What's new
TerraForums Venus Flytrap, Nepenthes, Drosera and more talk

Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

Lowland tropical landscape plants

seedjar

Let's positive thinking!
I have an awesome side job, which I'll detail later. I'm so excited I'm posting this thread from my phone.
I'm looking for landscape/subject plants for a tropical water garden. I'm looking for plants on a scale of a quarter inch to four feet tall. CP species are cool, but I've already got some in mind, so non-CPs are better. Tropical orchids? Wet-loving orchids? Fragrant groundcovers? Bonsai-compatible tropical trees? Fragrant/edible tropical plants?
You don't need to ask; N. ampullaria, bicalcurata, gracilis and rafflesiana are already on the list.
The excitement!!!
~Joe
 
Mangrove perhaps?
 
Wow, seems like a really fun job. I'd go for the Fragrant groundcovers and tropical orchids.
 
not mangrove, but MANGO! Superdwarf, dwarf, and condo vairieties are where its at! THE tropical fruit, with lovely evergreen tropical foliage. Startfruit is also good...passiflora edulis has crazy flowers and delicious fruit, but its a vine...Maybe cattleyas on the walls? What kinda room are you working on? It sounds amazing! :)
 
Mangoes are already a... less desirable feature of the flora in situ. Good idea, but the smell of fermenting fallen mangoes is already a seasonal feature of the neighborhood. A super dwarf one might be an interesting novelty in contrast to all the wildtypes, though. How big/how much fruit are we talking? Passiflora are perfect; I don't know why I didn't think about it sooner. Are there any characteristically slow-growing species?
Thanks guys, this is great stuff.
~Joe
 
where is this place? They have those nasty seed grown weedy mangoe things huh? GROSS!

Fruit is normal sized, except most are EXTREMELY tasty. 'Ice Cream' and 'Carrie' (Carrie expecially) are my faves. Fruit is all dependant on the size of the tree. My baby cutting made exactly one fruit last year, although it was delicious.

Passiflora edulis is actualy considered a weed in some parts, so slow growing its not. Not passiflora are rampant growing actually, sorry.

What about muscadine grapes?
Umm...ylang-ylang tree smells heavenly.
DRAGONFRUIT! Ah ha! Its kinda slow growing, and make delicious, attractive, noevlty, and desireable fruit on a cactus-vine. The flowers are dinner plate sized, white, and sm,ell very good too! "Purple Haze" is my favorite...
Pineapple bromeliads
Coconuts are a fave but impossible to grow here...
Bananas, but they can go horribly wrong. Try "super dwarf cavendish", the trunks are never bigger than 24", and the 2" bananas are edible and taste like banana custard!


Hmm lol! :D Good luck on this Joe!
 
What do you mean by. "horribly wrong?" Dragonfruit sounds great. I still want to trade you for that cutting, once I get my money situation fixed. (Had a roommate skip out on rent and bills.) I have that S. x. "Hummer's Hammerhead" still - it's going to be too big to send this season if I let it start pitchering. Right now it's got two flowers on it.
Just to be awful I'm going to let folks guess about this for a little while before I give all the details. Anyone who cares to dig through my old posts can probably piece together what I'm talking about based on my personal history and my inquiry above. I also don't want to jinx it. :D
~Joe
 
If you're growing passiflora, why not throw a few aristolochia in too?
 
Go through the catalog at Stokes Tropicals - http://www.stokestropicals.com/ - for ideas. The catalog is more subtropical than tropical, but there are a lot of cool things in it that I used to think about now and then. I finally came to my senses and quit looking. There are plenty of people trading that kind of thing at another forum that may or may not have the initials GW.
 
  • #10
Buddha's Hand?

It's a type of citron that seems to like warmth, and if you can get it to fruit, you'll love it.
It is somewhat of a tropical, however I've heard conflicting reports about highland conditions being preferred...
 
  • #11
I read the whole Stokes' catalog and picked out a couple dozen candidates, but most of the plants they carry are too large for me to use a lot of. It gave me a lot of ideas, though - my list is getting pretty long already. I don't know if I want to bother with trades, but I'm pretty sure I can find better prices than what Stokes has to offer so I'll be shopping around.
I've got limited space and the planting also needs to be relatively maintenance-free, as it may be left alone for up to two months at a time. There will be an automatic watering system but I have to assume that it might go a long time without pruning or weeding. The location is tropical more than subtropical; not much seasonal variation at all.
Buddha's Hand is an exciting idea - hopefully it doesn't need a cool period like some other types of Citrus. Aristolochia would be cool but I'm concerned about scrambling vines; Passiflora may be out for the same reason. I'm already wondering if Nepenthes might be too quick-growing.
~Joe
 
  • #12
figs perhaps? They can be made into pretty sweet trees, any size/any shape.

Gotta admit, im pretty jealous! :)
 
  • #13
Here's my list of candidates thus far:

