Home & Garden

Items come in and out of style in the home and the fashion industry – but did you know that fads are around in gardening as well?

Today’s trendy and fashionable gardens have gone tropical. They feature an abundance of lush, large, colorful and leafy foliage as well as bright, vibrant-colored flowers with unusual shapes.

In the Zone
Living in Tennessee’s plant cold-hardiness zones 6 and 7 once meant few perennial tropical-looking plant choices. However, research and breeding have provided temperate-zone tropical lovers with many cold-hardy selections, and the list continues to grow. For some of these plants a little extra winter protection is required, but the effort is well worth it.

As with all plants of marginal hardiness, hardy tropicals should be planted early in the season. This will allow them to become well established and build sugar storage for the upcoming winter dormant season. Tropical plants installed late in the season will usually not survive.

Palms Aplenty
The UT Gardens in Knoxville has grown a number of different tropicals, and we have successfully over-wintered them. Palms offer a different set of challenges for the temperate-dwelling tropical plant lover. Most are not hardy at temperatures that fall below 15° F. One exception is Needle Palm, which is hardy to Zone 6b or slightly colder when established. While it is the world’s hardiest palm, this clumping palm with medium-green leaves needs excellent sitting for long-term survival in Zone 6. A slow grower that can reach eight to 10 feet tall and wide, needle palm forms a stubby trunk with age. The plant is named for the sharp needles that protect its crown, so it should remain safely away from children and pets.

Other palms that temperate dwellers might investigate include Dwarf Palmetto, hardiness to -5° F, with leaf damage beginning at around 5° F; Birmingham Palmetto, hardiness to around 0° F; Windmill Palm, hardiness to 5° F and in Zone 7a to 0° F with protection.

Additional “hardy” palms are really only hardy to between 10° F and 15° F, which is actually Zone 8. They require protection when the weather chills and careful siting. These include Jelly Palm or Pindo Palm; Saw Palmetto; and California Fan Palm.

To find out what’s best, experiment in your own landscape. Many different tropicals are sold by local garden centers, while more exotic plants are available through mail-order catalogs such as Stokes Tropicals, Brent and Becky’s Bulbs and the Southeastern Palm Society.

Tennessee-Tested Hardy Tropicals

The UT Gardens in Knoxville has grown a number of different tropicals and we have successfully over-wintered them. Here is an abbreviated list:
Alocasia ‘California’
Brugmansia, known as Angel’s Trumpet
Canna
Colocasia, known as Elephant Ears
Curcuma elata ‘Giant Plume,’ known as Pinecone Ginger
Dahlia
Dinanella tasmanica ‘Variegata,’ known as Variegated Flax Lily
Eucalyptus
Eucomis autumnalis, known as Pineapple Lily
Eucomis ‘Sparkling Beauty’
Hibiscus acetocella, known as Red Shield Hibiscus; the only hibiscus valued for its foliage
Hibiscus moscheutos or Swamp Mallow
Musa basjoo, known as Japanese Fiber Banana; touted as the world’s cold hardiest banana plant tolerating -10 degrees
Musa itinerans, known as Yunnan Banana; not as cold hardy as the Musa basjoo but more attractive
Musa sikkimensis, known as Sikkim Banana or Indian Banana
Musella lasiocarpa, known as Chinese Yellow Banana
Phormium tenax, known as New Zealand Flax
Ruellia brittoniana, known as Mexican Petunia or Texas Petunia
Setcreasea pallida, known as Purple Heart Plant
Yucca gloriosa ‘Variegata,’ known as Variegated Soapwort; evergreen and showy year round

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Magazine:
Tennessee Home & Farm, Fall 2010 Edition Edition

Headline:
Tropical Trendsetters

Summary:
Cold-hardy tropical plants top the garden hot list

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