It’s vacation time and many locals might plan on visiting or
have even already returned from a trip to Hawaii.
It’s vacation time and many locals might plan on visiting or have even already returned from a trip to Hawaii.
I know whenever I get back from the islands, I get an itch to keep some of that tropical paradise around. And you can, too, by growing tropical plants.
Suffice to say that not all tropical plants will grow easily in our climate. Since we get frost in the winter, some tropicals simply won’t be able to grow here without extra assistance in the form of protecting them during our coldest winter nights.
Yet, there are tropicals that generally do fine. Some of the most common include: bougainvillea, hibiscus, lantana, trumpet vine, mandevilla, passion flower and a variety of tree ferns.
There are some secrets to successfully growing tropicals like these here.
For one thing, get them in the ground now. If you provide an entire summer for tropicals to get established, they’ll have a much better chance of making it through their first winter here.
Secondly, plant them in the perfect location to give them a fighting chance. This translates not only to choosing the garden spot with as much sun as possible (except for tree ferns), but also a little protection.
The latter might include the stucco wall of your house, which will provide a little frost protection, as well as reflective heat.
Finally, you need a little luck, too. If we happen to have a mild winter this year, your tropicals should survive easily. However, if our winter is unusually cold, tropicals may not make it.
Usually if you can get your tropicals through their first winter here, they’ll have strong enough roots to survive.
Even though they may lose their leaves in the winter and appear dead, their roots are strong enough where new growth will emerge come next spring.
You can also help by covering them with a sheet or burlap on our coldest winter nights.
I’m not going to go into full explanation on all my favorite tropicals listed above, but I do have to highlight bougainvillea. This vine, native to tropical South Africa, is probably one of the best known of the ones listed above. Bougainvillea vines truly are spectacular with their brightly colored bracts in shades of red, pink and purple, as well as white, orange, yellow and bicolored. The variety “San Diego Red” is, by far, the variety most commonly grown locally. Like most tropicals, once established, bougainvillea will be quite drought tolerant and not require much water at all. They are best grown with the support of a trellis for their vines to spread quickly.
So keep that spirit of Hawaii alive at home all year long. Go out and buy a tropical.
