They don't need to be tropical plants to provide a tropical look. Just look for plants that produce big, bold foliage and colorful flowers. Cannas come to mind immediately. Also hardy hibiscus, dahlias, figs, castor bean, hardy bananas and big grasses like ornamental millet.

And as long as they are gradually introduced to sun from the indoors or you have a shadier nook, common houseplants and ferns will add to a tropical feel.

you can get medium sized Elephant Ears (Alocasia/Colocasia) and Caladiums.

Caladiums will go dormant in the fall and you can store corms overwinter and resprout them. EE's also will go semi-dormant and not looking so good, but you can overwinter them in the basement perhaps. they are very fast growers.

bromeliads come to mind: vrieseas are spineless and will do good in part sun indoors and out. they are quite easy too.

I would recommend Pygmy Date Palms. They can take the full sun and are not that hard to overwinter, also easy to find at big box stores. I also like Queen palms (Syagrus) but they may not be so readily available in your area..., and mine are tall now so I need a loft garage to overwinter them. Chinese fan palms are also nice (Livistona chinensis) and easy to find, as are "Spineless Yuccas".

You can also grow plumeria in pots and just let the pot dry out in the fall and they will lose all their leaves, store in a frost free place in a dry pot until after your last frost date. Then bring them out, place in shade, give them a little drink and slowly acclimate them back into full sun.

Plumeria are the most common flower that Hawaiian leis are made from and are very fragrant.

You could also try a pretty red zebrina or Maurelli banana plant. Some peopl store them the same way as plumeria, over winter.