Backyard Jungles

I'd of done the same thing, Mike! LOL

Man, if I had any one of those backyards, I'd be throwing a huge TC party for sure!

No kidding...I especially like that first one. At this point, I would be happy to have a swim spa and a palm tree in my backyard...LOL

My courtyard with hottub, my middle daughter, Katya, and 2 of my latest carvings

Bump

Anyone have plant suggestions for zone 9b to 10?
Tore everything out from the backyard to start from scratch around my pool...

Clams,
Get yourself a copy of Sunset’s garden book for your region-for example here in Calif. I use the western garden version.
Check out your local nurseries. Most independent nurseries sell what grows well in your area. The “big box" stores will sell you whatever puts moolah in their pocket.
Good luck and post progress pix
Cheers

On 2014-09-15 11:55, TheClamsCasino wrote:
Anyone have plant suggestions for zone 9b to 10?
Tore everything out from the backyard to start from scratch around my pool...

Being in KY, he specializes in hardier stuff, but does do more exotic plants that may be even happier further south.

Brian's Botanicals

Hmphhh...we are restricted on our water usage in the drought ridden California. No tropical yard for me...would so love to have your foliage. Looks so great with the Tikis peaking through!!!

Paradis du Zombi...

-Z

Love this thread, especially all the photos...

Our favorite plants for northern tropic gardening: yucca, elephant ears, potted taro, bamboo, horsetail, coral bells, hens and chicks, decorative grasses, cana bulbs, irises. And plenty of plastic palms!

My front-yard jungle, well not really a jungle but a lot of flowers have popped up since we had such a nice rainy season.

In the back yard my mint is doing real well

Lots of flowers on my grapefruit tree this year, I still have one grapefruit left on the tree

Hilda,
Your yard is a-bloom.
Nice.

Gorgeous yards and love all the pools. The only tropical thing I have in my yard is Sago Palms, they love their space. My backyard belongs to the dogs so no way of having anything there. They continue to tear up the sprinkler system so it is a lost cause.

Keep on growing all you happy gardeners, it is fun to live through your pictures.

On 2017-04-09 20:49, VampiressRN wrote:
The only tropical thing I have in my yard is Sago Palms, they love their space. My backyard belongs to the dogs so no way of having anything there.

Vampiress, I hate to be the bringer of bad news, but Sago Palms are highly toxic, particularly to dogs. If you have a male plant, that's not as serious a concern (unless the dogs like chewing on the fronds, which I wouldn't expect), but the female plants produce lots and lots of walnut-sized seeds that dogs (sometimes) love to chew on. The previous owners of our house planted quite a few, which is fine, but one was in the backyard with our dogs. I just dug it up last week and have put it on CL.

One of my hibiscus went crazy this year as well as my Monstera Deliciosa (rht,) and a Platycerium Veitchii- one of 18 varieties of Staghorn ferns.

In my never-ending quest to find tropical-looking plants that are suitable for my Central Texas climate (ie tolerant of 100F-plus summer temperatures, 20F winter lows and perpetual drought interrupted by occasional flooding) I came across this PDF book by the good folks in Texas A&M's horticultural department. Granted, it paints in very broad strokes, and I have specific problems with their passiflora section, but it's a good reference for folks throughout the south striving for a more tropical look to their yards.

Alas, for my use it is limited. It seems focused more on East Texas, which is a lot wetter than my area.

http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/galveston/publications/Creating-the-Tropical-Look.pdf

I wanted a jungle look in an area of my yard adjacent to my tiki bar and lounge/dining space.

monstera deliciosa.

Got the foot tall concrete tiki from Jason (Smoking Tiki) at the Original Tiki Marketplace in GardenGrove Calif. The hanging aerial roots are from the Monstera growing above it.

Part of my Staghorn Fern collection, Fiddleleaf Ficus center, and Australian Sword Fern on the lower left

Started most of the plants 2-3 years ago.

Cheers

On 2017-06-15 14:04, Prikli Pear wrote:
In my never-ending quest to find tropical-looking plants that are suitable for my Central Texas climate (ie tolerant of 100F-plus summer temperatures, 20F winter lows and perpetual drought interrupted by occasional flooding)...

