One of my newer garden "rooms" is the Tropical Garden. This used to be the Auxiliary Veg garden, located near the top of the slope above the grape arbor and north of the Winter Garden. It is a sort of gateway garden leading into the Asian Garden area. A few years ago, I removed the fence around the area, contoured its outlines, put in a path, etc. For the past couple years, most of my cannas and colocasias have been there, along with some other "jungly" looking plants. Because I live in Zone 6, actual tropical plants are not an option except as summer residents (I store the cannas and colocasias indoors during the winter). I am slowly adding to the perennial, in-ground plants. I have 6 dark-red flowered hardy hibiscus that did very well last summer. Those huge exotic looking flowers were great! I added two more (pink, I think) last fall but don't see new growth yet, so that's a fingers-crossed. I put in a couple of very small clumps of miscanthus and both are doing well. Took a chance and left the "Hot Lips" Salvia in ground over the winter, with various kinds of protection. The 3 plants that were covered with leaves and then an upturned plastic bucket did excellently; 2 others with minimal cover not so good, and one that I tried covering with mounded dirt died. Live and learn. At least now I know that moderately tender perennials (I think these salvias are Zone 7) will survive our winters with substantial cover.
I'm eager to see if an experiment from last fall pays out: I transplanted two very young mimosa trees into the Tropical Garden, but I cut them down to about 18 inches tall. I don't want them as trees; I want to see if they will put out their typical leaf fronds that resemble ferns. That should give me a suitably "tropical" ferny look without actually using the big Ostrich ferns that probably won't do well in the Tropical Garden because it is (for now) full sun and on a well drained slope.
Yesterday I spent the entire morning working in the Tropical Garden, weeding and putting in the cannas and colocasias. I dug out a rampant clump of goldenrod and now I have a big empty spot crying for something...I'm thinking I'll put the 'Cosmopolitan' Miscanthus I jsut bought last week in there. Its height will work well. I'm wondering if I should go back to Snavely's and see if I can get another pot of the same grass....
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Today the cabbages go in the veg and then it's over to E's house to help her move some junk out. Our weather has been cool/warm and very overcast for the past several days. Light rain and some pretty heavy fog yesterday. Perfect gardening weather where ever the soil isn't too wet.
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