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Pets of the Plant Kingdom |
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Speaking a thousand words of beauty and serenity around Tropicana with colour and flamboyance… |
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Hamelia Patens
Also known as the Fire Bush, this native of tropical America, sometimes also called the Firecracker Plant, has pale green rounded leaves and small, tubular red-orange flowers. |
Though it can grow to 2 meters or more in height, it responds well to hard pruning and can be used to make a dense medium-sized hedge or an attractive shaped plant; pruning however, inhibits the blossoms, which appear at the ends of the branches. Hamelia likes full sun and very well-drained soil. Propagation is easy by means of cuttings.
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Heliconia Latispatha
Heliconia, the only genus in the family Heliconiaceae, is among the fastest-expanding groups of ornamental plants. Fred Berry and W John Kress, who published the first book on the subject in 1991, estimated that there were from 200 to 250 named species and almost that many forms of cultivars.
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Heliconia ranges in size from small H. stricta form known as ‘Dwarf Jamaican’ through medium-sized, like H. psittacorum; to giants like H. caribeae, which can reach up to 3 meters. Growing from underground rhizomes, all have erect shoots and leaves that be vertically arranged like those of a banana, horizontally like those of a ginger, or obliquely like members of the genus Canna. The most common colours are bright red or yellow, often a combination of the two, but there are numerous others, ranging from pale pink to very dark wine.
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Anthurium Andraeabum ‘Rubrum’
The genus Anthurium, the largest in the Aroid family, contains more that 700 species. Some are grown for their decorative foliage, but perhaps the best known to plant lovers who live outside the tropics are those with beautifully coloured ‘flowers’, which are actually large spathes, or leaf bracts, surrounding the fleshy flower spikes. |
| The best known is A. andraeanum, sometimes referred to as the Flamingo Flower, which has bright red glossy spathes. Discovered in 1876 in Colombia, it proved a sensation in European glasshouses and nurseries and was used to produce numerous hybrids with spathes in varying shades of pink and pure white. It requires filtered sunlight and a moist but very well-drained growing medium; in pots, this is often a mixture of soil, fiber, and broken bricks, with regular application of liquid fertilizer. Propagation is by means of offshoots from the parent plant. |
Costus Spiralis – Scarlet Spiral Flag
This group includes a number of ginger-like herbaceous plants that rise up to a meter or so from the ground and have spiraling leaves. Costus prefers light shade and moist but well-drained soil; some species may die back during a prolonged dry season but will return with the rains. Propagation is by clump division.
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Alpinia Purpurata ‘The Red Ginger’
Resembling Zingiber, the true ginger, in appearance, Aplinia grows in clusters that consist of long stems with often large leaves and, on many, very conspicuous flowers - actually bracts - that appear at the tops of the stems. |
Because of its lush appearance (the stems may reach 2 meters or more in height) and it’s long lasting flowers, it is amongst the most widely used of tropical garden ornaments. The Red Ginger has bright red bracts that cover the small white true flowers; amongst its numerous cultivars are pink and white-flowering varieties, on some of which the flowers are exceptionally large and rounded. Alpinia likes full sun or partial shade, moist, well-drained soil, and protection from strong winds. Propagation is by means of root division. |
Tristellateia Australasiae
The bright yellow, star-shaped flowers that appear in sprays almost all the time on this climber from Malaysia and Australia look very much like those of the shrub Galphimia glauca, hence its popular name.
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Each flower consists of five yellow petals and a cluster of short, red stamens; the leaves are pale green and tend to fold along the middle. Given good soil, Tristellateia grow quickly and makes a decorative covering for a garden fence or trellis. It prefers a sunny location and regular manuring. Propagation is by means of cuttings or seeds, which are produced freely.
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Spathiphlylum
The genus Spathiphlylum includes around 40 species, most of which are from tropical America. With its broad, dark green leaves and prominent, snow white spathes, it has become a popular house plant, but in a tropical garden it makes a very attractive ground cover for areas that are shady or receive only filtered sunlight. |
It will however adapt to quite strong sun. Spathiphlylum always requires moist but well-drained soil and, once established in the ground, will spread rapidly; some of the larger hybrids multiply more slowly but need ample room in which to spread their leaves. Propagation is by means of offshoots. |
Plumbago Auriculata
A native of the Cape Province of South Africa, Plumbago is popular in both tropical and sub-tropical gardens because of its delicate blue flowers; there is also white-flowering cultivar.
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It is by nature a woody climbing shrub – with support it can reach several meters in height – but in the tropics it is seen more often as a low plant used for hedges. It tolerates both drought and poor soil and does best at slightly higher altitudes; heavy rainfall tends to beat down the flowers and leaves. Plumbago requires full sun and grows best if it is heavily pruned from time to time, even cut back to the ground. Propagation is from green cuttings or by division of older plants.
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