I have a similar problem in the desert of Southeast CA. (your lows are worse than mine, I'm not sure how these handle frost) I put plants in the patio shade and use a drip water system on a timer (so I don't forget to water :lol: ) Here's some of the plants I have found that will grow;
Cape Honeysuckle climbing vine with orange flowers
Gardenia lives 9 months of the year. It dies every summer and I replant it every Fall
Canna Lily (not the "funeral flower" Calla Lily, although it grows well too) Broad tropical foliage in greens, stripes, bronze, or even dark purple. Bright bold flowers
Cardboard Palm (Zamia)
Bird of Paradise grows foliage well but never blooms, I add silk flowers :D
I finally found a sweet spot for my hibiscus where it gets morning sun but not afternoon sun
Ponytail Palm
Sago Palm
Pineapple plant
Foxtail fern
Rubber Tree
Taro/Elephant Ear
Arrowhead plant (Syngonium podophyllum)
Large-leaf Philadendron
Mint is impossible to kill (it's invasive, put it in a pot) It looks good AND you can put it in your cocktails
Some recent additions are Plumaria and Caladium, we'll see how they do. It's been a trial and error - I plant 10 plants and 5 of them die. So I plant 5 different plants and 2 die. Eventually you find what grows :wink:
Here are some pics, some of these plants in the pics have since died and been replaced with something else

Howdy Mike! Thanks for the comments. My climate issues go beyond simple winter lows--we dropped down to 22F for a day or so last December, which damaged my bananas and satsumas, but we dropped below freezing only twice more the rest of the winter (30F or thereabouts) and didn't receive enough chill hours for my apple, pear and plum trees to fruit. And only one of my low chill peaches fruited. So our winters are mild, but we have more brief freezes. The opposite end of the spectrum is more problematic. Summers get hot and are often dry. August can be depended on to exceed 100F most or all of the time. Which you're no stranger to. The problem is that we have high humidity (not Florida humidity, but still) above 80 percent even during droughts. Our nights don't cool off like in the desert or California coast. Whereas others in hot climes are enjoying respites from the heat with 50F nights, our "lows" only drop to the mid-80s. That's really rough on many plant species. So, let's discuss each plant you suggest, because this is a good list that can benefit others with the same questions:

Cape Honeysuckle climbing vine with orange flowers-- Good choice. The Texas native is coral honeysuckle. Beautiful coral-colored flowers and drought tolerant. Japanese honeysuckle is common here but invasive, and the flowers aren't as showy.
Gardenia-- Hadn't considered gardenias. Not sure they'd like my moderately alkaline clay soil. Will investigate further.
Canna Lily-- Cannas are great. They add a quick tropical flair to any garden. I already have some, but hope to add some "Pretoria" types, as the foliage is even more striking.
Cardboard Palm (Zamia)/Sago Palm-- Drought tolerant. Sago, at least, grows very well here. I have four in my front yard. A note of caution: Every part of this plant is toxic, particularly the walnut-sized seeds, which dogs love to chew on. I just removed one from my backyard last spring because of this.
Bird of Paradise-- I have one in-ground. The roots may or may not survive our occasional freezes, but I intend to wrap it with C9 Christmas lights and a frost cloth for protection. That's worked for my bananas, so we'll see. There's also Pride of Barbados, which is a gorgeous, durable flower often mistakenly called "Mexican Bird of Paradise." Drought-tolerant and regrows from the roots after a freeze.
{i]Hibiscus--[/i] Many folks don't realize there are native and cold-tolerant hibiscus available. I have two Rose-of-Sharons, which can grow to 10' tall, but other hardy types are smaller and more shrubby. The amazing Lord Baltimore type is high on my wish list. And as an added bonus, these are all edible and can be used for hibiscus tea.
Ponytail Palm-- Wouldn't survive in the ground here because of the cold. Strictly a potted plant. But a good accent plant and pest-free.
Pineapple plant-- I've started several pineapple plants in the past year, all of which have fallen victim to our beagles.
Foxtail fern-- Great accent plant. Regrows from the roots after a freeze. We've got similar asparagus fern growing here.
Rubber Tree-- Gorgeous plant, but toxic to dogs and cold-sensitive. No go for me.
Taro/Elephant Ear-- Water hog. It'd need heavy watering during our summers, and we're in perpetual conservation mode. Also, these have become terribly, terribly invasive in our waterways.
Arrowhead plant (Syngonium podophyllum)-- Attractive, tropical vine. Can become invasive. Best for pots.
Large-leaf Philadendron-- Can survive in-ground here with some protection. They're common in San Antonio, particularly on the River Walk. Unfortunately, they're quite toxic to humans and pets, so I'm avoiding.
Mint-- Mint is easy to grow and can be invasive, but from my experience, it's no match for Texas in August. We had quite a variety at our old house, but didn't give it supplemental water one summer and it all withered. I want to add some here, but haven't figured out the best location.
Plumaria-- I have a plumeria in-ground, where it seems to be happy. Will try to overwinter it with frost cloth and C9 lights. If that doesn't work, there are dwarf types suitable for pots.
Caladium-- Very attractive and common throughout the South. Easier to care for than the bigger Elephant Ears (they don't need as much water, at any rate). Not sure about invasiveness issues. I've become intrigued by the related Alocasia (African Mask) recently. It's more cold-sensitive, so would be strictly a pot plant.

