Tropical plants have it all - rich, lush, textured foliage; exotic, wild, colorful flowers; untamed, wandering vines; massive, shade-producing canopies… Someone once described tropical plants as house plants you put outside!

There are some big categories of plants in the tropical realm. Explore your favorites and learn about new plants you may not be familiar with. While home gardeners in tropical and sub-tropical regions have most of the tropical plant palette at their disposal, many northern home gardeners utilize green houses and specific cold-hearty varieties to experiment with and enjoy tropical gardening.

Palms and Cycads are staples of the tropical garden, offering endless varieties to create any design, from formal colonnades to a casual setting to attach a hammock. Ferns provide some of the most quiet, tucked away gems deep inside a shade garden to majestic tree ferns providing a towering canopy of green structure. Vines and creepers such as bougainvillea, stephanotis and the passiflora family create a wild, untamed element to a tropical garden design. The intoxicating scent of plumeria and jasmine are just two of the many tropical flowering trees and shrubs. Bananas offer both fruiting and ornamental varieties, serving as another standard for a tropical design. Gingers come in a wide selection of colors and sizes. Tropical fruit trees such as papaya, kiwi and star fruit provide an exotic kitchen garden in tropical regions. Cannas are versatile plants that work in many climates. And of course, the orchid family, with its own mind-boggling selection of plant types and varieties, offer a tropical look indoors and out.

If you want to capture some of the magic of the tropics, or as luck would have it, live in a tropical or sub-tropical region, this is the plant category for you. So sit back, make a piña colada, and browse our ever-growing tropical database.