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.
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Mangave 'Mission to Mars' PP 29,393
Item #: 12945
Zones: 9a to 11, guessing
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 24" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: Hybrid
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $28.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Sold outMangave 'Night Owl' PP 38,403
Item #: 16603
Zones: Tropical
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 8" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: Hybrid
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $28.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Mangave 'Permanent Wave' PP 35,382
Item #: 17205
Zones: 7b to 11, guessing
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 18" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: Hybrid
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $25.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Mangave 'Pineapple Punch' PP 32,041
Item #: 16633
Zones: 8b to 11, guessing
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 18" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: Hybrid
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $30.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Mangave 'Praying Hands' PP 34,508
Item #: 16604
Zones: 9a to 10b, guessing
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 18" tall
Culture: Sun
Origin: Hybrid
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $35.00Regular priceUnit price per
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Mangave 'Purplicious'
Item #: 12946
Zones: 9a to 11, guessing
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 10" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: Hybrid
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $29.00Regular priceUnit price per
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Mangave 'Queen for a Day' PP 32,711
Item #: 14428
Zones: 9a to 11, guessing
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 18" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: Hybrid
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $38.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Sold outMangave 'Queen of Hearts'
Item #: 14250
Zones: Tropical
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 12" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: Hybrid
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $38.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Mangave 'Red Wing' PP 31,459
Item #: 13795
Zones: 9a to 11, guessing
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 16" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: Hybrid
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $29.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Mangave 'Snow Leopard' PP 31,137
Item #: 13854
Zones: 8a to 11, guessing
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 18" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: Hybrid
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $28.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Mangave 'Wag the Dog'
Item #: 16864
Zones: 9a to 11, guessing
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 9" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: Hybrid
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $28.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Manihot grahamii
Item #: 4164
Zones: 7b to 10b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 120" tall
Culture: Sun to Light Shade
Origin: Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $27.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Musa balbisiana var. balbisiana
Item #: 17448
Zones: 7b to 10b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 240" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: China, Papua New Guinea, Sikkim region of India, Vietnam
Pot Size: 3 qt. (2.8 L)
Regular price $35.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Musa basjoo
Item #: 3064
Zones: 7a to 10b, possibly colder
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 240" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: China
Pot Size: 3 qt. (2.8 L)
Regular price $32.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Musa 'Siam Ruby'
Item #: 7784
Zones: 9a to 10b, guessing
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 96" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: New Guinea
Pot Size: 2 qt. (1.9 L)
Regular price $35.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Musa velutina
Item #: 5925
Zones: 7b to 10b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 96" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: India
Pot Size: 2 qt. (1.9 L)
Regular price $32.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Musella lasiocarpa
Item #: 3813
Zones: 7a to 10b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 72" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: China
Pot Size: 3 qt. (2.8 L)
Regular price $32.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Neolepisorus fortunei 'Green Ribbons'
Item #: 10002
Zones: 7b to 10b
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 8" tall
Culture: Light Shade to Shade
Origin: China, India, Nepal
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $22.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Nerium oleander 'Mathilde Ferrier'
Item #: 3785
Zones: 7b to 10b
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 96" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: China
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $27.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Onoclea sensibilis 'Supersize'
Item #: 9212
Zones: 3a to 9b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 36" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Light Shade
Origin: United States
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $23.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Onoclea sensibilis 'Texas Too Tall'
Item #: 8279
Zones: 3a to 9b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 42" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Light Shade
Origin: United States
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $23.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Sold outOrixa japonica 'Pearl Frost'
Item #: 15656
Zones: 5b to 8a, at least
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 96" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Light Shade
Origin: Japan, Korea
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $35.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Orontium aquaticum 'Tidewater'
Item #: 13045
Zones: 5a to 8b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 12" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Light Shade
Origin: United States
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $24.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Pinellia x cortita 'Purple Dragon'
Item #: 16715
Zones: 5a to 9b, possibly colder
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 18" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Light Shade
Origin: Hybrid
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $26.00Regular 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.