Exotic landscaping plants give the garden a lush tropical look with unusual trees, vines, shrubs with large leaves and showy bright flowers. Most exotic plants originate in other parts of the world, so they are growing out of their natural habitat. It is therefore very important for such exotic plants to match the growing conditions where they are planted.
Pindo palm trees (Butia capitata) grows best in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 8 through 11, slowly reaching 20 feet tall and wide with a thick trunk topped with 3-foot-long silvery evergreen arching fronds. During the summer, 3- to 4-foot-long reddish-yellow flower clusters appear followed by the development of edible fruit. Taiwanese parasol trees (Trochodendron aralioides) produce green summer flowers resembling small parasols on the terminal ends of the branches. This evergreen tree reaches 25 feet tall in USDA zones 6 through 10.
Balsam pear vines (Momordica charantia), growing in USDA plant hardiness zones 10 and 11, produce light green leaves with lacy lobes. This exotic vine uses thin tendrils to climb 6 to 8 feet with football-shaped warty fruit, which turns bright orange when ripe. If the fruit is left on the vines, they burst open with outer sections curling backward to reveal drooping red seeds. From summer until the end of fall, blue passion flower vines (Passiflora caerulea) grow 3- to 4-inch-wide blossoms with white outer petals and thin blue inner petals with white and purple rings around the center on a 15-foot-long vine. The flowers are followed by oval orange-yellow edible fruit. Blue passion flower vines grow in USDA zones 6 through 9.
Peacock flower shrubs (Caesalpinia pulcherrima), which thrive in USDA zones 8 through 11, produce showy orange and red flower clusters from summer through fall. In warm areas, the shrub blooms all year long. The 8- to 10-foot-tall spiny stems are covered with fern-like green leaves. Pineapple guava bushes (Feijoa sellowiana) grow thick white blossoms with maroon thread-like middles in early summer. Oval edible fruits develop in late autumn. This 15-foot plant grows as an evergreen shrub covered with thick gray-green leaves in USDA plant hardiness zones 8 through 10, attracting birds to the landscape.
Toad lily flowers (Tricyrtis hirta) grow in USDA zones 4 through 9 with white star-shaped blooms covered with purple spots in the late summer until the middle of fall. The blossoms top 30-inch-tall arching stalks. This east Asia and Philippines native flower needs shade and damp soil to grow well. Tropicanna black canna (Canna indica “Lon01”) produces 5- to 6-foot-tall reddish-chocolate leaves with bright red summer blossoms that change to orange, looming 12 inches over the leaves. This tropical flower grows best in USDA plant hardiness zones 7 through 11.
- Fine Gardening Plant Guide: Tricyrtis Hirta (Toad Lily)
- Monrovia: Tropicanna Black Canna
- Monrovia: Peacock Flower
- Monrovia: Pineapple Guava
- Monrovia: Taiwanese Parasol Tree
- Monrovia: Pindo Palm
- Fine Gardening Plant Guide: Momordica Charantia (Bitter Melon, Balsam Pear)
- Fine Gardening Plant Guide: Passiflora Caerulea (Blue Passion Flower)
- Jupiterimages/Brand X Pictures/Getty Images