I have a tropical bed in which I grow hardy banana (musa basjoo), palms, elephant ears (3 kinds), pineapple lily, ginger, and cannas. I do add several inches of pine straw every fall. The musa basjoo is supposedly hardy to zone 5. There are several forums on Garden Web dedicated to tropical plants. You might check these out.

Thank you Farmerbell.

There are also many hardy hibiscus. :-)

I had a hardy Hibiscus, but it died after a about 10 years, but at the same time mom lost hers as well, must have been somthing in the area (we live 5 miles apart, hers was no telling how old

I have a bed of Amaryllis, most in bloom now. I mulch with
pine straw after first frost.
Norm

There are plants like the Ricepaper plant that have large tropical looking leaves and the hardy Tapioca which is easy to grow from seed and will return as a perennial. I also have about 15 varieties of hardy citrus trees. You can't eat the fruits on most of them though...to sour. The hardest thing about trying to grow hardy tropicals is finding them in here in Tennessee. Pine needles are the best thing to mulch with too. I live on a road lined with pine trees and I just rake them out of the road in the fall, when I can beat my neighbor to them.

Why is pine straw better for mulching tropicals?

Regina -- it allows more air circulation that other mulches, so there is less risk of rotting. And the air pockets trapped by the needles are good insulators.