Tropical foliage plants

Apart from bananas and canna, there are of course plenty more tropical foliage plants for you to choose. The plants mentioned below have all been selected because of their good nature. They are easy to grow and in most cases inexpensive to produce on an annual basis.

So in no particular order...

Leaf of colocasia esculenta var antiquorum, the eddoe or elephant ear

Known by some as the elephant ear plant, by others the eddoe and by scientists as Colocasia esculenta var. antiquorum.

Due to similar horticultural requirements both Colocasia and Xanthosoma are dealt with on the same page (link below)

Colocasia esculenta var. antiquorum

Leaf of Xanthosoma, the elephant ear plant or coco yam.

Also known as the elephant ear plant to some, to others this is the coco yam and to the scientists a straight forward Xanthosoma sp.

Xanthosoma sp.

Another nice group of tropical foliage plants are the hedychiums or ginger lilies. The plant featured here is hedychium 'maximum'

Hedychium 'maximum'

As with the hedychium featured in the above picture, Alpinia's are also plants belonging to the ginger family. The plant featured here is Alpinia zerumbet 'variegata'.

Alpinia zerumbet 'variegata'

Ricinus communis, the castor oil plant is one of the fastest growing tropical foliage plants you can use. It produces highly toxic seeds (popular with terrorists) but is pretty safe in the garden. The plant featured in this picture is Ricinus communis 'New Zealand purple'.

Ricinus communis 'New Zealand purple'

Somebody once described Echium pininana as sinister when visiting my garden. This plant contrasts well with the more standard tropical foliage plants. A bit of a weird plant really.

Echium pininana

Cyphomandra betacea the tree tomato produces large nicely veined leaves. This plant also contrasts well with the more lance shaped tropical foliage plants.

Cyphomandra betacea