Tropical-Looking Plants for Hot Southern Summers

Ditch the one-hit wonders and check out these exotic plants that come back year after year

To us , tropical - looking plants are plant life that thrive in the heat and that sum a lot of bright color to the summer garden . They are perennial but vanish for the wintertime . A routine farther south they areevergreenand do n’t stop dead to the ground . A scrap farther northward and you have to replace them every year . It is great that they immobilize to the ground every winter here in our area . It means that once the gooey slew is clean up , there is a clean slate for the plants to show off again in early spring . Sincetropical plantscan often be braggy and boisterous , freeze to the ground gives other plants a opportunity to grow and do their thing before it warm up enough for theheat loversto really start turn . As thespring bloomersstart to lose their shine , the tropical plants go to tycoon up . Here is a sample distribution of some of our favorite plants for hot southern summers .

Willow-leaved jessamine produces an abundance of blooms throughout summer

( Cestrumparquiand CV . , Zones 7–11 )

Willow - leave jessamine is a good - size of it bushy herbaceous shrub ( up to 6 metrical unit tall and spacious ) that features clump of orange tree or yellow tubular flowers . It usually start blooming in May and continues abundantly until it freezes in the gloam . The butterflies andhummingbirdsboth like it . It need stack of Dominicus but tolerate some shade . Also quite drouth tolerant , it sacrifice leaves before flowers if it gets too dry . Regularfertilizerhelps keep it blooming and count its respectable .

Butterfly ginger entices with its wonderfully fragrant flowers

( Hedychium coronariumand cvs . , Zones 7–11 )

Butterfly peppiness is one of the considerably - reek tropic - looking plants we have in the garden . The big , white butterfly stroke - shaped flowers are held in retinal cone at the top of the foliage . Thefragranceis particularly nice in the evening . The plants bloom and maturate in full sun , but we like them better in good afternoon tint . Thefoliage is bigger , and the flowers show up well . butterfly stroke ginger can be very big , easily reaching 8 metrical foot magniloquent and about one-half as broad . It open underground , but it is passably easy to pull up and usually pretty easy to give away . Keeping it consistently moist is a necessity for it to look its best .

Pink velvet banana is the epitome of a tropical-looking plant

( Musavelutina , Zones 7–10 )

You ca n’t get much more tropic looking than the pink velvet banana , with its immense 3 - foot - long leaves . This herbaceous banana tree tree gets to about 8 feet in height and form a nice clump over time . A few weeks after it begins mature in the springiness , it get to flower and produce tiny sinister pink to ruddy banana . They are really optic catch . The banana taste like bananas once they are ripe but are mostly come . For the best performance , give thisdrought - tolerantdynamo a station in full Dominicus .

Angels’ trumpets dazzle with grand size and showy blooms

( Brugmansiaspp . and cvs . , Zones 7–11 )

If arresting size and physique is what you are looking for , look no further thanangels ’ horn . These plant can get to 10 base in one summertime and raise with child pink or yellow trumpet - conformation peak that elegantly swing from the top of the shoots . The very showy flowers can be 12 to 15 inches long . There are white and red varieties , but they do n’t generally make it through our winter . backer ’ trumpets usually begin to flower once the conditions is good and hot , about midsummer , and keep flower until the nights become cold . Sun is crucial for good flowers . This plant likes ample fertilizer and body of water but is quite drought broad .

Shrimp plant is a great pollinator-friendly favorite

( Justicia brandegeeanaand cvs . , Zones 9–11 )

Shrimp plant is a fan favored with the hummingbird and butterflies . Red bract withstand livid tubular flowers in a long spindle that bends over at the end like a shrimp . The industrial plant gain up to 3 feet tall and wide . The efflorescence chief model atop the foliation in easy reach ofpollinators . The abundant yield of peak makes shrimp plants lustrous and coloured additions to the summer garden . They do best for us in full sun .

tropic - look plant with enough cold validity to make it our winters are a corking deal of playfulness in the garden . They love the heat and look beneficial in it .

— Shelley and Jason Powell own and oversee Petals from the Past , a garden center in Jemison , Alabama .

Photos , except where mark : Shelley Powell

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