Here’s a garden update! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fT1xG1jLt7A
Take a brief tour of my Chicago Tropical Garden! See some of the plants I use such as elephant ears, ricinus or castor oil plant, dahlias, cardinal flowers and canna lilies!
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So beautiful!!
Very good start for your first
I just love this garden! You make me want to grow this!!!
Beautiful garden! I'm also a teacher by day and a gardener in the Chicagoland area. Most of my plants are perennials and a few annuals. I don't have much room to bring plants in during the winter though
any chance I can keep my tropical hibiscus outdoors and help it survive the winter? any tips?
Wow !!!
I live on the East Coast of South Florida
And for Chicago, Your garden is impressive!!
Nice video. With lot of effort a beautiful garden. I also have a small garden with nearly more than 100 plants so I know the efforts you must have taken.
Your lovely garden looks like a hideaway! The cicadas in the background add nicely to that and remind me of sleepy warm summers – thanks for jogging happy memories. 🙂
I love your garden, where do you buy from ???
I really love your work, your videos, your experience! Love it all! Thanks!
hi can I plant rhizomes namely cannas now???? I can't even wait I live in Aurora….
It's harder to grow the tropical plants in Chicago due to the below freezing temperatures in winter time,on the main,the 25-30 degree Celsius temperatures in Chicagos summer are more comparable to the early to mid Autumn temperatures or late spring temperatures in my location in Australia which is 150 kilometres north of Sydney,although I've heard of some of Chicagos temperatures reach over 40 degrees Celsius but is meant to be unusual there.
Our summers can get very hot with the last 2 having temperatures reaching between 40-47 degrees Celsius which is very stressful on plants ,not to mention people & animals.
While our climate is classed as humid subtropical, the rainforests are in ravines where either natural water courses,creeks & rivers are located.
My area is more of a eucalyptus woodland meaning to grow ferns & certain tropical plants,a microclimate needs to be generated so the sun doesn't burn the leaves.
For example, my Dad is a bit of a lazy gardener & planted tree ferns,etc in the open sun,a hot summer killed them because they came from under the canopy of a rainforest,they need partial shade.
His mother used to grow exotic orchids in a shade house until she had to move into a nursing home,my cousin took a whole lot of them home & they died, my dad has some of them planted in his garden,that was up near the Queensland border.
I've got 3 x Bangalow palm seedlings in pots which are seedlings from trees my dad got of my late uncle in 2001-2002 as he was a wildlife park ranger up there, they are native in our local rainforests down to cooler areas such as Canberra.
As far as tropical plants go,avocado trees need partial shade when they are younger as my dad transplanted a seedling into the sun & a 42 degree Celsius day cooked the leaves which fell off,the stem appears to be budding again.
On the main,they need partial shade,a decent amount of water & good drainage, except mangoes which can grow in the dryer tropical Savannah areas of Australia such as Darwin & Townsville.
The mango trees like the drier climates better,plants such as papayas may need protection from frosts in winter depending upon if our climate has changed or not.
We live about 40 kilometres from the ocean & the further you go inland, the worse the frosts get.
Fantastic garden & the Thailand Giant is striking indeed.
God forbid I should ever have to live somewhere so cold. Thanks for enthusiastically sharing.
Beautiful garden