 |
Tropical Gardens with Hardy Plants |
exotica59
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Oct 17, 2004
Posts: 475 |  Posted: 2005-07-12 4:36 pm Permalink
I thought I'd share some of my garden pictures with you all. I live just outside of Chicago in Zone 5. Most of my plants will have to winter indoors, but I think it will just add more of a tropical look to my tiki decor.
I did have to throw in some regular old annuals for color, and I cheated a bit by adding a very colorful and tropic looking Swiss Chard.
For the tropicals I have palms, Bird of Paradise, Calla lilies, several Taro, Philodendrons (sp?) extra hardy large elephant ears etc.
Watering has been difficult as we are in a drought right now with a watering ban. a good organic soil base, mulching and hand watering is so far keeping everything going.
Anyone familar with Lake Sufers work will notice a couple of his fine tikis in the mix as well as some coconut heads and NG artifacts.I also bought a nice rock formation trickle fountain from Home depot.
Tomorrow when the Garden club stops by I'll wear one of my tiki shirts so I match my mannequins in the front window and crank up Denny Martin 
_________________
|
Tikiwahine
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Apr 09, 2003
Posts: 3288
From: Ontario, Canada
| Posted: 2005-07-12 5:09 pm Permalink
AWESOME exotica!! You garden is perfect! And lookit all the tikis! sweeeet.
Is everything in pots? Or will you dig up and store tubers in the fall?
I planted an elephant ear tuber this January and it's just starting to put up 4 big shoots, I hope it's leaves arrive before the first frost!
Great idea with the swiss chard, and I must get me a bird of paradise at some point. Sooo pretty.
That's a garden to be proud of.
-Tw
|
Lake Surfer
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Oct 21, 2002
Posts: 3308
From: Milwaukee, WI
| Posted: 2005-07-17 10:04 pm Permalink
A month or so old on this photo... things are blooming again so I'll get a new picture this week...
Having great success with the Banana... the hot and humid summer here in WI this year allows it to grow a new leaf every week... Bird of Paradise is growing like mad... it has been growing in a pot for 3 years now. Multiple Canna plants going too with new blooms every 2 weeks... just added Hibiscus and Ficus... and the Cycad I picked up in Florida last fall is growing like mad... just grew 3 feet in a week!
They'll winter indoors... but that's a ways off yet...
exotica59.... that's a nice looking tiki! 
Thanks again... hope you're enjoying it!
[ This Message was edited by: Lake Surfer 2005-07-17 22:08 ]
|
TikiKini
Tiki Centralite
Joined: Jul 24, 2002
Posts: 34
From: SF Bay Area
| Posted: 2005-07-28 11:47 am Permalink
This post inspired me to do a little shopping on Amazon -- in the mail yesterday: Tropical Plants for Home and Garden by William Warren, Paradise Found by Norman Winter, and Landscaping with Tropical Plants by Sunset Mag. I stayed up late flipping through these and dreaming of my garden...
The Warren book is gorgeous with lots of great photos but *no* info on the plants or design ideas (other than the included pictures) -- beautiful coffee table book though. The Sunset book is helpful with good photos -- chapters include tropicals for every clime, designing with tropical flair, getting started, summer maintenance and winter care, and an A-Z sampler of plants. But my fave book of the three is Paradise Found. LOTS of plants listed with pictures of each, info on growing zones, how and where to plant, growing tips, recommended varieties and landscape applications. Also chapters on container gardening, cold protection, soil prep, and peppers (with some recipes even!).
So now that we've ripped out the rock gardens and started building retaining walls and patios, I'm trying to figure out what to plant where. I've already got 8 hibiscus in pots that survived last winter, plus a bird of paradise and some other assorted plants that are waiting for a home.
I'm in Castro Valley -- I think Sunset zone 14 and USDA zone 9 or 10? We have a small squarish yard in front and a rectangle in the back (18 X 60). I keep looking at everyone else's photos for ideas...
|
Haole'akamai
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jul 07, 2005
Posts: 2269
From: The Polynesian Port of NOLA
| Posted: 2005-07-30 08:22 am Permalink
We're working on our (very!) squarish, flat backyard lot and are taking a lesson from Mr. Walt Disney(when he was first designing Disneyland): we can't afford mature specimens of plants and we want to add demension to the (previously stated) flat lot, so we're building birms (berms? burms? little hills....)around the edges of the property! That way our smaller plants look taller.
...
Drat! I'haven't got pictures ready, yet. Give me a moment - I'll be right back....
|
Swanky
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Apr 03, 2002
Posts: 4806
From: Hapa Haole Hideaway, TN
| Posted: 2005-07-30 08:30 am Permalink
Our basement leaks and so there are large sections that are near worthless. I have my Corvair down there which I am selling and it opens up a lot of space, but all wet space. Then I realized this would be usable space ... for plants! I am going to put in grow lights and put all my tropicals down there in the winter! My Hibscus are huge and my Gardinia's are good. In summer, they will be in the yard, in winter, after you see my tiki bar, you can come downstairs and tour the tropical gardens! It should work out well.
