Hardy tropical plants can turn your temperate garden into an exotic tropical plant garden reminiscent of a Hawaiian rain forest with cold hardy tropical plants. You may be surprised at just how many varieties of tropical looking plants are hardy for your zone.
-
Colocasia esculenta 'Lemonade'
Item #: 8067
Zones: 7b to 10b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 84" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: Eastern Asia
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $27.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Colocasia esculenta 'Lemon-Lime Gecko'
Item #: 4915
Zones: 7b to 10b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 54" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: Eastern Asia
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $27.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Colocasia esculenta 'Maui Gold' PP 24,482
Item #: 2032
Zones: 7b to 10b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 48" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: Eastern Asia
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $27.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Colocasia esculenta 'Maui Sunrise' PP 31,175
Item #: 14267
Zones: 7b to 10b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 36" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: Eastern Asia
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $27.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Colocasia esculenta 'Mojito' PP 21,995
Item #: 8545
Zones: 7b to 10b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 36" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: Eastern Asia
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $27.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Colocasia esculenta 'Pharaoh's Mask' PP 33,772
Item #: 15723
Zones: 7b to 10b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 42" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: Eastern Asia
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $35.00Regular priceUnit price perNext crop available: 06/28/2024Sold out -
Colocasia esculenta 'Redemption' PP 34,729
Item #: 17918
Zones: 7b to 10b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 48" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: Eastern Asia
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $35.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Colocasia esculenta var. antiquorum 'Black Beauty'
Item #: 7727
Zones: 7a to 10b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 30" tall
Culture: Sun to Light Shade
Origin: Eastern Asia
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $26.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Colocasia esculenta 'Waikiki' PP 34,615
Item #: 17034
Zones: 7b to 10b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 42" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: Eastern Asia
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $28.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Colocasia esculenta 'White Lava' PP 24,481
Item #: 2867
Zones: 7b to 10b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 36" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: Eastern Asia
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $27.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Colocasia fallax
Item #: 2600
Zones: 7b to 10b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 18" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Shade
Origin: China, Thailand, Vietnam
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $26.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Colocasia (Leucocasia) gigantea 'Survivor'
Item #: 4692
Zones: 7b to 10b, at least
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 96" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: China
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $28.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Colocasia (Leucocasia) gigantea 'Thailand Giant'
Item #: 5896
Zones: 8a to 10b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 108" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: Thailand
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $28.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Coniogramme emeiensis 'Golden Zebra'
Item #: 6949
Zones: 7b to 9b, at least
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 24" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Light Shade
Origin: China
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $25.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Coniogramme intermedia 'Yoroi Musha'
Item #: 9022
Zones: 7b to 10b, possibly colder
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 36" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Shade
Origin: China, Japan, Korea
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $25.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Sold out
Coniogramme japonica
Item #: 4877
Zones: 7b to 9b, at least
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 24" tall
Culture: Light Shade to Shade
Origin: China, Japan, Korea
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $23.00Regular priceUnit price perNext crop available: 05/17/2024Sold out -
Crambe maritima
Item #: 14328
Zones: 5b to 7b, at least
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 36" tall
Culture: Sun
Origin: Denmark, Europe, France, Norway, Spain, United Kingdom
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $22.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Cuphea cyanea 'Ashevilla'
Item #: 11924
Zones: 7a to 10b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 12" tall
Culture: Sun to Light Shade
Origin: Mexico
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $22.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Cuphea micropetala
Item #: 6807
Zones: 7b to 10b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 42" tall
Culture: Sun
Origin: Mexico
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $22.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Curcuma 'Pink Wonder'
Item #: 5679
Zones: 7b to 10b
Dormancy: Winter, Spring
Height: 84" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Light Shade
Origin: India
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $27.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Sold out
Cycas x taitoluta
Item #: 10570
Zones: 8a to 10b, at least
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 96" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: Hybrid
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $55.00Regular priceUnit price perNext crop available: 04/25/2025Sold out -
Cynara cardunculus
Item #: 4949
Zones: 7b to 9b
Dormancy: Summer
Height: 36" tall
Culture: Sun
Origin: Morocco
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $22.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Dahlia imperialis 'Double or Nothing'
Item #: 5926
Zones: 7b to 9b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 108" tall
Culture: Sun
Origin: Central America
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $26.00Regular priceUnit price perNext crop available: 05/17/2024Sold out -
Dracunculus canariensis
Item #: 17657
Zones: 9a to 11
Dormancy: Summer, Fall
Height: 36" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Light Shade
Origin: Canary Islands, Madeira
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $30.00Regular priceUnit price per
More Information About Tropical Looking Plants
It's a jungle out there! We have a large selection of cold hardy tropical plants including Curcuma (Hidden Cone Ginger), Canna (Canna Lilies), Musa (Banana), Hedychium (Ginger Lilies) and more. These exotic plants make your temperate garden resemble a tropical paradise.
Some of us here in the cool latitudes (and even some people in the nerdy latitudes) have exotic plant envy and want a garden full of tropical looking plants. Luckily for us, there are a few equatorial plants that have developed some cold hardiness and there are a few temperate zone plants with a distinct tropical exotic plant look. Make your temperate garden reminiscent of Hawaii today with tropical-looking exotic plants like bananas, cannas and aroids.
Hardy Tropical Plants
Exactly which cold hardy tropical plants you can grow in your garden depends on where you live. In our zone 7b garden in Raleigh, NC we have many hardy tropical plants for sale including:
- Bananas like Musa, Musella, and Ensete
- Large-leaved perennials and tall perennials like Tetrapanax, Philodendron, Heliconia, Manihot, Hedychium, Canna, and Curcuma
- Hardy forms of exotic tropical ginger lilies like Zingiber and Alpinia
- Elephant ears like Colocasia, Alocasia, Remusatia
- Exotic aroids like Amorphophallus
- Tropical tall ornamental grasses and other grass-like plants such as Arundo, Saccharum and Chlorophytum
- Exotic-looking bamboos like Fargesia, Borinda and Bambusa
- Shade-loving exotic plants like Aspidistra, Rohdea and Tupistra
- Tropical flowering exotic plants like Bauhinia, Begonia, Cuphea, Gloxinia and tropical Dahlia
- Woody-perennials like Cycas, Hibiscus, Abutilon and Brugmansia
- Tropical-looking hardy Ferns like Coniogramme
- Hardy Palm trees such as Phoenix, Sabal, Washingtonia, Rhapidophyllum and Butia
Exotic Desert Plants
In addition, there are certain temperate zone and desert plants that are distinctly exotic- looking in temperate climates including:
- Succulents like Agave, Aloe, Yucca, Dyckia, Echeveria, Nolina, Opuntia and Dasylirion
- Bulbs like Dracunculus, Zantedeschia and Hymenocallis
- South African natives like Eucomis and Scadoxus
- Ferns like Onoclea, Thelypteris and Pteris
The list below contains many more cold hardy tropical plants for all types of gardens. When you are ready to buy tropical looking plants for your garden, check out our online list of exotic plants for sale.
Additional Resources
Read our article - How to Over-winter Tropical Plants
Check out our Gardening Unplugged videos
Gardening Unplugged is our series of short garden chats recorded during our Open Nursery and Garden Days.