Great information Pear. We have the same issue with heat - From May to September it's over 100 degrees every day from 9am to midnight, lows in the 80. But we don't have the humidity. Absolutely nothing other than cactus will grow here without supplemental water so the drip water comes on for 10 minutes every morning. Because they are on a concrete patio, I have everything in pots. Eliminates the invasive and alkaline soil problems. Yes, animal toxicity can be an issue with most of the plants I have. Fortunately we have adult dog who doesn't chew. Castor plant is another tropical looking "weed" that grows really well but is highly toxic. That Alocasia looks really interesting, I'm going to check into it.
Edit - love the Pride of Barbados too. One of the few things that will bloom profusely in the summer here

ATTENTION MEMBERS! If you take the TC War Canoe on a head hunting party, be sure to remove the decapitated bodies before returning it. See club bylaws for more details

[ Edited by: MadDogMike 2017-09-28 11:44 ]

Passion flowers are another potential choice. Caerulea (blue and white varieties), vitifolia (red), Inspiration (purple hybrid type) are all pretty hardy once established. Vitifolia won't come back from freezes, but the other two will regrow from the roots. Edulis, the tropical commercial species, is a good choice for sheltered or frost-free areas. Incarnata is the native "maypop" and has a tasty fruit, but can go nuts under favorable conditions and might be too much for some to handle.

I loves me some passiflora.

My daughter has a passiflora, seems to be doing well. Beautiful flowers and tasty fruit, good for making Hurricanes :D

On 2017-09-28 12:27, MadDogMike wrote:
My daughter has a passiflora, seems to be doing well. Beautiful flowers and tasty fruit, good for making Hurricanes :D

Yes! I prefer passion fruit juice to passion fruit syrup for hurricanes--stronger flavor and less sugar. Plants that can serve double duty are a-ok in my book.

loving it all

One of these days I need to take a bunch of photos of the in-progress landscaping around my tiki build. But I'll share this now because I have it handy--I love passiflora, as I've stated earlier. Years ago, I traded for some exotic seeds. This plant grew from one of those. Through moves and neglect and other events, I lost it's ID and almost killed it more than once. It never flowered, but always came back from my abuse. The other day I was startled to find a half-dozen unexpected blooms by it. Turns out it's p. serratifolia. Not as free-flowering as more common types, but quite pretty, no?

Beautiful!

Fantastic flower! What zone are you in?

Here in 6A our canna are still flowering. They're our version of the bird-of-paradise!

We had mock orange in bloom up until mid-September. Didn't get as much work in the backyard jungle as we hoped this year, but we still have a bamboo grove to plant before the first frost hits!

Mike and Marie, I'm in 8B (possibly 9A, depending on which climate change map you look at) just slightly north of San Antonio. That serratifolia has to stay in a pot--it can't take even our mild winters. On the other hand, I've got in-ground passiflora incarnata (maypop), foetida var. gossipiifolia, caerulea (both blue and the white Constance Eliott types), Amethyst and Inspiration. I've also got vitifolia in a pot. I used to have a much larger passiflora collection, but I lost a bunch before our move three years back and haven't done much to rebuild. But I have plans. Eventually.

