Newb on a tropical mission...
 

What's up folks...I'm Pete.


I figured I'd check out the info on the site and try to learn a thing or two. I'm from just outside Atlanta, and the fiance and I have decided to transform a huge area of our back yard to "little Hawaii." We both lived and met there, and decided it would give us a nice reminder as well as a good background setting to tie the knot.

So far,we have 5 abyssinians, 3 musa basjoo, and 2 supposed California gold plants..waiting on the cg's in the mail...but the rest are on the porch until we get some landscape work outta the way. One basjoo already sprouted pups too.

Gonna be adding as much "cold hardy" tropical foliage as we can. We have quite a few small palms (pindo, blue fan, sago, and cabbage) and soon to get a couple large ones (cabbage, windmill, euro fan). Any suggestions would be great! We aren't afraid to give something a shot, and need some good tropical fillets before our wedding in September, so fast growers are a must.

Anyways...that's me. Glad to find the site...pics of the area done soon cause I know people love pics Haha..

Re: Newb on a tropical mission...
 

Keep shopping and searching the site. Plenty of the members sell pups and corms so you should be able to find what will work for you. Might be a good idea to plan on some large containers to grow is so sensitive plants can be moved to protect. Good luck.

Re: Newb on a tropical mission...
 

Well, I plan on planting most in the ground for now, and mulching over the ones that are necessary...we basically wanna test the waters since it stays relatively warm here in our area. Plus, we figured the ga red clay would help keep things a little warmer in the winter. Pots will come into play next year when we figure out what won't fair well here....and I'm going to try everything I cab down to bird of paradise!

Re: Newb on a tropical mission...
 

Good luck my brother

Re: Newb on a tropical mission...
 

Welcome! How cold does it get there in most winters? What does "stays pretty warm" really mean? ;)

Re: Newb on a tropical mission...
 

Well...it stays warmer than I remember GA from before I left...I just came back a year and a half ago from living in Hawaii, so it wasn't really "warm" Haha...but i don't recall a day under 20 degress this past winter, and since we have been "rezoned" in my area, I'm assuming that is the new norm here.

Re: Newb on a tropical mission...
 

Besides- the Bananas and Palms, to do the "tropical thing" here in the SE you'll want Lots of Elephant Ears, Gingers, and Cannas-

Re: Newb on a tropical mission...
 

I was thinking the ginger would be nice....elephant ears, we have about 4 different kinda right now and gonna also try the colocasia gigantea and alocasia borneo giant and see how they fair....we have a decent sized yard, and it is all a blank slate....we have around 1/2 acre of solid play area, some inside the fence and some behind it once we clear the vines. We are doing our own version of "yard crashers" on a small budget lol...I didn't think about cannas, though. Do they do well in the SE?

Re: Newb on a tropical mission...
 

Cannas do great here- the only problem I have are leaf rollers. For Gingers-Hedychium (butterfly ginger) and Curcuma (hidden Ginger). Those are Hardy here- actually there's a canna Called "bird of Paradise" that looks a lot like one in the leaves. Bird of Paradise won't be hardy for you outside. Also I tried borneo Giant and it didn't survive here, but Portora does survive well.
Check out Brian's Botanical's "cold hard tropicals" section an see what you like....
My wife's from the tropics so we've been going for that look here.
These are some shots from my yard last year:

Re: Newb on a tropical mission...
 

Which ones are all the big leaf plants you have? That looks great..very similar to what we are going form!

Re: Newb on a tropical mission...
 

The Largest are the Colocasia Thai Giant- Those need to be overwinterd indoors.
The ones in the Last Picture are yautia (Xanthosoma) that we got from a latin Grocery store.

Re: Newb on a tropical mission...
 

:03:Welcome! Beautiful yard!:03:

Re: Newb on a tropical mission...
 

Haha...thanks...but the yard isn't mine..It's mbfirey's...he was posting to show me some things that would work for mine

Re: Newb on a tropical mission...
 

:ha::ha::ha:Oh.........well it is a beautiful yard something to strive for huh?

Re: Newb on a tropical mission...
 

Thanks I also just started this is only the 2nd year that I've done a lot...

Re: Newb on a tropical mission...
 

It is a beautiful yard! I took your advice....ordered a bengel tiger canna and a tropicanna canna. I will buy some ginger locally because we found some kinds that we like....we also have Mexican bamboo, narrow clumping bamboo, and another thin reed style bamboo started from sprigs in a pot...the Mexican bamboo is beautiful and creates a nice tropical looking bush...you should check it out.

Re: Newb on a tropical mission...
 

Be VERY careful with Mexican Bamboo! I'd risk Standard Bamboo before trying Mexican Bamboo- Do a google search or look at Dave's garden- it can be very invasive.
Found this reference:
"Japanese knotweed (Polygonum cuspidatum)
Introduced in the late 1800s as an ornamental, we are still wondering why. It’s not that attractive, but boy is it everywhere. Bamboo-like, it grows to 10 feet tall and forms dense colonies from its root stock (rhizomes). Ubiquitous and aggressive, particularly along riversides, but also common along roadways. It is a pernicious weed, monopolizing the banks of the Bronx River, and many, many other locations. Once established, it is extremely difficult to eradicate, making this ‘Freckles’ cultivar an insidious purchase, despite its cutesy name."