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Bring the Tropics to Your Cold-Climate Garden
Delightfully deceptive, these plants combine a durable nature with a tropical look to add a touch of the exotic to cooler landscapes
I’m a writer, designer, and lifelong gardener. I'm also author of "Why Grow That When You Can Grow This?", a book due out from Timber Press in November 2012, and I host/produce a podcast and column called Garden Confidential at Fine Gardening Magazine. My company, Oakleaf Green, is a boutique landscape design firm specializing in planting design with primarily sustainable and native plants. Oakleaf Green is currently on hiatus while I wrap up a book, for Timber Press, due out in Fall 2012. In the meantime, you can find me here or on my blog, Garden Smackdown.
I’m a writer, designer, and lifelong gardener. I'm also author of "Why... More »
I love summer here on the temperate East Coast, but I confess: Even when the mercury soars in Massachusetts, I still sometimes wish it were just a little more tropical. Fortunately, plants with bold, bawdy foliage aren't exclusive to warmer climes. Here are five cold-hardy plants guaranteed to bring sultry warmth to any temperate garden.
One tropical-looking hardy plant I'm psyched to try this year is 'Mekong Giant' banana (Musa intinerans var. xishuangbannaensis 'Mekong Giant'). It's said to be hardy from zone 6 all the way to zone 11. More important, it's rumored grow to 15 feet tall in a single zone 6 growing season. In warmer zones? Up to 40 feet.
The secret to this amazing banana's success: It hales from some of the chilliest parts of China. Grow 'Mekong Giant' in full sun to part shade, average to moist soil. Mulch well in fall in colder zones for good measure and give it space — clumps grow 4 to 8 feet wide.
The secret to this amazing banana's success: It hales from some of the chilliest parts of China. Grow 'Mekong Giant' in full sun to part shade, average to moist soil. Mulch well in fall in colder zones for good measure and give it space — clumps grow 4 to 8 feet wide.
by Andrew Keys
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One genus I think of most when it comes to hardy plants that look tropical is Aralia, also called spikenard. Some aralias are woody, like this variegated Japanese aralia (Aralia elata 'Silver Umbrellas', zones 4 to 9), and grow into palmlike small trees with symmetrical topknots of foliage on slender, spiny, 6- to 12-foot stems. Summer brings clouds of white flowers, followed by purple berries that birds go gaga for. Shrubby aralias can be hard to find and may be pricey, but in sun to part shade and average garden soil, they're a cinch to grow. Remove any green suckers that appear at the base of variegated varieties.
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| If your wallet can't quite handle the shrubby aralias, here's a newcomer to the scene I'm betting we'll be seeing more of at nurseries everywhere, and at a kinder price point: 'Sun King' Japanese spikenard (Aralia cordata 'Sun King', zones 3 to 9). This one is a blowzy, bodacious hunk of awesome chartreuse foliage that is 3 to 4 feet tall and wide (sometimes more with moisture) and dies to the ground each year. The royally cool foliage of 'Sun King' may bleach in all-day sun, so give it some shade in the hottest part of the day for best color. |
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by Andrew Keys
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| Chartreuse happens to be one of my favorite foliage colors, and while we're at it, I couldn't leave out everyone's favorite, Tiger Eyes staghorn sumac (Rhus typhina 'Bailtiger', zones 4 to 8). This shrub's parent is native to the eastern half of North America, and like the woody aralias, it features symmetrical, palmlike crowns of leaves atop shrubby stems. With sun, its leaves are electric yellow. I like them better in shade, where they shimmer in chartreuse. As if its in-season color weren't enough, Tiger Eyes has showstopping red-orange fall foliage too. Like most staghorn sumacs, it will spread a bit by runners, though this variety is decidedly more restrained. |
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| But what about smaller things? There are scores of cold-hardy perennials that'll bring the tropics to your garden. One I'm finally trying this year is agave eryngium (Eryngium agavifolium, zones 5 to 9). Like other eryngiums, it's easy to grow in sun and well-drained soil (key to its survival in cold zones), and it's drought resistant once established. Its real appeal, however, comes from those glossy, serrated swords that give it a tropical flare. Agave eryngium forms rosettes up to 2 feet tall and wide, but in late summer, it sends up 4-foot-tall spears of quietly elegant, teasellike flowers. It's adored by bees and other beneficial insects. Photo by Valérie75 via Wikimedia Commons More: Great Design Plant: Euphorbia Great Design Plant: Canna 'Pretoria' |
Comments
orawsky I had no idea banana trees of any kind could survive the cold climate.
14 months ago · Like
· 2
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Andrew Keys Hi @orawsky - Yes, there are one or two other survivors besides 'Mekong Giant' too! Most notably Musa basjoo, which dies to the ground like a herbaceous perennial. It needs a good, thick mulch and a protected spot for the winter, but I know people who've kept it going for years in Zone 5 in Western Massachusetts. 'Mekong Giant' sounds even more promising.
14 months ago · Like
sphinxrb I ordered a similar plant, called a Basjoo Banana Tree online. However, I ordered from Brighter Blooms, website says "available now", but it's been 3 weeks, and they say they are still not reay to ship, must have planted them from seed when I ordred. ( I Understand they are affiliated with Fast Growing Tree's also). If you can't wait, order locally, or from another source.
14 months ago · Like
Ideabook published on April 24, 2012.
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