Cana are great! Very tropical regardless of zone. I have some in pots I bought as bulbs back in the spring, but never got around to planting. Some are developing seed heads. I'm hoping to get some "Pretoria" types for next spring. The varigrated leaves look fantastic. I also have an actual bird of paradise in the ground, as well as a plumeria. I'm going to wrap them with Christmas lights and cover with frost cloth this winter. We'll see if they make it.

And then I have this flower. The lights-and-frost cloth trick helped it through last winter. No idea what cultivar it is, since the place I got it from is notorious for mislabeling their plants. But it's still impressive.

Hey Tex, That’s a nice pic. Do they ripen and become edible?
Mahalo

Zowie! That's awesome. Would love to see your garden some time.

In theory. I'm not sure if this particular type is edible. This one's parent plant bloomed last winter and while I covered and heated it, the bananas all got cigar end rot and went bad before they were mature. A different banana nearby fruited this summer, but since I'm new to the whole banana thing, I didn't realize they won't normally ripen on the plant. You have to cut them down before they'll get yellow and sweet. So I left them on too long and they started splitting. The ones I rescued were edible but not great. Hard to tell if that's because of the plant or because they were over-mature.

Some people are really into bananas. Check out Bananas.org. I've since gotten blue Java (Ice cream), Rajapuri and two others I can't recall the names of at the moment (from a reputable dealer this time). I'd intended to plant them on the protected south side of our house in a dedicated tropical bed, but never quite got around to it. They're overgrown in their pots, so I need to repot them before sheltering them for winter. Hopefully, I'll get them in-ground come spring.

Regardless of fruit production, they really add to the tropical look. The Japanese Basjoo (fiber banana) produces inedible fruit, but is super cold tolerant and is an in-ground option for folks at least through Zone 7.

WOW!!! I need to try a banana someday for Zone 10a

On 2017-10-10 08:00, MadDogMike wrote:
WOW!!! I need to try a banana someday for Zone 10a

10a? Mike, you can pretty much take your pick of any banana out there. As long as you keep them well-watered and fed, they should go nuts for you. Heck, you have the luxury of concerning yourself with size and ornamental value, whereas folks like me have to consider cold tolerance first and foremost. :)

On 2017-10-10 08:09, Prikli Pear wrote:
10a? Mike, you can pretty much take your pick of any banana out there...

Cool!!! I'll need one that grows to a maximum of 10 feet. Here on the Anvil of the Sun, anything with big green leaves has to grow in the shade and that's my patio ceiling height. Time for me to do some research!

Mike, you might consider a dwarf banana or a red banana.
The dwarfs will only grow to 4-5 ft tall in a pot. My Red (4 years old) is in the ground and is about 12 ft. tall. In a container it will only grow to 8-9 ft., under a patio. Both are ornamentals so you still gotta go to the mrkt. for your banana fix. Also there are many varieties of bamboo that are under 10 ft. Stay away from dwarfs as they are really tiny and also stay away from the timber bamboo varieties. In the pic the red is in the foreground .
It’ll be going in the ground soon.

Cheers

From what little I understand, "dwarf" as applied to bananas is a relative term. Dwarf bananas aren't a category unto themselves, but rather smaller versions of existing cultivars that arose through spontaneous mutation (aka "sports"). A dwarf could be anywhere from 3' tall to 12' tall, depending on the specific cultivar--ie they're significantly smaller than the parent plant. Fortunately, the names varieties are consistent within themselves. Dwarf Orinoco, for example, will always grow to roughly 6' tall. Dwarf Brazilian, 8'-10'. At least that's what I've gathered from the Bananas.org link above and various message boards I've lurked upon.

I got my most recent banana plants from Green Earth Co. and have heard nothing but good things about them. Going Bananas also has a good reputation and stocks many rare banana cultivars. The cheapest online source is Florida Hill Nursery, but the plants they shipped me weren't what I ordered, and they're notorious for terrible customer service. Wish I'd known that before, but live and learn. Always Google-stalk companies for reputation before ordering (and not just Yelp, because that can be gamed pretty easily).

