I'm Eric with Landscape Garden Centers and we're gonna talk about tropical plants. Tropical plants can be used in a lot of different instances. The best place for tropical plants is in full sun and as much sun as possible. This would be east side of your property for morning sun, west side and south side for sure. Tropical plants are awesome plants to use within a container, they will provide you a ton of color, and they look amazing.
Now, how do you keep them amazing? The best way to keep them amazing is, you need to add a lot of food with these. These are plants that require a lot of water and a lot of food, especially when it's really hot out. A lot of these plants are growing natively down south. They're going to be down in the Texas region and in different zones. South Dakota is in zone 4, not typical for this type of tropical type of plant, but we get to use them for a very short period of time. The best place to use them is in a container around the outside of your house, on a patio, near a pool, some place like that. Then you get that pop of color, you want that wow. They have bright, bright, vivid colors. They bloom all summer long, as long as they're in full sun, and they're given a lot of nutrients as far as water and fertilization.
They're great plants to use. There's lots of different varieties. There's lots of different colors of hibiscus, yellow, there's different pinks, there's different reds. Mandevillas are a fowering vine that offer reds and pinks. There's different sizes, some grow on trellises. There's also even tropical fruits you can get. Tropical lemon, lime, you know, cut up that lime to use in your cocktail, the mojito, or just using it for baking.
Some of the most popular plants at Landscape Garden Centers includes:
- Sansevieria
- Philodendron
- Pothos
- Succulents and Cactus
- Ficus
- Hoya
- Calathea
- Monstera
- ZZ Plants
- Ferns
Here's the best thing about tropical plants is, they don't overwinter. They're not from here. They're not native to here. There's a few diehards that really want to try to bring them inside. You can bring them inside. In fact, a very good friend of mine will bring their hibiscus in every year. And these hibiscus trees have got to be, probably about five or six years old. And they bring them inside. Same rules apply to this tropical plant that now you're going to be making into a houseplant. You find a spot, it's spot. And you don't move it and you just take care of it. And you basically water it very infrequently. You don't fertilize it and you just let the plant sustain. There's not a lot of other things to do with it. You might have some bug issues here and there, but sometimes you can just handle those on kind of a case by case situation. Tropical plants, add pop. They're a great plant to use in a container. Make sure you give them lots of food and a lot of sunshine, and you're going to not be disappointed.