Beginner Gardening: Small Tropical Backyard Garden in Lower Michigan... whaaaaa?, 1 by happgarden

happgarden wrote:
I am a big tropical person in zone 5a, not a landscaping person tho....

This is a typical ad for: Musa Basjoo is cold hardy to -20 degrees when mulched properly. Musa Basjoo is the hardiest of all bananas. In warm weather months it can grow up to 2 feet in a week. It s mature height is 18' . It can flower and bear fruits at 10' or whenever it has 35 leaves. The bananas are not edible. This handsome broad leaved variety can be grown in almost every state since it can handle temperatures of 15 to 20 degrees Fahrenheit if the ground is mulched properly in the very cold months. At 40 degrees it will stop actively growing and at 28 degrees the leaves will die back and the tree can be cut back to a 2 or 3 height. It will grow back rapidly as the warmer season approaches. I am zone 5a and I do not leave mine in the ground, chicken. But I have friends in zone 6 who mulch well and leave them in. I let mine go dormant in a pot and keep it cool and dry all winter, then spring bring it back out.

Editted to say I forgot about a fig tree, sounds pretty exotic and not something everyone has but can actually be grown in zone 5.

Hardy hibiscus is a perfect plant that looks like a tropical but hardy even in my zone. They can have blooms the size of a dinner plate and nothing bothers tham that I have ever seen.

Voodoo lily - Again I have friends who in zone 6 leave theirs in the ground year round I do not, but this is the coolest plant around. Nothing looks more tropical and is not a tropical per say. Here is a great discussion on it, I posted on the tropical forum not knowing it wasn't a tropical.
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1012149/

Alot of tropicals can go into dormancy and winter over in a cool dark basement, or a garage that doesn't freeze.
I built a hybrid 1/2 greenhouse, 1/2 shed to heat and overwinter my tropicals. Could say I am addicted...rofl



This message was edited Sep 8, 2011 3:22 PM