(Clivia, Victorian Peach® Clivia)

Attractive and adaptable, Victorian Peach® is a selection of an evergreen herbaceous perennial from South Africa, and produces umbels of large, creamy yellow, trumpet-shaped flowers with peach throats in the early spring. The flowers rise on sturdy stems from a graceful fountain of large, strappy, dark-green leaves joined in a thick base. Red berries follow the flowers. When the plant is not in flower, the leaves remain showy.

This bulb-like perennial thrives in partial shade and humus-rich, well-drained...

(Trumpet Vine)

This largely tropical plant family comprises some 800 species of often showy-flowered vines, trees, and shrubs. Most members of the Bignoniaceae inhabit South America, but a few are of North American or Old World origin. Many are cultivated as garden or greenhouse ornamentals, and a few are grown for timber.

The opposite or whorled leaves of these woody plants are palmately or pinnately compound (with leaflets in a finger- or feather-like arrangement), or sometimes simple. The showy, five-petaled,...

(Argentine Trumpet Vine, Painted Trumpet, Violet Trumpet Vine)

What a beautiful flowering vine for southern climes! A South American native, violet trumpet vine is a vigorous, evergreen climber with glossy dark green leaves. From spring to summer it produces many tubular, five-petaled blooms of pale lavender-blue to lavender-rose with darker veining and pale yellow throats. These are attractive to bees and hummingbirds and are followed by prickly green fruits.

Violet trumpet vine grows and flowers best in full to partial sun and average to fertile soil...

(Chaya)

A vegetable popular in the tropical Americas, chaya sometimes known as tree spinach is considered by some experts as one of the most nutritious of the leafy greens. It originates from the Yucatan and is now naturalized in warm areas of the Americas. Fast growing, of easy culture and underutilized, this green must be boiled for one to five minutes before eating, the leaves are poisonous when raw.

Classified in the same family as poinsettia and croton, chaya is a tender perennial which forms...

(Sea Grape)

Seagrape brings to mind sand, sun, and beaches, which is its native habitat from Florida to the Caribbean and South America. It can grow into a multi-trunked tree or sprawling shrub, depending on site conditions. Its leaves are large and circular with a rounded cleft at the base. Leaf color is dull green, often with red veins, and new leaves are often red-bronze. Its fragrant flowers are inconspicuous, ivory-colored and appear on stalked spikes. Plants are dioecious, meaning that male and female...

(Brazilian Rose, Buttercup-tree)

Austere, barren skeletal branches are seen on the buttercup-tree for nearly half of the year, but the ornate yellow flowers in late winter remind you the tree is still alive. This fast-growing deciduous tree is native to the arid savannahs and scrublands of Mexico and Central America. The tree is upright in habit, but the awkwardly oval canopy reveals stubby, random branches. Bark is pale gray, adding to the tree's ghostly look.

The green leaves are palmately compound, looking like hands or...

(Coconut Palm)

This is perhaps the most visually recognizable, romantic palm in the world. Coconut palm is commonly associated with the beaches of the South Pacific but is found in coastal tropical areas worldwide. It is a true palm that produces a crown of large, feathery palm leaves at the top of its long, bare trunk.

The large, pinnate leaves of coconut palm are deep green, sometimes with yellow petioles. Mature specimens produce branching inflorescences with numerous tassels of yellow male and female...

(Coconut Palm)

Coconut is perhaps the most visually recognizable, romantic palm in the world. The cultivar 'Golden Malay' produces fruits with yellow husks, and is reputed to be resistant to lethal yellowing disease. Coconut palm is commonly associated with the beaches of the South Pacific but is found in coastal tropical areas worldwide. It is a true palm that produces a crown of large, feathery palm leaves at the top of its long, bare trunk.

The large, pinnate leaves of coconut palm are deep green, sometimes...

(Coconut Palm)

Coconut is perhaps the most visually recognizable, romantic palm in the world. A hybrid of 'Panama Tall' and 'Malayan Dwarf', the cultivar 'Maypan' combines the former's height and cold hardiness with the latter's relative resistance to lethal yellowing disease. Coconut palm is commonly associated with the beaches of the South Pacific but is found in coastal tropical areas worldwide. It is a true palm that produces a crown of large, feathery palm leaves at the top of its long, bare trunk.

The...

(Croton)

Codiaeum variegatum, more commonly known as croton, is an evergreen native to Malaysia and islands in the western Pacific. The flowers are insignificant but the foliage comes in a wide variety of brightly splashed or spotted, smooth, ruffled or twisted shapes. Mature crotons are "V" shaped.

Crotons grow best in well-drained soil and in full sun to partial shade; in hot sunny climates they look best if shaded from the hottest sun of the day. Too much sun will bleach the color out of the leaves...