Foliage in the Tropical Garden

The most important element in any tropical garden is foliage. You could easily create a gorgeous tropical garden without flowers, without hard landscaping, or without garden art — but never without lots of lush, sensuous foliage. A good tropical garden works like a symphony, with each plant acting as a note, each complementing or contrasting with the others, the whole greater than any single piece. That’s why it’s always a little surprising how often people buy plants on impulse, without considering how they’ll relate to the overall structure of the garden.

As much as we love heliconias, a garden of only heliconias can be boring — overwhelmingly green, needing contrast in texture, foliage and colour to really look their best. Our own gardens are heliconia and ginger centred, and the plants we grow and sell are chosen because they complement heliconias well, helping create a lush, well-rounded tropical garden with plenty of colour. Below are some of the stars of tropical foliage we come back to again and again.

Calatheas for Drama and Structure

Calathea lutea (“Havana Cigar”) — an excellent feature plant, with huge oblong waxy leaves and unusual candelabra flowers. Useful for creating a microclimate for more tender tropicals nearby, and striking in large pots around a pool or patio. The leaves can even line large platters for entertaining — in the Amazon they’re traditionally used to wrap and cook food in. We’ve grown it close to the beach and in windy conditions and been genuinely impressed with how well it copes.
Golden Cigar — similar in use, with larger, more golden flowers.
Pleiostachya pruinosa (“Wheat”) — a calathea relative that brings real drama to the garden. The reverse of the leaves and stems is a deep purple, and the unusual feathery flower bracts with tiny bright purple flowers add further interest.

For a striking purple colour scheme, we like pairing waxy-stemmed foliage against these purple-backed leaves: Heliconia pendula “Red Waxy”, H. “Hot Rio Nites”, Costus “Green Mountain”, H. velligeria “She Kong”, H. longa, and Etlingera pyramidosphaera “Black Tulip”. Mix, stack, or mini-mass-plant these for high impact — variegated mondo grass or a moss basket as ground cover really makes them pop.

Elephant Ears as Accent Plants

Alocasia macrorrhizos — an Australian native that can reach 3 metres in the right conditions, with huge, deep green leaves that scream tropical.
Xanthosoma violaceum — dramatic and architectural, reaching around 2 metres with large blue-green leaves and chunky purple stems. It’s grown as a food source in Nepal and the Himalayas (proof of just how cold hardy it is), though we prefer it purely as an ornamental.
Xanthosoma “Lime Zinger” — giant chartreuse leaves and stems that brighten any spot, and a fantastic feature plant. Looks especially good contrasted against dark foliage like cordylines.
Taro “Illustris” and other smaller taros — perfect for instant colour, easily pulled out and moved on as garden beds fill in, or planted in and around ponds.

Gingers Worth Growing for Foliage Alone

Alpinia formosana — subtle, sexy pinstriped leaves.
Alpinia zerumbet ‘Variegata’ — a bit more glitz, if that’s what you’re after.
Tulip gingers — all have purple-backed leaves while juvenile, but only the orange tulip and black tulip hold that colour permanently into maturity.

Building the Bigger Picture

Cordylines and costus — covered in our other grow guides — are also must-haves for the tropical garden, strong in both colour and texture. Beyond these, a host of other plants complement a tropical foliage scheme, including bromeliads, pandanus, and of course palms.

If you’re designing or revamping a tropical garden, a little research goes a long way. Bill Bensley, sometimes called the king of “Baroque Tropical,” has written extensively on tropical design, and a surprising number of his ideas translate easily into a backyard garden — his book Paradise by Design is worth seeking out if you want to go deeper.