Damn this tiki. I get crazier and crazier. BTW, I started out selling the Corvair so I could buy a tiki mug...
_________________
Mai-Kai Memories Series Custom ceramic mugs!
|
TNTiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: May 15, 2004
Posts: 464
From: Knoxville, TN
| Posted: 2005-07-30 6:43 pm Permalink
Swanky:
I just planted a couple of tropicals that are supposed to survive in our climate:
A banana tree that is hardy, oddly enough called hardy banana, that acts like a perennial. It is supposed to grow about eight feet tall from spring to June.
The other is pineapple lily. Again, it acts like a perennial in our area.
TNTiki
|
Tikiwahine
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Apr 09, 2003
Posts: 3288
From: Ontario, Canada
| Posted: 2005-08-05 9:31 pm Permalink
This is some bamboo in my parent's backyard. They planted the original clums 25 years ago, what you see is half of the grove.
These four clums were 4" at the beginning of June, by the end of the month they had grown to this height! This is the first time they've shot up so far from the main clump.
We're going to transplant these stalks to my backyard in either the fall or the spring.
_________________
 
Great Minds Drink Alike
|
RevBambooBen
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Nov 12, 2002
Posts: 7197
From: Huntikington Beach
| Posted: 2005-08-06 5:25 pm Permalink
Giganticus Elephantitus of the Earloabeist !!!
aka Haole version of Taro.
|
batty
Member
Joined: Jul 29, 2005
Posts: 4 | Posted: 2005-08-12 12:39 pm Permalink
Hello!
New here. My main hobby is gardening and I am just starting to add some Tiki. Thought I'd share some pics. I am in zone 9b so I am able to grow a wide range of plants.
And the almost finsihed Tiki Hut for the kids
[ This Message was edited by: batty 2005-08-12 12:39 ]
|
RevBambooBen
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Nov 12, 2002
Posts: 7197
From: Huntikington Beach
| Posted: 2005-08-14 11:04 am Permalink
Worlds Largest Plumeria
|
RevBambooBen
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Nov 12, 2002
Posts: 7197
From: Huntikington Beach
| Posted: 2005-08-14 7:30 pm Permalink
Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!
Ernie rocks! Arrrrrr! Now I got to finger out Holdens. Arrrrrrrrrrrr!!
ps Arrrr{
[ This Message was edited by: RevBambooBen 2005-08-14 19:31 ]
|
TikiJosh
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Feb 01, 2005
Posts: 735 | Posted: 2005-08-31 7:47 pm Permalink
Quote:
|
On 2005-02-17 19:18, Jungle Trader wrote:
As far as I know there is only one coconut palm in Calif. that has grown outside to full maturity. It's in Newport Beach at the Crab Cooker. I had no success even growing one inside, so I gave up. Next try, move to Hawaii.
|
|
Funny thing about coconut palms. I live in a relatively shady apartment complex, and bring in my plumerias for the winter (the warm weather keeps them from dropping leaves and going dormant). Anyway, I got two coconut palms about a year or year and a half ago, one I kept, the other went to my Mum. My Mum's died in about two months when the Santa Ana winds picked up. Just thrashed it. They've got a house, and it was out in the backyard, fairly exposed.
Mine's alive and well, and has spit out two new fronds this year! I'm hoping to have the only other mature coconut palm in So Cal. I just have to wait, what, 16 more years?
I keep it outside, it gets some direct sunlight, but only for about an hour or two each day. The rest of the time it gets a lot of indirect light filtered through from the trees around my balcony.
I water it about twice a week, maybe a little more frequently during the hot summer months, but I also mist the fronds a lot, and use miracle gro.
I'm curious to know what kind of conditions your tree was kept under. I know you said inside, but I'd like to know things like what temperature it is inside your place. How often did you water? Did you ever fertilize? There doesn't seem to be loads of information on how to grow coconut palms, and on top of it, I have to do all my gardening in containers, so it's a bit trickier; therefore I'm trying to collect as much information as I can, even from unsuccessful attempts. Hopefully I'll have a house by the time it outgrows the pot!
|
Tiki Rotterdam
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Nov 14, 2004
Posts: 116
From: Rotterdam, Holland
| Posted: 2005-09-02 01:55 am Permalink
Here in Holland we like to grow 'tropical' plants too.
I'll see if i can post some nice pictures here...
_________________
|
TikiJosh
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Feb 01, 2005
Posts: 735 | Posted: 2005-09-02 09:58 am Permalink
Quote:
|
On 2005-09-02 01:55, Tiki Rotterdam wrote:
Here in Holland we like to grow 'tropical' plants too.
I'll see if i can post some nice pictures here...
|
|
Cool!!!! Let's see 'em!
|
