Hi Stan It surprises me! Foreigners are allowed to own houses in Morocco, and a lot of Europeans acquired Moroccan style houses in Tangier as well as in other cities. Among American celebrities, Malcolm Forbes, Barbara Hutton and Paul Bowles lived in Tangier. The first one had a palace that featured a lead soldiers museum appearing in "The Living Daylights" James Bond's movie. Whith regard to the difference between SoCal and here, I would say that your winter highs are higher than Tangier's while your summer are cooler than ours. Winter rainfall is also significantly greater here, but despite of this my young Keitt mango tree starts blooming! I thought that mangos require a dry period to bloom. Anyways, I will prune it because it is still weak. Jalilu

For what it is worth: the hardiest Hedychiums I am aware of are H. spicatum and H. densiflorum. H. forrestii is probably a variant of H. spicatum (you might try asking David Constantine or checking his website). They are both naturally deciduous, unlike many Gingers. I suspect they are hardy to USDA z7, and I'm pretty sure they tolerate a few degrees below zero Fahrenheit. You might be able to push them a little by mulching them. The risk to them is that the rhizomes--which unfortunately are prone to creeping along or just under the surface of the earth--must not freeze. If your winters are dry (and they probably are) you might be able to protect them with a thick enough leafy mulch before the first freeze hits. This is a long shot but there are people who grow all sorts of surprising things by piling vast amounts of mulch on them. Gingers are hard to move in and out of doors, the reason being that they are one of those plants that transplant poorly dormant. If the rhizomes are damaged while they are dormant, they might rot. If growing in earnest, you can take small pieces of rhizome and get them started with no problem, usually. I learned about this the hard way, having wrecked my clump of Zingiber myoga trying to divide it dormant. It never fully recovered, and is only a shadow of its former glory. It has taken years to recover as much as it has. The guy in Michigan might be doing something tricky like plunging the whole pot (so as not to disturb the rhizomes too much). I don't know where Cautleyas and Roscoeas become possible. They do not deal well with high heat. My own climate has fairly cool summers so that is not a problem. Even in Seattle, tho, they flop over in particularly hot weather, and won't resuscitate until the weather cools down. Cautleyas are probably intermediate between Hedychiums and Roscoeas. Not quite as alpinish as Roscoeas. There are all of about 3 species. Very tropical-looking but not quite as showy as Hedychiums, or as vigorous or lush. Zingiber myoga is weirdly hardy for a Zingiber. Easy to grow, too. It would probably need a mulch, tho. You can harvest it and use it just like culinary ginger; its the ginger you find in sushi bars stained pink (the pink traditionally from shiso leaves) called "myoga" (fancy that). The Japanese tend to harvest it young but you could harvest it fully ripe if you want something stronger. The flowers are, alas, small, and almost hidden under the leaves; they grow on short stocks at the base of the plants. This is typical of the genus. The flowers are yellowish or off-white. The Japanese have been known to dip them in tempura batter and deep-fry them. NOT A GINGER, but looks vaguely like one, is Pollia japonica, actually a member of the Tradescantia family, which also happens to be weirdly hardy for its own family. Look it up on the internet. It is easy to grow to the point of being weedy and is almost certainly hardy in USDA z5. One of its relations is cultivated in the south and (mistakenly) called "Blue Ginger". Asarums are not Gingers and it is unfortunate that people keep calling them such. Their rhizomes reminded someone of Ginger (someone who doesn't really know what Ginger smells like) and the name stuck. Not only that, but the more beautiful of them are probably not ironclad hardy in your climate. Actually they do bloom; they are not as showy as real Gingers and the flowers are hidden under the leaves, but some of them have blossoms that are "interesting" and kinda pretty in a grotesque way. (Many of them are slug pollinated so what do you expect?). Some of the Chinese species have rather striking leaves.

Amongst the best palms for the PNW would be the Windmill Palm, Trachycarpus fortunei, which is the palm in the pool photo. Other species of this genus to look for would include the more refined leaf form of T. wagneriana or T. takil. A smaller growing fan palm that is also perfectly hardy is the Mediterranean Fan Palm, Chamaerops humilis. There is also a lovely silver leafed version, C. humilis var cerifera. You might also be interested to try growing one of the hardier feather palms, such as Butia capitata, the Pindo Palm. Other subtropical plants that are often used in PNW gardens for a tropical effect would include the various Phormium hybrids, Cordyline australis hybrids and cultivars, and Beschorneria yuccoides. The silvery foliage of Astelias, which much resemble Phormiums in habit, are also quite hardy for Seattle, and would include the larger growing Astelia chathamica 'Silver Spear', and others such as A. nervosa 'Red Gem' or similar. Fatsia japonica is always a reliable tropical looking foliage plant. Usually not quite hardy as year round perennials in all but the mildest PNW locations, but great as temperennials, the Abutilons of all colors are great filler plants. Bergenia was already mentioned, but this is a great foliage plant that also blooms in late winter, and is fully hardy, coming from Russia. Winter deciduous subtropicals such as the various Hedychiums are also great, such as H. gardnerianum, H. flavescens, H. greenei. Cautleya spicata is also quite nice, and is quite colorful with summer blooms of red and yellow, and will even bloom in a fair amount of shade. My favorite Canna varieties for tropical flair would have to include the very tall growing C. ehemannii, which can get 10 feet tall, and has smaller rose red pendant flowers that cleanly drop off when done blooming. If you want dramatic foliage that is the equal of a Gunnera, you might also consider planting the Rice Paper Plant, Tetrapanax papyriferus, but this will probably be killed back to the roots in winter in most PNW locations. Melianthus major is another great foliage plant, but will often be killed back to the roots outside USDA zone 9a conditions. As to Acanthus, you should also look for the attractive A. spinosus, which has distinctive looking leaves. Acanthus does perfectly well in full sun in more coastal locations that don't get the baking summer heat of interior Oregon, but in its native Mediterranean habitats it will also quite willingly grow in full sun locations as well. In dry summer locations, it will go summer deciduous, and come back into growth with fall rains. In irrigated gardens, the yellowing, heat damaged foliage can simply be pruned off, and it will often push new foliage immediately if watered and fertilized, or can be allowed to wait until it cools off and starts raining again.

Most plants that can't take going dormant and dying back to the roots will not tolerate winter long/no sunlight conditions. The few plants that can be induced to do that are things like Brugmansia, Iochroma, Cestrum, etc, but only if they were large enough to have sufficient energy stored in the roots to allow them to resprout and grow in the spring. Otherwise, you are best off with tropicals that grow into subtropical areas and are accustomed to freezing back to the roots occasionally, and will regrow. These types of plants would include the bulbous sorts like the Alocasias, Colocasias, Hedychiums, Alpinias, Cautleyas, etc. Other subtropical/mediterranean bulbs would also fit into this treatment, such as Calla Lilies, Cannas, Agapanthus, and many others. I can tell you without question, there are no bromeliads that can be put into the dark all winter and regrow in the spring. Any plant that is typically slower in growth and has evergreen leaves that it keeps for years at a time will typically not survive those conditions. There are a few deciduous species of Bromeliads such as Pitcairnea species that can lose all their foliage under drought stress and then regrow, but these wouldn't be common plants you would likely be able to purchase in any case, so these exceptions don't outweigh the general statement about bromeliads. There is lots of information out there both on this forum and the internet in general about what plants people dig up and overwinter without heat and/or sunlight over winter, you just need to do a proper search.