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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Sold outAgave titanota 'Banana Peel'
Item #: 9348
Zones: 9a to 10b
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 12" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: Mexico
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $38.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Agave titanota 'Dusty Roads'
Item #: 12342
Zones: 9a to 11
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 24" tall
Culture: Sun
Origin: Mexico
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $100.00Regular priceUnit price per
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Sold outAgave titanota 'Genryu Kifukurin'
Item #: 8983
Zones: 9a to 10b, at least
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 12" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: Mexico
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $38.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Sold outAgave titanota 'Mean Streak'
Item #: 9527
Zones: 9a to 10b, at least
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 18" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: Mexico
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $50.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Agave titanota 'Snaggle Tooth'
Item #: 13801
Zones: 9a to 11
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 18" tall
Culture: Sun
Origin: Mexico
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $75.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Sold outAgave titanota 'Solar Eclipse'
Item #: 9692
Zones: 9a to 11
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 18" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: Mexico
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $45.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Sold outAgave titanota 'X-Rays'
Item #: 11077
Zones: 9a to 10b, at least
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 12" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: Mexico
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $38.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Agave x victoferox 'Upstanding'
Item #: 16164
Zones: 7b to 10b
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 36" tall
Culture: Sun
Origin: Hybrid
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $35.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Agave victoriae-reginae 'Golden Surprise'
Item #: 2148
Zones: 8b to 11, guessing
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 15" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: Mexico
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $32.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Sold outAgave victoriae-reginae 'Kizan'
Item #: 8834
Zones: 8b to 11, guessing
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 12" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: Mexico
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $38.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Sold outAgave victoriae-reginae 'Lemonade'
Item #: 12175
Zones: 8a to 10b, guessing
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 12" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: Mexico
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $38.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Agave victoriae-reginae 'Porcupine'
Item #: 8390
Zones: 7b to 10b
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 10" tall
Culture: Sun
Origin: Mexico
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $34.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Agave victoriae-reginae 'Sun King'
Item #: 13522
Zones: 8b to 11, guessing
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 12" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: Mexico
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $38.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Agave victoriae-reginae 'Tora Fu'
Item #: 8599
Zones: 8a to 10b, guessing
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 10" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: Mexico
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $38.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Agave victoriae-reginae 'Kazo Bana'
Item #: 7806
Zones: 8a to 10b, guessing
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 10" tall
Culture: Sun
Origin: Mexico
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $32.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Sold outAgave vilmoriniana 'Stained Glass'
Item #: 11904
Zones: 9a to 11
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 48" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: Mexico
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $38.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Sold outAgave xylonacantha 'Frostbite'
Item #: 8723
Zones: 9a to 10b, guessing
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 18" tall
Culture: Sun
Origin: Mexico
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $32.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Sold outAlocasia 'Architexture'
Item #: 14782
Zones: 7b to 10b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 72" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: Hybrid
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $34.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Alocasia cucullata 'Yellow Tail'
Item #: 7588
Zones: 7b to 10b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 36" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: Burma/Myanmar, India
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $29.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Alocasia 'Dark Star' PP 29,870
Item #: 15718
Zones: 7b to 10b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 72" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: Hybrid
Pot Size: 2 qt. (1.9 L)
Regular price $29.00Regular priceUnit price per
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Alocasia macrorrhizos
Item #: 1160
Zones: 7b to 10b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 72" tall
Culture: Sun to Light Shade
Origin: India
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $29.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Alocasia macrorrhizos 'Shock Treatment'
Item #: 7121
Zones: 7b to 10b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 36" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: Vietnam
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $32.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Alocasia 'Portodora'
Item #: 3654
Zones: 7b to 10b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 96" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: Hybrid
Pot Size: 2 qt. (1.9 L)
Regular price $29.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Alocasia wentii
Item #: 2967
Zones: 7b to 10b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 36" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Light Shade
Origin: New Guinea
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $29.00Regular 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.