A plant called Bear's Breech is a perennial here and has very striking blooms. It wants shade or only morning sun. Ginger also grows here.

Awesome i'll check those out! I would still love to grow a bird of paradise....has anyone had luck with theese?

I have a Bird of Paradise, but it has to be overwintered in the GH, and this now presents a huge problem as it has gotten so large. I bought it when I lived in Florida, and of course, had to drag it home with me. If you don't mind the extra work, they are well worth it.

I have an ornamental Bansoo(?) banana tree that provides shade to my backyard deck in the summer time. I enjoy taking care of it and watching it grow, although it requires little maintenance.

Last year's bad freeze between Thanksgiving and Christmas killed it back but it has new leaves growing out of its stalk this spring. Last year it got approximately 15 feet high.

It is planted in an area that gets 80 percent shade and 20 percent sun.

soilman

Begginpardon,

I'm assuming that College Station is Zone 8 or borderline 9. If so, you can grow the orange bird in the ground. Plant in a southern exposure that gets good sun and somewhat protected from the dry north winds of winter. Fertilize with a time released fertilizer with a 3-1-2 ratio, like 18-6-12 mid summer and it will bloom in the fall. Any box store should have a nice sized plant.

There are many ornamental bananas that will survive in your zone that will die back to the ground but come back and bloom for you each year. Google Musa Coccinea and Musa Ornata. There are hundreds of ginger that are hardy in your zone as well. In that group, check out the hedychiums, curcumas and a few zingibers, like Chiang Mai Princess. Brugmansias might make it there as well and there are several passion vines that are hardy in your zone. Passiflora Incense and Incarnata come to mind. There is also one heliconia that possibly would be root hardy in your zone, Schiedeana, but I doubt you would get blooms but the foliage is nice and it should come back each year. I have lots of these plants and many are already in bloom because of our extremely mild winter. I'm in Lake Charles, LA.

Steve

Forgot one other real show stopper; plumeria. Easy to container grow. They go dormant during the winter. Bring them in to the garage for the winter. No water, no fertilizer. Back out when night time temps are above 40. Enjoy the blooms and the scent.

Also check out the great elephant ears on the market now.

Steve

Steve

Bird of paradise Grows in the Woodlands in the ground and has been blooming all fall and into the winter.We are about 40 miles from college station.Gingers grow here outside and lots of other tropicals.Good luck to you.Jessie

pride of barbados
cassia alata
jacaranda
poinciana mexicana
plumeria
ixora

try these, they are all very pretty and grow well. the plumeria and ixora have to come in during winter.

Satasuma orange and meyers lemon, - citrus.
Various kinds of palms (mexican, canary, queen etc), pomegrante (tree), bananas (freeze to the ground each year), oleander (bush), hardy hibiscus, pineapple guava (bush). These are the ones which come to mind right away. There are many more. To get an idea, just visit a local nuresery. Our Lowes has a good selection of tropical plants.

Zone 8 is sub-tropical, not true tropical like Zones 9 or 10, so the plants which cannot take any freeze will not survive. These would be mangos, papayas, guavas, pineapple, ixora and such.

You might try planting your most tender tropicals in 5 gal. containers and tucking them among and inbetween other
more hardy plants growing in your garden. Just before the freeze season starts, move the delicate plants into your garage until after the last freeze. In this manner, I've been able to save my tropicals which were moved from the Gulf Coast to the Hill Country two years ago. Now growing in pots are: two large 10 ft. rubber plants, five med. date palms, an Areca palm and a Sago palm, two Hibiscus, two Bouganivilla, three Weeping Fig (Ficus), an Orchid Tree, Arabian Jasmine, two Gardenias, orange, lemon, and satsuma trees, four Plumeria, a giant Aloe Vera, a tall Needle Cactus and a few smaller tropicals just growing up. It's a lot of work...but with a kid's wagon (or equivalent) you can move a lot of plants in short order.
And how nice it is to walk beside your tropical jungle on a
hot summer evening and pretend you're in the rain forest.

This spring I have really fallen for the Red sister variety of Cordyline terminalis. I saw it planted all over this retreat center we visited, and found it so striking! Now I want one. I would consider it "tropical-looking," though I don't know if officially it is.

See link for picture.

Here is a link that might be useful: Cordyline terminalis Red Sister

PLUMERIA!!! One of my favorites.

these are all great ideas thank you!

My favorites are cannas

Joe

Here's an easy one that isn't even truly tropial. Good ole oleanders.

Drought resistant, fast-growing but easy to prune every 2 or 3 years. Makes a great hedge and has pretty white, pink, fuschia, or coral flowers.

Good ideas here, folks. Thanks especially for the tips for plumeria and ixora.

I currently live in Northwaest Arkansas. I grew up in Southeast Texas, where the climate is humid with mild winters, and the soil is very rich. In a few years, I'd like to move to the Kerrville area, in the Texas Hill Country. I'd like to know if tropical plants do well there, and what can be done to help them along. I'd like to grow a fig tree and aloe vera, if possible. Thanks for any help.

JerrysJungle.com October 20th and 21st is his next open gardens/sale. I have a lot of tropicals from Jerrys..don't ask me what they are, but they are unusual and very beautiful. I got one a couple of weeks ago at his last sale, and the guy there told me to bring it in before it freezes, so I put that one in a big pot...but all of the others I have in one bed and don't do anything but water them well before a freeze..so far, so good. YOU HAVE GOT TO SEE JERRY'S BIRD OF PARADISE>>IT IS HUGE!!! I would Love to have it...but bet it's not for sale BUT he would know how to get you a cutting or maybe has one started somewhere on his property that you could get. This man has more tropicals than carter has pills...one of the ones I have is literally irridescent purple and lime green...another one has these funny looking yellow flowers..another looks kinda like big banana leaves, but the leaves are green and maroon, and when the sun shines thru the leaves, they turn bright orange..awesome!! This new one has huge green leaves and a bright red spike of something coming out of the top..so far it likes sitting on my patio.

October will be PERFECT to spend the day at Jerrys. There are directions on his website..and he is in North Houston. He also has a lot of different kinds of Gingers. Go the first day if you can....usually pretty picked over on the second day. Have fun!!

"Kerrville area, in the Texas Hill Country"

Kerrville and Hill Country can be quite a bit colder and drier than San Antonio and certainly than S/E TX.

I live in San Antonio. Zone 8B. Kerrville has it's own microclimate. It's much cooler and I believe they are in Zone 7b. Even though it's only 60 miles away!!!

If in Kerrville, I would stick to Cannas, and Hardy Bananas.

When I think of hardy fig trees in San Antonio, I think of the ones that grow edible fruits. We had one at our other house. It grew well without any concerns about winter protection, so I assume it would do well in Kerrville. However, as ornamentals, they aren't very showy.

I believe Manfredas can grow in Kerrville. They remind me of small aloes.

Also, the soil in Kerrville is rocky and thin.

Kerrivlle has a beauty all of it's own. Just the fact that it is somewhat cooler in the summer than San Antonio makes it a nice get away for us. And you may fall in love with the native plants of the area.

You cannot kill cannas or elephant ears.....go for it!!

I think schefflera elegantissima is very tropical looking, with its delicate "finger" leaflets. They are strictly foliage plants, and have to be overwintered in a protected place when the temps drop below 30. They used to be grown here as house plants, but no plant was ever meant to live indoors, particularly with forced air heating and cooling. These do beautifully outdoors. It's best they be protected from direct sun in late afternoon if they are in a western exposure. Mature plants are usually 5 to 6 ft. in containers. We can't grow them in the ground because they will freeeze.