Many exotic looking plants are perennials or easy to grow annuals. One of the most exotic looking plants I'm growing this year is Silybum Mariannum commonly called "Our Ladies Blessed Milk Thistle." Yes, it's a thistle, but I love the variegation!
I have many Rain Forest plants this year and so far they are growing fast but non of those have produced any flowers or odd looking leaves. It's still early yet so maybe by the end of the year they will flower.
I went a little overboard this year. Between getting married and trying to fulfill two people's wish list I ended up with almost 500 different types of seeds...and yes, most got planted!
I did get a bottom heat unit this year and I really feel it made a huge difference in the time of the seeds germinating and also the success rate. We put a grow light directly above the heated unit and keep it on 24/7. Of course, since the weather has warmed up as soon as the seeds germinate I put them outside. Other bold and exotic looking plants that are easy to grow include Ricinus Communis which is commonly called the "Castor Oil Plant." Bamboo is rather large and exotic looking and it too comes in cold-hardy varieties.
If you don't have room indoors to over winter these exotic plants you can always trade them off at the end of the season or even collect the seeds from them and go ahead and treat them as annuals. After all, most annuals actually are tropical plants.
Should you decide to grow a bold plant it might be a good idea to make it the center point of your garden. This way it not only has plenty of room but your other plants can share the spotlight!
My Silybum Mariammum is planted under my Apple Of Peru. Not only does this draw attention to the plant but also it allows the variegation to show up even more. I also planted vines behind most of my plants this year to help draw the eye upward. Many of my tropical plants are quite large by now and Kevin had plenty more of his own to add to the collection. I interplanted the new seedlings in between so that they had room to grow and just a touch of shade.
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