alive) The hellebore and ferns are also evergreen, so the border looks pretty nice in the winter even after the hostas disappear.

-gina

San Diego and Florida can get their Bird of Paradise, Hibiscus, etc to bloom year around but some of us aren't so lucky. I live in the hot dry desert of SoCal (Sunset Western Garden Zone unlucky 13) and plants struggle to survive, let alone bloom. So I get some help from Michael's Crafts in the form of silk flowers! Put the silk flowers in with the real foliage and people very seldom notice they are fake.

Fake Japanese Laterns in with Asparagas Fern and Carolina Jasmine.

Fake purple Orchids in the Cape Honeysuckle vine (the small purple Vinca flowers are real), fake Bird of Paradise flowers on a real Bird of Paradise plant in the background. Not pictured is fake Hibiscus and Gardenia on real Hibiscus and Gardenia plants, just used floral wire and lightly tied the flowers to the end of the real branches. Get rid of the fake leaves, they give everything away.

Anything worth doing, is worth doing to the point of wretched excess.

[ Edited by: MadDogMike 2008-05-07 19:02 ]

The garden is taking off now. Hot, sunny and watering like crazy. Got some new stuff at trips to the beach, etc.

Bananas are growing half a foot a day it seems.

And for the first time in 3+ years, since I bought it and put it in the ground, my hardy Gardenia bloomed! Winter after winter in temps in the teens, it never lost a leaf and stayed green.

I think the most fun tropical that's easy to care for and grow is the Plumeria. I started with one plant (that I bought in Knoxville, TN in 1988) and propagated many from it. All you have to do is cut off a limb and stick it in a pot or in the ground and they survive 99% of the time. If in the ground you can pull up your plant, shake the dirt off, rap the root system in newspaper and take inside for the winter if you live where freezing is possible. In the spring just replant and you're good to go. As they get larger it's difficult to manage taking in and out in pots without damaging the plant but they can stay in pots for several years before this becomes an issue. The blooms are wonderful for making leis and and they smell similar to gardenia blossoms but not quite as strong. If you pick a bloom don't put into water. They will last several days just by themselves. If you put into water they'll brown overnight.

The one you gave me Jim is now 3 feet tall. Dies back each winter, regardless of how nice I am to it. I bring it in and it loses its leaves by the next summer. But, it's back in the yard and has new leaves now. I've been fertilizing it with my Gardenias with Azalea food weekly. That might be a lot for some plants, but I water these tropicals pretty much daily. I think that is what woke my Gardenia up this year to bloom. 2 new blooms yesterday on it. Tha lania smells fantastic now!

Good to know that about the Plumeria blooms. I knew Hibiscus blooms were happy with out water. That's why they are a favorite for hair ornaments.

Now, just get my Plumeria to bloom this year...

On 2008-06-10 07:40, Swanky wrote:

Now, just get my Plumeria to bloom this year...

Make sure the soil is loose and well drained. You might get some Rose mix soil at the market to use. Right after or at the end of March put 1/8 to 1/4 cup sprinkled on soil of epsom salts ( helps prevent leaf stress ) and again in August. Keep plant in full sun if possible and fertilize with high middle number fertilizer like 12-55-6. Should get some blooms this year if you fertilize now and then again in 2 months. Glad to hear yours is doing well. Send me a pic if it blooms, Good Luck!

J'Jim

I am right with you. Epsomed everything early spring, but could use it again now that it's more awake.

I repotted it this spring in peat and sand mixed.

Do you suggest using epsom salts with the banana trees? I'm trying them for the first time this year.

The epsom is for the palms mostly, and for mineral liking flowering bushes. One tablespoon in a gallon of water.

Bananas want lots of nitrogen and water. Good draining soil. I mix 1/3 peat moss, 1/3 sand and 1/3 regular yard dirt to fill in when I plant the bananas and water daily. If you are feeding and watering right, you'll get a new leaf every 5-7 days. Lots of sun too of course.

Right now I have hardy Musa Basjoos, and not so hardy Abbyssinian and Blood bananas.

Tip from a Master Gardener friend of mine: We put everything not cold tolerant in pots in the ground and pull them in fall, force them into dormancy. I've had the same plants in every year, even after the spell of below freezing temps we had a couple of years ago (in San Diego!). And the "nanners" came back fine despite being frozen to the ground. Epsom really made a difference bringing them back.

