Help with perennials

18 years ago

Hello,

I live in a coastal city in southern Brazil and Florida is probably the only state with a climate similar to mine, so I guess you guys could help me.

I've been gardening for a few years but only this year I decided to start a real garden. So far I planted lots of annuals that are filling in nicely. And although most annuals act as perennials here, after 3/4 years they don't look as good as fresh plants and need to be replaced. That's why I started looking for perennials.

The problem is that, as most of the country has tropical climate, brazillian gardening market is directed towards annuals and tropical plants. It is really hard to find anything different.

I'm tired of strelitzias, impatiens, cannas, palm trees, pachystachys, ixoras, elephant ears, hibiscus etc. that are in EVERY public garden. In the hot northern states it might be true that their plant selection is really limited but I'm pretty sure I can grow other things here. So I decided to buy seeds on the internet and start my own perennials.

I tried to find information over the internet but there isn't much... apparently most perennials need a chilling period to flower/start growing. The question is: which perennials will grow and flower in a frost free climate?

My garden receives morning sun and it isn't as big as I wanted it to be, so there is no space for huge plants.

I already have 4 Podocarpus macrophyllus against a side wall, one Lavandula dentata(huge, but blooms for a long period and smells great), a few azaleas, which I might remove(they look amazing for like a month and just sit there doing nothing throughout the year) and a small clump of daylilies. Other than that it's all annuals.

Thanks in advance,

Mauricio

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Comments (9)

vaodiva
18 years ago
I love my coleus, shade and sun varieties. Osteospermums never fail to please me. Crotons have fantastic colors. And for a tree or bush clerodendrum quadriloculare has beautiful leaves and deliciously scented flowers. For pots in the shade, I have some begonia rex's. They're huge on my shade porch right now. Have you tried succulents? There are some astounding shapes and varieties. And I know you can grow orchids there ;)
KaraLynn
18 years ago
Have you tried any gingers? There are a large range of varieties that would do fantastic in the kind of climate you've described.

Some other plants youmight consider are bromilliads, crinum lilies, cycads such as coonties & cardboard palm, gloriosa lily, various ferns, pagoda (Clerodendrum paniculatum), begonias, dianthis, 4 O'Clocks, and various Cuphea. Since I'm not familiar with you zone you'd have to research the plants I've mentioned to see if they will grow there but it's at least a starting point.

Here's a link to some pictures of my gingers.

Here is a link that might be useful: gingers
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lynne_melb
18 years ago
Hi Mauricio,

I have two favorites:

- Song of India 'Variegata' (Dracaena reflexa)
- Variegated Flax Phormium tenax 'Variegata'

The Song of India can be propagated by sticking cut branches into the ground.

The flax will grow wider and can be divided to get more of them.

Good luck,
Lynne

Here is a link that might be useful: Flax
garyfla_gw
18 years ago
Hi
One caution I'd add to the others listings .Be VERY careful what you plant doesn't become weedy.Particularly where you have a small lot. This frequently happens here in florida ,can't imagine the problem in a true tropical climate lol.
What type of seasonal climate do you have?? I thought all of Brazil was either lowland or high altitude tropical??
No snow or killing frost in your area??
gary
solstice98
18 years ago
Mauricio,
If you are buying your seed from American sources, look for perennials that say they do well in zones 9 or 10. Those should thrive in areas without frost.
You'll see many plants listed as OK for zones 4-8, but I would avoid those because they will probably need chilling.
Hope that helps,
Kate
AmberSky
18 years ago
The whole brunfelsia family should do well for you.

Here is a link that might be useful: Click Me, I'm Pretty!
mmsc
Original Author
18 years ago
Hello,
Sorry it took me so long to answer, but I was really busy this past few weeks. Last friday I made a quick trip to Holambra, a city about 3 hours from where I live and that produces 40% of the plants marketed in Brazil.. There I talked to a lot of people who gave me advice, and could choose lots of plants at VERY low prices.

Thanks for all the answers. @garyfla, about climate here, I live in a coastal city so we get a lot of rain and no frosts. During 'winter' it is drier and we have lows in the 40s and highs in the 70s, summer is kind of hot but not as hot as Florida(we don't usually see temperatures in the 90s). But Brazil is as big as continental US, so we have all sorts of climates in here, from equatorial to altitude subtropical (some cities have as much as 70 days with frosts/year).

Here's what I ended up buying:

I decided it would be good to have something to shade part of my garden, so I bought a small pink Quaresmeira (Tibouchina granulosa ?). They do get big, but are slow growers. I'm not sure if they are popular there in Florida, but here they are widely used and flower all summer long. Here is a picture I took where you can see both the purple and pink ones:
{{gwi:797989}}

For my trellis I got two bleeding heart vines, a white and a pink-ish one. They're really small right now, but grow very fast.

Flowering plants: salvia farinacea, gazanias, osteospermums, trailing gardenia, miniature roses, brunfelsia, kaempferia rotunda (some sort of ginger? the fowers are great).

Bulbs: chlidanthus, zephyrantes, gladiolus, cyrtanthus, aztec lily and kaffir lily.

I also got lots of foliage.. some great coleus, iresine, etc. I will post pictures of my garden as soon as I have time.. right now I'm really busy, and most of the plants I bought are still in their pots.

Thanks for your advice, and here's one last question: is there any narcissus that will bloom in here? I read about paperwhite narcissus.. opinions?

Mauricio
florah
18 years ago
Maircio,

Check out SouthernBulbs website.
manature
18 years ago
Sounds to me like you are off to a great start now. I adore tibouchinas, and hope yours do well for you. They have lovely foliage, in addition to the fantastic blooms. I have one other suggestion. Roses. Particularly Heirloom roses that are disease resistant and very fragrant, and can get huge. A great climber would be tausendschon. Another would be Old Blush. Many to choose from in various sizes and colors. They can be kept pruned to a manageable size for most gardens, too.

Good luck, and do keep us posted when you have time, with pics of whatever you choose. I'd love to know more about a real tropical garden!

Marcia