On the recent weekend trip my wife and I took, we saw some plants that looked very tropical, but were growing in Kentucky. So I did some research and found that this whole area (the Ohio River Valley) is considered Zone 6 for growing, and there are many tropical looking plants for our area.
Well, now I can bring a bit of the Caribbean to my backyard. Here is one of those plants;
This is a Musa Basjoo. It is actually a Banana plant, although the fruit is not edible I guess. I read that these things can grow up to 2 - 3 feet per week. Plus, they can get to about 15 - 18 feet high. So that will look sweet in our backyard. It also can handle up to -20F.
I’m really going for the tropical, prehistoric look. Because I can’t always make it to Jamaica, I want to feel as if I’m there.
There are many other plants that you can get for this area that look tropical, and my wife and I plan on getting a lot of them. The backyard is a bit overgrown, the previous owners had spent over $17,000 in landscaping, but didn’t do a lot of upkeep.
I know, this isn’t a normal post about the beach, Jamaica or the Caribbean, but I am trying to make my yard look as much like them as possible since I can’t always get there.
Responses
Is everything ok?? I really hope of yes. ^.^
*hugs*
By: Smallstar on June 7th, 2008
at 5:31 pm
You could grow Okra. It is an annual that is a member of the hibiscus family. It is a tropical plant and gets beautiful flowers and a few days later, the seed pod can be cut off and eaten. I have TONS of it growing in my garden at the firehouse. I have planted some out front as an ornamental. If you do not get a dwarf hybrid, it can get as tall as 8 feet. The dwarf varieties usually do not get taller than 6 feet.
By: Steve on June 23rd, 2008
at 12:14 am
