While visiting a friend of mine, who is also an educator and a gardener, he showed me some tropical plants he had been growing. Though the bananas are in the greenhouse, he has managed to plant some papaya and pineapple outside.
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| A banana tree growing in a greenhouse |
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A papaya tree in Tucson
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| Growing Pineapples in Tucson can be a bit risky. |
I may take my chances in my gardening aspirations, but I don’t think I am ready to try growing tropical plants in a Zone 9 climate. I really think what my friend is doing is cool – though I personally have neither the time nor the desire to experiment with exotic tropical plants.
I love the little pineapple growing...what fun to experiment...I would need a greenhouse heated to grow tropicals but it does sound like fun.
ReplyDeleteMost tropic are annuals here, but I do grow some tropical looking plants in my 7b-8a climate. Tropicana Canna Lily comes back reliably every year. I enjoyed my red banana plant enormously this year. It looks very tropical, and while it is dormant now, I am hopeful it will emerge from its blanket of mulch in the spring.
ReplyDeleteI'm also in Zone 9 and like your friend, I'm trying to grow ALL that stuff. My latest acquisition are male and female kiwi plants. We'll give you time. Eventually, the bug will bite.
ReplyDeleteExperimenting is like exploring... sometimes you find something wonderful and worthwhile. Kudos to those who do!
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