Transform Your Yard to a Tropical Paradise
July 15, 2013
After paying for moving expenses, not too many families have money left over for vacations. Now that your moving company has left, there are many ways to enjoy an at-home vacation. You can create a tropical “staycation” in your own back yard with the right plants.
Summer-flowering hibiscus and mandevilla will entertain you with hundreds of flowers now until late fall.
Hibiscuses are brightly colored flowering shrubs with some of the biggest, most flamboyant blooms you will ever see — up to seven inches across. The leaves are shiny deep-green and the blooms are a rainbow of colors. The plants are usually sold in their own pots so it is easy to add them to your deck or patio. During summer, they prefer bright sun and need to be kept moist, but not in standing water. They are not cold hardy, so if you keep them indoors over winter, replant in a new pot with fresh soil in the spring.
Madnevillas are at home wherever you put them — whether in a decorative pot, long window boxes or in a garden bed. Their trumpet-shaped flowers are in shades of pink, red, fuchsia or white. They will climb along a trellis or fence or trail from a window box in streams of color.
For a tropical island look, pair them in the same pot or garden plot and enjoy.
(Photo attributed to Flickr member @opacity via the Creative Commons license.)
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