Drooling here.

Annette

Those are awesome Nell! I am afraid I do not know anything about those plants, but they are really neat. I love tropicals. I am allready designing out a tropical garden in my head...
Are they all hardy in GA? Do they grow year round?
CMK

The only one I'm familiar with is the princess flower. I'm bad with botanical names. Your photo looked familiar, but I had to Google to be sure, lol.

I have one up against the privacy fence and forget about it every year until I see those blooms from a distance. I thought it was already blooming until I took a closer look the other day and realized the neighbor's Mexican petunia has taken up residence in my yard too, lol.

Exotic stuff!! Here in the northeast, these pictures are as close as I get to them. But I feel your excitement!

Christin, I'm at the upper limits of tropical growing, in the southernmost part of Georgia. If it grows in Tallahassee, FL (north FL) it usually survives here, too. I grow things in the ground here, like Purple Heart, Shrimp Plant and Spider Plant, that my mother used to grow as houseplants in north Georgia.

Crinums and Pride of Barbados overwinter here, nipped back by frost to sprout in spring. Reportedly, so will Tibouchina and Heliconia, but I choose to keep them over inside for an early spring start. I learned a lot last winter about what doesn't need to come inside for the winter. Hedychium, for instance, needs to die to the ground.

Everybody can use some tropicals ourdoors in summer, as evidenced by books like those by Pam Baggett and Professor Iversen.

Nell

Exotic stuff for me too! I am not familiar with any of them.

Lucky getting the inch of rain. We have just had a couple of very light showers and could use a soaking.

Looking forward to the tropicals fully opening.

The anticipation is tough. When I am waiting for something to open, that's the first thing I check each morning.
All of those grow here also. I have some of each. I had never heard of tibochina until Diane took pics in her son's yard in CA.
A couple years ago I stopped at a hardware store out in the country and they had some for sale. I must have the only ones in San Antonio.

Nice!
I too can grow some subtropicals hardy in the ground such as the purple creeper, a good selection of crinum and I've heard some years tibouchina and spider plant can be OK. Also a few typical houseplants can overwinter here I've heard such as schifferilla (sp?). I think that this far north it depends on microclimate.

The Heliconia will grow nicely in the ground. I don't think I have ever seen one freeze. It always needs a bit of a haircut to spruce it up in spring, but that is just because we don't normally do much with them over winter. I have them in big pots that set out by themselves, and they don't freeze.

I don't have much luck with Tibouchina, and I don't know why. It is probably that 'marigold' thing, in that I just can't grow them. They hate me.

I have 'Ellen Bosanquet', and I love your canna with her.

I have a huge clump of 'Mrs. James Hendry' to divide. When is the best time to do that?

Please be sure to post pics of the blooms!

Janie

Those are going to be really nice. You won't be disappointed. My Helen Bosanquet started blooming last week. It's my favorite crinum, in fact, it's the only one I grow anymore. Do you know which Heliconia you have? I had heliconia psittacorum, last year, but temps. got down to 28, and it didn't come back. If the one you have is a little hardier, I'll have to find me some.
Jim

Gorgeous! Such wonderful colors and textures.

Cameron

I envy your ability to grow the tropicals! The last one looks especially intriguing.

Oh those are beautiful. I have a tibouchina...have posted pics each year. I bought two years ago and forgot them. One comes back each year after it dies to the ground. It is under the jasmine in the pool area so that protection must be enough here in central AL> c

{{gwi:692335}}
Blooming July 2.