My brother in Vermont does the pot in the ground thing and says he hasn't lost anything since he's tried it.

Zone 7b, but last few winters we've been 8b.

The Golden Lotus bananas are not near their usual 6-7 foot heith this year. Don't know why. I just fertilized the heck out of them again. We'll see.

For scale, that's one BIG cat...

New Abbyssinian Banana for this year is about to hit 6 feet tall. It'll have to be brought in. Elephant Ears stay in the ground.

This upright alocasia came back from last year with no real care. Not sure of the variety.

Blood Banan pups are gettign big and the croton is yellow and happy. Plumeria is shooting out leave like crazy now.

Hardy stuff mostly. Asparagus Fern in the center. The blue-green stuff is new this year. We'll see how it winters.

The Gardenia is finally blooming after having buds for 2 months. At the same time we have all these blooms, the buds are falling off like crazy. This is one tempestous plant!

This is the biggest elephant ear we've ever had. This ear is 40 inches now, and was 34 inches last weekend!

The Passion Vine has grown like crazy and has 2-8 blooms every day.

Going strong here in Zone 5 as August starts. A long, snowy winter which led to a long, cold spring. The real growing season started around Memorial Day.

The bananas are really growing this year, the 2nd I've had them since I brought them up from a friend's yard in Florida in 2006. I cut all but 1 leaf off of them and store them in the basement all winter. They have 1 southern exposure window for weak sunlight all winter and I try to keep the soil moist, but not soaked.

During the summer, I add nitrogen to the pots and water daily with 2 gallons of water.

Lots of pups to harvest at the end of the growing season, which will add to my collection next year!

Bought this Taro in Charleston this year after Hukilau. I divided it all up between this planter and the yard. It is doing well. At the end of the growing season I'll dig up the tubers and store over the winter. I'll replant most of it after the last frost next year, but will leave some in the ground to see if it will come back on it's own.

Not tropical, but a bush that does very well here in Zone 5. I think it is a member of the Hibiscus family. We get new flowers every day, lasting about 3 days.
We have two, and eventually they will grow from 6-8 feet tall.

[ Edited by: Lake Surfer 2008-08-03 09:42 ]

From my experience, and what I was told by the folks at the university ag campus in a sub-tropicals class, you can probably not water that banana when you bring it in and it will be fine, maybe better. These guys put plants under their house with no light or water over winter. Just keep the bananas from getting too cold or rotting. They put them back out in spring and they are fine. I did that a couple of years ago and my blood bananas came back very big.

It's time to stop fertilizing and prepare for the end of summer. This summer, everythign was full and lush. My Gardenia, in the back right theregot really huge and happy. It's hardy.

The Plumeria has bloom stalks! Looks like we will end the summer with these sweey blooms. Thanks Jungle Jim!

On 2008-08-01 17:49, Swanky wrote:

The Gardenia is finally blooming after having buds for 2 months. At the same time we have all these blooms, the buds are falling off like crazy. This is one tempestous plant!

This is the biggest elephant ear we've ever had. This ear is 40 inches now, and was 34 inches last weekend!

The Passion Vine has grown like crazy and has 2-8 blooms every day.

Those passion flowers are awesome. They attract hummingbirds and especially monarch butterfies, but they really climb and take over everything. That's a lot of work to control them.

I'm coastal CA (zone 9) - We got a pleasant surprise today. Our Heliconia send up a bloom.

Beautiful!

We're under our first frost advisory tonight. Zone 5.

Early, but not unheard of.

I pulled the potted bananas in the garage... have to see if the Taro and other tropicals in the yard get nipped or not.

Nights are just about too cold anyhow for most of them at 40 degrees on average. The bananas are showing brown spots on the leaves.

Nearly time to pull them into the basement for wintering. But we still have some days forecast in the 60's and 70's next week.

The rest of the tropicals will be harvested after the first hard freeze and the bulbs and tubers wintered until next Spring.

Tallahassee is weird for Florida. Hotter in the summer and much colder in the winter than everyone on the peninsula. Banana trees grow like wildfire around here. No maintenance needed, after the winter die off, they just sprout back up to their previous size in the spring.

