Face it, you can’t replicate exactly the lush look and blissfulness of Hawaiian gardens around the U.S. mainland — just as a mai tai in sunset will not taste exactly the same the islands off. But it’s rather simple to bring some island touches. The majority of the plants that give Hawaii its tropical beauty originated in different areas of the world, and a few do well on the mainland and actually may be downright ordinary. Several make excellent one-and-done summer container crops. Listed below are planting ideas out of Hawaii to create your garden as comfy and colorful as an aloha shirt.

1. Work together with all the old reliables. Originally from tropical Asia, hibiscus is a sign of Hawaii and makes a fine medium-size evergreen tree in many parts of California and other gentle climates. It’s a summer perfect container plant. Start with nursery plants in marijuana or already flowering and you ought to have blooms from spring through fall.

Botanical name: Hibiscus rosa-sinensis
Common title: Hibiscus
USDA zones: 10 to 11
Water necessity: Moderate or more; don’t allow the soil dry out
Light requirement: Full sun
Mature size: 8 to 15 feet tall and 6 to 8 feet wide (bigger in the tropics)
Growing tips: Good choices for pots include ‘Erin Rachel’ also as members of this Breeze series or Luau collection, generally reaching 2-3 feet.

2. Play with foliage. Much of Hawaii’s look comes in the way gardeners (and character) combine foliage colors and textures. Here the daring purplish leaves of ti plant (Cordyline fruticosa) contrast with the glowing green lacy leaves of a fern named Laua’e. Ti plant is a favorite houseplant everywhere and can be grown outside in summer or annually in the mildest zones. The leaves are available in many colors, such as variegated. It’s an excellent container plant.

Botanical name: Cordyline fruticosa
Common title: Ti plant
USDA zone: 11
Water necessity: Moderate
Light requirement: Full sun or partial shade
Elderly dimensions: 6 taller and feet, and 4 feet and wider (from the ground)
Growing tips: Move indoor ti plants outside nicely following the frost danger has passed.

3. Experiment with tropicals. Pink Powder Puff, aptly named for its blossoms, appears rarely on the mainland. However, you can develop it in the mildest climates. It’s a sprawling evergreen shrub.

Botanical name: Calliandra haematocephala
Common title: Pink Powder Puff
USDA zones: 9 to 11
Water necessity: Regular to ordinary; demands moist soil
moderate requirement: Entire sun
Mature dimensions: Up to 10 feet tall or more
Growing tips: The best place is against a sunny wall, at which its loose expansion habit means it can be coached into an espalier.

Secret Gardens

4. Create a potful of Hawaii. Quite a few popular Hawaiian plants create fine container plants such as summer patios. Bougainvillea grows quickly in a container and can be moved indoors or to refuge for winter. Plant it in a pot in spring and also you can have a showy display by midsummer. It’s best to select one of the compact varieties, such as ‘Singapore Pink’, ‘Temple Fire’ or ‘Purple Queen’. Take particular care when planting not to split up the root ball bougainvillea is sensitive about it.

Botanical name: Bougainvillea, many varieties
Common title: Bougainvillea
USDA zones: 9 to 11
Water necessity: Moderate
Light requirement: Complete sun
Mature dimensions: Vining kinds can reach 30 feet; streamlined kinds, 2 to 6 feet tall
Growing tips: For best blossom maintain the container dirt on the dry side. Vines require support to scale; tie branches to a trellis or wall. Prune in spring after the frost. Keep plants peeled by cutting stringy stems during the growing season.

5. Transfer indoor plants outside. Bromeliads make striking houseplants everywhere and reliable container crops in Hawaii (the pineapple is a bromeliad!) And the mildest climates. This Neoregelia is one of many prized for its colorful foliage as well as flowers.

Botanical name: Neoregelia, several species
Common title: Neoregelia
USDA zones: Subtropical and tropical climates for outside usage
Water necessity: Keep the cup shaped by its leaves filled with water.
Light requirement: Shade from the garden; place it around light out of a window inside
Mature size: 8 inches to much taller
Growing tips: Put it outside for the summer, but keep it in a shady, moist place.

6. Look again at frequent plants. Maybe it’s the trade winds or the macadamia waffles, but many plants that we take for granted on the mainland appear exciting and new in Hawaii. Consider bird-of-paradise, which can grow as a weed in much of Southern California. Give it a notable place in a garden or container where you are able to appreciate the complex beauty of these blossoms up close. Plant it just outside a window to observe the blossoms from inside. Cut the blossoms to bring from the home.

Botanical name: Strelitzia reginae
Common title: Bird-of-paradise
USDA zones: 9 to 11
Water necessity: Moderate
moderate requirement: Complete sun, or partial shade in hot climates
Mature size: 5 to 6 feet tall and wide
Growing tips: In marginal ponds plant it under an eave for frost protection.

7. Grow a plant quite sufficient for leis. On the mainland, cape plumbago is often relegated to freeway or chain-link fence responsibility, where it sprawls and climbs out of management. In Hawaii the baby blue blossoms are considered attractive enough to enter leis. Try the evergreen tree Hawaiian fashion — in a clipped hedge or even in a pot, where you are able to observe the flowers up close from spring through fall.

Botanical name: Plumbago auriculata
Common title: cape plumbago
USDA zones: 9 to 11
Water necessity: Light
moderate requirement: Full sun or light color
Mature size: 6 feet and taller, and much wider
Growing tips: Prune or shear back it to control the dimensions in late winter or early spring.

8. Find a plum-perfect shrub. In Hawaii Natal Plum is often mistaken for other blinding white, more aromatic crops, such as plumeria or tiare. The big difference: You are able to develop Natal Plum in mild mainland gardens, particularly in coastal Southern California. You can prune this evergreen tree to get a low hedge or ground cover. It thrives in a container.

Botanical name: Carissa macrocarpa
Common title: Natal Plum
USDA zones: 10 to 11
Water necessity: moderate to moderate
moderate requirement: Full sun or light color
Mature size: 6 feet tall and wide; more compact varieties can be found
Growing tips: Plant it against a wall for additional heat and winter proctection. Beware the spines on its own branches.

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