For John Vergos, palm trees have always been associated with festive places and fun times.
On his family's vacations to Florida, he remembers a feeling of excitement when the first palm tree came into his view.
"Then years ago in Paris, he saw palms growing in Luxumbourg Gardens.
"I thought, if they can grow in Paris, why not Memphis?" said Vergos, a former city councilman and co-owner of Charlie Vergos' Rendezvous restaurant.
The idea simmered in the recesses of his mind until he and his wife, Ellen, decided to install a pool on their Hein Park property. He did some research and found that the Chinese windmill palm (Trachycarpus fortunei) is hardy enough to survive all but the worst Memphis winters.
"I'm not trying to turn my yard into Miami Beach," said Vergos, who also has a smaller and slower grower sago palm in his yard. "But I thought our pool deserved a palm."
So in 2008, two windmill palms, each about 4 feet tall, were installed: one is near the pool and the other is beside the house where it is protected from westerly winds.
In just a little more than four years, they grew into 15-foot-tall towers.
Even on cold winter days, the sight of a palm tree may elicit visions of the tropical gardens we may have visited in Hawaii, the Caribbean or other southern venues.
It may seem like Memphis' temperate climate, which fosters the growth of oaks, hickories and other deciduous trees, is an unlikely place for a tropical garden. But choices of winter-hardy plants with tropical appeal abound for us.
"When I think of tropical gardens, I picture big, lush leaves and brilliant flower colors," said Carol Reese, ornamental specialist at the University of Tennessee West Tennessee Research and Education Center in Jackson.
Luckily there are many plants fitting that description, including a few that retain their tropical look throughout the winter, such as aucuba, a broadleaf evergreen shrub most commonly seen with gold or cream splashes on the green leaves; fatsia, another broadleaf evergreen shrub with large, deeply lobed and serrate glossy leaves; and giant leopard plant, whose round, yellow-splotched leaves persist unless temperatures fall below 20.
As much as we might appreciate those plants on winter days, a tropical ambiance truly depends on warm, moist weather. We'll have plenty of it soon.
Now it's time to dream and plan for a tropical garden using some of the plants suggested by Reese and Chris Cosby, manager of gardens at Memphis Botanic Garden:
Common elephant ears, both downward pointing colocasias and upwardly facing alocasias, have been favorites of Mid-South gardeners. But now there are some new varieties to consider including the chartreuse Elena, which is similar to Lime Zinger but faster growing and with a rose-colored lead center; Illustris, with its black leaves and dramatic green veins; and Big Dipper, whose grey-green leaves held on purple black stems collect rainwater until full and then dump it. The leaves then return to a horizontal position to catch even more water and the cycle repeats.
Alocasia odora, a common variety, is typically hardy here. Cosby suggests mulching it when the ground is still warm to keep alocasia bulbs of all varieties cozy through the winter.
But you might also want to lift a few in the fall to replant the next spring in case we have a harsh winter.
If you have a lot of space to fill, you can consider Chinese rice paper plant, whose fan-like leaves can reach 15 inches across. In the fall the flower panicles displayed above the foliage may be 3-feet long.
It will spread into a thicket by underground rhizomes that sometimes spawn plants 20 feet away from the original. The main plant may reach 15 feet in height. So beware!
We don't think of hostas as tropical plants because they're not; they need at least a month of winter dormancy to thrive. But many have the lush look of the tropics.
You could fill an entire shade bed with just one or two of the giant varieties such as Empress Wu, which grows over 4 feet tall and 6 feet wide with leaves reaching 28 inches long and 25 inches wide.
Other biggies include the popular Blue Angel and chartreuse Sum and Substance, T-Rex, Big John and Big Kahuna.
Hardy Japanese fiber bananas, Musa basjoo, are too big for most urban landscapes but a clump of them are thriving in a roomy spot at UT's West Tennessee Research and Education Center in Jackson.
They often produce flowers but seldom does fruit have a chance to ripen before cold weather sets in.
Besides their size, a downside to growing these bananas is the need to cut them back either in the fall to tidy the garden or in the spring when new growth begins.
"Leaving the stems standing gives a little more protection to the roots," Reese said.
The banana stems tend to be juicy and messy when cut.
Cannas and calla lilies are at home in any Southern garden including tropical types.
"Bengal Tiger is far and away my favorite," Reese said. "You can't beat the yellow and green striped leaves for drama."
She also likes Black Australia, which has satiny burgundy-black color that holds in the heat and red flowers that attract hummingbirds; and Intrigue, which has mauve, spear-shaped leaves and delicate peach flowers.
Some varieties of hibiscus are true tropicals that will not survive our winters but others are reliably perennial.
Lord Baltimore is an oldie but goodie with large, red flowers and some resistance to the leaf diseases that plague other vintage varieties.
Moy Grande, named for hybridizer Ying Doon Moy, has bright red flowers that can reach 12 inches in diameter. Kopper King is a compact plant with copper-red foliage and large light pink flowers with red veins and a bright red eye.
Red Flyer's flowers are actually bright pink and big. They bloom on a plant that grows 12-feet tall.
Other palms that grow here include needle palm, a shrubby palm that tolerates subzero temperatures in small amounts, and the sabal or dwarf palmetto with fan-like leaves and a height of 6 feet or less.
McCurtain is the hardiest of the dwarf palmettos and was reported to withstand minus-20 degree temperatures.
Vergos said he protected his windmill palms in the first two years when temperatures dipped in the teens or below.
"We covered them with a garbage bag and put a lit light bulb inside the bag," he said.
"The older they are the hardier they get."
The trees require little maintenance.
"We don't do anything for them now," he said.
Need Help? Call us at 1-888-789-0831.
Monday-Friday: 6am-5pm / Saturday: 6:30am-11:30am / Sunday: 6am-1pm