Adenium obesum - Desert Rose (bonsai)
Ananas comosus - Miniature Pineapple (psuedo-bonsai)
Anastatica hierochuntica - Jericho Rose (returns from dry dormancy rapidly after watering, seed-scatterer which may require pruning)
Aristolochia spp. - Dutchman's Pipe (scrambling vine, requires pruning, some species are subtropical)
Asparagus densiflorus (Protoasparus densiflorus) - Asparagus Fern and others
Bambusa ventricosa - Buddha Belly bamboo (requires pruning/root binding)
Beaucarnea recurvata - Ponytail Palm (psuedo-bonsai)
Caladium bicolor - Two-Colored Elephant Ear (local endemic, requires strict dry/wet seasons)
Citrus medica var. sarcodactylus - 'Buddha's Hand,' Fingered Citron (bonsai, showy fragrant edible fruit)
Coccoloba uvifera - Sea Grape (bonsai, may require harvesting, compact in sun)
Corymbia citriodora - Lemon-Scented Gum (bonsai, requires pruning, fragrant)
Cycas revouta - Sago Palm (psuedo-bonsai, requires root binding)
Equisetum scirpoides - Dwarf Horsetail (zone 3 - does it tolerate tropics?)
Eulophia petersii - Peter's Eulophia (psuedo-bonsai, succulent)
Euphorbia milli - Crown-of-Thorns (psuedo-bonsai)
Euphorbia tirucalli - Pencil Cactus (psuedo-bonsai)
Hedychium spp. - Sweet/Butterfly Gingers (fragrant white/orange/red flowers, large red inflorescences)
Heliamphora heterodoxa - Marsh Pitcher Sp. (tolerates high temperatures)
Hylocerus undatus - Dragonfruit (epiphytic, large edible flowers and fruits, may require pruning)
Kalanchoe gastonis-bonnieri - Donkey-Ears Kalanchoe (requires pruning/gemmae harvesting)
Magnolia grandiflora - Little Gem Magnolia Tree (bonsai, requires pruning but stays small, proportionately large blooms)
Musa acuminata 'Super Dwarf Cavendish' - Dwarf Cavendish Fruiting Banana (psuedo-bonsai, requires harvesting)
Nepenthes ampullaria, bicalcurata, gracilis, rafflesiana, thorelii - Monkey Cup
Pachypodium brevicaule - Tsimondrimondry (psuedo-bonsai)
Pallenis hierochuntica - False Jericho Rose (returns from dry dormancy rapidly after watering)
Platycerium bifurcatum - Staghorn Fern
Plumeria spp. 'Yellow Jack' - Blue-Yellow Flowered Plumeria (azure)
Polypodium polypodioides (Pleopeltis polypodioides) - Ressurection Fern (epiphytic, returns from dry dormancy rapidly after watering)
Rhizophora mangle - Red Mangrove (bonsai)
Sansevieria cylindrica var. patula - "African Spear" Sansevieria (night-fragrant pink inflorescence, fan-shaped growth habit)
Selaginella lepidophylla - Dinosaur Plant (epiphytic, returns from dry dormancy rapidly after watering)
Taxiphyllum barbieri - Java Moss (aquatic/semiaquatic groundcover)
Tillandsia spp. - Air Plants (epiphytic, blue/purple flowers)
Zamioculcus zamiiflora - "ZZ Plant," Jade/palm looking thing (psuedo-bonsai)
Zingiber zerumbet - Shampoo Ginger (large round inflorescences that go from yellow to green to red as they mature)

Some of these won't make the cut for reasons of size, expense, or upkeep. Specific varieties may change depending on whether or not I'm supposed to work with certain colors or something; I haven't got all the details yet. I'm also thinking about adding some microfauna. Does anyone know where tropical dragonfly cultures can be obtained? I'm sure there will be the occasional fly or mosquito or whatever, so I thought it would be nice to have some proactive controls. Odes seem like a cleaner control species than goldfish, which would be my second choice. I'm curious about Halocaridina rubra - the Opae'ula or Hawaiian Micro-Lobster as they're marketed - and Golden Apple Shrimp as aquatic grazers.
I still need to pick some ground cover species. Utrics are tempting but would probably run rampant. Same for pygmy Drosera. I've been thinking of ways to contain them by planting them in areas bounded by totally dry gravel or moving water, but they probably just won't see a lot of use. I think I'll lean towards rosetted 'dews for the round-and-petite look. Mexi-Pings will definitely have a place in the area, but I'm not sure which. I'd like to use a fairly diverse selection. Are there any orchids that keep compact foliage and clump over time?
I should have a schematic of the room soon. Thanks again everyone.
~Joe
 
  • #15
If you were looking for bonsai, what about Schefflera arboricola?

Anthuriums?

Spathiphyllum?

Zingiber officinale?
 
  • #16
Before suggesting orchids, what are the expected "weather" conditions, including daily and seasonal variability?
 
  • #17
I guess Clue gets the award for (kind of) figuring out the location; Anthurium is a native of this area.
The site is on the top floor of a skyscraper in Panama City, Panama on the lovely eighth parallel. The room is all glass (walls and roof) with Western exposure. Year-round the temperature is in the 90s to 100 in the day, 70s or 80s at night. Humidity will probably range from 50% to 90% depending on whether or not the building is dehumidified. There is usually both heavy cloud cover and direct sun every day of the year. I believe I'll be able to bring in outside air but I don't have a floorplan yet so I'm not sure. If not, with the Western sun it may be hotter, so I'm still waiting to get confirmation of what the conditions work out to indoors. I'll likely push automatic shadecloth blinds in my proposals.
I don't think that Phalaenopsis would tolerate the warmth of this setup; they're also kind of large in my experience. I'd prefer to stick mostly with things that have adult leaves shorter than four or five inches, except for a few central subject plants. I know I've heard of some dwarf orchids - what genera are they from?
Regarding the scale of things, the room is approximately 10' x 12', or perhaps a little smaller. The main entrance and viewing point is on the longer side, facing North. The floor is a basin, plumbed for a water feature, with the North and South sides connected by a small bridge which is slightly to the left of the center line of the room. That's the extent of what I know; I hope to have photos and a floorplan soon.
~Joe
 
  • #18
Wow, sounds exciting!
How did you get that kind of gig?
 
  • #19
It's not as special as it sounds. It's my dad's new condo; he was going to look for a gardener but this way he can save money on the setup and I get a paid summer vacation. I'll also be doing some landscaping for a friend in town here this Summer, so hopefully I can build a little portfolio.
~Joe
 
Back
Top