A Buyers Guide to Popular Tropicals part 1

A Buyers Guide to Popular Tropicals
(The Favorite Plants of Stokes Tropicals)

This is a first person (insider's) account of the favorite plants of Stokes Tropicals as judged by customer buying. *My description and accounts of them (favorite plants) is admittedly colored by my admiration and affection for them. As an intro to these proven "bought-and-paid-for" stars of the tropical plant world, I must say that all tropical plants bring so much to the gardener's table: exciting all 5 of our senses, in-your-face boldness, outrageous color, outlandish size and dimension, and an unrelenting urge to survive in tough conditions.

Musa basjoo (Japanese Fiber Banana) is our #1 selling banana and for good reason: it is the worlds' cold hardiest banana. It has been successfully grown in Canada, the northern U.S. and western Europe. Unmulched, the banana rhizome will survive temperatures down to -3°F; with heavy mulch, rhizomes will survive down to -24°F. Of course a hard freeze below 30°F will kill the soft tissue leaves and pseudostems (trunks). The abundant water inside the leaves and trunk freezes and becomes ice crystals thus bursting the cell walls of the plants and the green parts of the banana die, but the rhizomes where all the food resources (and energy for future plant growth) is stored, survive.

Due to the extreme cold hardiness, basjoo is becoming the iconic banana throughout the temperate and subtropical world. And it deserves this fame. It is very stately in form, it grows fast, up to 15 feet in one growing season, and when it produces fruit, the flower is a very attractive yellow, green oblong ball that produces small, elegant, green bananas. The fruit is seeded and inedible. To produce fruit the basjoo needs to be kept above freezing for at least 12-15 months. And don't forget all banana varieties quit growing below 55°F.

Ananas comosus (Edible Pineapple) is our #1 selling bromeliad. It is considered to be the miracle fruit of the Americas since the 15th century. The pineapple has served as both a food and a symbol throughout human history in the Americas. Originally it evolved in Brazil and Paraguay and was spread by man to Central America and the Caribbean. Christopher Columbus was the first European to encounter the pineapple in November, 1493 on his second voyage. Taken back to Europe, it became the"treat of Kings". As a symbol of affluence, the prickly fruits were transported by sailing ships from the Caribbean, and then colonial confectioners rented the fruits out to affluent householders by the day, and sold the same fruit later to more affluent clients to actually eat.

source : hydroponicsearch