If you want the look and feel of the tropics in your garden this summer, you don't need a greenhouse - you just need the right plants. We'll start off with the big surprise - bananas.
The cold-hardy Musa Basjoo banana easily survives our cold season, and produces ten to 20-foot-tall classically tropical looking foliage in the summer. Because it should be cut short in the winter, this cold hardy banana makes a great screen for a south facing window. Winter sun in, summer sun blocked.
You can leave the foliage on in winter to degrade naturally, but most people cut them back after the first frost. You are likely to get some flowers, but unlikely to get ripe fruit.
If you want an edible tropical fruit - look no further than the fig family. While many varieties are suited to warmer climates, others do well here. The deep green foliage and sweet, sweet fruit feel positively equatorial. Peters Honey, and Brown Turkey have produced well for me.
Kiwi fruit looks like it came straight from the jungle with the hanging produce, fast growing vines, and shiny dark green foliage. But Kiwi are native to China, and can take temperatures down to 10 degrees. Mine made it through the ice with no damage. Fuzzy Hayward is the storage variety we just finished the last of today.
Pineapple Guava sounds, and with its beautiful red flowers, looks like it would not tolerate frost. But it grows fine here, produces pineapple tasting fruit in November, and is drought tolerant.
Akebia vines are quite cold tolerant, but produce a fruit that would please any tree dwelling denizen of the rain forest.
Ready for a tropical summer, I'm John Fischer with Good Gardening.
