When it comes to growing tropical plants, including plumerias, some gardeners will tell you that these plants cannot be grown in temperate climates. Recently, I have been asked how tropical plants and plumerias can be grown in less than ideal conditions, that is, outside of their native subtropical and tropical climates.

Tropical plant lovers can let their imaginations run wild and create their own tropical gardens with all the new plants and information available these days. They no longer have to listen to all the naysayers telling them it can’t be done. Gardeners can create a tropical garden with banana plants, heliconias, plumerias and other beautiful exotic tropical plants. Many of these tropical plants have been developed and hybridized for this very reason.

In temperate climates, gardeners have to grow their tropical plants in pots and supplement what is needed to recreate their native conditions. The gardener of tropical plants in temperate climate zones has to adjust the plants and growing conditions to fit the parameters of his local garden.

For example, if a gardener wishes to include banana plants in the garden design, instead of growing banana plants that grow twelve feet or taller, such as Musa ‘Ice Cream’ and Musa ‘Monthan’, grow dwarf banana plants with fruit. is the available and correct solution. choice.

Excellent dwarf fruiting banana plants include Musa acuminata ‘Dwarf Cavendish’, Musa acuminata ‘Dwarf Lady Finger’ and Musa acuminata ‘Super Dwarf Cavendish’. These dwarf banana plants do not take up much space and can produce fruit when provided with the right growing conditions.

Another excellent alternative option to grow in temperate climates are ornamental banana plants, called Musa buy kashmir saffron online ornata. They produce colorful inflorescences, flower stalks, that bear inedible banana fruits. The colors of the inflorescences include red, white, purple and pink. An excellent edible option is Musa velutina, also called pink-flowered plantain. The fruit is actually edible if one doesn’t care about the seeds. Bananas peel themselves when they are ripe. Musa velutina begins to flower and fruit once it reaches three feet in height.

When traveling to tropical destinations, vacationers come across heliconias growing in the wild. Many heliconias grow so tall that they would not be considered suitable for container growing.

But there are also many smaller heliconias available that can be successfully grown in pots outdoors during the summer months and indoors during the cooler months of the year. One group is Heliconia psittacorum happily growing in a pot. Cultivars include Heliconia psittacorum ‘Lady Di’, Heliconia psittacorum ‘Strawberries and Cream’ and Heliconia psittacorum ‘Andromeda’. Several Heliconia stricta plants can also be successfully grown in containers, including Heliconia stricta ‘Firebird’, Heliconia stricta ‘Sharonii’ and Heliconia stricta ‘Bucky’.

If one’s growing space is restricted or limited in size, Heliconia stricta ‘Dwarf Jamaican’ is an excellent choice. This is a true dwarf heliconia that grows no more than two or three feet tall. It is a bushy plant with highly pleated leaves that have a thin red stripe down the center. The bracts look like miniature lobster claws and are comparatively large in contrast to the size of the plant. These bracts last a long time.