There is a scene in The Wizard of Oz where Dorothy surveys her new and colourful surroundings and says to her dog, "Toto, I have a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore." Lynne Mellow, a Winnipeg resident, also recalls feeling out of her element when she pulled up to a gas station in Maui and was greeted by the sight of exotic hibiscus in full, radiant flower, palm trees waving in the background. Travellers often encounter scenes and exotic vegetation quite unlike anything back home. Our experiences away from home, near or far, introduce new ideas and make plant hunters of all of us.
Whether you are radiating a certain post-vacation glow or not, bring the tropics to your outdoor space this summer with plants that have unusual textures, dramatic shapes and sizes and bold exotic colours. While not hardy to our winters, there are many unique tropical varieties available that will transform your patio into a lush oasis. Lady Palm, for example, with its dark, glossy green palmate (fan-shaped) leaves would be stunning in a medium-light location or grace your patio with tall Adonidia Palm with its central crown of arching fronds and grey-brown trunk that has a slightly swollen bulb-like base.
Shade selections such as the ZZ plant (Zamioculcas Zamifolia) add interest and intrigue to the darker corners of the landscape with its upright vase shape and glossy, oval-shaped leaves.
If the broad upright foliage and cinnamon-gold colouring of the red banana plant is a staple in your summer garden together with durable canna lily varieties such as Canna Cannova, consider fascinating your visitors with the spectacular Bird of Paradise. With a crown of sepals that has an almost aerodynamic shape and colour like that of orange sherbet, including three highly modified petals in inky blue-sapphire, Bird of Paradise will bring beauty and drama to any part-shade location.
All of these tropicals and many more can be found at Shelmerdine Garden Centre this spring. While a good selection of tropical plants can be found at a number of local retail outlets, Shelmerdine has taken an extra step with its purchase last fall of Southern Tropic of Plants, an interior landscape specialist company. Nicole Bent and Chad Labbe, co-owners of Shelmerdine, are excited about this new acquisition which moved last fall to Shelmerdine’s location on Roblin Boulevard. In addition to a range of tropical plants suited to the indoors, there are many varieties that thrive outdoors in summer conditions.
Labbe says Majesty Palm reigns as the most successful and durable palm for outdoor use in our summers, adapting easily to full sun if it is first acclimatized. Another popular selection for outdoor containers is Red Banana (Ensete maurelii), which has strongly upright broad leaves on long stems, its delicious cinnamon colour taking on a golden cast when the sun shines through its leaves. Once in the landscape, the leaves can take on a ripped appearance from the effects of wind. Deanne Cram, greenhouse manager at Shelmerdine, says Bird of Paradise is surprisingly easy to maintain outdoors but recommends a protected location to prevent the wind from shearing the leathery, spear-shaped foliage.
For those wanting the impact of a large-sized New Zealand flax but not the price tag, Cram says Cordyline fruticosa or ti plant is an inexpensive way to achieve interesting texture. Cordyline fruticosa looks stunning in tropical containers in a part-shade location, says Cram, and has broad, colourful foliage that won’t rip in the wind. A variety of evergreen tropical shrub that is native to southeast Asia and parts of Australia, the different foliage patterns and colours of varieties such as Black Magic, Florida, Hot Pepper and Red Sister range from pink through deep burgundy.
Labbe says it is important when buying tropicals for your summer patio to buy the size you want. "Don’t expect a tropical plant to grow at the rate of an annual in a single season." If you are looking for drama, choose tropicals that are already a significant size at the time of purchase. A rule of thumb is to transplant a tropical into a container that is one size larger, however, if you are transplanting into a much larger container, underplant with smaller foliage plants or flowering annuals that will help to take up the extra moisture.
Labbe says using only soilless mix is an essential requirement and provides you with much more control of the wet-dry cycle for plants grown in a container. In order for the soil to retain oxygen around the roots of the plants, particularly during wet, rainy periods, moisture must be allowed to drain freely. Soilless mix accomplishes this more easily than a mixture that contains the larger soil particles typically found in soil that is more suited to flower beds.
When downtown containers in the area of Portage and Main sported tropical plants such as croton in full sun containers, it turned many heads. Last summer, containers on Portage Avenue’s centre median featured the unique combination of sansevieria, normally a plant that thrives indoors in low light, drought-tolerant conditions, with yellow-flowered Canna Cannova. Their successful marriage sustained itself right through to late fall. David Domke, manager of the city’s parks and open space division, says this summer the city’s gardeners will be planting ornamental banana plants into some containers and underplanting with annuals such as Dichondra Silver Falls, salvia and sweet potato vine.
Cram says these displays have inspired many Winnipeggers to include more tropicals in their own container designs. Croton, for example, provides gardeners with interesting alternatives to popular annuals such as coleus. While even sun-tolerant coleus may sometimes wilt, Cram says varieties such as Freckles, Mammy Yellow, Petra, and Pie Crust are ideal for continuous, vivid colour in full-sun locations right up until the first frost in fall.
For full shade where it is not always easy to create a full, lush display, Kimberley Queen fern can’t be beat. A plant in a 25-cm container grows to a massive size during the summer and provides a satisfying display up until frost.
Shelmerdine plans to carry exotic flowering tropicals such as Duranta Sapphire Showers Bush, which I first saw and admired in Jan Pedersen’s backyard. Duranta’s exquisite, slightly ruffled purplish-blue blooms are edged in white, the dainty petals appearing as if they have been sprinkled with sugar.
Who doesn’t come to a standstill at the sight of passion flower (passiflora)? This strange, otherworldly flower with its distinctive central crown of purplish-pink filaments and prominent central antenna consisting of five stamens and three stigmas is a lesson in floral biology all its own. Never mind that the colourful blooms of passion flower are not always as prolific as its twining leaves that scramble up trellises — even a single bloom is enough to mesmerize. Many gardeners who bring passiflora indoors in the fall for overwintering say the plant produces more and more blooms in successive seasons.
Shelmerdine is carrying several varieties of passiflora on trellises including Incarnata, Lady Lavender, Lady Margaret and Red Scarlet.
Showy hibiscus blooms, of course, always excite with their large size and candy-like colours. This season in addition to standards, look for potted HibisQs in table-top sizes. Sun-loving, they have been bred to have longer lasting flowers and will be available in a range of colours at many locations.
Gardeners have been growing tropical-inspired plants in their gardens for some time such as King Tut papyrus, sweetly fragrant gardenia standards or mandevilla. Dipladenia is in the mandevilla family but has a distinctly different form. The leaves of dipladenia are smaller and glossier and while the sun-loving blooms are smaller than those of mandevilla, this is a must-have plant in any garden. Quickly embraced by anyone who grows it, dipladenia blooms and grows vigorously all season long. New dipladenia varieties such as Red Riding Hood Pink and Rio White are beautiful planted alone or can be paired with other sun-loving plants such as chartreuse ipomoea.
To complement your tropical oasis, consider adding the sound of water with a fountain or table-top bubbler and don’t forget to accessorize. Should you add a massive cast stone lion to sit among your plants for a jungle effect or perhaps search for a tiki mask and some pink flamingos? Floral-themed cushions work just as well.
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