Thanks for the info guys. BTW, looks like Going Bananas is closed to clean up from the hurricane :(

Prikli Pear, that's some banana!

There is a guy down the street who grows and sells banana plants. In the spring he fills his front yard with them, it's an impressive tropical display all summer, and then around now he yanks em all up and wraps them and keeps them in the basement. Too much up and down and schlepping for us. I'm bringing one big pot of elephant ears in the house and the rest of the bulbs will winter in the garage with the cana.

We switched from burlap to Wilt-Pruf a number of years ago. It's pretty fantastic stuff. Great for frostproofing, winter protection, even extends the life of Christmas trees.

Our basement has several sproutings of Bird of Paradise -- all plastic!

On 2017-10-02 18:57, Prikli Pear wrote:
One of these days I need to take a bunch of photos of the in-progress landscaping around my tiki build. But I'll share this now because I have it handy--I love passiflora, as I've stated earlier. Years ago, I traded for some exotic seeds. This plant grew from one of those. Through moves and neglect and other events, I lost it's ID and almost killed it more than once. It never flowered, but always came back from my abuse. The other day I was startled to find a half-dozen unexpected blooms by it. Turns out it's p. serratifolia. Not as free-flowering as more common types, but quite pretty, no?

We get something similar growing wild all around our house. The locals call it wild apricot or passionflower.

[ Edited by: tikitube 2017-10-17 08:20 ]

There are many varieties of pitcher plants (nepenthes) from Madagascar to New Guinea.I bought this one from the “Sick Bay” shelves at my local Lowe’s Hardware.I won’t know what I have til I get new Pitchers. I cut off the worst of the plant, watered it and it looked much better this morning. We’ll see what it looks like in the spring. interesting “conversation plant for a bright spot in your patio (no direct sun) No,don’t try the liquid that’s in the picther in a cocktail.
Cheers

Before cleanup

After

Doesn't really fit in this thread but I thought it was interesting and worth sharing. There is a two headed fan in my town, not sure how that happened but the second head must have started at a sucker? Pictured beside one of it's normal brothers

On 2017-10-16 22:37, tikitube wrote:

We get something similar growing wild all around our house. The locals call it wild apricot or passionflower.

[ Edited by: tikitube 2017-10-17 08:20 ]

Sorry I didn't see your response earlier! That's passiflora incarnata, aka maypop, a native passion flower with edible fruit (not quite a flavorful as the commercially-grown fruit from the tropics, but still quite nice). Their native range is from Central Texas up through the Ohio River Valley across to the East Coast. I have them growing happily (and spreading) in my yard, despite the fact that I'm technically west of its native range. Excellent tropicalesque plant to have.

On 2018-04-04 09:36, MadDogMike wrote:
Doesn't really fit in this thread but I thought it was interesting and worth sharing. There is a two headed fan in my town, not sure how that happened but the second head must have started at a sucker? Pictured beside one of it's normal brothers

Wow, Mike, I've never seen a palm split like that. As I understand it, they grow from a single core (heart of palm) and I don't believe there's any natural mechanism for them to branch like that. I'm no arborist, but I'd guess that either 1) the heart was damaged somehow, divided at the growth tip, and once it recovered began putting out two new growth tips, or 2) a seed got wedged against the trunk and germinated, eventually fusing with the parent tree in a kind of natural grafting. Regardless, that's a one-of-a-kind!

Reminds us of those 50s films about radiation testing leading to two-headed monsters and giant beasts!

This one is around the corner from my parent's house. This one is obviously a sucker although suckers are usually at the bottom. I wonder if it would grow to look like the other one if the conditions were right?

Here is the start of my backyard tiki jungle...the Honu Lagoon.

If you live or visit Las Vegas drop me a line and come over for a cocktail.

A nice flower from my new hibiscus.

TU

mix it with rum

[ Edited by: TU 2018-04-15 12:24 ]

I live in the desert and am always jealous of more temperate areas, especial near the SoCal coast. I saw this in Ontario (not exactly coastal). Looks to be a Ponytail Palm (Beaucarnea recurvata), it's MASSIVE! In an older neighborhood, it may be 50+ years old.