CREATE A TROPICAL GARDEN

A TROPICAL GARDEN CAN BE YOURS

Tropical gardens engender a special mood. You can’t help but relax, slow down, and look around while appreciating the beauty of nature. The breeze caresses a palm frond, while carrying the scents of gardenia and jasmine. The accent of an orchid overhead on a tree branch, and some uniquely colorful foliage attract our attention. Such sensory delights affect us in profound and positive ways.

When creating a garden in the tropics you may have more variety of plants to choose from, but you can create that tropical garden look and feel in the cooler temperate climates as well. With the right palms, tree ferns, and companion plants – along with some tiki torches, a water feature, the appropriate garden art and hardscaping – and you can enjoy that relaxing ambience of your last tropical vacation year round, in many climates.

So, whether you live in or out of the tropics, you can use this site to discover what exotic tropical (or tropical looking) plants you can grow in your climate. Every climate and location presents a different challenge. And every plant has its own cultural requirements. So knowing and sharing our growing experiences will help you and others to create that special tropical garden almost anywhere.

LEARN HOW

RECENT TROPISCAPE ARTICLES

Your Soil Is Keeping Secrets

It hasn’t rained in weeks. It is hot and your soil is getting really dry. So you turn on your sprinklers for a half hour. Do you have any idea how far down it has wet your soil?<Read More>

HD VIDEO - How To Hybridize Tropical Hibiscus

Each exotic cross that you make has the potential for a new incredible Tropical Hibiscus. Learn how in this easily understood HD Video. These exceptional flowers can be grown in many of the marginal climates. So they are well worth<Read More>

"Pot-Layering" - Difficult Propagation Made Easy

Air layering on steroids. A novel customization of the age old technique for added success with those hard to air layer plants.<Read More>

Top Ten Ways to Kill a Palm

Tongue in cheek article for novice growers to help avoid killing more palms than you have to. And there are more than ten. But avoid these and you will avoid a lot of grief as well.<Read More>

How to Plant a Palm

A brief primer on a proven method of making sure that new large palm gets off to a good start in the ground in your garden. Avoid an initial mistake that you could have you paying dearly in time and<Read More>

Epiphytes Scream Tropical

Epiphytes epitomize the tropics. They are easy, intriguing, and versatile, and can be grown effectively in the smallest garden or patio. But watch out, they are also addictive.<Read More>

Garden of Dr. Mardy Darian

Proof that you can transform a dry barren rocky mountain top into a lush tropical type garden. All you need is the will, knowledge, and the gift of time.<Read More>

Tribute to Dr. Mardy Darian - A Plant Pioneer

Before his recent passing, the closest thing to a living legend the palm/plant world had to offer was Dr. Mardy Darian. If you’ve been involved with palms or exotic plants for any length of time, you have probably heard the<Read More>

"Marking the Spear" - Is your palm alive?

Recognizing when a palm tree is sick and dying, or just having a hard time, can be more difficult than you think. Because some palms are slow growers, especially in marginal climates, a palm may appear to be suspended in<Read More>

Coco Palms Up North???

The Coco Palm has entranced many with its graceful beauty and prolific elegance in the tropics. But only true tropical gardens could have one, until now...<Read More>

IN MEMORY OF A TROPICAL GARDENER

Tribute to Dr. Mardy Darian - A Plant Pioneer

September 26th, 2015

Before his recent passing, the closest thing to a living legend the palm/plant world had to offer was Dr. Mardy Darian. If you’ve been involved with palms or exotic plants for any length of time, you have probably heard the name.<Read More>

Garden of Dr. Mardy Darian

September 26th, 2015

Proof that you can transform a dry barren rocky mountain top into a lush tropical type garden. All you need is the will, knowledge, and the gift of time.<Read More>

RECENT SLIDESHOWS

HAWAII ISLAND PALM SOCIETY

A listing of several audio/video presentations edited for online viewing originally given during H.I.P.S. meetings in Hawaii.<Read More>

Floribunda Palm's Slideshow Page

Join Jeff Marcus of Floribunda Palms on one of several "walk-arounds" in his one of a kind botanical Noah's Ark of some of the rarest and largest of specimen palms in the world. Guaranteed you will enjoy the educational<Read More>

Andersen Aroids

A short slideshow with music of many exotic aroids from the Hawaiian garden of Jerry Andersen on the Big Island. Photos of some rare aroids you have probably not seen elsewhere.<Read More>

La Paz Waterfalls, Costa Rica

Presentation to the Kona Outdoor Circle by Don Ashley about a field trip to the La Paz Waterfall Gardens during the International Palm Society Biennial in Costa Rica.<Read More>

85,688 views