While every garden has its staples; roses, hydrangeas, azaleas, assorted annuals, and other perrinials; I thought why not add a tropical touch to the garden. Last year Ms. Janet and I added a few plants to give our garden a tropical feel.
The first thing we added was a Rice Paper Plant that a fellow master gardener from Booneville gave us. We got it late in the season, so it only grew to a height of about three feet. This is a plant that can take the extreme Mississippi heat with no problem. It likes most any soil, but will grow and multiply best in a rich, well-drained soil. It likes the full sun, but will also grow in partial shade. It can grow up to ten feet in height and has brownish-frosted green leaves that can grow up to 24-36 inches in width. The flowers come on in late fall and are creamy white, fluffy balls. I started with the one plant last year and this year I have half a dozen or so that came back. It will die back to the ground in this area and come back in multiples next year.
The next addition we made last year was the Castor Bean Plant. We planted three seeds and they came up and just sat there, then about June they started growing about a foot a week or it seems. They grow to be about ten feet tall and have large reddish-purple leaves that have five to eleven lobes and can get up to three feet in length. They look great as a specimen plant and even better planted in groups of three or more. The flowers are formed in clusters and develop seed pods that contain three smooth seeds about one half inch long and are usually a mosaic of colors. Plant three seeds this year and next year you will have fifty or more plants come back. This plant is an annual, but comes back year after year from its own seed. The down side to this plant is that the seeds are poisonous and are deadly. If you grow this plant, you will want to teach your children about it. We grow this plant and have taught our grandbabies that it is a pretty plant, but it is not to be eaten. If you remove the flower clusters as they appear, no seeds will form making them a safer plant for children.
Another great plant that has been around for years is the canna lily. It comes in a variety of colors as well as several colors of foliage. They can have green or purple or variegated foliage with flowers of red, yellow, or orange. Canna lilies like moist soil and plenty of sunlight. Plant the rhizomes at least six inches deep and mulch them to help retain moisture. They will grow in partial shade, but not as tall as in full sun. They need to be protected from the wind as they will break easily. Depending on the amount of sunlight it gets, I have grown them to six to eight feet in height. These plants look much better in groupings as opposed to being a specimen plant.
These are just a few of the plants that you can add to your landscape to give it that tropical feeling. Others are ferns, elephant ears, hostas, and calla lilies. We have some of all of these in our garden. Some grow in the sun and some need all shade, but all give that feeling of being on that little island far away.
Happy Gardening and Keep Digging in the Dirt
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