Elephant ears are the same way. During the winters, you have a bare spot in the planter, but by late fall, they get huge. I don't take care of mine in the least because of where it is (next to where I empty my truck of unneeded stuff) and the bastard has 3ft leaves on it.

Growing up in Orlando, my dad had a pair of hibiscus trees that stood 15ft tall (no exaggeration). But, here, they don't grow very well, which sucks because they are some of the most beautiful looking flowers.

Summer is here. My plants are loving it. On a new kick and only planting edible tropicals now ( and veggies too). Planted 2 Brazilian Papayas and the are loving it and are blooming fruits ( long and skinny with no seeds). Just now (for fathers day) planted 3 Hawaiian Papayas( super sweet with seeds and the size of grapefruit). Next week I'm planting 2 Mexican Papaya( very large fruit. like a melon). Very fast growing too.

Will be thinning out soon so if any Local to HB tiki freaks need any fern and elephant ear ( basically weeds) lemme know.

Or, if any out of towners want to send a prepaid box, I'll toss in some roots.

Mega Banana Bread!

Twins...

3 new Hawaiian Paps..

Blooming Brazilian Paps...

Bamboo Ben
Custom Tropical Decor
I build stuff for you!
http://www.myspace.com/bambooben

[ Edited by: Al Gore 2009-06-20 20:29 ]

[ Edited by: RevBambooBen 2009-06-20 20:43 ]

p.s.

Rememeber to Pee on your Plumeria!!

They love it!

( keeps animals away too :wink:

RevBambooBen wrote:
p.s.

Rememeber to Pee on your Plumeria!!

They love it!

( keeps animals away too :wink:

Seriously Ben?

Looks like the ol' Plumerias are getting watered tonight while drinking some beers....

The passion vine has been cranking for us this year. Still got some good blooms. It seems to love this humidity.

On 2008-06-14 19:56, ahvyna wrote:
Tip from a Master Gardener friend of mine: We put everything not cold tolerant in pots in the ground and pull them in fall, force them into dormancy. I've had the same plants in every year, even after the spell of below freezing temps we had a couple of years ago (in San Diego!). And the "nanners" came back fine despite being frozen to the ground. Epsom really made a difference bringing them back.

My brother in Vermont does the pot in the ground thing and says he hasn't lost anything since he's tried it.

The plant showing in this photo is called a Red Banana, however it is not a banana, it is related.
Ensete ventricosum is a large, fleshy-stemmed plant with a head of banana-like leaves. The plant grows between 6 and 12 m high. It is a monocotyledon and does not have a true, branched trunk, but an unbranched pseudostem formed by the imbricated (overlapping) bases of petioles (leaf stalks), left behind when old leaves die. The pseudostem broadens towards the base and this gives rise to the species name ventricosum, which means 'with a swelling'. The plant seldom forms suckers from the base. The simple, large leaves with a thick, rose-pink midrib and numerous pinnately parallel nerves extending to the margin, are spirally arranged.

This plant only flowers and bears fruit once and then it dies. The flowers form large, showy bunches or spikes 2 to 3 m in length. The male flowers usually occur at the top and the female or bisexual flowers lower down. The cream-coloured flowers have only one petal, but are surrounded by large, showy, maroon bracts. Flowering usually takes place in early summer (October and November). Insipid, banana-like fruits form after flowering. They have a yellow skin with black spots and contain a row of pea-sized, hard, black seeds. Under normal conditions plants flower when they are about eight years old.

Second season of banana plants that started with four plants last summer. They've done well in Kentucky red clay soil, but soon a lot of digging will be at hand. If only I had a gigantic inflatable greenhouse . . .

On 2009-09-28 14:19, Tiki Zen wrote:
Second season of banana plants that started with four plants last summer. They've done well in Kentucky red clay soil, but soon a lot of digging will be at hand. If only I had a gigantic inflatable greenhouse . . .

What zone are you in? Maybe these are hardy. My Musas die to the ground here in zone 6 and come back. Even last year when it hit 5-7 degrees and 20 mph winds.

[ Edited by: swanky 2009-09-29 13:22 ]

On 2009-09-28 14:19, Tiki Zen wrote:
If only I had a gigantic inflatable greenhouse . . .

How long do your frosts last?

Have you tried the "Cut them to 12" above ground, wrap with outdoor xmas lights (that are on a timer), cover in clear plastic" method?